On two occasions over the last several years, I have been an active member of this organization, first as it was known as Forty Plus of Central Ohio, and later, in 2012, as it was in the midst of a corporate name change to Career Transition Institute. In both cases, I found myself having been released from employment (due to conflict with a nonprofit Board Chairperson, and acquisition by a larger nonprofit of the agency that recruited me 2-years earlier to salvage their operating program, respectively) as a professional administrator over the age of 50, and deeply in need of assistance to build my electronic job search skills top effectively compete in today's marketplace.
The educational curriculum and training program offered by 40-Plus, and later, Career Transition Institute were exceptionally helpful in guiding my efforts to formulate a plan-of-action, secure multiple interviews, and to successfully land (twice) professional leadership positions.
While I benefited greatly from the curriculum and training modules, the most important aspect of this organization to support my job search process was the camaraderie among members that was modeled and nurtured by the Voluntary Leadership Team. This genuine, personal support of, and care for those utilizing the organization's facilities, equipment, mentoring resources, networking events, community collaborations and the educational program was phenomenal...to say the least..!
Review from Guidestar
I currently volunteer at Forty Plus to teach classes related to LinkedIn and Networking. I believe Forty Plus is one of the best organizations for anyone looking to find their ideal job. When I went through the program back in 2002 it was the best value of all my options related to job search help.
Previous Stories
When I first discovered 40 Plus of Central Ohio is early 2002, I was like many people at the time. I considered myself capable of finding my next job on my own because I had done it before in 1985 when I had been downsized after spending seven years with a company. I soon learned that the job search process was not the same any more because the job market had become much more competitive and it was absolutely necessary to differentiate myself from many others who might be applying for the same position. After joining 40 Plus I discovered that I also had a great deal to learn about the job search process and that an organization like 40 Plus was exactly the right environment to learn it. For me 40 Plus provided several things that made my job search more focused: First of all, 40 Plus offered training in the job search process and the opportunity to practice what I had received as training. Training at 40 Plus was and is a full-fledged curriculum covering the entire spectrum of aspects of the job search. 40 Plus training covers the beginning of the process where you must identify who you are, what you want and what value you can bring to an organization. As I progressed, 40 Plus training helped me get organized and set a job search strategy to package what I had to offer and I could execute because I was prepared. Once I was prepared, 40 Plus training and practice sessions offered a deeper level of support on networking, interviewing and negotiating to help me get my ideal job. Secondly, 40 Plus offered me an infrastructure that I could utilize every weekday to conduct my job search. By providing me an actual office environment (complete with all of the necessities such as phone service, copiers, fax, computers and color printers, etc.) 40 Plus provided all the tools that I was used to accessing for conducting business. In addition, it was beneficial to my state of mind to have a physical place to go to and make sure that I stayed motivated and didn’t have the normal distractions of my home environment. And finally, 40 Plus provided the psychological, spiritual and motivational support that I needed to keep a positive attitude while I conducted what became a lengthy job search. Networking with others who were going through the same process made me realize that I was not in this alone and that I could still add value by helping others. The Job Circle meetings held every Friday morning helped me share my successes and challenges and made it easy to ask for help from others and offer help to others as well. It kept me accountable and helped me realize that no one but me was responsible for getting me my next job.
