How the Job Forum Helps

Job Forum Approach

Our approach provides job seekers with the tools and information they need to articulate their career goals and execute a modern job search. We share the information and individualized coaching and advice within the context of the weekly group Job Forum meetings.

The Job Forum is the premier free job search and career coaching service for professionals seeking employment in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Job Forum helps by offering customized brainstorming and problem solving and job search training and workforce development to professionals looking for jobs in the SF Bay Area. The Job Forum will help you by explaining and tailoring contemporary job search skills to apply them to your unique situation, so you can get your next job. You ask questions or describe your job search so far and we help you with ideas and concrete suggestions. In this way we teach and mentor and help you plan your next job or career move.

The Job Forum currently offers all programs virtually rather than in person.

We offer Wed evening job search individualized advice meetings and Thursday evening job search workshops.

Wed Job Forum: What to expect

We offer our customized job search meetings virtually on Wed evenings. Your individual situation can be discussed and your top job hunt questions answered. You directly benefit from advice from skilled Bay Area managers who tailor their suggestions and ideas specifically to you and your own unique job search. You also hear advice offered to others, so you can get the double benefit of hearing answers to questions you did not ask but which may be relevant to you. Our expert panel of volunteers will problem solve and brainstorm on behalf of as many individual job seekers as we can.

Thursday Job Forum: What to expect

We offer job search and career workshops virtually on most Thursday evenings. Job Forum volunteers from Bay Area companies offer their expertise along with Q&A so you can add skills and add knowledge about what really works nowadays, when you are looking for a job.

The Job Forum aims to help individuals to help themselves in their job search. We help job seekers conduct a modern, focused, targeted and strategic job search and maximize opportunities to find the “right job”.

Our expert panel of volunteers will problem solve and brainstorm on behalf of each individual job seeker.

We coach each person with customized advice and counsel on his or her own job search. Our panelists are both experts in their fields and skilled at coaching others. We coach job seekers with our hearts as well as with our knowledge, experience, connections and expertise.

The Job Forum is neither a placement service nor an employment agency. However, we do pass on relevant job openings to participants when we know about them or they are received from SF Bay area employers.

“A great informative session. The Job Forum panel is so warm and interested to really help. The advice was relevant and smart. Very appreciative of the recommendations.”

“Good one-to-one suggestions and advice. Excellent panel! They are highly intelligent and experienced based on their in-depth knowledge about modern job search realities.”

“The advice was great. I like hearing about everyone’s experiences. It was unique to learn from other, more experienced, people. I started thinking how I can apply their experience to what I have to go through.”

How does it work

The Job Forum provides job seekers with leading career expertise via our volunteers from SF Bay Area companies. We provide information and coaching on how to land a job in today’s market and answer individual job seeker questions in a customized fashion.

Goal Setting:

A job search is more successful when there is a clear job objective that is consistent with the individual’s experience, background, job market, and aspirations. The Job Forum helps job seekers establish a specific and realistic job objective to guide their job search.

Research:

Every successful job search requires research. The Job Forum provides information on how to research verticals or industry markets or job titles of interest. We also help job seekers identify personal preferences to use as part of targeting. We will discuss other factors that will lead to happy and successful employment.

Planning:

Planning pays dividends. The Jobs Forum coaches job seekers on how to plan and conduct an integrated job search campaign that can yield results.

Target company or organization list:

Your job search is going to be more effective when others can actively help you. They can help you more if they know where you want to work and in what job. We recommend you identify 6-10 target workplaces and set about getting referred into these target companies and network to find people who work where you want to work.

The Job Market:

Is the job you are looking for unique to one industry, or does it cross industry lines? Can it be found in the private or public sector, or both? The Jobs Forum helps job seekers assess the job market and conduct the best job search campaign to match.

Tools for Success:

The Job Forum provides job seekers with tools and a process for conducting the job-finding campaign. From preparing a resume, using LinkedIn for an active job search, to building your network, to working with recruiters, interviewing for a job and much more. The Job Forum offers useful advice for every stage of the job search process.

When and where

The Job Forum provides free, professional job search advice, coaching, resources and encouragement at group meetings held virtually every Wednesday and most Thursday evenings. Currently all meetings are on Zoom and you sign up via Eventbrite.

Other Services

Our services include career skill workshops and curricula, career coaching, business and non-profit courses and programs, both fee-based and free. Our services may include job postings, advertising of job openings, and listings. Our services may include candidate, or executive placement and recruiting, hourly or daily consulting for career planning, or job
search and outplacement services.

Who sponsors the Job Forum

Sponsored by the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, the Job Forum is a volunteer-run community service. The Job Forum has helped thousands of job seekers become more confident and successful in their hunt for the next great job. The Job Forum is free and open to serious and educated job seekers.