One of the reasons for the slenderish postings lately has been my involvement in a job search group called ProMatch; I’ve also had a lingering cold which has been sapping my energy but I’m hopeful that the effects of it are at an end. ProMatch is the Silicon Valley chapter of a California state government program called Experience Unlimited, sponsored by the California Employment Development (EDD)–the people who also send out the unemployment checks–and the NOVA Workforce Investment Board.
My understanding is that ProMatch is one of the most successful such organizations and from what I’ve seen so far, in about 10 days of involvement, the assertions very possible true. The group is essentially self-run, with guidance and oversight from perhaps a half dozen state employees, and limited at any one time to about 250 people, explaining the wait of about 10 weeks from the day I signed up until a spot came available for me. Activity is focused on two things: preparing one for interviews (and how to find them) and providing support for and during the process.
The part of the program focused on enabling one’s job search consists largely of classes on interviewing, resume writing, networking (social, not computer!), facilitating meetings and negotiating. So far I’ve taken the Facilitations I class, mostly because it was the only class with available space that fit my schedule last week, and found it to be reasonably informative. The other side of the coin is that because the group is run by members, each person must participate by volunteering some time. One can work on either the Training and Development department, which has several teams that each puts on one set of classes, or the Ops department, which is responsible for the facilities and organizational meetings. Based on suggestions from others regarding a shortcoming which may be impacting my job hunt, I’ve joined the Interviews team and this coming week will work as an observer for the Interviews 3: Telephone Interviewing class and also attend the Interviews I: Essentials class.
One of the fundamental components of the ProMatch system is the development of PSRs for each member. PSR is yet another TLA that stands for problems, solutions and results and means identifying and communicating concrete examples of their work accomplishments both in resumes and interviews; this was a concept new to me but one of those things which, when you hear it, makes you want to slap your head for not thinking of it sooner. Say you were previously working as a project manager at a manufacturing company and in one project you identified an opportunity to streamline a production process, developed the new process and implemented it, saving the company over $250,000 per year; the PSR would be a succinct, 60-90 second way to tell this story in an interview and a matching bullet item to include in a resume.
Another facet of ProMatch is the sponsorship of success teams, although sponsorship is perhaps a bit too strong of a word, perhaps encouragement of participation would be better. In any case, to get started in the group you must attend the Fundamentals workshop (which gets one onto the waiting list for active membership) and during this class the facilitator helps people divide up into teams of (usually) 8-12 based on geography and the teams then meet weekly to function as a system for mutual support and encouragement; because the teams are only informally associated with ProMatch people can begine with them immediately, independent of the waiting list.
My team, which currently has about 10 members, spends our get-togther going around the table with each person detailing their search-related efforts of the previous week and plans for the coming one; the others offer suggestions and generally kibbitz and/or tease. We started back in October and so far three members have found full time work, a fourth has a major consulting gig and a fifth is one of the final two contenders for a high-profile product management position.
Beyond the classes and meetings, the group also offers special events, one on one career counseling (with paid staffers generally) and communication with group alumni as well as current members through a moderated, reasonably active mailing list. So far this month, as of Thursday’s general meeting where such things are announced, 16 members have found and accepted new full time positions and graduated. One of them is my nextdoor neighbor (congratulations, Dikram!) who starts a technical sales position at Tyco this week.
BillSaysThis 