Career Resilience: Part 2 - Some Resources
We kick-off the New Year providing some resources to job hunters and career changers. If your resolutions include improving your finances, then improving your earning power is a great next move. Assess where you are with your career, think about where you could be, put in place the stepping stones to get there and they create your action plan, including the supporting habits that will keep you on track. It's pretty much basic common sense but it's easy to fail to follow-through. You can't do it alone without support and resources.
Here are some of our Top-3 favorites: (note: we're in the San Francisco Bay Area)
Jewish Vocational Services: Nonprofit offering job listings, career skills classes, access to mentors. Their services are available to everyone (i.e. you don't have to be Jewish). If you have been out of work for some time, the Job Search Accelerator is a fantastic 36-hour, 2 week federally-funded program that will teach you critical job search skills. Learn how to apply for the most sought after positions, and more importantly, to land the one that's right for you. The Job Search Accelerator, or "JSA", led by career coach Kristie Harris, covers research skills to find opportunities through LinkedIn. The JSA also helps you create or refine your career story so that you can make a compelling case. You'll learn the resume and interview skills you will need to get in the door. Staying motivated throughout a job search is hard, particularly if you've been at it for a while or are facing headwinds (like age bias) so the JSA supports graduates after the initial 36 hours. You'll have access to weekly "Master your Resume" workshops and weekly support group meetings with others in your cohort. Some individual career advising sessions will also be available to you to help pivot and adapt as you learn more and explore your career options.
Here's a 2-minute video clip with graduates of the Job Search Accelerator telling you what they got out of it:
The Muse: A career site that includes listings of jobs at top companies and has in-depth profiles of what working there is really like. The Muse is for the patient job searcher who insists on quality and on making a well-considered career decision. Need more direction and career coaching? The Muse also connects users to a network of expert career coaches to review resumes and provide career and job-search advice. Best kept secret about The Muse? You can sign-up for a 30-minute complementary session with a coach.
HireClub: A site and community of over 20,000 for job searchers that offers a number of career services like coaching, resume reviews, and job postings. HireClub also hosts local events and talks by career experts so you get the opportunity to meet fellow seekers in person. As part of the research on this post, I booked a career coaching session with HireClub founder Ketan Anjaria, and report that he was thorough in his preparation, easy to schedule and very helpful with observations on my LinkedIn profile, current resume and career change strategy. Definitely worth looking into if you are struggling and feeling stuck.
Other links:
The Job Forum: Offers group career coaching in San Francisco every Wednesday evening.
Craigslist Bay Area Jobs: If you are in a pinch to get something to pay the bills, Craigslist offers more entry level, seasonal and gig-type jobs.
eparachute.com: This site is an offshoot of the perennial favorite of generations of job searchers, What Color is Your Parachute?
If this all feels like too much, like you're drinking from the fire-hose without being able to catch your breath, then note that thought. The fact that there are so many resources available to you, as a job seeker, can help dispel the gloom anytime you feel defeated and like there isn’t any hope. If you want some help getting oriented in your search while keeping your finances in order, talk to our coaches at FiClub.
