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Job Hunter Success Story

It is a great pleasure to share Mansi Gandhi’s success story as a job hunter and volunteer.

I had the opportunity to work with Mansi on several occasions while she was a volunteer with the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce Job Forums Administrative Assistant and Social Media guru. We worked on The Job Forum newsletter, creating flyers for events and company outreach projects.

Mansi was a real go getter she knew one way to make contacts and gain experience was to volunteer.  Mansi created a profile and started to apply for volunteer positions with Red Cross, Volunteer Match, and many other sights. She was referred to The Job Forum by a work colleague.

Her first volunteer job was at African People’s Defense and Education Fund (APDEF). Mansi was part of their social media team and was responsible for content creation.  After several months of volunteering at The Job Forum as a Social Media Strategist and attending The Job Forum meetings, she learned from experts the best way to find a job.

Mansi says “Working directly with Janet Beach, helped me build confidence which I never knew I had. She always supported me with learning new skills and encouraged my innovative ideas beyond my expectations. I truly admire her and have found an amazing mentor”.

Volunteering at The Job Forum helped her to build confidence, stay active and productive. It also helped her realize her true potential and build a solid foundation for the next phase of my career.

“Being part of The Job Forum team led to learning career tips, strategies, resume review and interviewing tips from our variety of marvelous volunteers from a diverse background of SF based companies is a valuable experience that you just can’t get anywhere else but from The Job Forum of San Francisco.”

Personally, Mansi wanted me to share these tips with you if your job hunting.

A few things that I learned while I was volunteering:

  • When thinking of a career change, volunteering lets you explore different industries. You get to know the employees, company culture, and also gain a better understanding of the roles and jobs available.
  • It helps to practice your skills and develop new ones.
  • Volunteering is the best way to expand your professional network. It gives you a chance to meet new people like board members, company HR Managers and other job seekers.
  • By being a dedicated and effective volunteer, you can obtain a current reference and use this reference while applying for paid jobs.

Mansi continues volunteering at The Job Forum and says, “I cannot thank the Job Forum enough for the opportunities that it gave me to expand my career”.

 

The Job Forum is looking for other volunteers to help with fundraising proposals, interviews with job hunters to collect information on exactly how the Job Forum helped them, event planners to help create and run special events to help more job hunters, a volunteer for marketing analytics and volunteers to help other job hunters!

 

Please contact Janet Beach thejobforum.org if you want to volunteer and please make a donation to support our efforts to help job hunters!

 

 

By Cindy Fassler

Ex. Recruiter & Career Coach

Job Forum volunteer

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Is Tech the Right Career for You?

At an event hosted by The Job Forum, professionals interested in working in the Bay Area Tech Industry had an opportunity to meet and talk directly with hiring managers and recruiters working within Tech companies. Tech company managers were there from Google, Autodesk. Splunk, Aeva Inc., San Francisco International Airport and Unity Technologies and gave their time to help job hunters increase their chances of being hired at tech companies.

 

One message the managers at tech companies shared is that in one way or another, we all need to transform in order to keep up with the world of work. If you are looking for a job it is necessary to understand the possible opportunity areas.

 

For example, when you think of working in a technology company, your mind probably floods with images of an engineer hunched over a desk coding the next big app, but the work in technology doesn’t always equate to what you may imagine. Technology is a broad term. Many jobs require technical expertise, however the roles available in tech do vary from company to company. Contrary to the myth, tech companies may also need your soft skills — communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and flexibility so you should communicate these. Also the tech boom has resulted in many adjacent opportunities, in other specialty fields, where you may have experience that tech companies will perceive as quite valuable experience.

 

Salespeople, for example, work in tech. Like all organizations, tech companies need to pitch their products to customers and align them with business objectives. The tech world also welcomes Project Managers who can organize, plan, and direct their programs, such as in IT. Marketing roles in tech ensure that the brand of the company is attractive, and the product features are understood and match customer needs.  Human Resource roles attract valuable new talent. Other roles include but are not limited to QA testing, Account Management, UX/UI designers, Finance, Admin Assistants and so on.

So the message is you can work in tech without being a highly skilled technical worker or an engineer or computer programmer.

 

Where do the job applications go?

 

 Job hunters wonder how the applications they carefully develop and submit to technology companies actually go and if they are saved for future possible hiring?

  • Once you have submitted a job application it goes through the ATS (Applicant Tracking System), which is the way they organize the candidate information to keep it on file and to match it to openings. Technology company managers at Facebook, Google, Autodesk said that at their tech companies, HR and recruiters do certainly keep mining these databases for the right candidates. They also said they like the people who have applied in past and have shown interest in their company.
  • A recruiter at Autodesk said “ You do have to be a little bit discerning about which jobs you apply for, and if you’re applying for everything, you get a reputation of just kind of throwing your resume at the wall, but if our company is a top choice for you, please do apply again ”.  All the managers said “ Please apply for jobs even if only a portion of the qualifications match your skills, but don’t apply for jobs where there is no or very little connection”.
  • There are a few reasons why you’re possibly not getting contacted even though you have some of the things that the job description says are wanted. There are some behind the scenes realities, and examples are that some of the managers may be leaning really strongly for one set of characteristics or set of experiences over another, and at other times, an internal candidate fills the open role.

 

Customize your application to make it easier for your relevance to the job description to be more clear and obvious

 

  •  A hiring Manager at Unity Technologies said “Taking time to customize, especially the top part of your resume, where you’re highlighting some of the summary features and really draw the parallel to what you’re reading in the job description is a very good use of your job hunting time ”. “Make it as clear as can be why you ought to be on the list of candidates to consider”.

 

Majority of tech and non-tech roles can be divided into these broad categories:

  • System managers, analysts, administrators: They operate the IT systems and ensure that they comply with the company’s business goals. Business systems analysts are people who are going to be documenting requirements, do the evaluation part of the way towards delivering and implementing a solution.
  • Data scientists and researchers: They use their technical knowledge to find answers to problems, and are critical to innovation and progress.
  • Programmers and developers: They build applications or solutions for their own company or another one, and have frequent interaction with business stakeholders to gather feedback.
  • IT support: They assist and solve problems for internal and external customers and see the impact of their job each day.
  • Customer-facing technical roles: They are the customer’s trusted advisors, such as customer engineers, solutions architects, or customer success managers. They understand the pros and cons of technology solutions and help customers solve business problems.
  • Project, Product and Program managers: The Product Manager usually is very specifically tied to a given product over its lifecycle in terms of initial development and deploying it and then evolving it. Whereas a project manager is really working on a project. The project may be enhancing a solution. It may be deploying a new business process. It may be deploying a product or not. A program manager usually will manage a portfolio and for example, they’ll probably manage multiple projects that are related.
  • Technical Writer: Technical writers, also called technical communicators, prepare instruction manuals, how-to guides, journal articles, and other supporting documents to communicate complex and technical information more easily. The tech company managers point out “It’s a wonderful way to get into tech and learn so much every day”.
  • UX UI Designer: a UX designer works with everything related to the user interaction with digital products. From user research, persona creation, journey mapping, building wireframes and using a design thinking approach, to ensure that everything is intuitive and looking visually solid. They usually collaborate closely with engineers, product managers, QA and more.
  • Management, HR and recruitment: Recruiter, coordinator or sourcer are great roles to start out in recruitment and help find great talent for the company.
  •  Finance roles: There are of course the basic administrative, running a business roles, and finance is just one and legal or other administrative roles are others.

 

There is, in tech, a tremendous opportunity for transferable skills. For example, experience with Salesforce, NetSuite or Workday, provides valuable training and experience for a lot of careers. Working on these kinds of solutions provides good entry points that give you an opportunity to hone your skills and then move around.

 

How to stand out during a technology company interview?

 

  • You really need to have show some energy, and you need to seem like you’ve been looking forward to talking with them and are excited to be there in the interview.
  • Growth mindset is so important. Showing the times in the past where you have not known how to do something, and then you have figured it out and is important because almost any job you ever apply for at a tech company, they’re hiring for problem solving and learning aptitude.
  • Be prepared to talk about specific examples around work that you’re particularly proud of, and tell your lessons learned those experiences that if you could go back and do something again, you would do differently.
  • Be proactive, detail oriented and discuss your ability to be resourceful and a problem solver.

 

How important are the referrals at technology companies?

 

  • Employee referrals at tech companies are often thought to be the proverbial golden tickets of job seeking. While they don’t guarantee you a job, they can increase the odds that your application will be seen and considered by a recruiter or hiring manager. Referrals ultimately give you a boost in the hiring process. 
  • When a job has hundreds of people who apply, recruiters have a hierarchy of the people they’re going to look at. “If you’re referred, you’re generally going to go to the top of the pile.”
  • The key to making a referral work is by finding a connection between a job opening and someone you know. “Once you’ve identified a connection in your network, send them an e-mail asking about the specific job that you’ve seen at the company (not: “are there any openings?”), and include the link to the job description if you can”.

“Hi (Name), I hope you’re doing well. I am in the middle of a job search and would like to apply for the open (insert title) position at (Company Name). Do you know who I should talk to? I have attached my resume for your reference. I will appreciate your time and a referral to help me connect and be considered by the hiring decision-makers”

 

Technical or non-technical, everyone has a place in tech. Every background, skill set and perspective can bring value to tech companies and helps foster innovation. So, find out what opportunities are right for you, get your LinkedIn profile ready, and take a look at company career sites and job boards for current openings at leading tech companies.

 

The Job Forum is there to help your job search efforts

 

Come to The Job Forum to actually meet volunteers who are managers working at tech and other kinds of companies. These managers are interested to help job hunters succeed. By attending The Job Forum, you can expand your professional network of contacts. https://thejobforum.org

The Job Forum has volunteers from over 100 companies and organizations who volunteer to help job hunters. You can sign up for 1 to 1 advising sessions over the phone on Tuesdays and for job search input about your individual special circumstances on Wed evenings at interactive Zoom sessions. You will get helpful input and referrals from 3-4 of our more than 100 volunteer managers.  The Job Forum helps experienced as well as new job hunters and shares practical tips and “lessons learned” that you can use for your own job search situation.

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Don’t Overlook Government Jobs In The SF Bay Area

Job hunters, we recommend you don’t overlook the wide range of good jobs and satisfying career opportunities at the Cities and Counties around the SF Bay Area region.

 

If you’re looking for a job in San Francisco, one great place to start is the San Francisco Human Services Agency (sfdhr.org) or

(https://smrtr.io/8HmWw)

 

There, they will help you get set up and listed in the City and County of San Francisco system so that you can hear from them about job opportunities, internships and full time job opportunities to be in a position to be able to consider them.

 

The Job Forum participates with these programs to help job hunters.

At the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD) there are a number of jobseeker services that provide job training programs to residents for entry level positions in high growth industries.

 

These include construction, healthcare, hospitality and the technology sector. The programs integrate development of skills with support and jobs to place people in growing industries.

 

We at The Job Forum work with OEWD”s Healthcare Academy and have seen firsthand how they provide education, training and employment assistance to help both beginners and experienced healthcare professionals get the skills they need to become home health aides, medical administrative assistants, certified nursing assistants, medical or dental assistants, emergency techs and more.

 

The Job Forum works regularly with the TechSF program that OEWD and the non profit organization, JVS, provides for education, training and job assistance to the tech sector. The TechSF program gives opportunities to  those interested in a career in technology. (Techsf@ jvs.org) They have TechSF apprenticeships and a connector group called “TechSF Connect” where you can connect directly with tech sector employers. The Job Forum co- hosts and delivers valuable sessions for these initiatives of OEWD and of course The Job Forum has many volunteers who are working in companies around the Bay Area, inside technology companies and inside health care companies.

 

The Cities and Counties of our Bay Area region offer all sorts of part-time jobs as well as full time jobs, apprenticeships and training opportunities

 

For example, in San Francisco, an example of part time work is that you can be earning money while serving as a poll worker. The next two San Francisco elections that will need poll workers in SF are June 7 and November 8.

 

City and county governments offer 3 year project employment, temporary positions, part time positions, and lots of full-time career opportunities.

 

The range of departments to work in is impressive and the professional opportunities for you to consider are as well.

These range from technical and computer and IT responsibilities (for instance in the Dept of Technology or Dept of Public Works or at SFO) to scientific and environmental jobs (in Dept of Public Utililties Commission for water, power, and sewer) or for example you can do planning, real estate, maritime management, finance or engineering in your career at The Port of San Francisco (sfport.com/jobs).

 

If administrative jobs appeal to you or are your strength, one place to consider working is the Office of the Assessor – Recorder.  They are responsible for carrying out property tax related functions. The work of the Assessor’s office is important to the city and to the school district and you can work in careers in operations and property appraisal, in records recording, and transactions and in administrative support.

 

The first step is to get listed in the HR systems of the cites and counties here in The Bay Area. (You need to apply to be considered).

 

There are lots of opportunities for young people to learn about career pathways that will lead to stable incomes and interesting careers.

In the future The Job Forum will be creating a careers panel of experts from City and County governments to meet job hunters and and teens in order to make the process of understanding the City and County job opportunities even easier for motivated job hunters!

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What Do Job Hunter’s Say The Job Forum Is Really Like?

What Do Job Hunter’s Say The Job Forum is REALLY Like?

 

We had a chance to talk to several job hunters the other day to find out what was helpful to them in coming to The Job Forum. Naturally job hunters want to know what can one expect: Will it be valuable? Will you learn something new? Can you act on the advice?

 

Stephanie shared that there were several points that validated what she and other job hunters are doing.

“The validation is really valuable!” she said. One important theme is being flexible. Stephanie says, “Changing your résumé with every job application is a big pain in the neck, but by coming to The Job Forum, I can see why it matters.” She discerned that being flexible is important in other ways too, “[It is] important to be flexible in how you network and important to keep going to more events and try new approaches to build up your professional network.”

 

Stephanie goes on to say, “The Job Forum event was quite simply the best event I’ve ever seen on Zoom. It was so effective, and everybody put their LinkedIn profiles and their resumes right into the chat. The Job Forum creates a situation where there is real concrete feedback right there in the meeting! The whole atmosphere is so positive and helpful to everyone in the group.”

 

One new insight and helpful bit of advice Stephanie got was how to walk the fine line between follow up and being overly aggressive. She describes what many job hunters worry about, “How do you follow up and show your enthusiasm for a company without being perceived as a pest or a pain in the neck?” Stephanie says she learned that one way of checking in is to say and acknowledge the rushed state of everybody’s life, such as, “Everybody is so busy and I’m just wanting you to know I’m still interested in your company and in the job.” She says, “This is a lovely way to walk that fine line!”

 

Stephanie also heard about the benefits of working with a staffing or recruiting company as one way to get access to a job in a technology company. She says the feedback she got from The Job Forum helped her focus in on a few major obstacles: having sufficient confidence and staying focused on her goal, following up, and keeping track of what works and doesn’t work in her job search.

 

Natalie is a marketing strategist from a large tech company who came to The Job Forum after she’d gone to a lot of other meetings with people looking for work (Geek dinners or other job meet ups.) She says the difference is that “At The Job Forum, it’s clear that the volunteers are skilled enough to really help job hunters. The Job Forum volunteers are from impressive companies, yet they focus first on listening to understand what help is needed.”

 

Natalie lists three things she learned at The Job Forum:

  1. How to reframe her goals so she could be much more specific so others will know what job she seeks next.
  2. How exactly to speak with others during a networking event or via LinkedIn when she wants advice or contacts.
  3. That she needs more research in order to better connect her existing skills to the job she wants next.

 

Susan, who is looking for work in biotech, says was so excited to find out about The Job Forum via the co-hosted program with UC Berkeley Extension Career Services.

“There were so many mid-career job hunters there. I felt more normal to hear from others who are experienced and yet looking for a next career step,” she said. She underscored, “I really appreciate that everybody was able to put their resumes and LinkedIn profiles into the zoom chat. It is amazing how effective the volunteers of The Job Forum are at connecting job hunters to one another – an exchange of contacts and referrals actually happens! This was exactly what I was looking for where job hunters and advisors are helping each other. The Job Forum facilitates real referrals and contacts! The Job Forum works. I have already gotten opportunities for interviews, I made it past 2 screening interviews, and now I’m focused on the next round. The Job Forum can really help you meet good people in companies you are targeting!”

 

The Job Forum welcome job hunters to come and find out what is most helpful to you.

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Jobs In Marketing & Advertising

At The Job Forum career fair co-hosted with the American Marketing Association (AMA SF), job hunters had the chance to hear about new opportunities and advice for next steps in job search.

 

For advertising jobs, are there recruiters and headhunter resources to connect with and how does that work?   

Overall recruitment in advertising falls into three approaches. One, there are those recruiters who are “in house”, working full time whether it be at an agency, production house or company. They are full time employees who handle the hiring for that organization. The second is what some call a “headhunter” approach. This is an individual or a boutique recruiting agency  who works with multiple clients and generally sources great candidates directly for specific roles that they are under contract and they are engaged to fill. The third approach is the recruiter who is a contract consulting recruiter, working embedded on the team of those who hire at the company or agency.

 

What advice to job hunters do recruiters offer?

You must begin by taking a really close look at both what the job role requirements are and what the responsibilities are.

At The Job Forum one recruiter explained this by saying:

‘Take the requirements with a tiny grain of salt. If you’re somewhere a little bit above or a little bit below with experience. I wouldn’t let that stop you from applying. But take time to know what they are looking for so you can clearly articulate what you bring to the job”

Definitely tailor your approach to what the specific responsibilities are and it is important to make it really easy for the recruiter.

“Think about the fact that a recruiter has to present you as a candidate internally, and will have to make a case for why the team should interview or consider you as the right job candidate. Make it really easy for someone to do that”.

When you make it really easy for the recruiter to verbalize and make a case for you, via a clear, concise and compelling approach to presenting yourself as an ideal candidate for the responsibilities, they described they want, it makes the recruiter’s job much easier, and therefore there is a much better chance that you may get that first screening call for a phone interview.

 

Any new areas developing in the field of advertising and marketing to consider?

There is now a field called “Immersive Technology”. Immersive Technologies create experiences by merging the physical world with a digital or simulated reality.  These for example use technology including AR, (Augmented Reality) or VR,( Virtual Reality).

Immersive Technology might be used to make marketing of products via online shopping experiences much more “ real” or satisfying or interactive. This is so that consumers have what they need and are inspired to make a purchase.

One of our experts at The Job Forum says:

” So many industries will be looking to add immersive experiences and subject matter experts will be needed as well as those with the technical skills.

For an immersive banking tool, we will need people with some experience from the banking industry, or if we’re doing something in healthcare, we will need experienced people from health care. So every industry has transferrable skills for most of the immersive technology applications, which is great. So if you are interested in this new area, you can move into Immersive Technology if you are a graphic or digital UX designer, or if you are a traditional developer.  So there are going to be lots of opportunities, if you’re interested, dive into it and find out”.

 To learn more visit the website for the industry ecosystem…AWE

 https://www.awexr.com/usa-2021/about_awe

 

 

Training organizations in the SF Bay Area for producers and designers?

 

One great example of an organization for training in video production, editing, and post production skills which lead to good jobs, is Bay Area Video Coalition Media (BAVC Media).

BAVC Media is a community hub and resource for media makers in the Bay Area and across the country, serving over 7,500 freelancers, filmmakers, job-seekers, activists, and artists every year.

BAVC Media provides access to media making technology, storytelling workshops, and training in digital marketing, video production, video and  audio post production, web and graphics design and more.

About

 

 Working in Marketing at Salesforce?

 

Salesforce has many different roles relevant for those in the marketing professions. At The Job Forum, we talked with one expert recruiter at Salesforce who explained:

“At large companies such as Salesforce, recruiters get over a million applications a year. So you need to keep things short and to the point when communicating. (You don’t need a really long cover letter). Short to the point means a few bullets, and include why you are qualified for the position and  what makes you as a job candidate stand out.”

At large companies like Salesforce it is a good idea to network at the company. Reach out to people through LinkedIn, you might not hear back from everyone, but try to build your network.

“At Salesforce we rely on referrals a lot, and so build your network with us. We reach out to every referral that applies.  Getting referred ensures that your resume gets reviewed. Building that network is critical. At many or most large companies, there may be a referral bonus that goes to the person who referred you.”

Salesforce has been in a hiring growth mode.  Salesforce has a lot of openings across kind of all functions across the company.

“Within marketing, Salesforce has a variety of roles like campaign managers, product marketers, and all kinds of creative positions, and we have brand marketing manager positions too.  Salesforce is building out our digital team and we have marketing analytics positions available as well”

 Salesforce is hiring in marketing roles. Check out the openings for remote or in person jobs

https://www.salesforce.com/company/careers

 

Come to the Job Forum for the latest information on how to build your job network and get hired. We will extend to you a helping hand!

 

Thank you to Michelle Excell at the Antipodean, Hilary Lannan recruitment,  Bre Brockington at BAVC Media, and to Kim Ratto in recruiting at Salesforce for your input to The Job Forum.

 

 

Organizations mentioned

https://bavc.org/about

https://AMA.org

https://wwwsalesforce.com

https://www.theantipodean.us

https://www.linkedin.com/in/hillarylannan

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JP Morgan Chase & Co.

We recently asked JP Morgan Chase to share some detail about a career path and job role that may be of interest to those who enjoy delivering exceptional customer experience and want workdays that are spent actually helping customers. This is an example of just one job, that of a Relationship Banker:

Do you have a passion for helping customers, building relationships, and delivering extraordinary customer service? JP Morgan Chase is looking for energetic, enthusiastic people to be the face of Chase to our retail branch customers. From a personal standpoint, you’ll also have the opportunity to take ownership of your career development through a variety of cross-training opportunities. As a Relationship Banker on our Branch Banking team, you’ll take a lead role in delivering an outstanding experience to Chase customers. You’ll establish, manage, retain meaningful relationships with our customers, using your financial knowledge to offer thoughtful solutions to help address their financial needs.
Apply Here- Bay Area Relationship Banker Positions

Chase is a leading financial services firm, helping nearly half of America’s households and small businesses achieve their financial goals through a broad range of financial products. Our mission is to create engaged, lifelong relationships and put our customers at the heart of everything we do. We also help small businesses, nonprofits and cities grow, delivering solutions to solve all their financial needs.

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Early-Year Job Hunter: The Numbers Are Working For You – Not Against You!

When you begin a job hunt, you always have questions:

  • How likely are you to get hired?
  • Are there enough jobs in your profession?
  • Are there openings at the companies where you want to work?

 

The unemployment rate climbed sharply within the first two months of the pandemic, reaching 14.7% in April 2020. That figure surpassed the unemployment rate during the first two years of the Great Recession (2007-2009). However, compared to the two-and-a-half years that it took during the Great Recession, in 2020, it took only four months before the unemployment rate went below 9%.

 

So, what can you do to get your dream job?

Get going right now!

 

The beginning of the year (January – April) is a great time to get hired in most industries. In fact, it’s probably the best time to look for jobs all year in most industries.

January usually starts slowly as people come back from holiday vacations but by the second week of the month, things are running smoothly.

February is a peak hiring time.  Most jobs have been updated and new jobs have been posted to the job boards in January.

February is the month to put the most effort into your application and to communicate with your network and with companies at which you want to work.

March and April is still a good time to look for a job!

 

Start with these easy steps:

Dust off that résumé and bring it up to date

Write down your job “must haves”

Create your targeted company lists

Set job alerts so you can be ready when your desired companies post openings

Create your contact and networking list and craft your email message to reach out and ask for a referral to your target companies

Send out your updated résumé

 

The later you apply for an open position, the stiffer the competition you will face.

Many jobs are posted on Tuesdays and many candidates jump right on the new listings and send in their applications and résumé promptly. This is one reason you should set alerts for jobs at your target companies and be ready to move (make a few final adaptations related to the job description to your résumé) and be able apply promptly.

 

Don’t overlook the opportunities and benefits of temporary positions.

Taking on a temporary role allows you to see a company from the inside, understand how it functions and to get to know hiring managers on the inside. Companies vary as to whether they offer permanent positions to those who have worked there temporarily. Many staffing agencies report that 70-90% of the temporary workers they place into companies, will get “converted” and get a permanent position in the company.

 

We at The Job Forum can help you get going on your early in the year plans and stay ahead of the competition.  Come to The Job Forum to get your job search questions answered, add networking contacts and hear job search strategy ideas from our volunteers who are experienced in work at local businesses. Let’s get started with your early year job search and help you to get hired!

 

Cindy Fassler and Janet Beach

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Are You Over 40 and Looking for a Job?

The Job Forum has volunteers from over 100 companies and organizations who volunteer to help job hunters. You can sign up and get helpful input and referrals. The Job Forum helps experienced as well as new job hunters and shares practical tips and “lessons learned” that you can use for your own job search situation.

 

Research shows older workers who have been laid off from their positions face unemployment longer than younger workers in the same situation. Here are a few questions you need to consider when looking for a job:

 

How will you work with younger managers?

As the workforce continues to turn over, it’s entirely possible your interviewer or manager will be younger than you are. Will you be able to work and collaborate with someone younger? Regardless of what you may think, they have evidently earned their position and job title. You want to proactively show that you respect their experience and position and that you’re excited to be on their team.

 

How will you thwart age discrimination?

The most important thing to remember is to work on what you can control; you can be your best self and you can be the best at the standard rules of interviewing- regardless of age:

  • Show your enthusiasm about the position and energy to take on a new challenge
  • Communicate a “future forward attitude”, rather than one fixed on the past.
  • Exhaust all resources to learn about the company, and go to your network and see who is working there; referrals are gold at any age.
  • Ask for an introduction to the hiring manager if that is not who you are interviewing with initially.
  • Finally, don’t be afraid to create a conversation to better connect with the interviewer. It will show that you can fit in with the team.

 

Why don’t recruiters respond to your résumé?

–Salary or expectations of what your salary will need to be.

You might be approaching your peak earnings. Salary is a factor and job grades define salary ranges. Men usually have higher paying jobs than women do.
By the time women hit 39, their typical wage is $60,000 per year, while men earn $95,000 per year, depending on the type of job.

 

–Your résumé is probably outdated.

When you are searching for a new job, one of the first things you should do is update and modernize your résumé. Your résumé from 2000 is likely irrelevant, or a bit outdated, and may be detrimental to your over-40 job search. Your résumé is the first impression a hiring manager gets of you, so you best make sure your résumé does you justice. The old adage, “best foot forward,” is so true when it comes to your résumé. A few key tips to consider:

  • That objective statement listed under your contact information? Remove it and replace it with your target JOB TITLE and a strong summary statement that highlights your skills and experience.
  • Core competencies should have no more than 8 bullets, 4 bullets each in two columns.
  • The paragraphs under every job title? Break them out into short bullet points instead; they should be factual and concise.
  • Most of the time your resume is submitted electronically and many companies have built-in search engines for key words that match the job description, and if they are not found, your résumé is automatically rejected.
  • Those graduation dates? Delete them. They will date you!

It can take months to find a job, so get started soon and expect some bumps in the road.

It is estimated that the average person takes six months to find a job. Be sure you and your family understand that this can be a laborious process. You want them to support you. Plan to try to “Be OK with rejection.” Keep learning and look forward to meeting more people to get to the one who will say “yes”. There is competition. If selected to interview, you could have multiple interviews with various people within the company and still not be chosen for the position, so having a positive network to keep your spirits up and your network growing is very important.

The Job Forum is a network you can tap into to help you get the next job. Come and meet the helpful people who volunteer at The Job Forum. The Job Forum will help you overcome job search obstacles.

 

It is rare that you get the first job you apply for, so cast a wide net and apply to multiple companies.

 

The most important thing to remember is that it is not YOU.
Looking for a job is a numbers game, so don’t take it personally.
Be open to constructive feedback,

Ask for input at The Job Forum and don’t give up!

 

Cindy Fassler is a Job Forum volunteer, a career coach and recruiter.

http://cindyfassler.com

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Advice for Product Marketing & Working At Facebook (Meta)

Marketing and advertising professionals had a great opportunity to meet and talk directly with hiring companies at The Job Forum career fair co-hosted with the American Marketing Association (AMA SF)

 

The Job Forum has advice you can apply to your job search and ways to adapt your approach for a wide range of job titles and types of roles you may want to explore in the fields of advertising and marketing and social media marketing.

We organize tips for job hunters by job title and company.

 

Product Marketing Manager

Product Marketing is a broad field. And it’s also a relatively new field.

There are a lot of different backgrounds that can help feed into product marketing.

A Product Marketing Manager at Facebook advises job hunters to think about two aspects of the role of Product Marketing Manager : 1. Inbound target market inputs and 2. Outbound target market strategy and messaging.

For the first skill-set, inbound inputs, think how you, your skills, and your experience, are suited to the marketing tasks that include:

Gathering market insights, understanding the competitive landscape, analyzing and capturing insights and uncovering nuggets from user feedback. These are the kinds of inputs that help influence product direction and ensure the team is building a product or service that will differentiate the product or service and solves for market needs.

As a job hunter, interested in product marketing, think about what are things that you’ve done that map to that kind of needed experience since, as a Product Marketing Manager, you are the lead on target market input.

The second skill-set for landing a job as a Product Marketing Manager is outbound strategy and messaging priorities. As the product is getting ready to launch, how do you strategize about the launch and plan the “go to market” strategy? How will you provide leadership regarding what the key messages are for a product, who is going to use it, how shall the team prioritize the benefits to tell people about the product or service being marketed?

You will want to think about what are some of things that you have done in a past job role, even if not a product marketing job title per se, that demonstrate strategic thinking and ability to prioritize messages and be sure you communicate those skills and your relevant past experience making decisions about priorities for marketing strategy and messaging and find ways to emphasize these within your resume and during your interview.

 

Working at Facebook, now called Meta:

 Facebook, now called META is a really large company.

There are a lot of different roles for marketing and advertising professionals.  Here are some tips for what you should you do as you apply at Meta or Facebook:

  1. Make sure you go to the Facebook career site first, https://www.facebookcareers.com
  2. Read the job descriptions in depth for all of the different types of positions,
  3. Make sure that you have a good understanding of what each position will actually entail and figure out why this is the right fit for you,
  4. There may be many positions to which you could apply, but you can only actually apply to a few. Make sure you are applying to the positions that really are the best fit for your skills, and have the maximum chance of getting you to the next round and having you talking to the relevant recruiter and hiring manager team,
  5. Think and plan very specifically about how you will articulate your background and skills so they relate to what is required for the job,
  6. If you happen to know someone who works at Meta, or any part of Facebook and they are familiar with your work, and can speak to your work or past experiences, that can be useful. Referrals are powerful at many companies, including at Facebook.

 

Companies are actively selecting candidates who they hope will shine and contribute. We hope you will use these tips coming to you directly from The Job Forum, product marketing and Facebook recruiting volunteers to optimize your opportunities to be considered and selected as a top candidate.

 

THANK YOU to Aneri Shah and Josh Sacco for their input

Organizations mentioned include:

https://thejobforum.org.

https://AMA.org,

https://www.facebookcareers.com

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Uncategorized

Career Success Story – Paige

Paige has had a wonderful success after switching her career after being laid off.

She wants other job hunters to benefit from what she learned along the path to her new, more technical and exciting job and career.

Paige says she hopes every determined Bay Area job hunter will come to The Job Forum. She thinks the encouragement, useful ideas and insights, and sharing that happens with others going through a job search are just invaluable!

Paige says her experience is that the generous volunteers at The Job Forum are going to help you to make your job search much more successful. You will learn so much and it is a much more positive experience to search for your new career while truly being supported by managers from local companies who are giving their time to help job hunters at The Job Forum meetings. They become part of your network outside The Job Forum too! She is so grateful!

 

Here is what happened to Paige: 

She was in a career as a graphics designer. She was laid off from her job with Sprint in 2018.

 

No worries turns into a challenge

Paige did not worry much at first. She knew she was good at her job and she thought it would be easy to find a new job. She says she was mistaken.

Looking back on it, she thinks the media and news environment weren’t telling people the truth about the economy. She had a great amount of difficulty finding opportunities to continue her career as a graphics designer.

 

Temporary staffing agency work helped

Paige comments that she looked for temp work while conducting her job search and was so fortunate to land a temporary assignment with a staffing agency. She became a graphics designer for a party supply company via The Creative Group, part of Robert Half. This job ended at the end of 2019.

Now she was open to trying something else.

 

Job search services make a big difference 

Paige was still very optimistic about her job search and she got busy and started looking online, looking for graphic design jobs and trying to focus on her most positive skills.

She was very driven to be successful and so she was quite proactive looking into Meet Up groups and Eventbrite events and using keywords to find job search services that she thought might lead her to her next job.

 

Finding The Job Forum

In this way, she came across The Job Forum and she came to one of the Job Forum Wed meetings. The Job Forum Wednesday meetings are the core service of the Job Forum. (This is where Job Hunters come to share their job search challenges, hear ideas and get suggestions and networking contacts from local Bay Area managers who volunteer and help job hunters be successful in finding their next jobs).

 

Paige says it was fantastic to hear other job hunter stories. She realized that she was not alone in looking for a job and finding it much harder and taking much longer than she had expected! Paige says she found it remarkable that she got so much “personalized” help that really focused on what she was dealing with and her particular set of skills and capabilities. She also drew from the very good advice and comments made to help other Job Hunters at the meetings.

 Paige started coming often to The Job Forum, not just on Wed Job Forum weekly meetings, but also to the special events on Job Forum Thursdays.

Paige marvels still at how knowledgeable and effective are the volunteers who share their business experience as hiring managers. She says “At The Job Forum the volunteers are also kind and go ‘above and beyond ‘ to help job hunters”.

She mentions many volunteers at The Job Forum whom she got to know who helped her on her path to get a new job including Kathy Mark, Robin Pille, Jean Lyu, Alexandra Belosic, Jusdon Walsh, Debra Mugnani Monroe, Haroon Ansary, and Ellie Dailey.

 

Paige says these people gave her strength and encouragement as well as great ideas and real help. She is particularly impressed that so many well recognized companies like Salesforce and Linkedin and other leading companies are part of The Job Forum. These companies have managers with whom you can follow up and get practical suggestions while you keep searching for your next career step.

Paige says she literally couldn’t have asked for any more helpful support and advice. She learned so much. She got new referrals and she was encouraged to conduct informational interviews and to talk to everybody in her network about the new career she was now contemplating.

 She says it was significant that she got to practice talking about her skills and accomplishments. Paige thinks The Job Forum really helps you in two other important ways: to sound and to  be more professional. You practice talking about your career and your goals and this prepares you to be more comfortable and actually get better at confidently making the case for why you should be hired.

 

Isolation vs.a team to get your job

Page points out that coming to The Job Forum often gives you positive energy of being part of a team working toward your job goal. This energy is what you need to combat isolation and to keep presenting yourself on a professional level and practice speaking in a polished manner.(This is especially true she says if English is your second language).

The Job Forum events also combat the unintended discouragement of pressures you may feel from family and friends who may undermine your confidence and give you the sense that you are taking way too long to get hired. The Job Forum volunteers treat you like a professional and give you useful, real world, insights about the realities of looking for a job nowadays.

 

New career in marketing data analytics

During her job search activities, and with her persistence, Paige began to focus on the combination of her marketing experience as a graphics designer and her growing interest in technology and the possibilities for using data, analyzing it and applying it to business problems and needs.

In this way, she discovered the field of “marketing data analytics” and she became interested to try to find a job in this new field. Her thought was that it would be economically stable and that it was a job about the future, about technology, using data, and applying it was a way to work in technology!

 

Paige knew it was a challenging field to get into but decided to use what she learned at The Job Forum and conduct lots of informational interviews and to follow the advice. The Job Forum teaches job hunters how to tell everybody you know what are your goals and be specific about what is the job title you are seeking. Paige started to do this!

She found her job through her network of personal contacts, via the sister of someone she knows. The sister talked to her about the company where she herself works which is an infrastructure firm, working on railroads, bridges, roads. Paige told the sister specifically what she was looking to do. Fortunately a job related to “marketing data analytics” came up there.  Paige let her contact know she “ saw the job”, her contact recommended her for it internally, and Paige applied for the job to work remotely (They are an international company headquartered in Pennsylvania) After some successful interviews, over 3-4 weeks, Paige was the candidate who landed the job!

 

Success and advice for others

Paige has now been working in her new field of Marketing Data Analytics for 7 months.

She says the thing she has learned is that by meeting regularly with others and articulating what you think you might like to do next – even if you are a bit vague- you may find that there are fields you don’t even know exist!

Paige tells other job hunters that “ Something someone says at a meeting at The Job Forum will often trigger and guide you in how to keep trying and you will learn how be more effective and to move your thinking along.”  You get so many new skills such as how to do informational interviewing and you will be able to start to clarify your job objectives and be better able to move ahead to the next successful step in your career.

 

Next step – volunteering

Paige is very grateful for all the encouragement and practical input and guidance and time that she was given by the volunteers at The Job Forum.

One next step for Paige is she plans to “pay it forward “ and she will volunteer and offer some marketing data analytics to The Job Forum non-profit.

What a wonderful circle of success this is!

 

 

True stories such as this one about Paige and her success, are why so many high quality managers volunteer with The Job Forum to help job hunters and why local Bay Area Companies support The Job Forum’s  mission and good work.

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