OU, TO HOLD ITS VIRTUAL JOB FAIR III ON MARCH 12; ANNOUNCES ALLIANCE WITH JEWISH COMMUNITY COUNCIL OF CONEY ISLAND TO PROVIDE JOB TRAINING
Following the success of two job fairs held in the last six months, 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.
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 previous submitted their resumes are interviewed online by human resources directors in the New York area.
In addition to the Job Fair, many candidates will benefit from a recently formed Job Board alliance with the Jewish Community Council of Coney Island, a social service group that provides jobs, job training, health and social services to the general community. The OU Job Board and the Jewish Community Council of Coney Island will present its first workshop in February (date to be announced )on how to write a resume and how to transition main frame computer programmers into more viable and open positions in the IT industry.
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.”
“Our new alliance with the Jewish Community Council of Coney Island will help candidates to find jobs, to receive the job counseling and family services they need,” Mr. Rosner added. He noted that the JCC provides special job services to the large Russian community in the area.
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.”
On Monday, March 3, preceding the Job Fair, 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. The webcast will be made available on OU Job Board website, https://www.ou.org/jobboard/.
Sponsorship opportunities are also available. For more information contact Mr. Rosner at 212-613-8129 or rosnerm@ou.org.