Interview with Volunteer, Michelle Liu
Hi Michelle,
- Will you please describe your career?
I’m a project manager and have a finance and technical consulting background.
- How did you find out about The Job Forum and begin volunteering
My friend Mary introduced me and she urged me to share my experience because as a consultant you constantly have to be looking for new clients which is like looking for a job. So, she said you have figured out effective methods and she thought I should share those.
- What did she tell you that were reasons you should volunteer?
She said I would be good at it so I should help other people. She said she knew from volunteering herself that my career approach would be helpful.
- What has caused you to stay on, continuing as a volunteer at The Job Forum?
-I really like helping others.
-It’s very satisfying when you help other people
– You have the opportunity for your own growth.
-There are other people at The Job Forum who are so excellent and have so many ideas.
-The presentations and advice they give are very powerful.
– The group of almost 200 volunteers is a generous, kind, smart group of people so it is positive to be part of the organization.
You also learn about new trends, like AI and emerging tools and methods of recruiting and you are told about new technologies as they come to the forefront, so you gain skill sets that you wouldn’t otherwise gain -simply because you’re volunteering and helping other people, so this puts you ahead. This puts you at the forefront and at the cutting edge of ideas and learning. That’s a big benefit.
- What do you tell job hunters about what to expect when they go to The Job Forum and why, in essence, should they go?
The reasons I tell them to go is that it’s a great place for advice, new ideas they can put to use right away, encouragement, new contacts, and referrals.
I tell job hunters they’re going to meet decision-makers who are knowledgeable about how their companies hire!
I tell them It’s a really an encouraging environment
You can get inspired. You can get motivated!
Job hunting can be disappointing and it’s so isolating when you are a job hunter. So, by coming to The Job Forum, I tell them they get really current information they can use and they will get re-energized to actively look for a job.
- What’s your point of view on why job hunters who come to The Job Forum in the past, or even now, should support it now?
Well, I think we all should support The Job Forum.
I hope that people who came in the past, will
recall how bad the time of unemployment is and will pay it forward so others can benefit.
It takes a lot of touch points to get a job. It’s not just one thing.
It’s not simple
So we need everyone to be part of helping the unemployed:
You can volunteer your time
You can make a donation.
You can be helpful to the organization using your skills in marketing. data base advertising on social media, fundraising, writing articles.
We want to have everybody to feel that the San Francisco Job Forum is worth sustaining!
- What do you want to say to companies and foundations and individuals about why to give money to support the Job Forum?
I say, did you know that this nonprofit organization is all volunteer and it only has 1/2 of an FTE?
and yet the organization runs all these fantastic programs and helps so many grateful job hunters.
But there are still expenses related to running and operating a nonprofit -like updating the website, covering the operating expenses, software expenses, outreach, and marketing, social media advertising to make sure that job hunters know about upcoming events in their target industry, and there are needed basic supplies!
We need support and we don’t charge our job hunters, the majority are unemployed. Yet there are expenses, nonetheless.
The Bay Area needs to get going and sponsor and support The Job Forum.
