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AZ Tech Finders

03/15/18 – How to Get Your Message Across in 60 Seconds or Less

March 17, 2018 by Diane Forner

Written by Lauren Kutsko

Keynote

How to Get Your Message Across in 60 Seconds or Less
Andy Gray

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou

As a communication expert with over 35 years experience, Andy guided us through helpful practices to build our confidence in understanding our own story and authentically communicating with others.

He started his talk by saying this: “The biggest take away that I hope you leave with is that everything you do to prepare for your interview also falls into the preparation that is required for the 60 second moment they ask you, so tell me about yourself.”

To learn how to communicate your story in 30 seconds takes practice and work. We only have 7 seconds to make an impression.

Your 30 second elevator pitch should communicate:

  • Who are you?
  • How do you fit?
  • Why should they think of you?

We start to understand this by a process of introspection.

Find out who you are by listing the following:

  • Your skills – abilities, education and professional experiences
  • Your passion – Passions and personality are keys to a strong brand
  • Your niche – The key to success is specialization. “The nicher, the richer.” Your natural gifts are part of your strengths and value.

Take time to write the lists out so that you remember and can reflect. It’s important to convey passion during the conversation. People want to see your spark!

Another way to come up with content for your 30 second elevator pitch is to think about your unique features and benefits and who would benefit and care about them.

  • Features – what you are good at
  • Benefit – how your features are helpful to others
  • Target audience- who would care about the feature
  • Why would they be interested

One tool to help you find keywords being used in your industry is to use Google adwords. It is essentially a social thesaurus of the most popular words that have been searched in the last 30 days.

Embrace your story and your unique writing. Your 30 second elevator pitch should reflect who you are in a real way. You do not need to be anyone else but you!

After you have a strong understanding of your features and benefits, it’s also important to adapt the communication to different audiences, such as networking events, recruiters, interviews and more. Do research on the audience to understand as much as you can so you can craft your message with words these people want to hear. Use Google, Linkedin, Glassdoor for research purposes.

Once you have done the work of crafting your 60 second pitch make sure you represent this on your Linkedin profile. Also check out the profiles of those who are interviewing you so that you can know more about their passions.

Now it’s time to practice!

  • Practice in front of cameras, mirrors and friends
  • Practice on the phone
  • Practice over coffee
  • And don’t forget to dress the part!

Remember you can confidently and authentically communicate your desires and passions to others in a meaningful and memorable way if you take the time to craft and practice your story!

Hiring Companies

BASIS.ed
Mendy Metcalfe, Recruiting Manager

With 26 schools open and new ones opening each year, Basis Schools are growing like crazy. Basis is a very academically rigorous school that is ranked with Finland and Japan.

Their open positions are:

  • Latin Teachers
  • Kindergarten Teaching Fellows
  • Elementary Teachers
  • Math & Science
  • General Teaching
  • Monitors
  • IT coordinators
  • Front office coordinators
  • Auxiliary program Coordinators

Visit their website to search positions by location for more detail.

Enchantment Group
Jennifer Albert – Sr. Manager of Reservations

Enchantment Group creates a culture of exceptional service in a dynamic company with lots of potential for growth. As a group of luxury destination experiences, the Enchantment Group has vast opportunities. In reservations they don’t just book the accommodation, they book the destination. Team members are just as important as the guests. Their goal is to make sure everyone is welcomed as a VIP guest.

Click here for all Enchantment job opportunities.

Tech Finders, HR Finders, and Finance Finders
Kristy Bach, Chief Operating Officer

Tech Finders, a female owned company, is obsessed and fanatical about making sure that the client and prospects feel understood and valued. Staffing is one of the best ways to get your foot in the door to get a contract position that turns into something extraordinary. Finders walks with you and helps you with insight and coaching so that you can interview with the most education and preparation as possible on the company. They also receive feedback on their client’s interviews, which can be used to help coach you for future interviews.

Explore available positions here.

Resources

Woz U
Scott Caruso, Software Development Advisor

Scott started coding at ASU and is currently enrolled in the Data Science program at Woz U. However there is no experience needed to begin a coding education with Woz U.

They teach:

  • Java
  • JavaScript
  • .NET
  • RubyonRails
  • DataScience

This is the fastest growing area with many job openings unfilled. They also offer a coder for life program that allows you to come back for the rest of your life to learn updated coding anytime.

Filed Under: Event Recaps Tagged With: Enchantment Group, Andy Gray, Basis, woz-u, AZ Tech Finders

1/12/17 – Rise Strong from Adversity

January 17, 2017 by Chris Layfield

internalGPS Paula ShoupWritten by Chris Layfield

Keynote

Paula Shoup, Coach, Facilitator, Consultant

Paula Shoup believes we can all rise stronger from adversity.  The most resilient people in the room are able to reckon with adverse situations through raw story-telling including all the negative emotions.  They control the critical voice inside their head, and they get curious about what they can learn and understand about themselves and others in the situation.  They continue to make stories out of this reckoning process, and they seek out empathetic listeners.  Resilient people own their history of vulnerability, and it becomes a sign of courage and strength.

How can you start down this road?  When you have a “Fall” (an “oh shucks” moment), write down your story in raw form with all the negative emotion – don’t hold back from blame, judgment, anxiety, perfectionism, humiliation, nostalgia, guilt, etc.  Create some space for creative reflection on the story by practicing slow breathing and keeping the critical voice inside your head in check for a while.  Ask yourself what you can learn and understand about three parts of the story: the situation, the others in the situation, and yourself.

Watch out for traps that can get you stuck:

  • Shame is a sure way to get stuck – instead of focusing on how you feel about your identity, focus your stories on how you feel about your behaviors in a given situation – you can change those
  • Negative emotions are the most powerful and long-lasting emotions – you need to notice sources of positive emotions in a 3:1 ratio to the negative ones to achieve balance
  • Imagining you don’t deserve to feel struggle because others have it worse than you stops the processing in its tracks – compassion and empathy are infinite, and you can find others willing to listen
  • Don’t fall into the trap of thinking the inner critical voice inside your head is you – it is trying to protect you, but it is not you.  Give it a name, notice the scripts it likes to repeat, and keep it in check, so you can process creatively

Hiring Companies

Allstate

Traci Whitley-Rose, Recruiter

Allstate has a regional office in Tempe with sales and marketing, product, corporate relations, claims, and IT professional opportunities.  The company is looking for a variety of backgrounds; Traci says telling your whole story, both inside and outside work, helps recruiters tailor opportunities to you.  Given the company’s national reach, there are also numerous flex/telecommuting opportunities.

Search jobs on Allstate’s career website.

Allstate is also looking to grant exclusive agencies to candidates with at least $100K in start-up capital, a track record of success, and an entrepreneurial drive.  Each policy an agent writes generates residual income, and there are no fees since this is not a franchise.  In addition to a wide product offering and national branding, Allstate provides a ton of local support including  training and consulting for your agency’s sales and marketing, product management, and corporate relations.  Even if you are not interested yourself, if you refer Traci someone who opens a business, Allstate will pay you a $10K referral bonus.

Varsity Tutors

Joanna Szewczyk, Regional Sales Director

Varsity Tutors just opened a location in Old Town Scottsdale (Camelback and Goldwater) on September 9.  They are a young company with lots of funding, strong technology, fast career growth, and a great vision of online delivery for test prep books, subject-specific apps, and a tutoring interface.  The culture is results-oriented with fun, and they are primarily hiring for sales, customer care, and training roles.

Check them out online.

Tech Finders / HR Finders

Kirsty Bach, Vice President

Staffing firms can create an advantage for candidates by getting to know them, presenting opportunities tailored specifically to their profile, and providing them behind-the-scenes, candid context that they may not hear through formal channels.

Tech Finders / HR Finders has been matching talent to roles since 1998.  They are currently seeking roles across multiple disciplines:

  • Tech: Database and Systems Administrators, Backend Principal Engineer, Java Developers, ERP Implementation Specialist, VP Sales and Marketing
  • HR: Healthcare Recruiter, HR Manager, HR Generalist, Recruiter
  • Finance: Sr. Accountant, Tax Supervisor, AP Specialist, Tax Compliance Specialist, Garnishment Specialist, Assistant Controller

Kristy also encouraged the group to consider contract roles as a stepping stone to permanent opportunities – contract roles open a lot of doors.

Get acquainted at www.aztechfinders.com.

Cenlar

Rebekah Long, Recruiter

Cenlar is a mortgage and loan-servicing provider with 2 Arizona Locations, both in Tempe (one at Warner and Kyrene and another at S. Hardy Drive).  Open roles include an HR Generalist as well as agents and supervisors in customer care and collections.  The company offers a full benefits package and encourages community involvement.

More information can be found at www.cenlar.com/careers.

Resources

Coder Camps

Tom Fisher 

Coder Camps is a 12-week coding skills program to transition people into an industry that currently has a 2% unemployment rate.  Learners can choose a full-time immersive course or a nights and weekends track; both have online and on-site options.  If you aren’t sure you are ready to commit to the full course, start with “Coding From Scratch” for a $100 application fee; it gives learners a basic overview of HTML, Java, CSS and more.

Visit them at codercamps.com

Closing

Jessica Pierce, Executive Director of Career Connectors, announced that the Career Connectors plan for 2017 is in place.  Career Connectors events can be a great next step for your to meet people, to get advice, and to connect with hope.

Veterans are invited to the Military Career Event on February 22 10am-1pm at North Phoenix Baptist  Church Conference Center in Phoenix, AZ.  This free networking and hiring event is open to all military- active, retired and reservists- as well as their spouses and significant others.

Additionally, Career Connectors is always looking for volunteers with photography, writing, and/or A/V skills.

Filed Under: Event Recaps Tagged With: Allstate, Varsity Tutors, AZ Tech Finders, Coder Camps, Cenlar

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Career Connectors is dedicated to bring the job seeker to reputable employers in the valley. I appreciate their professionalism and their consistency to continue to provide great leads.
Leslie B.
I wanted to take the time to write you to express my sincerest gratitude for all that you and those who work with you do for so many of us!I lost my job due to our medical office being closed. Your company came highly recommended by an HR person who worked with us as employees to help give us a hand up to become employed again through a very generous program provided by my employer. I am employed again in a job that I really love. It came with wonderful, kind, encouraging management and coworker… Read more
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I just wanted to reach out to you and say Thank you to you, Career Connectors and the whole Team! So let me explain why, while I’ve known of Career Connectors for many years, I never thought that I would need employment services or guidance before. On September 19th 2019 I found myself being let go from my job. I later the next day saw the Career Connectors event at Central Christian Church Gilbert Campus coming up on Facebook and signed up for it. While attending my first Career Connectors even… Read more
Brian P.
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.
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.
After one year of unemployment, I have been employed with an excellent company at a job which is perfect fit for my experience and desires for many months, through the efforts of the devoted volunteers at Career Connectors. I and my family are eternally grateful. Sincere thanks!
Jeff A.
Thank you for all you do! I’ve been nine loooong months looking for a full-time position and Career Connectors was a real life-line. I was pretty discouraged by the time I found your organization on-line and first visited. The speaker provided some great information but most importantly, encouragement and hope. The panel discussion on resumes was incredibly helpful! Last month I had the opportunity to sit with Brenda and she suggested I really pare back all but the last 10 years of experience an… Read more
Robin C.
This was terrific! Very successful. I’m glad I came!
Maggie D.
Career Connectors has given me the courage to move forward and the mindset to move out of this moment. I have gained encouragement, opportunity, and a stronger skill-set in each meeting I have attended. This interaction has given me the vision to see my God given talents, the realization of how much I still have to offer, and the ability to put value in my career, instead of only seeing value by a job.
Anonymous
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
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