Who:
Debora was working within the hospitality sector and has experience working at restaurants in various hospitality positions. Debra was looking for a career change. And She decided to attend The Job Forum’s Wednesday evening Job Forum career event. The Career volunteers of The Job Forum worked with Debora to provide her with advice to find a career, where she could utilize her critical thinking, analytical skills and prior hospitality work experience.
Challenge:
Debora wanted to continue her work in the hospitality sector but due to Covid-19 and pandemic which has adversely affected so many sectors including hospitality, she didn’t know exactly what type of role
she was looking for to gain growth in her career, have job security and a stable income.
Next Steps:
After Debora attended The Job Forum’s Wednesday job search session, Janet Beach (Executive Director at The Job Forum), who was one of the panelists during that event, introduced Debora to Mark Sugarman (Executive Recruiter) who helped Debora by coaching her one-on-one :
Debora was very encouraged and found it very valuable that someone would follow up, reach out to help her address her job search challenge in a tough hospitality industry
- In the initial conversation between Mark and Debora, she conveyed that she was interested in continuing working in the hospitality industry. After exploring various options, Debra was not sure whether there will be anything she can do to grow in her field.
- After a couple of coaching sessions by phone, Mark realized Debora has an exceptionally fine sales personality. So, Mark suggested to Debora the option of a Sales position in the Tech Industry.
- Debora enthusiastically says this was such a valuable contribution, because Mark was giving her an outsider’s perspective. Mark pointed out how she could use her past experience and transfer her skills from the hospitality sector to Sales.
- Debora was persuaded by the suggestions Mark made and she decided to give it a try. Next, as recommended by Mark, Debora started to look for entry level job openings in sales capacity in the Tech industry.
- Debora contacted Mark and told him about an Ad about a Program (SV Academy) she came across, which stated “Start a new career in tech sales with No financial risk – you don’t pay until you have a job”.
- Debora was quite enthusiastic about enrolling in the Program as she thought this was a good opportunity to learn about sales
- After giving thought and due diligence, Debora decided to enroll in the Program.
Outcome:
Within 1 month, Debora landed a Sales Strategy Associate position at a good Tech Company. A bonus, the company has a Scholarship reimbursement program.
Debora says:
“The Job Forum volunteers took a real interest in me. The volunteers at The Job Forum were incredibly generous, kind, wise and helpful in giving me a process to work through and a new idea for a new career path to target. The Job Forum made a huge difference to my approach to job hunting and they sped up my job search process in a good strategic way. I am very grateful.”
