How do you find the perfect fit for your job opening? This is how SFMade member Topology Eyewear found it in new hire Jerry, thanks to CEO Works and SFMade.
SFMade offers all of its members, San Francisco manufacturing businesses, a free job board that they can use to post open positions. We also partner with about 100 Workforce Partners in the Bay Area — organizations that help connect our open positions to job seekers in their community. These community-based organizations provide employment services, and work one-on-one with job seekers to create resumes and cover letters, help apply to jobs, prepare for interviews and more.
Topology Eyewear, an SFMade member, designs and manufactures custom-fitting eyewear in the Design District of San Francisco. They produce “the world’s best-fitting glasses” thanks to their app, using a computer vision algorithm to create a 3D map of the surface of your face. With this map, they’re able to design and manufacture a pair of glasses that will fit you perfectly.
Back in April, Topology Eyewear was hiring for their first Line Operator employee. Line Operator is an entry-level position with great opportunities for growth, and we worked with Rob Varady, the company’s COO, to get the job posted on our job board.
Afterward, we spread the word to our Workforce Partners and asked them to send us any candidates that would be a good fit. One of the Workforce Partners we contacted was CEO Works in Oakland, offering comprehensive employment services to formerly incarcerated individuals and to youth aged 18-25 who live in or frequent the City of Oakland. CEO provide their participants with life-skills training, transitional employment, job placement, and retention services.
CEO sent us a candidate named Jerry, and after phone screening him, we realized he would be a great fit for the Line Operator position. We were able to send Jerry’s application to Topology and schedule an interview.
Jerry was hired and has now been working at Topology for over 4 months. He says he’s “learned a lot” in his role and would love to grow with the company if given the opportunity to do so. He’s currently helping with various parts of the manufacturing process including preparing the frames, cutting lenses and more. Jerry’s prior experience working in an optical laboratory has really come in handy.
Rob, his supervisor, said Jerry’s “been great, like a sponge”, he’s “very driven and self-managing” and “will be a leader among leaders”. Rob is hiring again for a Line Operator and said it’s “time for more Jerrys”!
Jerry’s job developer at CEO, George, is also very pleased with the placement. He said that Jerry “had an amazing skill set, was really motivated, and so driven to reach goals” that he knew he would have to find the right job for him. “When Topology popped up [he] knew [Jerry] had the experience” and was excited about the growth potential the job offered.
Now, CEO offers Jerry retention services including on-going support and incentives to help him stay and succeed in his new role.
We’re very pleased that SFMade was able to help Rob, George and Jerry find the perfect fit!