ORTHODOX UNION TO HOLD ITS VIRTUAL JOB FAIR III ON MARCH 12; PRECEDING THE FAIR “PROFESSIONAL SERIES” WEBCAST ON MARCH 3 WILL PREP APPLICANTS FOR THE INTERVIEW
Drawing from the success of its previous job fairs, the Orthodox Union announced today that its Virtual Job Fair III, will be held on Wednesday, March 12, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., to help those who are looking for new jobs or those looking to expand their opportunities in today’s job market. It is being sponsored by the Manhattan Borough President, Scott Stringer; IDT Corporation; and the Jewish Family Services of Bergen County.
The Virtual Job Fair is a project of the OU’s Job Board, which was introduced last January, and which maintains a comprehensive website, https://www.ou.org/jobboard/. The Job Fair will be held free-of-charge at OU Headquarters, 11 Broadway. In the Virtual Job Fair, candidates who have previously submitted their resumes are interviewed online by human resources directors in the New York area.
In preparation for the Job Fair, on Monday, March 3, the new OU “Professional Series” will offer a workshop via a worldwide webcast to help candidates develop the techniques to take their best interview ever. While the workshop is in progress, a “Hollywood” acting coach will work with volunteers from the live audience and prepare them for their interviews. The “before” and “after” mock interviews will be taped and broadcast after the seminar. They will focus on how a candidate’s body language can help in obtaining employment. The webcast will be made available on OU Job Board website, https://www.ou.org/jobboard/.
According to Michael Rosner, OU Job Board Director, “We continue to fine-tune the Job Fair process to assure that people who are invited to come to the Fair will actually have a better chance to land a job on the spot, as happened at our first Job Fair in June, when 20 people received offers right away. Not to mention that there was a 49.6 percent hire/second interview call back rate at the second Job Fair in August.”
“Already we have close to 30 employers who are registered and over 350 job-applicants,” he added.
The Job Fair is believed to be the first program anywhere to combine state-of-the-art technology with human resources practices to assist the unemployed and the under-employed in the Jewish community in New York and nationally in finding meaningful work.
According to Mr. Rosner, “We have received requests from many in the professional development services to teach them how our Job Fair works, due to the impressive success rates that we have established.”
“Our Job Fairs are unique in that they are virtual and start the day the candidates post their resumes,” Mr. Rosner said. “The OU in reality goes to each of the employers, dropping off resumes where appropriate, making a true match for the job that is being offered. In this way, employers who want to see a candidate in a scheduled interview setting have already had a chance to review each resume, experience and qualifications, prior to setting up the interview.”
When the applicants arrive at OU Headquarters, they are interviewed via a video conference with HR personnel in the New York/New Jersey area, who have the comfort of remaining in their own offices. HR professionals who prefer to screen applicants in person will come to the OU and conduct their interviews live.
According to Mr. Rosner, a number of new employers in different fields such as asset management, medical services, home health care services, computer design and web programming have joined the Job Fair in addition to previous employers who are returning.
To participate, log-on to https://www.ou.org/jobboard/ to access the application tab for the March 12 Job Fair. Employers are encouraged to apply as soon as possible as the Fair is almost “sold out.”
Sponsorship opportunities are also available. For more information contact Mr. Rosner at 212-613-8129 or rosnerm@ou.org.