Career Connectors

Connecting professionals in career transition with hiring companies and quality resources

Career Connectors eUpdate
Subscribe Here

Event Recaps

1/27/22 – Show Out When You Show Up

by

Guest Speaker, Bridgett McGowen, award-winning international professional speaker and presenter.

Written by Sheri Kerr

Bridgett McGowen is an award-winning speaker and author.  Bridgett’s positive vibes vibrate through the Zoom microphone and shined through the computer screen.  She believes everyone has the ability to “Show Out When You Show Up”.   Bridgett starts her speech with a question –  Do you hear the words – “No”, or “You are wrong”, or  “You can’t do that!”  The audience responded in the Zoom chat by commenting about their experience.  Those expressions can hurt a person and create low confidence. Bridgett stresses that everyone has what they need to show up and show out.  “Have you heard about the 40 percent rule?” she asks the audience.  This comes from the book, “You Can’t Hurt Me” by David Googins.  His book outlines how people only use 40 percent of themselves and then people give up.  When we have 60 percent more energy and ability within us. Bridgett realized she was living the 40 percent rule and had the potential to use the other 60 percent inside herself.  She had an epiphany!  She suddenly realized she could perform her duties at work and shine the light on herself at the same time.   There are three steps to “Show Out When You Show Up” with the energy for people to recognize your value.  It requires for a person to do three things daily:

  • Know, Act, & Believe where there’s a will, there’s a way!    
    • Don’t be down about your circumstances! You might now see the path or how you’ll afford it, but wait for it  – as a revelation will arise.
    • Second, respond to criticism only when necessary when it is constructive.  Never say the word “JUST” as you are not just anything. 
  •  Think to yourself – how do I want to be remembered? Be confident! Use a song that inspires you.  Listen to the song and replay it in your head.  Hold your head up high, shoulders back, smile, and laser focused eyes. Do this all the time and it will become a natural part of you.  A genius is a talent that is easy for you to do. What can you do better than most with very little effort – name it, own it, and push it by asking yourself what is the next level with your talent
    • Don’t move to fast and not slow.  Go the speed of a model on a cat walk. 
  • Showing up as the Best version of yourself.  Be the person that has energy or being “on” and know when to be engaging.
    • Sometimes you’ll not feel it, but push through and be your authentic self.
    • Recognize your skills and talents and use them to the fullest.

She stressed:

  • Avoid using labels! You are not a “Just” anything. As the term “just” mimimzes your value and worth.  
  • Stop negativity
  • Don’t get down, but realize determination is the key.

Finally, Bridgett encourages the audience that despite any past hurts a person can “Show Up” and shine the light on themselves. 

BCBSAZ (Blue Cross Blue Shield), Liz Carrion, Talent Acquisition Mgr

Blue Cross Blue Shield has offices in Phoenix, East Valley, Flagstaff, and Tucson. The employees range from baby boomers, millennials, and Gen X with 70% females and 39% minorities. BCBSAZ recruits candidates willing to commit themselves, a person that wants a career, a person BCBS can invest in and values the same things they do. They offer robust benefits for all full-time employees.

Career Opportunities Include:

•Customer Service Representative

•Financial Analysts

•IT (Project Managers, Product Owners, Developers)

•Clinical (QA Analysts, Compliance Specialists,

•Data & Analytics (Actuarial Analysts, Data Science)

Go to BCBS career site: https://jobs.azblue.com/

Candidates can learn more by engaging with the chat bot

Arizona Dept of Health Services, Tracy Outlaw, Talent Acquisition Business Partner

Department of Health Services Purpose, Mission, and Vision

•Arizona State Hospital Patients & Families, Arizona Community Protection &Treatment Center

•Directors Office – Office of Strategic Initiatives, Public Information Office, Office of Border Health

•Licensing – Child care licensing, long term care licensing, Marijuana, Vital Records

•Planning & Operations – Human Resources, Financial Services, Information Technology Services

•Preparedness – Epidemiology and Disease Control, Public Health Emergency Preparedness, State Laboratory Services, Emergency medical Services & Trauma System

•Prevention – Healthy People Healthy Communities IGA, Women’s and Children’s Health, Tobacco and Chronic Disease

ADHS Mission: To promote, Protect and improve the health and wellness of individuals and communities in Arizona.

ADHS Vision: Health and wellness for all Arizonans.

•AZ Dept of Health Services is one state agency out of 130.   State Agencies comprised of executive branch, authorities, commission, councils, administrative, legislation, judicial, registrars offices

•Department of Health Services, Water Resources, Revenue, Public Safety, DOT, Pioneers Home, Lottery, Juvenile Corrections, Housing, Game & Fish, DCS, DEES, Board of Barbers, AZ Parks & Trails, AZ Capitol Museum, Department of Administration and many more

•You can choose from more than 1,700 types of career opportunities, all with the same employer, making job mobility and career advancement easy. With so many diverse roles, you can see why our employees join state service and never want to leave!

ADHS promotes alternative work schedules, flexible hours. We have positions that can fit any stage in your career, from entry to senior level

AZDH is hiring for multiple positions, levels, and offer a massive benefits package: https://www.azstatejobs.gov

The Entrepreneur’s Source, Anna Brambilla, Career Ownership Coach She helps professionals seek a better fit in their profession.  She is a career coach and desires to help others. She has helped 100 clients explore career or franchise options.

2/10/22 – Getting My Career SHIFT Together

by

Keynote Speaker: Travis Hardin

Written by Jessica Pierce

A native of the great state of Tennessee, Travis Hardin received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Aquinas College (Grand Rapids, Michigan) in 1999.  As a John Maxwell Certified Speaker and Trainer he is equipped in aiding your personal and professional growth through study and practical application of proven leadership methods. 

For more than 15 years, Travis has given inspirational speeches for purposeful living, specifically, on production capacity, personal and professional growth, overcoming disciplinary challenges, and diversity and inclusion. His self-reflective transparency in speeches and workshops has provided him with opportunities to speak around the globe. 

“It gives me the greatest level of humility to inspire people and demonstrate in practice that all of us can grow and increase our positive influence on this generation and those around us beyond our wildest expectations. I challenge you to a new season of growth. It begins with your passion to reach new levels.”

Growth Zones

  1. Coasting zone
  2. Comfort zone – I do what I’ve always done
  3. Challenge zone – I attempt to do what I’ve never done before
  4. Creative zone – The ultimate growth goal – attempt to think what I’ve never thought before. I’m going to think outside of the box, getting rid of the box. Think in a way I’ve never thought before. Make sure my career and people I know provide opportunities.

Mindsets that keep mental blocks

  1. I don’t know how to do that. Learn as I grow. Proceed without knowing the answers – learn as we GROW!
  2. I can’t do that. Keeps us from the creative zone.
  3. I have to follow the rules.
  4. Mindset that failure is bad. Failures have been greatest growth moments in life. Failure isn’t bad, it means I’m trying.

We need to be Hope Dealers, they place a value on culture and strive to make everything better. When you are looking for a new career, this is the time to be creative, dream and get out of the normal thinking patterns. Here are some creative principles to live by.

  1. Build a creative culture. What can you do to build a creative culture. Freedom and flexibility fosters creativity. Creative thought tank.
  2. Make everything better.
  3. Make plans but look for options.
  4. Place high value on ideas.
  5. Seek out and listen to different voices. Mentors.

Connect at the heart with people- we all need to become HOPE dealers because our family, neighbors, and communities need us.

  1. Goal oriented vs growth oriented. Improving yourself – the first step in improving everything else. Our community is struggling right now, become neighborhood Hope Dealers. Goals help me to do better, growth helps me to become better. The difference between doing and the becoming in your life? Growth changes.
  2. Growth outward vs growth inward. Focus on a few areas. Focus on the growth areas. Successful people have great attitudes, strong relationships. Everything rises and falls on leadership. Learns how to develop others.
  3. Growth with a timeline vs growth without a finish line.

Goals vs Growth Chart:

GoalsGrowth
AchievementDevelopment
StatusStretching
Honors PrivilegeHonors Service
Emphasizes the TeacherEmphasizes the Student
Target is “Arrival”Target is “Growth”

Successful people have:

  1. Great attitudes
  2. Laser-sharp focused on a few things.
  3. Strong relationships (they listen and the next day call you back and pour into you)
  4. Effectively lead their family, community, and those around me (lead in everything we do)
  5. Learn how to develop others. Who will you pour into? 

Final Question to ponder: When was the last time you used something new (not an established process, routine, or known method) to learn/unlearn/relearn something?

Financial Success During Career Transition

Jian Boldi, LPL Financial, jian.bold@lpl.com

  1. Understand your unemployment benefits. Apply – don’t miss out.
  2. Don’t forget to keep paying taxes (even on unemployment)
  3. Deduct your job-hunting expenses
  4. Go back to school to advance your skills or learn something new.
  5. Become under-employed, check out “gig” jobs
  6. Budget, budget, budget
  7. If you are 55 or older, you can take penalty free money from your IRA using (72t)
  8. Purchase health insurance with your IRA funds.
  9. Consider reversing a contribution you made to your IRA.
  10. Ask for help.

ADP

Laura Lynn Smith, Division VP

ADP has led the way in defining the future of business solutions and has won many awards such as Top Companies. Best Companies for Women, America’s Best Employers for Diversity and many more.

Strong brand, culture and career growth opportunities.

jobs.adp.com/locations/arizona: Implementation, Client Services, Sales, Leadership

In person and/or remote opportunities. Main office located in Tempe, AZ

ADP- Laura Lynn Smith, Division Vice President

Laura.lynn.smith@adp.com

&

Ashley Vella, Talent Acquisition Busines Partner

Ashley.vella@adp.com

Mark Anthony Brewing

Sonja Morgan, People Operations Director, smorgan@markanthony.com

4 facilities up and running.

4th largest brewery in the US – family owned. Can run 1500 cans per minute. About a million square feet facility. 24 hours a day / 5 days a week.

Mabrewing.com/careers/

Need 100 more positions filled. Professional and Skilled Labor. West Valley, just off the 303 in Waddell, AZ

People oriented facility/culture. Building a strong culture. Some positions include:

Sr. Manager, Maintenance & Engineering, Assistant Packaging Manager, Health & Safety Specialist, Maintenance Supervisor, Warehouse Supervisor, Sr. Process Engineer. Plant Project Engineer, Director, People Operations, Packaging Supervisor, Controls Engineers and more

Mark Anthony Services- Sonja Morgan, People Operations Director

11/18/21 – A 7 Step Career Amplifier

by

Guest Speaker, Chelle Johnson, MBA & PHR is the CEO & Founder of The Best Career Advantage.

Chelle developed her career by moving up the ranks in human resources. She has been a HR leader in varies leadership positions of Fortune 500 companies including Lockheed and Comcast. She achieved great success in her career when she became a top executive in HR. Yet she felt unfilled in her leadership role. She desired to help others with their career goals. She started her own business to serve job seekers in their journey in career & self-development.

Written by Julia Churan

Chelle’s lectured on “A 7 Step Career Amplifier”- this is when a job seeker focuses on vision, strategy, tactics, purpose, and mindset. Positivity is the oil that greases the gears to amplify your awesomeness. The Mindset and Vision are the first two gears of mindset gears. This first gear is Vision – know what you are natural good at. The job seeker needs a vision to how to use their natural gifts and talents. Another helpful tool for vision is to create a journal to track your desires and dreams. Next Optimize your mindset by knowing the pain of the employee and have a solution the problems. Mental Fitness is the ability to change the neuron pathways in your brain. This is a mental work-out with positive, cognitive psychology, performance science, and neuroscience. The next step to move forward in career amplification is to identify saboteurs which include relentlessness, people pleasers, controller, hyper-achiever, stickler, hypervigilant, hyper-rational, victim, and avoiders. A test can be taken to help you determined your saboteur. The development of your mental fitness requires building mental muscle by having empathy for oneself during the job search journey. Another exercise is to explore areas of professional growth – certifications or new skill. The final exercise is innovation by figuring out the person you want to become, identify the characteristic of that person, and pick a word.

Hiring Companies:

Goodwill of Central & Northern Arizona – Danielle Shaw and Elizabeth Barron

Goodwill’s Mission is Empowering Individuals , Strengthen Families, and Building Stronger Communities and they accomplish this mission by purchase and donation to Goodwill support their efforts to end poverty through the power of work.

Core Values: Trust, Collaboration, Engagement, Ownership, and Innovation.

Full-Time team members are offered medical, dental, and full benefit package. They are recruiting corporate positions, leadership, and store. They also strongly believe in promoting within. Check out their My Career Advisor program as well – open to all.

Research their positions at jobs.goodwillaz.org

Vertex Education
Jonathan Tummavichakul or JT, Recruiter

Vertex Education is a charter management organization. The district office located in Chandler, AZ. They change lives for education. They offer hybrid work schedule – three days remote and two days on campus. They work primarily with Legacy Schools but do assist other schools in recruitment. They support all school operations including academic support, enrollment, grant applications, IT, HR, and PR. They support Legacy Traditional schools and online to 27 campus – 20 in Arizona, 3 in Nevada, and 4 in Texas.

If interested in Vertex Education go to: vertexeducation.com or vertexeducation.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/vertexcareers.

Community Medical Services
Megan Kennedy, Recruiter

CMS is opening in two more states and their corporate campus is located North Scottsdale. Community Medical Services has been around since 1980’s. They are across nine states and locations all over Arizona. CMS helps individual with substate abuse disorder. They hire for community outreach, medical, and counseling. They have a robust benefit package.

Research their careers at communitymedicalservices.org.

The Entrepreneur’s Source
Anna Schulaman Brambilla, Career Ownership Coach

She helps professional seek a better fit in their profession. She is a career coach and desires to help others. She has helped 100 clients explore career or franchise options.

12/14/21 – The Perfect Job in 2022

by

Career Connector’s CEO and founder, Jessica Pierce delivers a riveting presentation – “The Perfect Job in 2022”.

Written by Sherri Kerr

The year of 2021 has become a candidates’ job market due to the great resignation! “The term “The Great Resignation” was coined in 2019 by Anthony C. Klotz, a professor at Texas A&M University. He predicted workers would start to resign in masses following the pandemic due to burnout and working remotely would trigger a shift in people’s identities and workplace expectations. The year 2021 has caused 4 million people to leave their jobs monthly, 55% of American Workers plan to Look for a New Job, only 20% of the Global Workforce Is Engaged, and Americans want to Continue Working Remotely. Americans desire to continue to working remotely and do not see the need to go into a traditional office. Four Million people are leaving their jobs per month due to unhappiness at work. Workers want to find a company that is a good match for them and desire to work remotely so they can live anywhere and work. The remote workforce is not going to chance and the good news to this there are openings that companies need to fill.

This shift has created new jobs opportunities and it’s important to comprehend how employers can find You! Jessica outlines six keys to help job seekers to unlock employer’s hiring doors. These keys include: hiring process, marketing/networking, competence, character, chemistry, and culture match.

Hiring Process

Looking for a job requires a new mind set. This new mindset jumps into the hiring manager brain and swims in their recruitment thought process. In past, job seekers would use job boards, see a job that fits, apply for the position, and hear nothing from the company. This new looking for a job mindset is not a linear process. In fact, this process is more circular. Jessica encourages job seekers to think like a hiring manager. The hiring process is a recruitment life cycle: identification and understanding, sourcing, screening, initial interview, final interview, feedback, short listing, verification, officer, joining formalities.

Marketing/Network

Connections! What can you do to make connections? The recruiter needs to fill a position with a person that fits the company’s culture, has the right character, chemistry, and competence. The recruiters have to go through many steps to find the right candidate. The job seekers need to connect with the company of interest and begin to NETWORK. The whole purpose of networking is to find a new friend. It is important to also think, “who do I know?” It’s important to reach out to friends and family and tell them you are looking for a job and the type of job you desire. Ask your friends and family – “who do they know?” Companies find great people by first looking internally as they are “known” people. Jessica encourages jobseekers to ask for meetings with friends or to touch base with former colleagues. The next steps recruiter and hiring managers take are to reach out to prior work relationships. They will seek internal referrals from the employees they know. The final step recruiters make are researching online job postings which are a higher risk. Unfortunately, most job seekers start at the bottom by using the online postings. Yet, the recruiter could already have multiple candidates from their known network.

Simply using LinkedIn to network with people works. Make sure your LinkedIn page is full of key words and phrases. If you are not on LinkedIn, Jessica encourages the attendees to join. This leads to the next point – Social Media. LinkedIn is the number one source companies to recruit and find solid candidates. Companies will Google your name to find information on their candidates. It is important not to post anything related to illegal drugs, alcohol, guns, or political opinions on your social media because companies possible could use that against you. Therefore, make others aware not to take certain pictures. Social media is a tool to use in looking for a job. Besides networking and social media online job boards are helpful. Indeed, crawls and scans multiple job boards. As you find jobs of interest on Indeed, go to the company’s website to find out more information on the company. These job boards give a job seeker an idea of what positions are out there. Staffing firms and niche staffing firms for example engineering are excellent resources.

Competence

Do you have what it takes? Do you have the qualifications and experience? Employers seek candidates with the right qualification, experience, education, certification, and training. Think of the job you are actively purposing, or you plan to apply. Jessica recommends printing the job description and print your resume. Then read the job description and highlight the main things what the person is looking for in a candidate. What are the main qualifications from the job description? Then make sure your resume addresses each of the main qualifications and your transferable skills. It’s important for the words from the job description to match on your resume because this is how your resume gets through an applicant tracking system (ATS). The ATS scours for the key words. Also make sure key words and accomplishments are on LinkedIn. What do you need to do to up level your game? You can volunteer for any organization you want and that will allow your skills to be developed.

Character

Research! What is the company’s culture? It is very important to the company, what are the values, what does their social media state? Do your research through your network. Find out about their culture and find out if they won awards and these are culture indicators you can address with the company. Think about the key traits you are looking for? You want to work for a company that matches your behavior traits. Besides investigating the company’s character and values, an applicant can take the DISC assessment. The DISC assessment helps a job seeker update the resume and helps identify natural gifts and talents. The DISC assessment can be found on the Career Connector’s website and is free. The terms from the DISC assessment can be added onto your resume, used on covered letters, or during an interview. Jessica stresses the importance of picking a company that honors who you are and what you are about.

Chemistry

It’s important to have a STELLER first impression. In person a firm handshake or fist bump with COVID, smiling, and be kind to everyone because they are part of the interview process. Mirror the interview’s initial response. Connect with the employer on LinkedIn. After the interview write a Thank You card or email.

Interviews

Qualifications – have your resume on hand to help jog your memory during an interview. An In-person interview arrive five – seven minutes early. A Zoom Interview it’s okay to be a little early too – one or two minutes. Answer questions with fact based experience, if an employer hires you, they feel like you can do the job. This I how I’ve done this type of work before.

Behavioral Interviews – “Tell me about your time you had to have a difficult conversation with someone.” Be ready to answer these types of questions as the employee is wanting to know if you can handle conflict and what do you do.

If the position is a remote position make it a point that you have a designated work space to work. Employers will want to know that information.

References – talk to a few former managers, colleagues, subordinates, and personal and ask if these individuals will be a reference for you. Let them know if you know the company will call them for a reference. You can help them be prepared.

Do you have a connection with the people that are interviewing you – connect with them on LinkedIn.

Culture Match

Competence, Character, and Chemistry

Today we are saying goodby to Sheila Coulam who has faithfully served as the Career Connectors Director of Operations for 7 years – she will be sorely missed!

Hiring Companies

Sun Health
Erin McKee, Talent Acquisition Manager

Sun Health is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit serving the community for 55 years. Founded in 1966 as Sun City Community Hospital to bring critical healthcare resources to the West Valley.

Mission: We champion superior health and wellbeing through philanthropy, inspired living and wellness programs.
Vision: We envision a world where people live longer, healthier, more purposeful lives.
Core Purpose: To empower people to enjoy living longer.
Vibrant Values:
• Big-hearted
• Thorough
• Invested

Not your typical employee benefits:
• Benefits for part-time employees
• Paid training programs
• Education Opportunities & Scholarships
• Employee Health and Wellbeing Programs
• Discounts-The Employee Network
• Career and Leadership Development
• Volunteer through S.H.I.N.E. (Sun Health Involvement Never Ends)
• Annual recognition events- Years of Service and Vibrant Living
• Employee Referral Bonus program

How to Apply: https://www.sunhealth.org/careers

Open Positions

Salaried:
• Finance
• Senior Accountant
• Life Enrichment
• Director of Life Enrichment
• Nursing
• Director of Nursing, Director of Quality Management, RN Weekend Supervisor
• Real Estate & Construction
• Senior Director of Environmental Services

Hourly:
• Administrative (Hourly)
• Staffing Coordinator, Operations Clerk, Sales Assistant, Marketing Coordinator, Corporate Receptionist
• Dining
• Cooks, Lead Cook, Kitchen Stewards, Café Attendant, Servers, Lead Servers, Dining Room Supervisor
• Environmental Services
• Housekeepers, Floor Care Specialists, Maintenance Techs, Housekeeping Supervisor,
• Nursing
• Assistant Caregivers, Certified Caregivers, C.N.A.s, L.P.N.s

Follow us on social media!
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter
• TikTok
• YouTube

Legal Zoom
Joe Lawrence, Technical & University Recruiter

And we’re here to democratize law.

We’re for the many. The many people determined to succeed, the goals that motivate them, the loved ones who inspire them.

We’re for technology that makes it easy, attorneys and tax experts who make it seem effortless, and trusted partners who make the next hurdle feel like less of a leap.

We’re for opening doors, opening a second location, and opening eyes to what’s possible. We’re for empowering people to take the first step and every step after. We’re for making sure everybody gets a fair shot.

For the many people who want to start a business properly, for the many families who depend on them, for the many ideas they need to protect, we’re LegalZoom. And we’re here to make it all official.

Our Values:
• People First: We’re all about people—both inside and outside the company—and we’re committed to their continued wellness and success.
• Unstoppable: We think big and work tirelessly to deliver the best experience for customers—and the best environment for employees.
• Purpose-driven: We’re united by our mission to democratize law, and we strive to improve people’s lives in everything we do.
• Simplicity: This is a complex industry, and we’ve made it easier for customers and employees to get work done while facing fewer roadblocks.

Strength in diversity:
Our employee network groups are at the heart of how we foster diversity, equity, and inclusion. Having a workforce that is welcoming to all can only mean better products, better service, and better ideas to best serve our customers and community. This is why—starting from our hiring practices, all the way to how we forge partnerships with other companies—we are fully committed to celebrating our differences, hearing every voice, and honoring all cultures. Because as much as tech is what drives our business, being human is what fuels it.

Position Open:

Inside Sales Representatives
Our Sales Representative role is the customer’s initial point of contact with LegalZoom, taking a consultative approach to the customer relationship by gaining a deep understanding of the customer’s business needs to pair services and strategy for long-term success.
• $19/ hour + Bonuses
• 100% Remote
• Extensive Medical/Dental/Vision (includes mental & fertility coverage!)
• 401k
• Profit-Sharing Opportunity
• Wellness Credit (for eligible expenses such as gym equipment, fitness classes, marathons, etc.)
• Paid Family Leave
• Vacation – 15 Days (13 Days + 2 Floating)
• 10 Paid Holidays

Freedom Financial Network
Lindsey Ardale, Employment Branding and Recruiting Marketing Lead

Our Core Values:
CARE (for everyone)
We show compassion and contribute to the well-being and growth of those around us. We only pursue products that improve the financial lives of our clients.

GET BETTER (every day)
We innovate, iterate, and improve each day. We are creative, take thoughtful risks, and ultimately learn and recover from failures.

ACT WITH INTEGRITY(every time)
We take the right action even when it is hard and even when no one is watching. We treat our employees, clients, and communities the way they wish to be treated.

COLLABORATE (with everybody)
We strive to work together toward a common purpose by proactively sharing information and inviting participation. We recognize the perspective of various groups and embrace healthy, constructive debate.

There Are Benefits To Working With Us:
Balance at Work
• Vacation time
• Paid sick time
• Monthly appreciation lunch
• Employee discounts
• Employee recognition program
• Café on-site
• Company sponsored volunteer events
• Holiday party

Stay Healthy
• Medical & Dental benefits after 30 days
• LTD and life insurance
• Pet Insurance
• Legal Plan
• New parent leave up to 12 weeks
• Employee mental health resources

Financial Health
• 401k with company match
• Employee Assistance Program
• Freedom Family Fund
• PTO for volunteer work
• PTO for your birthday

We are hiring for a variety of roles

Apply at FFNJOBS.com

• Customer Services & Sales
• Sales Representatives
• Sales Managers
• Bilingual Customer Service Representatives
• Mortgage Underwriters
• Loan Officers
• Managers of Loan Servicing
• Junior Loan Consultants
• Tech & Marketing
• Software Engineers- Java, Node, PHP
• Data Analysts
• Sr. Python Developers
• Lifecycle Marketing Specialists
• InfoSec
• Test Engineering
• Sr Growth Managers

The Entrepreneur’s Source
Anna Schulaman Brambilla, Career Ownership Coach

She helps professional seek a better fit in their profession. She is a career coach and desires to help others. She has helped 100 clients explore career or franchise options.

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

by

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!