The Puzzle: Blog

The past few years, our hiring conference seasons have looked very different.

In 2020, when the pandemic struck, we had already held several conferences in person. We pivoted the remainder of our conferences to virtual events and cancelled others. In 2021 we went fully virtual, hosting FORUM/Diversity (and all the professional development!), several hiring conferences, and even our Women's (Re)Institute online. This year, we followed a hybrid model, with two virtual events and two in person – including the triumphant in-person return of our flagship event, FORUM/Boston.

For 2023, we are so excited to announce that we are hosting six fully in-person hiring conferences across the country! We're back on the road again!

Registration is open now for all six events:

FORUM/DEIB – January 27-28 in Philadelphia (formerly known at FORUM/Diversity)
FORUM/Los Angeles – February 3
FORUM/Boston – February 10-11
FORUM/New York City – March 3
FORUM/San Francisco – March 17
FORUM/Washington, D.C. – April 14

What are Hiring Conferences?

Simply put, our hiring conferences are opportunities for CS&A candidates and our partner schools to connect in a day (or sometimes two) of pre-scheduled 30-minute interviews. Schools can interview multiple qualified candidates quickly and efficiently, and job seekers get the similar benefit of being able to meet with many different hiring schools.

Two conferences, FORUM/DEIB and FORUM/Boston, are worldwide in scope and will include schools from across nation as well as abroad. The rest, our events in Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., are regional and typically welcome schools from a wide radius in and around the respective city.

How do they work?

About two weeks before each event, we open up our Conference Module which is the scheduling and communication tool for candidates and schools. Schools request interviews from candidates who are registered for a conference, and candidates can send messages of interest to attending schools. While many interviews are pre-scheduled in the two weeks leading up to the event, many are scheduled in the 24-48 hours before the conference; some are even scheduled on-site the day of the event.

Interviews are introductory in nature. Many schools will have specific roles they are hiring for, while others may not fully know their upcoming hiring needs and are attending to get ahead of the curve and meet with as many candidates as possible. After the conference, schools may invite candidates for a formal, longer interview or invite them to campus as the next step in the hiring process. We've even seen some on-the-spot job offers at our conferences!

Why should I attend?

We'll summarize the answer to that question in two words: incredible opportunities.

As a job seeker, nowhere else can you meet face-to-face with a variety of different schools, explore unique job opportunities, hone your interview skills, network, strategize about your search with your Placement Team, and set yourself up for job-search success all in one day.

On both sides of the interview table, there's also a lot to be said of the value of in-person interviews. They offer a higher levels of engagement and connection, allow for more natural storytelling, help instill trust, and facilitate genuine and authentic conversation. Schools favor in-person interviews and will be using our conferences as serious opportunities to find the right people for their communities. Candidates enjoy the in-person format because it makes a big difference in getting a true sense of a school and evaluating their interest in a particular role.

How can I register?

Registration for all six events is open!

Current CS&A candidates can register for free in CandidateConnect; registration for all hiring conferences is free for candidates. We encourage you to register as soon as possible to ensure schools have access to your profile as early as possible before each event. If you're not a current active candidate with us, you can complete our job seeker application to start the process of partnering with us for your job search.

CS&A partner schools can register in ORM. We recommend registering early to allow for ample time to build your interview schedule.

We can't wait to see you in 2023!

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