The Job Forum is a free, San Francisco non profit, community service, that educates,trains and supports job hunters looking for jobs in the SF Bay Area.
Two weekly free services are provided for Job hunters:
-Wed evening job search meetings
-Thursday evening job search skills workshops
We want to continue The Job Forum service for job hunters who live here and may have lost their jobs, are moving here to the San Francisco Bay Area and for those who want to stay here in the area, but who do not have a job or do not have the career they want.
The Job Forum needs financial support and donations in order to run, train, manage, administer, market and measure this service for job hunters.
The SF Chamber of Commerce is the fiscal sponsor of the Job Forum by offering meeting space and website hosting. The Job Forum also receives a community support grant from LinkedIn. The Job Forum has continuously provided our free job search services delivered entirely by volunteer Bay Area mangers to job hunters for more than 60 years.
Job Forum meetings are offered on Wed evenings in San Francisco from 6:30 to 8:30 for job hunters who bring their job search challenges and during the meeting each will get individualized helpful advice for how to get the jobs they want. The Job Forum is free for job hunters. A Job Forum job search skills workshops is offered every Thursday evening.
The Job Forum is run by approximately 70 volunteers who work at Bay Area companies large and smaller (VISA, Salesforce, Facebook, UCSF, Levi Strauss, Twilio, Splunk, Google, AutoDesk, Necktar Therapeutics, EverLaw) who coach job hunters in virtual Job Forum group meetings. The volunteers educate the job hunters, provide support and useful information, brainstorm ideas, problem solve, and give advice for how each job hunter should conduct his/her modern job search. The Job Forum also provides a network of business contacts for referrals since many jobs are filled primarily by referral.
The Job Forum educates and coaches job hunters of all ages (college to experienced workers) in how to more effectively plan, target and conduct a modern job search, so they may get to work, and contribute to the San Francisco Bay Area economy.
At The Job Forum there are job hunters from around the world (often they are “trailing spouses” whose wives or husbands have been transferred here to a new job and they know nobody). Similarly we see many in search of jobs who are moving to the Bay Area from other parts of the country and know practically nobody here. The Job Forum also sees new grads and we see those who have lost their jobs or been "furloughed".
The Job Forum sees job hunters with skills and experience as well as those just starting out on a career path. We see those who want to change jobs to have more impact or earn a better living to support their families. We see those who have been caring for the elderly or babies, and not working in full-time jobs, who urgently need to get back to full time work. We meet those who are not happy in the career they are in and want to change to another career and are not sure if this is even possible. We see job hunters who repeatedly get no response whatsoever from companies to the applications they have sent in and are wondering if this means ”I am really worthless and unlikely to ever work again.” We see job hunters who are regularly discriminated against for various reasons. (age, disability, accents, ethnic group). For all kinds of job hunters, The Job Forum provides practical advice and counsel and actionable ideas for what to do about the specific situation the job hunter finds him or herself in.
Please help us to be able to continue to offer this valuable and appreciated service for job hunters.
The Job Forum has recently doubled our programing and is now also offering free, high impact job search skills workshops every Thursday evening, as well as continuing our Wed evening job search meetings - both now virtual- in order to help address the current economic downturn and layoffs and much higher unemployment rate.
Testimonial comments from job hunters:
-“Really helpful and specific input - targeted for each job searcher in the group with useful resources so it is both encouraging and clear and you can get going and follow the plan they advise” (Database manager)
-“ I think the Job Forum is more helpful than the outplacement counselor I was sent to because it is run by managers currently working in Bay Area businesses who give you the real world information you actually need and they do it in a kind, supportive, detailed manner” (Senior executive)
-“ The Job Forum is professional and positive. I got the ideas and supportive advice that I needed in order to get un-stuck on how to cover gaps in employment in my resume and how to describe my skills and experience more accurately and with more current language” (Marketing manager returning to work after baby and making a career change)
-“I am trying to build my network and make needed connections in this wonderful area (SF Bay Area) My goal is to get a fulfilling and purposeful job where I can contribute and it is nice and valuable to get feedback on my job search strategies and make new acquaintances and the Job Forum helps us all do both.”(Software engineer)
-“ I received honest, sincere feedback at the Job Forum and armed with the useful suggestions, I completely revised my resume and my LinkedIn profile to be much better at explaining what I offer and I expect to see some improved response to my job applications.”
(Recent graduate in social media)
-“It is very helpful to hear advice and tips from the panel of the Job Forum and also from the other job hunters from all walks of life –newcomers from Europe or Asia, senior executives, recent college grads, career changers part timers everyone including high tech people with advanced technical knowledge getting really useful information to make getting the next job more likely. (VP high technology).
Please donate to The Job Forum, a unique and valuable Bay Area Service that develops skills and builds the resilience of the Bay Area workforce and actually helps the job hunters and families and the economy of the SF Bay Area to thrive.
https://.thejobforum.org
Janet Beach, Job Forum Chairman/Executive Director (Volunteer)
jbeach@usmarketingservices.com
415-309-3575
