Interview Skills with Recruiter Marcia O’Connor Transcript
Stacey Delo
Hi Everyone, give you a minute to get going.
Okay. Happy Tuesday
up, okay, I’m going to get this going. And I’d love for everybody to remember today that this is definitely a safe space for sharing and talking about job search. Today we’re talking specifically about interview prep and skills and are so happy to have a special guest. But just a reminder that this is a no judgment zone. And we really appreciate you adhering to that. So Hi there. I’m Stacey Delo. I’m the CEO of a pray also the co author of your turn careers, kids and come back. So working mothers guide. And this is part of our Tuesday webinar series where we talk about what is it your turn to do. And for many of you in job search mode, whether it’s returning to work after a career break, or pivoting to something different, better. Whatever is next for you, interviewing is likely on the docket. And so what we want to do today is set you up for success. So we’re going to walk through preparing for the interview, we’re going to run through some updates on our prey first talk about some featured opportunities. And then we’re really lucky to have a talent acquisition expert with us today, Marsha O’Connor, who I will introduce in a few minutes. So oh, just kind of in our updates as you’re joining us here. This event, Mama’s talk money isn’t until October 16. But I forgot to mention last week, this is a completely free event. And you can grab a ticket with the link that we are sharing. This is a really incredible organization that is just dedicated to helping women really understand their finances and thrive with them, which is something that I think all of us can benefit from. So I encourage you to take a look. And they have something like 35 sessions that you can choose from to learn and hear from great speakers. So that’s coming up in October. Next week, we’re gonna be talking about the future of work and some of the industries that are really in hiring mode and the skills that you need to help you get there. So that’s going to be a nice webinar to attend. We’re going to talk about LinkedIn again on October 13, October 20, we’ve got another great session, we’ve got some other things coming up later in October that I will talk a bit more about, we’re playing with the date for the live coaching session, I just want to make sure everyone’s aware of that, too. That’s where our team comes on. And sometimes we’re joined by another coach, but you can get some really it’s a small group that attends we set this aside for people who have some kind of membership paid membership with up pray. But what it is is a great space to ask your questions in a smaller group and maybe get some interview prep there as well. This is always just a reminder to check our job board. And we’ve got a lot of new ones on there. This week, Jordan can probably put some of the links to some of those in the chat and a little bit. But please remember that these are positions that these companies want to hear from this group. And they’re particularly fine with people who have career gaps, be those small or large. And so please take a minute to take a look at the job board. And then you can always reach out to us contact at upgrade group.com so that we can help you make sure that that application gets fast tracked and I want to say thank you to the people who did that this week. Okay, all right. So let’s talk about interview prep. This is always you know, you do all the work keeps, that keeps happening to me. I gotta get back to my Zoom. Sure. Okay, um, it’s, you know what it’s always that was the dentist, the kids dentist calling so far, the doctor’s office or the dentist office are the ones that always call in the middle of my webinars, so apologies for that. Okay, so what I was trying to get to is that you do so much work to get to the point where you’re going to get an interview.
And then the interview comes, and it’s a whole nother mountain of work. And so what I wanted to do today was give you some tools to help you prepare for your interview. And what you’re going to think about, you know, if you have multiple interviews on the horizon, you’re going to remember that, you are going to need to tailor each of these things, many of them at least to the jobs that you’re going to be applying for. So once we get through kind of the prep, then I want to, I’m going to turn it over to Marcia, and we’re going to do a q&a, to really talk about what hiring managers are looking for. So in terms of general prep, obviously, do your research on the company. And there are many ways that you can do that we’ve spent lots of time on this in previous webinars that you’re welcome to go back and check. But this could be, you know, it could be as simple as looking at Glassdoor and LinkedIn, and sort of getting a feel for what the company is like. It’s also obviously a news search. So googling the company reading up on the company, I’ve seen some suggestions for looking at the 10k the financials around the company, so that you can really get an understanding of what their strengths and weaknesses are. So there’s lots and obviously you could call people if you know, that work at the company. But there are lots of different ways to think about that. But you really want to invest the time and understanding the company what their objectives are, and then consequently, why you would want to work there, you’re going to own your gap, you are not going to be embarrassed by having a career gap, whether it is short, or whether it is long. And we will talk more extensively about how to do that later in this session. But you are, we want you to sort of one of the things we say a lot on this set on this webinar is to flip the script and we want you to flip the script of what you’ve been told that a career gap is a challenge. We want you to think about it as a positive attribute that can help you in whatever’s coming next for you. Um, you’re going to understand your intentions, this gets at why you want to why you want to do this job, why you want to work at this company, you need to be really clear on what those are. And then you’re going to prepare for key questions, which we’re going to have a little example of in a minute, you are going to perfect, perfect your resume view, this is a really interesting time to be a job seeker, because it is very likely that you will not meet the people in person, you will have an entirely
you know, interview experience from start to finish online. And this is there are companies that have been doing that for some time. But this is largely new for the bulk of corporate America. And so they’ve had some months now to get it going in the beginning in the spring, what we saw was a lot of those, the hiring managers were also figuring out how to post an online interview process. It’s it’s a little more buttoned up at this point, given all the months that we’ve been doing this, but that still means that you’re going to need to think about your presentation. Are you going to need to share a document should you turn off your messages while you’re presenting so that your phone rang or you’re getting chats in your computer view. You want to have a quiet area I think somebody probably just saw my daughter walk through here you in an interview that might be fine right now but in an interview, you’re going to want to have space. It is quiet and it is just you. You’re going to want to test your technology and you’re also going to want to test your your view of what it looks like you know on zoom you can you can set up an account and you can test your video you want to test your shot. Is the lighting good? Will the person be able to see you can they hear you practice? Think about those things. He’s in advance so that you’re not in a panic. When the time comes, that way you can be fully set up, write your notes. This is something, you know, I have notes sort of around me here, I like to stand when I speak. I think in an interview setting, I’m not sure I would recommend that maybe Marshall will have some thoughts on that. You want to set yourself up to be able to respond and think quickly, though. And so you want to make sure that whatever your setup is comfortable to you. But then you can also think about using the space around you to pop little notes, so that you can reference them and remind yourself of the things that you wanted to cover. So it could be posted, it could be a printout of some matrix, whatever it is, think that through and sort of set it up in advance. And then practice again, you want to potentially I would suggest calling somebody else and having them ask you some questions, just so that you can get comfortable with answering the questions out loud, you can obviously do this at home, you can do it in front of the mirror, you can do it with a partner, or a friend or an old colleague, but find somebody who will ask you ask you the questions that maybe you’re most nervous about, or the questions that you know, you’re going to get so that you have some practice under you, by the time the interview comes around. We always get asked what to wear, you know, often you can ask a hiring manager or recruiter, if you’re working with somebody like that, what the what the dress culture the company is like, so that you don’t end up wearing a suit someplace where they’re wearing T shirts. So just do a little bit of research, but then make sure that you wear something that is comfortable. I also recommend wearing something that inspires you. You can’t see them right now. But I have on just a pair of like short heel shoes that I love. Because it makes me it puts a different spark in my stuff. And if I’ve got on, no slippers, so something that sort of snaps you up a bit, when it’s really hard to get the energy in particular of not being around people, whatever those little items might be, I wear I have a bracelet on today, because I wear a bracelet that reminds me that I have thoughts and that, you know, this is something it empowers me. Think about I know that sounds cheesy on some level, but you’ve got to do whatever you can, so that when the lights go on to reading, and then you want to follow up with thank you notes. And you want to do this by email within 24 hours, and you want to do it to every person that you spoke to. And it doesn’t have to be a long note. But it can be a short one. And it’s really important. Okay.
So I’m going to walk a little bit more through some how to prepare and these are some resources that I wanted to share to the New York Times has a nice article that they did earlier this year about acing an online job interview. So I would suggest taking a look at that. And we can put a link to that in the chat as well. But what and I’m going to share this document with you it’s a it’s a PDF form that I want you can print out and or you know, put in your own docs, however you want to do it and then start to populate it with your own information. But if you’re going to be doing a steady stream of interviews, and you’re doing all the thought work, then what you’re going to want to do is filter down the critical components that you want to get across about yourself in these interviews. And this is where you’re going to probably tailor it a bit to the companies that you’re speaking with. But the questions that you’re going to that just taking a look at and thinking through and having, you know, four to five bullet points underneath each one is why why hire me. And it could be I love to problem solve or whatever it is. I mean, there’s lots of different things that you could add under Why hire me but you want to really think those through and populate the document. Tell them what you look for in companies that you want to work for. Tell them about yourself. Talk about your managing principles if you’re planning to be a manager and then identify your strengths. We’ll talk about weaknesses in a minute. But identify what your strengths are, write all of this down. And we’re going to share the document with you. Think about key examples from previous work experiences that you want to reference. And then think about the questions that you want to ask of your interviewers at the end. This is also this is probably just as important as following up with a thank you, you need to ask questions, because it expresses your, you know, your interest in the company, it also is another way to express that you’ve done your homework on the company. And so identify what those are and, and have them written down. So that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time because that’s exhausting and not productive. Um, okay, then lastly, I just wanted to point out that on the website, we have extensive content on how to prepare for an interview, from getting to the interview, and then through the interview through the final interviews. So I want to make sure that everyone knows to check the website for that. We have pages upon pages on it in our book as well. So we have a host of resources outside of today that I just wanted to call your attention to. So now, I want to give you a sort of a overview of the question that you’re going to really want to prepare for. This is not a comprehensive list. There are more questions, but we’re not going to go through these right now. But we can come back to them in the q&a, if there are any that really stick out for you. Because I wanted to get enough time with Mark.
So we can come back to this list. Can you walk me through your resume? How do you phrase volunteer work in a job? Describe a difficult situation, you navigated how you handled it and what the outcome was? How do you feel your experience best fits into our company? Why do you want to work here? Why should we hire you? What is your greatest strength? And what is your greatest weakness? So those are critical questions that will come up in some way, shape, or form. And if you think about the document that I’m asking you to put together, all of that will then feed into how you answer these questions. And so once you have that, that document in that list created, then any question that comes up, even if it’s, you can work those answers in somehow. So the document that you’re going to create is really, you know, your calling card of sorts of how it’s going to what you want to tell them about yourself and your job in the interview is to make sure you have a chance to get all of that out, even if they don’t ask you the exact question. Okay, Marsha, I’d love to have you jump on with your video so that I can introduce you properly. We have this panel of folks who are all they all have their video hinted. But they’re here. Our team is here too. But Marsha, I’m so glad to have you. Marsha runs the O’Connor group. And I’m gonna let her tell you a little bit more about that. But our team spent some time yesterday putting together a host of questions. Because it’s just so valuable for everyone to hear from someone like you, Marsha, who you know is in this and lives it on the company side as well as the candidate side. So hi there and thank you for being here.
Marcia O’Connor, The O’Connor Group (Recruiter)
Good morning. Good morning, and good afternoon out here on out another Philadelphia area and all too. So thanks. Thanks for having me today. I appreciate that.
Stacey Delo
Absolutely. Tell us a little bit about the O’Connor group and the work that you do. I noticed I might steal this. I loved on your LinkedIn that you have your resume information for webinars that you’re hosting with, I guess companies. Tell us about your work.
Unknown Speaker
Absolutely. So my company is 13 years old and we basically have about 35 consultants that work with me out here primarily in the mid Atlantic area. I have people in Nevada and Florida too. But we are doing HR outsourcing and recruiting outsourcing. So we become the experts in creating improving our resources resourcing midsize companies and we are I can tell you right now very, very busy. I would say for those who are looking to basically be hired. Recruiting is very Very active right now. And Stacy, you’re giving great tips and great ideas, we’re gonna probably add a few more onto that too. But I wanted to just make sure that my company, like I said, we’re very fortunate 2020, we actually themed our year in January, we literally called it the year of the while. And that was in January at a town hall and entreprenuer. Two months later, it truly was the year of WoW, in so many ways. But we are very fortunate, we just won five awards this year in 5000, being one of them and top 100 For Philly. Best Places to Work for filters. There’s a bunch of so we’re in 76. So I guess we’re doing something right. But I can tell you out there. It’s all about your determination and your grit of how you’re going about this. And we can walk you through that. But unless Stacy asked him questions,
Stacey Delo
yeah, thank you for for that setup. Um, so as somebody who do you want to tell us a little bit about the types of candidates that you work with then and the types of roles that the companies that you work with recruit for?
Unknown Speaker
Absolutely, I would say the three top industries that my company primarily works in his life sciences and healthcare, professional services in manufacturing. And in regards to the data positions that we recruit for we have recruited for CEO, a CFO controllers, account managers, directors of sales, all the gambit, actually. So I have about about 14 recruiters on my team. And really, they specialize in certain areas of recruiting, I would put basically one person on certain job and one person on the other job, because some positions, I have our H back experts, too. So I have a range of both sides of the house, it really depends upon what the client needs are. But I can tell you that activity and recruiting has completely changed, since like may, in June timeframe when everything was a little bit quiet and silent. And now it is full force ahead. So it’s a good time to be out there. But make sure you’re very visible.
Stacey Delo
Okay, what Where should people be visible? How do you how do you talk a bit about that?
Unknown Speaker
Absolutely. One of them, we all are doing this right now is your LinkedIn page, I can’t I can’t tell you enough, your your picture has to be on there. Your pictures should be between 60 to 75% of that page on regards to LinkedIn. And when that little profile picture of you and don’t wear sunglasses don’t look like if you are in a certain field not look, that field. You know, I was talking to a very senior HR executive who had gotten downsized by JP Morgan. And you know, his picture on his LinkedIn I said, You know what, you have a suit, a tie, you are all buttoned up. And now you want to be a consultant. No offense, but you don’t look very approachable. And I said, so we’re going to have to change that look, have it said the way you look right now with a really nice Oxford, you know, one or two buttons down having that conversation with me. That’s the picture you want on LinkedIn. That’s the approachable side, you also want to make sure to people forget to do this. Okay, LinkedIn is a bunch of data. And when people do a query, and all too, they pick up the words that are most familiar with your profile. And so all in all mine, and for example, I have like four different little like bullet points of how I describe myself. And you know, I love a lot of his motivational speaker. And I get a lot of people who call me about motivational speaking. And I love that and I’ll cheat because I really enjoy doing that and helping other people. But you have to put on there what you love and who you truly are. And sometimes it’s outside of that box. Because I basically told this guy, I’ll call him, John. I said the way it’s written right now, it’s basically super boring. And I said, you have to make yourself a little bit different out there. And I have stars between each of my topics and all too. But I think having that just shows you real quickly, basically, should I talk to this person? Is it worth my time, in average time somebody a recruiter stays on LinkedIn site the first time or there is less than 30 seconds. So that picture is not basically up to par and you don’t look approachable, and you don’t have those words that describe your quickly they are not staying there. Okay? Because
Stacey Delo
he knows we’re in the the headline or the summary space.
Unknown Speaker
The headline, the headline number one on the summary space is good there too. Just don’t write a book and be very specific about that too. You had to keep mine everybody is so busy and we’re going a mile a minute right now. So I’m a huge fan. I’m also I guess to co2 and all my CEO buddies all tell me, give me bullet points. Give me exactly basically who you are, what you’re looking for what you want to do, and how I can help you. And that’s basically sums it up pretty quickly. Like I love referring people to somebody too. But if you’re wasting that person’s time, trust me, that person’s gonna let me know. So you want to make sure my magic number is three. Always have three questions ready have three things about yourself, have three strands have three weaknesses, that number three is very magical, when it makes sure that you know everything about those three questions. Okay.
Stacey Delo
And it’s in, you can also remember both for yourself, because it’s not too much to, to think through. So, um, we talked last week about writing skills and being brief. One of the things I think that people really come to us, when we do anything around LinkedIn, which is really the, you know, the place where you can talk about yourself professionally. We, we they don’t, nobody seems to quite understand exactly how you show up in the queries for recruiters. So can you be more specific about what those queries look like? So that people then can know how to work that language into the rest of their LinkedIn profile? Yep,
Unknown Speaker
absolutely. So I recruiter typically has a recruiter LinkedIn license, and it’s a very expensive license to pay for, but they actually have like a backdoor access that the normal AI does not. Okay. So when they’re doing a search, to they’re looking for certain words. Now, the more time you have that word in your resume, the more likelihood that resume is going to be picked up. So it could be project manager, it could be a marketing, it could be website, design, whatever you want to make sure it’s throughout that, basically, your LinkedIn profile in there, and even in the words that describe who you are to, because that query picks up all those numbers, and the most numbers go to the top of the barrel. Now, I wouldn’t suggest having like 100 times, if someone says web design and put it in 100 times, that’s not what I’m talking about. You want to make sure it’s readable, but want to make sure when someone’s done that they have a really good idea of what you’re looking for. So LinkedIn recruiter gets all these resumes on all too. And really, it ties into other connections you have to, so it’s really important to to connect to people. But do it in a nice way, like for now, if you see once a time, a lot of these zooms are going to and everybody’s doing all these zooms. There’s no reason why you can’t take your camera, take a picture of it, you have all the names, they’re basically you know, on the bottom left, and you want to make sure that you reach out to them afterwards, hey, it was nice to meet you on LinkedIn today, you’re automatically going to create more LinkedIn connections, you never know who somebody else knows. And so the more you do that, and also the more visible, the more options you’re gonna get, and more recruiters will call you too. But they see you as a really good question of how, how do they know I’m out there? Now, I talked to a lot of executives on this a lot, too. I said, Listen, you love doing this? Why aren’t you being like a subject matter expert out there in this area? And so if you love talking about a certain area, why aren’t you putting a post on there right now, in regards to like LinkedIn as to like, Hey, by the way, this is information about this, and this and this. And you know what my friends did that she was a talent acquisition specialist, love to talk about certain areas and talent acquisition. So she started putting a blog post actually on LinkedIn. And literally, within three weeks, she had more conversations about jobs. And all too, because people saw that she loved it, she lived it, she breathed it. So it takes a little bit of time on your end, but it does pay off. That’s,
Stacey Delo
that’s a great, great piece of information. So once you are discovered, one of the things that people come to us regularly with is how to handle a career gap. And that that goes from how do I handle it on my LinkedIn profile to how do I handle it in my resume to how do I talk about it in an interview? So I’d love to have you do you work with people who have career gaps? And and then what? Tell us a little bit about some of your suggestions in that area specifically?
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Well, one hate to say it, it’s you gotta be honest on you can’t really make this stuff up. You want to be set up the right right foot in the right place. I tell people all time I said, Okay, I see a gap here. We got two years what’s what’s going on? And lots of times, I’ll say, hey, you know, I took care of my kids. And I took care of my kids because I had to and I’m like, You know what, that’s great. I said, 10 to one, you’ve learned more job skills by doing that, than basically, you know, going to work every day. And I said, So what’s the top three things you’ve learned? So you really have to do it into your favor and have those conversations and you know, you don’t be embarrassed about it either. I have a lot of people are like, you know, I can tell they get fidgeting, they play with their hair, they start turning in their chair. You know what you need to be as competent. It took a lot of guts to basically do that and take time for your kids. And do not ever underestimate that and you I want to make sure to that the person in front of you realizes how important that was to you too, because not everybody can do that. And then what happens down the road, they regret doing that. So you took a lot of courage and a lot of guts to do that in the first place. And then you want to make sure you have that conversation. Like, you know, a lot of people said, hey, my mom got sick. And the next thing, you know, I was ended up taking care of her full time. And I wouldn’t regret it for a moment, I had nine great months before she passed away. And I just, you know, I look him in the eye. I’m like, Well, thank God, you were there, you know, and took the time to do that. Because, you know, there was more important things in life than money. And I said, you have to realize what’s important and what’s not. And you know, what, if that employer does not realize that, that’s not the place you want to work. And so there are a lot of opportunities out there and all too, but you want to make sure that you pick a place that really resonates, resonates with you, but appreciates the decisions and choices you have made?
Stacey Delo
Yes, 100% 100% You can come work with us because that’s what we preach here. 100% Um, so, just to be really, in the weeds, though, if somebody is presenting themselves online with LinkedIn or a resume, you suggest ending the, you know, putting the end dates of when you so that? I think the big question is if somebody is scrolling on your LinkedIn profile, and they see that you have a gap, does it help them from contacting you? And is there something that you should do differently? So that it doesn’t?
Unknown Speaker
That’s a great question. I don’t say I’ve seen people put in their like gap from timeline, took care of a sick parent took care of a sick child, or I had, you know, chemo just like that I’ve been, I’ve said people, like, be honest, most people should be very cognizant of that. But also very appreciative of that, too. I love when people are very honest about that, too, because I feel as if there’s a reason behind him, if there isn’t a reason in there, too. Like, we got to figure out something with that answer, because it will be asked, but I would rather be open up front from the very beginning than not, and lots of times to I don’t know, I’m that person that stands in the supermarket line. And the person behind me starts to have conversation with me, and within 20 minutes healthy their whole life story, which is great. And that’s why why I’m in recruiting to this day. But I have to tell you, you know, it’s interesting, and I’ll tell you, because I love kuleana people, what’s really going on what makes them tick. And basically, you know, what’s missing? And I love asking that question, too, not so much about a job. It’s like what’s currently missing, that you know, that you’re looking for, to basically make you excited to get out of out of bed every day. And I’m hoping people are asking that question out there. I know, there’s a lot of are just going through the regular routine. But you know, I would say, you know, challenge the recruiters nowadays too, because they’re just so busy. Everybody’s all stressed out with the kids at home, I get it. And I’ll tell you, but you really want to go to a place that you can put your feet down and be really proud that you’re working for them. And they are out there. They really are.
Stacey Delo
Yes, yes. It does take finding them sometimes. Um, okay, so if someone is looking to pivot or return to work, and may need to improve some of their skill sets, given what you’re seeing in the hiring landscape right now, are there any that you any any must have skills or skills that you would recommend that people spend some time acquiring?
Unknown Speaker
Great question. So you’re going to hear the word adaptability, you’re going to hear agility, you’re going to hear flexibility. You’re going to hear patients and all too. Honestly, sometimes I think when people describe themselves, they don’t always think they know how they perceive themselves on the outside. But what they forget to do is ask three people who are close to them, and say, How would you describe me and be honest. And sometimes when you hear that information from three really tight friends, you realize some things that you’re portraying out there that you didn’t even know that you did. You know what my team always says to me, You’re so thoughtful. And to me, I just think I’m doing my job, kind of a deal. But to other people, they say no, it’s very different. You’re above and beyond thoughtful. So you might want to ask other people. So they’re gonna tell you basically what they see you as your strengths and weaknesses and all too. But I also think it’s really get an understanding just who you are and what you want to do. And I also think people have had a lot of time to think over the past six months, and they really thought very hard about you know, how I want to spend my time, no moving forward in my future, and think long and hard about what you’re looking for. And you know what I do my vision boards on a huge vision board person. I write and draw things all the time. And I constantly look at that vision board because it tells me Okay, did I spend the time I want wanted to wisely today? Did I hit my goals? Am I going to where I want to go? So you want to keep that in mind. And if you hear like, you don’t hear anything from the employer, that’s okay. He wasn’t really meant to be. And you know what, something’s gonna happen, I’m gonna happen. Well, the ones that you want to go after a lot, you just don’t take no for an answer. You know, I would say, if you really want it, use your connections in there, do something else out there, and I’ll tell you, but really, you know, go for it, the only person who’s standing in front of you is in fear is you.
Stacey Delo
Yep, that’s a great point, we have a really good session with a career coach on vision boarding on the website, it’s one of my favorite, and we do it now, as a family, everyone does their own board every year, I just found our last one. And they’re just even just to go back and review once in a while. They’re really fun and, and thoughtful. You know, visual visualization of what you want to do. So I highly recommend those. So tell us a little bit about your feelings on. And I’m gonna back into this a little bit. But sometimes I think when people apply for jobs, we have all of these, there’s so many bullet points in a read in a in a job listing and a job rack on what they’re looking for. And we know, you know, historically that women won’t apply for jobs, if that list is really long, and they can’t do everything on that list. And that men will just go ahead and apply. So there’s that piece of of understanding that it’s okay to go ahead and apply. But then you can also get in this loop where you’re applying for positions, that just may not be the right job. But sometimes it’s really hard to tell from the job wreck. So I’m curious if you have any thoughts on a applying for something where your skill set isn’t a perfect match? And then how to really read the wreck, so that you can tell if it’s a good one to apply to?
Unknown Speaker
You know, there’s two two questions there. So Stacy, regarding the reconcile two, I think it just all depends RX have been changing. So much. So right now, and with this entire diversity and inclusion, they’re really changing how they are viewed how they are looking like, so that they don’t have people that look like them feel like them and sound like them. So you’re starting to see a huge change over in the job description, especially with the newer companies that are writing them. And because they don’t want anybody, buddy to be like them. So it’s really figuring out again, my magic number of three of which, basically, of those positions of the descriptions on there that you really fit. And then in regards to what you want to do, you have to be very clear, I mean, there’s so many jobs that are out there, and you have to be a little bit creative of what you want to find. You gotta be on deed, you have to be basically on LinkedIn. And all those are the two most popular ones that are happening out there. But you know, there’s no sense of putting out there. I know a lot of people are getting stuff on Instagram right now and in Facebook and YouTube, about putting little messages out there or putting an article that basically ties right into who you are and what you want to do, then when you’re looking for these things. Don’t get alarmed about how long that job description is, if it’s a title that you know you can do, it’s a company you want to go after. And it sounds intriguing, it’s really more important about trying to get the conversation going first, you know, I can’t tell you how many people I have employed here that serve their resume, they’re like, wow, like, I would never expect somewhat that resume working for you guys. I said, I wasn’t looking at the resume, I was looking at the person. And I said, I’m gonna hire the athlete, I don’t care about the quarterback, I want to hire the athlete, because I can teach them if they have that grit and drive, I can teach them what we need to do.
Stacey Delo
Great point. So, um, I want to get through a few more questions with you because this is really valuable information. And then we’ll open it up to a few people in the q&a. And, but, um, as a, as somebody with your position, how do you feel about people reaching out to you on, you know, via email or on LinkedIn? You know, we get asked a lot if it’s okay to go ahead and just reach out to recruiters. How do you feel about that?
Unknown Speaker
I think it depends on on the recruiter. You know, I like answering people and getting back to people and if I can’t I actually have a team that I’ll be like, Hey, I can’t get to this person. Could you please call them have a conversation real quick, especially if it’s a referral. If it’s a referral, I take that very seriously. So somebody can refer you into a recruiter. You will have high eight out of 10. Eight out of 10 times you’ll have somebody reaching out to you and contacting You have you can get into referrals, but I help you much more. So I think you can do that. But yeah, like I said, it’s probably best hanging out with a recruiters are hanging out. And they’re basically going to various zoom things. They belong to various associations and all too. They’re doing all this stuff as well. So like I said, take that picture, you know, and then connect with him. Hey, I connected today with healthcare, Businesswomen’s Association, and thought we would connect him. Oh, yeah, I saw you last week and I was told this job opportunity. Can we have a second to chat? You got to set it up. It’s like our recruiters think. So we’re putting you in that recruiters seat? Basically, how can I get that person? So I’m going to hang out where they’re going, I’m going to connect with them, then I’m going to follow up, I might send him an article, hey, you might be interested in this article. I mean, it’s basically like sales one on one.
Stacey Delo
And then how do you hit I’m jumping around some here. So thanks for rolling with me on. How do you suggest that people handle inappropriate questions in an interview, you know, somebody that might see my child rolling around here could say how you plan to handle childcare when you know if you get this position, which is not an Okay, question to ask. So how do you handle some questions in that regard?
Unknown Speaker
Ah, great, great, great question. So, yes, this happens more times. And we would like to keep in mind, we also have the HR hat here, too. And this, you, I’m sure, you’re not surprised about how many times this does happen. What I would do is very gently just say, Hey, I would prefer moving on to the next question, you know, or it’s like, and I’m not too comfortable answering that question. It’s like, do you ask everybody that question, you might want to push back a little bit on that. And they’ll tell you, because what happens is, a lot of times, they don’t know that they can’t ask that question. And there are many times that people have not been properly trained of how to interview. But yet again, you do have some older places that I’ve had CEOs where I’ve had to coach is like my business, my questions, and I’m like, okay, my business, you’re gonna get sued. And they basically don’t believe it until basically they get an EEOC claim a few weeks later. So you want to make sure that you’re very cautious about that. But I’d be like, how much are that we’re supposed to ask that question. Do you mind asking the next question, you know, and just do it like nonchalantly and all too. There’s nothing wrong with it and law. And you know what? It’s actually in your favor, because I even asked it, but I just moved on to the very next question, actually.
Stacey Delo
Yeah. Okay, great. Um, let’s see. One what, what kind of advice would you give someone to listen for in an interview if they ask the question, meaning, the the knee being the interviewee asks you the interview? Or what is the culture like here? Are there certain things that you suggest that people listen for?
Unknown Speaker
Absolutely, actually, the whole recruiting process should give you an indication of the culture too. And I’m a big believer in a really streamline recruiting process. And if that recruiting process isn’t smooth and organized, and getting feedback and having that fun kind of atmosphere, it might not be like they say it is. And so I know a lot of times people get a lot of awards. I mean, we’re lucky to have a lot this year and all too. But we really do live having that fun experience, not making it too long. I had one one of my friends who was interviewing for a pretty high level role. And he had said it was a brand new role, because it took them nine months to finally came back with an offer. And I said, Well, how did that make you feel? He goes, it told me right now that their internal operations is not very strong. And what they were preaching about their culture basically wasn’t really true. And they have a lot of work to do. And so you know, it’s a shame, but we work with a lot of employers to make sure that process is very smooth and organized. And just having the respect to getting back to people, especially if somebody comes in for an interview, you should have a connection with that person within a week to to the most. So that’s going to give you an idea about culture, they’re going to tell you everything you want to do. But if you do your research out there, there’s a lot of research about that company and that culture. I mean, Glassdoor is out there. I don’t think people use it as much as they used to. But you definitely want to see what kind of awards they’re winning what they’re doing with it. All those different pieces. I think I’ll help you a lot. Answer that question.
Stacey Delo
Okay, that’s, that’s great. And then lastly, what do you suggest to a job seeker if they don’t hear back from a company?
Unknown Speaker
Um, you know, I say, magic numbers. Hurry. And hey, I know you’re really busy. That one email after seven days, I second email is usually 14 days. And my third one is this late, I’m so sorry, you’ve been so busy, it’s been hard to connect, I thought you would like this article and all too, but I know, I’m pretty sure I didn’t get the opportunity. So let’s just stay in touch. And you do it that way. And I do that for sales, too. It sort of makes him feel a little guilty at the very end. And it makes him more times than not reach out to you. I’m so sorry. Because now they feel at fault. You know, I feel like the bad guy. And as sometimes pushes them, but I also leave this on a positive note, I sent him a nice article on all to you and just saying, hey, let’s stay in touch. And then I reached out with him just one more time to make sure I’m on LinkedIn with them. But you know, you just got to do it with always do the right thing, guys, it’ll always help you in the long run. You never know who knows who somebody else. And now I’m doing I always say Just three more than that looks like a stalker.
Stacey Delo
Okay, that’s good. I like it. I think this is a good takeaway from today. Do everything in threes. And we can, you should think about that document that we talked about earlier, three things under each one of those. So that you can be really, really, in your mind ready for the questions. And then that you get and the questions that you don’t get. I mean, that’s that’s such an interview skill is remembering the things that you want to get out. Even if you feel like the questions. Don’t tee you up exactly for how you would answer that question.
Unknown Speaker
Right. And don’t forget where the interviewing process I have, I have one thing I tell my team members even about business, it controls you, or you control it, you know, so you want to make sure that interviewing process that you are controlling that conversation. And I like when I first go in when I did interviews long time ago, go around that room and find some things that’s familiar. If you’re not in a room, sometimes when you do a zoom, and I’ll tell you and they have your access to their house, you see a picture of this or picture of that. I always ask like, oh, I use I see like golf, you play golf a lot and all too. And so that calm conversation calms everything down. And you start basically controlling that conversation. And I felt I learned more about them. Sometimes I know about me, but by the end of that conversation, I’m Hey, so Tuesday, I’ll hear from you. Okay, great. Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. So you want to make sure you think of that, too.
Stacey Delo
Okay. So I want to get to some of the questions and our team that wants to pop on here, then you’re welcome to but we’re going to maybe give it about five more minutes. Do you have that time motion? Are you good? I
Unknown Speaker
do. I’m fine.
Stacey Delo
So um, this is one of the questions in the q&a box that I think is good. A question about, Do I have a gap? Um, this person is saying they took time off to care for family for seven years. But then during that time, did legal work for her husband’s company? About 10 to 20 hours a month? I don’t it doesn’t say whether she was paid or not. But she’s basically saying does, if I’ve done that work, do I have a gap?
Unknown Speaker
No, not at all add on to that work in there. Yours doesn’t matter. You get paid or not. You’re still doing work. You’re busy. You’re keeping Vivint you’re using the brain? Absolutely put it there and put the gap in there to like just put a little small snippet it says, took care of family for this. And this. People understand that. And you know what, honestly, an employer if they don’t understand that, I wouldn’t want to work for them now.
Stacey Delo
Yeah. And how would you feel? How do you think about volunteer work, then? Same thing?
Unknown Speaker
Absolutely. I would put volunteer work in there. To be honest with you, I love when people do volunteer work, and you can hurt cats, you can hurt anybody. And the more they move off in a volunteer capacity, the more likelihood I’m like, let’s let’s get you moving. Because you know what you, you understand about lack of resources, you understand flexibility, you understand? Oops, and they’ll and those are the things that a lot of people coming out of college right now I’m seeing that they’re more of like, well show me what to do, instead of saying, No, don’t worry, I got this, I can figure it out that mentality is what we’re looking for.
Stacey Delo
And do you want to see that in the volunteer section on LinkedIn or at the top? Where do you want to see that and then, and then, one of the things I think is an interview skill is to just call out exactly what you did to really think about what you did as a volunteer. But do you think that hiring managers want to hear about that, those challenges that you might have had as a volunteer or should you just reference things that you did in your previous experience?
Unknown Speaker
No, I think your challenges and use your verbs out there to you know created design implemented, executed, you know, going from here to there. Absolutely. Now, the volunteer has a section on LinkedIn, definitely do that. But if you have, you know, I’ve been president a few organizations a little too. I like highlighting that because it tells other people like, I can handle this job. And I can handle all this too. And I’m a mom as well. And I’m managing this too. So when people started seeing all that, the better, and you might want to have a conversation like, Well, someone says, What’s your biggest accomplishment? You know, sometimes it isn’t always about the work stuff. Sometimes it’s about the volunteers that that you’re really proud about. So by all means, don’t hide that, but show the verbs out there, and be very clear about what you’ve done.
Stacey Delo
Okay, and this is a good question. And I think this might be the last one that we have time for. And I can share my screen again, but everyone should, you know, you can reach out to us with any questions that we can pass along to Marcia. Um, so in this question is really around are getting, you know, getting references? Are they still important? And then so if so, what kind of references should you think about this also is not exactly the same? But do you read cover letters? So there’s, you know, the, that’s different spots in the in the resume in the interview process. But or the job seeker process, but some of those, those things that traditionally have happened cover letters, and then references do they do pay attention to those,
Unknown Speaker
I think it depends upon the people who use them. So the the joke, basically in the recruiting world is there’s no bad reference, right. And so I’ll hear that all the time. So when I hear references, I always have three ready to go again, number three, have three ready to go for references when you need them and all too, but you don’t want to have, it’s like your best friend, you would do want to have somebody that you had reported to, you want to make sure it’s like a former supervisor up here, too, because you want to have just different ideas about that. Do people usually call, I’m gonna say 5050, they used to call a lot more about 20 years ago, they don’t call as much anymore because people don’t have time. So number one, so references just make sure you have three ready to go when you need it, if you need it. To cover letters, again, depends upon the recruiter, you know, I did this with my team. And I said, Hey, how many of you love cover letters, and only half the team put their hand up? I’ll be honest with you, I’m a I’m a former accountant. So I like my bullet points. I like it’s short and sweet to the point. I don’t look at colors anymore. And to me, I want to see what you’ve done. I want to see I love having that conversation. And I can tell automatically, it’s like if I’m getting you know, BS or not to but it’s more along the lines of like, you know, where are you at? What do I see that gritten you? Do I see that driving you? Do I hear it? And I’ll tune in some of the things you’re talking about. Do you have that competence in front of me? And you know, if they don’t, I actually have conversations with him afterwards. And I just, I’m like, Alright, I need to work with you here. Your handshake was horrible. And what I just helped you with all that. I mean, obviously, handshakes now are like, you know, hey, you know, you’re on mute. That’s your handshake right now on Zoom. But you have to figure out like, Hey, nice to talk to you just find out something about them. And all too because cover letters are a lot of work. If you’re not a really good person who does a lot of writing, which is me. Yeah, it’s painful. So you know, have somebody help you with it or, you know, ask them if they really need it, and they’ll too, but they are slowly going bye, bye.
Stacey Delo
Yeah. Okay, I said it was the last question, but I have two really good ones. One is about getting a question of why can’t why you’ve been doing contract jobs. I think that that gets back to what Marsha said earlier about owning a career gap, although it’s not the same. You’re going to competence about why and that’s going to be different for everybody. I don’t know if you have anything else on that front. Marcia, just if somebody gets asked Why have you been in all these contract positions?
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I get I get asked that a lot more to you. But honestly, the gig economy is here, guys. And you’re going to see a lot more of that where people are going out are normally have two to three jobs at a given time. And so I think before 30 years ago, that would have been like, you know, why aren’t you going full time? What’s wrong with you? Now, it’s more along the lines of like, okay, you’re versatile. You understand client, you’re adaptable, you’re flexible. You’re learning all this stuff. Do you want to stay in the consulting world? Are you ready to go full time? So it’s actually I think, a benefit versus a negative?
Stacey Delo
Yeah, it allowed for autonomy at a time that you needed it over your schedule, that kind of thing. Yep. And then really quickly, because we get spend a lot of time on this one, but someone’s saying that they feel like they’re coming up against younger candidates. And how can how can they Avoid, you know, ageism, essentially.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, that’s a big problem right now I know I am 52. And I have a lot of my friends in that same boat who had gotten the pink slip. And they’re asking me Marsh what I can do. And I said, Well, you’re gonna have to think outside the box and be different, you know, right now spend the time on on YouTube, figuring out different new languages you want to learn are different, you know, even Tech Tech Skills and all what’s really needed out there. Again, it’s that adaptability, it’s that flexibility. It’s somebody that even can do PowerPoints better than the average person. So if you can be that resourceful person showing what they’re doing, and be that super positive person, that’d be great. One of the things that they always seem to focus on, especially my friends who have had an odd consulting with, they get very down, and they get very angry that they can’t let go, because they’ve spent 15 years at a place in law to, you need to get that out of your system before you talk to another recruiter. Because believe it or not, it still comes through very loud and clear on the phone and on Zoom. So make sure that you practice practice practices, zooms of different questions and how you come on board like hey, how you doing? Because I have people who are still feeling it. And once asked that question about their prior place, they go into that deep dead zone of negativity and all too and right away that recruiters like, whoa, this person’s still angry. So make sure you get that through your system first, and then get over it, move on. And and basically have a goal in mind. Anybody can do anything, you got to let that go. But you have to look yourself in the mirror, you see yourself now more on Zoom than ever before. And if you need to, basically, to get the nails done or whatever, have the appearance, have five of your closest friends, do a mock interview with you and tell you what basically you need to hear.
Stacey Delo
Yep, that’s a great, that’s a great way to end. This has been incredibly valuable. I can’t thank you enough for your time today and for being really flexible with us too. So thank you, Marcia. We’d love to stay in touch ever anything we can do for you. I hope you’ll reach out. Obviously we have a lot of members who are job seekers. And so we would love to just, you know, continue any kind of relationship with you that we can’t.
Unknown Speaker
My pleasure and checking on LinkedIn guys, LinkedIn with me if you like. Absolutely. And reach out if you have any other questions. Okay.
Stacey Delo
Sounds great. Okay, everyone. Thank you. Thanks to the team. And we’ll see you here next Tuesday. One o’clock Eastern 10 o’clock, Pacific.
Unknown Speaker
Thanks, please. Hey, bye bye.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
