28 | SEPTEMBER 8 • 2022 

OUR COMMUNITY

G

esher Human 
Services, The 
J and the 
Jewish Federation of 
Metropolitan Detroit are 
working together to hold 
a community-wide Jewish 
agency career expo to 
help Jewish communal 
agencies connect with 
more potential candidates 
and increase hiring 
opportunities.
Around 15 Jewish 
agencies are expected to 
have booths at the career 
expo where they can meet, 
screen and interview 
candidates. Candidates will have the 
opportunity to receive free professional 
headshots and resume support. 
 The Metro Detroit Nonprofit Career 
Expo will be held on Wednesday, 
Sept. 21, from 2-6 p.m. at the Jewish 
Community Center in West Bloomfield. 
Jason Charnas, director 
of Business and Career 
Services for Gesher Human 
Services, and Katie Vieder, 
senior director of Teens and 
Community Partnerships for 
JDetroit, found themselves 
with a similar issue. They 
were receiving almost daily 
calls and emails from local 
businesses and Jewish 
communal agencies who 
asked if they could help 
share job postings or if 
they could help find job 
candidates. 
Over the last few months and years, 
more and more agencies have had 
staffing issues. Finding candidates — 
both in quality and quantity — has 
become increasingly difficult. The 
issue isn’t exclusive to the Jewish 

community, Charnas and Vieder agree, 
but regardless it’s a pressing issue in the 
sector they work in. 
“Truthfully, there was nothing I felt 
like I could do besides post it on social 
media or send it on, which really wasn’t 
effective, and it got to the point where 
it was happening on an almost daily 
basis,” Vieder said. “It felt like a critical 
need, and we needed to come together 
as a community to figure out a solution 
because everyone was struggling with 
the same thing.” 
Charnas and Vieder had 
conversations together and with folks 
at Federation about how to handle 
this shared problem. Through those 
conversations came the idea of the 
expo. 
“The expo was this idea that together 
we can attract more candidates, build 
awareness around the different agencies 
with positions open and also that 
somebody could come to interview 
with one agency and then think, while 
they’re there, they might as well talk 
to these other five agencies present,” 
Vieder said.
Positions available in the community 

are wide-ranging — 
congregations with 
religious school openings, 
development professionals, 
staff accountants, program 
coordinators, receptionists, 
youth advisers, teachers, 
direct care professionals, 
janitors, group home staff, 
home health aides, early 
childhood professionals, 
special needs counselors, 
drivers, social workers, 
audio/visual technicians, 
office managers, culinary 
chefs, marketing and more. 
Both full-time and part-
time positions are available. 
More than 100 open positions are 
expected to be available at the expo. 
“[The staffing shortage] was a trend 
starting prior to COVID. The pandemic 
exacerbated it. But the truth is we’re 
here now and we have to figure out how 
to solve this challenge or take a shot at 
it,” Charnas said. 
Vieder added, “Some of our agencies 
have 20-plus job positions that are open 
right now. They cannot fulfill their 
missions or do good work if they don’t 
have people on the ground to do it. In 
my opinion, the most crucial need right 
now is finding staff because without 
people, we can’t do anything.
“We want to help our agencies find 
and hire candidates to fill job positions, 
and we hope we can get more people 
invested in working in the Jewish 
community and seeing that these are 
meaningful, inspiring careers to hold 
and that we really want to invest in 
people to take on those positions.” 

Registration is preferred but not required for job seek-

ers, but they should bring resumes with them regard-

less to pass out to employers. JVShumanservices.

org/careerexpo2022.

Gesher, The J and Federation partner on a job fair slated for Sept. 21.
Jewish Agency Career Expo

Jason 
Charnas

Katie 
Vieder

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

