Written by Michelle Soracco
Keynote Speaker
Stephanie Clergé, Director of Training and Consulting @strengthspro
Stephanie is the Director of Training and Consulting at Kolbe Corporation and has been involved in recruiting and coaching for many years. She has worked at Intel, Deloitte and Cisco, and holds an Industrial Engineering degree from Stanford. She is also an accomplished Vampire and Zombie Killer, a.k.a. the Walking Working Dead who prefer to stab someone in the back to get ahead, and the Energy Suckers who do as little as possible to get through the day. She tells it like it is, and has some great suggestions for job seekers.
Start Strong, Finish Stronger: Your Best Self in Your Next Chapter
To view the slides for this presentation, click here.
Stephanie’s steps to getting hired:
Know yourself: What are your strengths? If you are using your strengths at work, you are 6x more likely to be successful in your role, and 3x more likely to say that you have a higher quality of life. In finding your strengths, consider the 3 parts of the mind:
1. Cognitive (thinking): skills, knowledge and education
2. Affective (feeling): motivation, interests, preferences, values (Strengths Finder, Myers Briggs, DISC)
3. Conative (doing): ease, energy and excellence.
Plan your work:
1. Define your strong career: ask yourself when you loved what you did, who you worked with and where you were (i.e. culture/industry). Your hobbies, internships, volunteering activities and side hustles can tell you a lot about what you love, not just your prior positions.
2. Develop your tools
*Your resume tells the story of where you’ve been as well as where you want to go. If you’re looking to change careers but you have no history in the industry you want to be in, get some history by volunteering or getting an internship.
*LinkedIn is a must. Your profile should be at 100%. Get good recommendations that tell specifically why you were good at what you did. Remember that your entire profile is searchable, so be careful what information you put on it. You may or may not want your telephone number, and be careful about which groups you belong to.
*Questions are also a must. They show you’ve done your research on the company/position and can provide additional clarification on anything said at the interview. Stephanie didn’t hire a candidate once because the person had no questions for her. Personally, I’ve never gone into an interview with less than 10-15 questions at the ready.
*Stories are preparation for behavioral questions at interviews. Be clear about what you contributed and how it impacted the organization. Also be prepared to explain everything on your resume, as well as any gaps.
Work your plan: What are your daily or weekly steps to accomplish your goal of getting hired at a place and position that’s right for you? One bullet point should be going to one networking event per week to get yourself out there, because you never know who you will meet and what that meeting might lead to.
Hiring Companies
Jessica Bowles, Director of Recruitment and Selection @NM_News
Northwestern Mutual has been around since 1857, and is the second largest broker dealer in the US. Northwestern is not a publicly traded company. They believe in “impacting lives with great purpose,” so they consider the following to be very important: family, faith, abundance, personal responsibility and passion. If you are ambitious, like to meet people and help them, Northwestern wants to talk to you. Current opportunities include Financial Advisor and Assistant Financial Representative. There are also staff opportunities available via the corporate website.
Sandi Elliott and Lauren Dubovy, @CoxTalent
Cox Communications is only one segment of Cox Enterprises. Cox Communications is the third largest cable company in the US, which introduced Contour and GigaBlast, the highest internet speed available. There are many benefits for Cox employees who contribute to Cox’s culture of success, such as the Compass program. Cox takes community participation seriously, so there are always volunteer opportunities available. Cox is looking for direct sales people, as well as account managers for different segments.
Jennifer Eberts, Human Resources, @Rogers_Corp
Rogers Corporation was founded in 1832 by Peter Rogers. They recently moved their corporate headquarters to Chandler and are looking to fill various positions throughout the organization. These include Business Analyst, Accountant, Project Engineer (Facilities), LMS Administrator, Quality Engineer, Process Engineer, Strategic Project Manager, Corporate Controller, Executive Assistant, Accounts Payable/Accounts Receivable, Demand Planner and Global Health & Safety Manager. Safety is their number one priority, and integrity is their base. Rogers has approximately 3000 employees worldwide.
John Hasna, Director of Talent Acquisition @FreedomFamily
Freedom Financial Network is a debt consulting company that provides financial solutions and services to enable consumers to achieve financial freedom. Their 3 AZ locations have 1300 employees, and have hired 200 of the 1000 individuals they want to hire this year. They are in the process of building a new campus in Tempe and were recently named as a Phoenix Business Journal “Best Places to Work” Winner. Open positions in Tempe include Java Developers, Product Managers, Corporate Trainer, Compliance Manager, Business Intelligence Analyst, Negotiations Debt Settlement Specialist, Inside Sales Reps and Software Developer. They are willing to train people for the necessary skills, as long as they fit in with the culture.
Resources
New Horizons Learning Center, @nhphoenix
Zack Hiscock, Vice President of Learning and Development @ZackHiscock
Career Connectors has partnered with New Horizons as their only WIOA-funded school. New Horizons is an international training organization that serves the needs of top companies to help individuals enhance their current skills and go to the next level in their career. They offer courses in IT, Office Mgmt, Healthcare Records and Management, Project/Production Mgmt Certifications. Classes are conducted live in a classroom, live online and self-paced online courses, depending on the student’s needs.
Closing
Sheila Coulam graciously thanked all of the day’s speakers, volunteers and job seekers for participating. She encouraged job seekers to take advantage of the many Career Connector services like having your resume reviewed, a free professional portrait and meeting the hiring companies. She also encouraged everyone to view the career blog, which is up and running and has a lot of good career advice.
The next event is in Phoenix, Wednesday, May 3rd: “Advancing Your Career with a BEST Company.” Register here.
