How to Get Career Training and Tuition Assistance to Get Back in the Job Market

California's unemployment rate reached 12.2% in September, a fourth place tie for the highest unemployment rate in the country, according to the San Francisco Business Times reporting on data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Almost everyone personally knows someone who has experienced the frustration and stress of losing a job. If you are recently unemployed, or worried that you're going to lose your job, now is the best time to think about what you would really like to be doing professionally in the future. The answer might be "I love what I've been doing". But perhaps you need to get your skills in shape to move a little higher in your chosen industry. Or maybe you're ready to try something you've only fantasized about before.

San Francisco has many options for professional development and career training that can lead to interesting and lucrative new jobs. For those that need to learn, or refresh, basic skills, City College of San Francisco offers hundreds of classes from computer technology to green jobs training. And it's affordable - at $20 a unit there's nothing cheaper. Around the corner there's Golden Gate University with undergraduate and graduate programs in law, marketing, business and management, health and human services and more.

For creative types yearning for a career in visual media, game design, architecture, and even fashion the Academy of Art (offering tuition assistance) has classes at locations all over the City.

San Francisco State University has a new campus downtown with a robust Extended Learning College where you can find over thirty professional development programs from practical to exciting like paralegal studies, project management, clinical trials, sustainable design, digital video, print and web design, Flash and Ajax. All the classes are flexible - evenings and weekend schedules abound, plus daytime classes too. About 6,000 people seek out professional training at SF State Extended Learning every year.

The good news is there's real help those who are recently unemployed and need job training. Funding from the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) is now available for approved job training from the Employment Development Department (EDD) of California. Information about job training and where to find classes that are approved for training dollars is available at the EDD web site http://www.edd.ca.gov

The web site also has a wealth of information on career options, services for youth, veterans, people with disabilities, and older workers as well as quick links to CalJobs and more job opportunities.

San Francisco has plenty of ways to help you get back in the workforce This year, there are funds available to help if you just know where to look. So get ready and get started on training that can help you secure your career, or find a brand new job. There's no better place for professional development than San Francisco.

San Francisco Business Times, September 18, 2009
www.academyart.edu
www.ggu.edu
www.cel.sfsu.edu
http://www.edd.ca.gov