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12/2/21 – LinkedIn Navigation = Career Success!

Dec 10, 2021

What is the problem with my job search? Why is it so hard? Why are so many people making moves and I’m still not getting interviews or a new role?

Take Control of Your Job Search and Create Opportunities

Trevor on the cover of Forbes

Written by Julia Churan

Trevor Houston, host of Who Ya Know – Job Networking Show, was the keynote speaker for this event sharing techniques for job seekers to get noticed, create opportunities & take control of the financial impact of job loss. Trevor’s podcasts can be downloaded from Apple, Pandora, Spotify and other popular streaming sites. His approach was most recently featured on the cover of Forbes Magazine

Trevor cites that job searches today have been de-humanized!

No longer are the days of walking into a business and handing a real person a resume or saying “Hi – I’d like to apply for a job.” Job searches today are all about “click to apply,” applicant tracking “black holes,” phone interviews, recruiter ghostings, and searches for “purple squirrels.”

The result is fewer interviews for qualified candidates. The current process leads to an average of one interview per month. Experts say a job seeker should be prepared for the search to take one month for every $10K in salary expected. Therefore a person looking to make $100,000 will be searching for 10 months with only 10 interviews. Not only is this overwhelming, it is totally discouraging.

Getting Control Back

Trevor’s techniques are all about taking back control, increasing your activity, and getting noticed so you decrease search time. The goal is to go viral within a company but you may have to reach outside of your comfort zone to get there.

Don’t – send short text messages via LinkedIn Inmail! You are not unique to the recruiters that may be getting a hundred or more a day.

Do – make your LinkedIn activity personal. Check out the recruiter’s activity – are they active, do they post? Try an approach that has an 87% response rate — post a personalized “video comment” to their post by using some of his favorite tools.

Tools to Stand Out

Trevor holding speech bubble

Small Whiteboard – pick one of these up at a discount store or online retailer. Put your hiring target’s name or a nice message on it and post this in your message or as a post comment.

Video Messaging App – currently there is only one tool that is recognized by LinkedIn with integration – BombBomb. Trevor recommends exploring this in one of the many YouTube videos or instructional videos on their website before starting your 14 day trial. Practice creating small 30 sec or less personalized “raw” clips to test with your “accountability partner.” Think of these as video voice mail. “Thank you so much for your post on XYZ. I’d love to have a conversation about this. Here is a connection request and a link to my calendar. Let’s connect.”

Evergreen Videos – Small videos that aren’t personalized but congratulate an individual on a promotion, a new job, a work anniversary. You can use these over and over with your connections. These evergreens clips will also help get you noticed by connections of your network and help build an audience.

Embedded “Call to Actions” (CTA) – Respect the recipient’s time and avoid the hassle of going back and forth to set up a meeting. Use is a simple calendaring tool like Calendly to make setting up a virtual coffee meeting or real-life lunch as easy as the click of a button. You can sign up for a free version which should provide enough features for basic job seeker use and integrate with the most common calendaring systems like Outlook and Gmail

Auto Text Expander – this is a basic Google Chrome Extension that allows you to save snippets of text that you can include in your video link, calendar link, or other messaging to save time in posting responses or evergreen messages.

Email Signature – BombBomb has a feature that allows you to make an interactive email signature including your photo, contact info, link to schedule a meeting or phone call, or reply with a video. This will really take your emails to the next level of professionalism.

Trojan Horse – This means making a video message rather than just an email expressing your interest, clarifying any points from your meeting and calling for next steps. This is like the namesake virus, the “trojan horse” because after the recipient opens the email, they will be so wow’d by your unique form of communication, they will forward it to others who also spoke with you, other team members and on up the organization line. You’ll become internally famous for standing out.

Hiring Companies

Freedom Financial Network

Laurel Pendle was representing the Freedom Financial hiring team. She is newer to the FFN team but shared enthusiasm about her experiences with the culture and opportunities within the organization. FFN is a leader in the debt consolidation industry and has been named “Best Companies to Work For in AZ” for 10 years in a row. This San Mateo-based company now has 2600 employees and growing with offices in California and Tempe, AZ. Many of their employees are now remote or hybrid.

Diversity & Inclusion are important to their culture with employee resource groups, webinars, mentoring and development programs to support their growing staff. As Laurel shared, FFN Walks the Walk. They are currently hiring for approximately 85 roles in Tech, Marketing, Customer Services, and Sales. See the full list of postings at FFNJobs.com

They encourage seekers to connect with their recruiting professionals on LinkedIn:

Ian Ingersoll: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-ingersoll-b89871b4/
Maya Blake: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maya-blake-a21a2316a/
Melissa Whitlatch: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissawhitlatch/
Rama Parandekar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rama-p-53242b2/
Loretta O’Donnell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loretta-o-donnell-b401b41a/
Kevin Morris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-morris-43555a4b/
Lily Brezler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-brezler/

BCBSAZ

Due to technical difficulties, they were not able to join the event, but have many openings throughout the organization at https://jobs.azblue.com. Be sure to also follow them on LinkedIn.

Resources

Jessica Pierce, Founder, and CEO of Career Connectors, closed out the event by encouraging everyone to expand their networks by connecting with other attendees, speakers and former co-workers via LinkedIn.

Many thanks to the speakers, staff, and volunteers who make these events possible. Also, thanks to all who supported the organization through generous donations on Giving Day and throughout the year.

Be sure to take advantage of the many services available to job seekers through the website and various sponsors. Check out opportunities for assessments, coaches, professional photos, and future events on the Career Connector’s website. Also, be sure to read past blogs and highlights of other HR experts.

Upcoming Events:

Our resident networking expert, Jessica Pierce, will finish off the year’s events with a virtual experience Tuesday, December 14th about “Land Your Perfect Job in 2022.” Hiring companies will include Sun Health, Freedom Financial Network, and The Entrepreneur’s Source. Get registered and continue to follow us for information about future career events both virtually and in-person. Stay tuned!

Julia Churan

Filed Under: Event Recaps Tagged With: BCBSAZ, Trevor Houston, Who Ya Know, career advice, Freedom Financial Network, Job Search, LinkedIn

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Testimonials

Navigating the world of career transition can be an overwhelming experience.  In addition to the mechanics of transition (updated resume, career search strategies), there is the deeper need to connect to people who are in the same situation as you are.   For me, all of this was answered by Career Connectors!  Had it not been for this organization, I might still be sitting in my house, wondering what to do next!  At just one Career Connectors meeting you can be inspired by great speakers, … Read more
Iris M.
If you are a job seeker in transition or looking to find that new great position I highly recommend Career Connectors. The search process has changed significantly over the years and Career Connectors will provide you many tools that will allow you to stand out and demonstrate your unique value to potential employers. At each event I had the opportunity to “sharpen the saw” through top notch expert presentations on image portrayal, positive attitude, networking, social media presence, job… Read more
Joe C.
Networking helps, especially when you do not directly know anyone at a target company. I have attended 4 of your meetings and at one of them a company representative and recruiter presented. I was already familiar with this company, but she also said some other things in the presentation that made me take notice and created more interest on my part. I spoke with the recruiter at your event and she followed up the next week and from there I went on several phone interviews and on site interview t… Read more
Todd S.
I would like to share that I landed a contract position for 6 months with possible conversion to a permanent position on the team after those contract periods complete. I work on a team as an Instructional Designer and the team is virtual, which means I am able to work from home 100% of the time! I am very excited for the future of my career! I wanted to share that I sadly won’t be seeing you at Career Connector events for the next 6 months at the very least, and we’ll see how my performance … Read more
Bill T.
Fantastic! Good variety of roles, Obvious interest in quality candidates, really good solid leads. Great investment of time.
Alicia
I’ve attended a few of your events in Gilbert and Scottsdale since returning to AZ and being an active job seeker. I’m happy to report that I’ve been offered a job! I’m over the moon about the offer and couldn’t be more grateful after a long, three month search (that definitely felt much longer…. 🙂 ). I want to thank you for your programs. You have excellent speakers who always energized me when I was needing it most. And your resume reviewer was great. She was a tough cookie with a red pen y… Read more
Becky T.
It was amazing, you guys did a great job! I found several potential companies!
Irene
Good news. I have landed. Thank you for your support throughout my job search journey. You and your organization has lots to offer besides the positive energy, uplifting of self confidence and immense networking opportunities. I am very appreciative of the efforts and time put forward by you and your team.
Kirtida A.
After a company layoff thrust me into the job market, Career Connectors was exactly what I needed to develop my networking skills. Networking is a job in itself, and the skills I learned helped me to land a temporary position just three months later that is now permanent. I believe in the Career Connectors mission and continue to volunteer as a way of expressing my appreciation for their support during a very tough time…thank you Career Connectors!
Diane N.
Thank you, Jessica. Although I wasn’t able to meet you personally, I was able to see you working with another applicant and was impressed with your efforts and the excellent platform that your team presented. Thank you very much.
Luis R.
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