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Bank of the West

05/20/21 – Discover and Unleash Your Super Power

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Keynote

Written by Kitty Carlisle

As the Arizona’s highest ranked and most reviewed motivational speaker in Phoenix, Jean Briese discusses leadership, high performing cultures, empowering women, and more on her website. She’s also a successful entrepreneur, a sought after speaker, and a recognized business leader.
Her focus during Discover and Unleash Your Super Power, her online presentation for Career Connectors, was to share that extraordinary people who achieve extraordinary things are actually ordinary people who happen to share some important traits that she calls Super Powers. Jean relates her message to job transition and to surviving the move into a post-pandemic world. And, importantly, to living a happier life.
When you engage these Super Powers, they have the ability to be life-changing.

Five Super Powers:

  • The Power of Habits
  • The Power of Your Purpose
  • The Power of Your Beliefs
  • The Power of People
  • The Power of Action
  1. The Power of HABITS
    Jean highly recommends that we all develop proactive habits. She includes recommendations from high achievers or research to determine your habits by answering these questions:
    • How do you start your day?
    • What are your sleep habits?
    • What is your fitness plan – body & spirit?
    • What time wasters/distractions do you need to address?
    • How do you HELP others?
    • How do you spend your money?
    Habits are what we do without thinking. We just do them.
    Gold medal Olympian Michael Phelps credits his athletic success to his habits. He has banished “I can’t” from his vocabulary and he does not allow anybody around him to say “I can’t.” He also uses the power of envisioning by making it a habit of practicing in his head.
  2. The Power of PURPOSE
    Do you know your purpose? What is something you do and never get tired of? Pick one strength and become amazing at it. Do the tasks that support your goals, your purpose. Our culture loves the spectacular, but too often we strive to overcome our weaknesses instead of concentrating on our strengths.
    Towards determining or solidifying your purpose, Jean recommends sending an email to 5-7 friends and asking them what they consider your top three strengths to be. Then ask them if there’s something you could do better. She did this with one of her successful teams, but was very disappointed at first when so many of the responses came back saying, “Jean Cares.” She was looking for a response she could put on her resume. She wanted action items since our culture is so heavily fixed on outcomes and she was always taught to produce results. But as it turns out, one of the key reasons her teams succeeded was because they felt Jean cared. It was, in fact, her Super Power.
    Too often, we don’t get or give credit for our strengths because we feel society doesn’t value a strength that’s not tangible. However, the number one trait that recruiters are looking for when they want to hire a new leader is that person’s purpose. Because when you move in your purpose, people will follow you.
  3. The Power of BELIEFS
    Belief is the conclusion we’ve come to. What is our truth? Two kinds of truth include lower case truth and upper case TRUTH.
    Jean’s “truth” is that she was abandoned. But that doesn’t mean she’s unlovable. It was a truth for only a season. Her actual “Truth” is something else.
    We have to quit talking to ourselves in a negative fashion, Jean says. It is a conclusion based on experience or maybe because somebody told us something; it does not necessarily mean it is true.
    And it’s essential to know that sometimes truth isn’t truth at all.
  4. The Power of PEOPLE
    In a study measuring stress levels, it was discovered that individuals who had a friend by their side found a hill easier to climb. So we really do need people – especially during a job search or career transition. It’s important to realize, though, that some people are lessons and some are blessings.
    During the pandemic, we had people. And now that fears surrounding the virus are on a downward trend, we still have people. Some were with us from the start and a number of them may have shown up during all the uncertainties. People help us navigate this journey (life, career changes, successes, failures).
    Use LinkedIn to expand your circle of people. Ask someone in your circle of influence to introduce you to others; you don’t have to go it alone. Networking is an important part of utilizing the power of people – not only for your benefit, but for theirs, as well.
    Consider adding a coach or a mentor to your inner circle. These are the kinds of people you want beside you to help you on your journey – to guide you. Ask yourself who you are learning from. Your goal is to discover your absolute truth.
  5. The Power of ACTION
    Action is key! Did you know that only 10% of those who attend a conference or take a class ever take action afterwards? The number one reason we don’t take action is fear.
    Even though many people in the U.S. still believe that the American dream is attainable, too many people will die without realizing their life’s dreams.
    Jean watched a group called Zucaroh on America’s Got Talent with her daughter, who was ten years old at the time. The group introduced themselves as amateurs who wanted to improve, to be better. They accepted everyone who wanted to be in their group. They performed acrobatics Jean and her daughter had never seen before, and they received the Golden Buzzer, which meant the group went directly to the live show. Jean’s daughter turned to her and said, “I wonder how many fails that took?”
    A great life lesson here is we ACT, we FAIL, we LEARN and we ADJUST. Repeat.
    Four Steps to Engage Your Super Powers
    • You must BELIEVE
    • You must be DELIBERATE
    • You must STRATEGICALLY PLAN YOUR TIME
    • You must HAVE A MENTOR
    In taking action, people are exhibiting their POWER of Choice – and sometimes the only choice we have in life is how to react. Reframe your thoughts from “I HAVE to do this” to “I GET to do this.”
    Be HAPPY.
    • Habits
    • Action
    • Purpose
    • People
    • Your Beliefs

Hiring Companies

Bank of the West
Doug Deyo
Bank of the West has been around for over 100 years and currently has more than 10,000 team members in 23 states. They have a diverse and inclusive culture and a generous benefits program.
Bank of the West is currently hiring in a variety of areas, including: Operations, Mortgage Operations, IT, Banking, and Loan Operations. Find details at BankoftheWest.com/careers.

IRIS USA
Christina Rudy
IRIS USA has corporate offices in Surprise, AZ, with other locations in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Texas. They are growing rapidly and did not have to lay anyone off during the pandemic. Some openings include buyer, programmers, full stack web developer, HR project coordinator and corporate recruiter. More information available at IRISUSAinc.info/careers.

LGE Design Build
Carrie Masters
LGE Design Build is a full-service general contractor, with both commercial and high end custom homes. They also have an architecture and interior design firm. A third entity under the LGE umbrella is a development and investment company. They have a very strong culture with these values: proactive, dependability, quality, communication.
Carrie is looking for Project Architects, Architectural Project Director, Business Development Professional, Staff Accountant and Project Manager/Estimator. More information can be found at LGEDesignBuild.com/careers.

WealthWave
Jason Wiseman
Wealthwave has been shaking up the status quo of the financial industry and shifting the advantage in favor of families all over North America. Their vision is a world where everyone is financially literate and has access to the tools and support they need to use that knowledge to create a better life for themselves and their children.
Their network of leaders offer:
• Turnkey solution
• Licensed profession
• Ownership
• Digital Marketing/Media
• Start part time
• No layoffs or furloughs
• Hands on training and mentorship
• A long history of helping families
If you’d like more information or a free copy of the How Money Works book, contact Jason at Jason.Wiseman@wealthwave.com.

CLOSING & RESOURCES

Jessica closed the meeting by thanking our speakers and volunteers!
Our next event is Thursday, June 10, 2021.

7/19/18 – Expert Tips on How to Navigate the ATS

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ATS TipsWritten by Susan Lamphiear

Inundated with too many job applications to handle, companies of all sizes are routinely turning to the ATS–the Applicant Tracking system–for help. Frustrating as it is for the job seeker, this ATS has become one of several strategies companies use to electronically and quickly screen resumes for open positions. So the savvy job seeker today must understand the ATS and then design a resume that can be as ATS proof as possible– to have a fighting chance of nabbing one of the coveted job interviews. And maybe the job.

Keynote

An ATS is not inherently bad, though, as our keynote speaker Jackie Schierenberg explained to attendees. But last year Dignity Health reviewed over 550,000 resumes, so they regularly use the ATS.  She came to Scottsdale Career Connectors to give job seekers tips for getting noticed during the job hunt—including getting past the ATS screening.  Working for Dignity Health for 14 years, and in Talent Acquisition for over 20 years, Jackie leads her current team of 10 to fill both those hard-to-fill positions as well as leadership positions. Her team scours the internet in search of talent. The ATS has become a very important tool.

Tips for Getting that Job Interview, including Surviving the ATS “Cut”

  • Leave out what used to be called the “objective” section on a resume. Instead, spend time describing how you add value to the company. Use active verbs.
  • The Skills section is THE most important section from the standpoint of the ATS.
  • Do your homework.  Create your resume carefully. For example, find out if the company you’re targeting uses the term “nurse” or “RN” so the ATS system understands you. Make sure you’re using the recent lingo of the industry–or of that company in particular.
  • Read the minimum requirements and then make sure you use key words on your resume to describe–in those terms where possible– your qualifications.
  • Font type— Don’t get fancy or the ATS might not recognize what you’re saying. Same with bullets.
  • Sometimes ATS can’t read PDF files so consider submitting just a regular MS Word file.
  • Remember– Recruiters can specifically target the experience section. It’s Jackie’s favorite place to search. So craft this section carefully.

Q & A with Jackie and Scottsdale Career Connectors Attendees

  • As a recruiter, she’s paid to be on the phone, so she advises–be bold–call recruiters and hiring managers. Jackie said she will take your call even if it’s only five minutes and at least give some advice. As part of your homework, find hiring managers via linked in and then google to find their phone numbers.
  •  Cover letters can be great, but integrate them into one document that includes the letter and the resume. This forces the reader to look at the cover letter. It’s not reviewed like a resume, but if there’s something compelling that’s not in your resume, then include it in your letter. As a recruiter, Jackie says she reads very few cover letters. But there are always exceptions. Her husband included a cover letter to explain why he went into architecture. I believe he got both the interview and the job.
  • Dignity Health uses an ATS that can search the resume, the attachments, and experience sections.
  • The ATS system looks for specific “hard” job skills. But not soft skills. The company will figure out your soft skills in the interview.
  • Number of pages in a resume. Just be sure your experience on the resume is recent or relevant. She doesn’t believe in a limiting one-pager resume. Instead, she suggests you include enough to get the point across.
  • Address versus no address on the resume. She sees many resumes without addresses. She personally doesn’t include an address on her resume, but her cell phone indicates where she lives anyway. With pre-screening questions, distance from work is often revealed;  in nursing, for example, at times a nurse might be required to come to the hospital within 30 minutes after being called. So location becomes important.
  • Dignity doesn’t use a personality test as part of the application. That tended to bog down the application process for them. But Dignity relies heavily on the behavioral interview instead.
  • In some states, employers are no longer allowed to ask what salary you currently make. But they can ask what your salary expectations are. That’s different than “What are you making?” She reminds us of the well-known phrase that “The one who talks money first, loses.” But as a candidate you can answer by asking the question, “What salary do you feel is commensurate with my skills and experience?”

Jackie tells us the company she works for, Dignity Health, doesn’t use robots—yet.  But they use the ATS. And as they say, ATSs are definitely trending now.  Jackie advises job seekers  to be prepared and realize ATS systems are being used by many companies of all sizes. She recommends you design your resume with the ATS in mind so you’ll be able to compete for that dream job.

Hiring Companies

Bank of the West

Doug Deyo, Corporate Recruiter

Bank of the West has a location in Tempe starting in October of 2017, but employs 10,500 team members across 23 states, servicing over two million customers. Open positions span a variety of areas including managers and analysts, customer service, Admin/Human Resources, accounting, IT, and loan officers.

The company prides itself on a diverse culture, encouraging team members to share their voice/opinion to help advance the organization. The company offers several benefits including complete medical, tuition reimbursement, generous paid time off, company holidays, and discounted banking rates.

For more information on the company or to apply, visit their website.

IMPACT Payments Recruiting

Marc Badalucco, Managing Partner

IMPACT Payments Recruiting has been around since 2000, focusing exclusively on the payment and cards industries worldwide. They specialize in working with senior to executive-level roles, both on a permanent and contract basis. They employ 15 in-house employees across the U.S., with more than 130 contract employees in Arizona.

IMPACT works within every area including product, sales, marketing, compliance, IT, and operations. Many benefits to working with IMPACT include the company working closely with you throughout the entire process including resume prep, interviewing, and salary negotiations.  IMPACT has many contacts in place with companies in the Valley, and those offering remote work.

Current openings include VP of Technology, Account Manager, Sr. Web Developer, Sr. Risk and Credit Specialist, Director of Underwriting, Sr. Director of Risk, Net Developer, Data Scientist, Sr. QA Automation Engineer, and Technical Architect.

For more information or to contact them, visit their website. Send your resume and one of their executive recruiters will contact you.

Allstate

Nate Smith, Senior LSP Recruiter

Allstate offers a variety of insurance products throughout the United States and appears #84 on the Fortune 500 list. The company has over 10,000 Alllstate Agency owners. The company always seeks employees in information technology, HR, product, claims and sales management, plus exclusive financial specialists, agency owners, and licensed sales producers.

Advantages to owning your own Allstate Agency include no franchise fee (though there is a startup investment) and the ability to leave the business to heirs. Because Allstate is a national brand, agency owners benefit from the big marketing plan which gives credibility to their individual offices. For anyone who has no insurance experience, Allstate will help prepare owners for their careers–including licensing.

Allstate also offers a Military Program for veterans. Click here for more information.

For more information on all other positions, or becoming an Allstate licensed sales professional, visit their website.

Resources

Woz U

John Bernard, Director of Business

Woz U was founded October 17, 2017 by one of Apple’s founders, Steve Wozniak. Woz U seeks to bring opportunities in the technology field to the masses, provide quality education to their students, launch students into a technology field, create a community of developers who help one another during the program and beyond, and offer lifetime support to each of their students.

The school teaches Java, JavaScript, .NET, Ruby on Rails, Data Science, and Cyber Security. Except for Cyber Security, all programs are entry level and required no background or experience.

John showed a video showing the success story of a Phoenix technology student who became homeless during his course of study, received assistance from the school, and went on to accept a great job as soon as he completed the Woz U program.

For more information, visit their website.

Closing

Executive Director of Career Connectors Jessica Pierce closed the formal part of the meeting and thanked the host, Highlands Church of Scottsdale; guests including keynote speaker and hiring companies; and volunteers. She then invited attendees to take advantage of the breakout sessions: meeting with hiring companies and training resources, getting advice from resume writers and LinkedIn coaches, and receiving free professional headshots from the professional photographer on site.

The next event for the Scottsdale location will be held Thursday, August 16, 2018, at 9 AM.

For a complete list of events along with times, locations, and speakers, see the information to the right of this blog. Or go to the events’ section of this website.

11/21/17 – Seven Simple Things™ for Career Transition

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Seven Simple ThingsWritten by Shweta Shrivastav

Keynote

Tom Gammon has been involved with Career Connectors for about 5 years, first as an attendee, and also as a volunteer. Seven Simple Things™ emerged from Tom’s professional and personal experiences, and a penchant for continuous learning. He spent 30+ years in the corporate world creating and growing business units within large organizations to 9-digit revenue levels and high profit performance. He has also trained, coached and mentored hundreds of small business owners and thousands of individual professionals. He is an Academic Associate with ASU, where he mentors students, faculty, and community-based start-ups, is a guest lecturer on the subjects of personal and team development and performance, leadership, and culture, and chairs the Venture Mentor Advisory Council for ASU’s Venture Devil’s program.

The Seven Simple Things™ is a collection of principals, practices, tools and resources to help you move forward in any situation and create a happier, less stressful and more productive life.

These principles can be applied in various fields like Entrepreneurial ventures; Management, Organizational Teaming and Leadership; Consulting, Coaching, Speaking, Mentoring; Job Search/Career Transition; Professional Sales and Sales Management; Educational Pursuits/Personal Development; Direct/Network Marketing; and Athletic team performance to name a few.

Once there were three brick-layers. Each one was asked what they were doing. The first one grimly replied, “I am laying bricks”. The second one said, “I am building a big wall”. The third one said with pride, “I am building the greatest chapel ever built.” So, our attitude towards whatever we are doing determines the level of success. If we have the bigger picture in mind and not just the task at hand, we are better able to eliminate obstacles.

From the HR perspective, the hiring criteria they have in mind is if we CAN do you our job, if we WILL do our job and if are a good culture FIT.

So, now the question is during this time of job transition how do we stay motivated, focused and end up getting a great job?

The answer is by emphasizing on the Seven Simple Things™

  • Positive Thought
  • Positive Action
  • Ponder the possibilities
  • Preparation
  • Practice
  • Persistence
  • Patience

The implementation process – How do we achieve these Seven Simple Things™?

  • Creating an ability based mindset
  • The performance triangle
  • Craft and tell your story

Creating an ability based mindset

Some of the challenges to creating an ability based mindset are Fear, difficult task, questioning your abilities, discomfort, not being clear about your “why”, and mired down or being “stuck”.

  1. So, how do we get over these challenges? Emphasize serving others be it Community, Customers, Professional Stakeholders, or Personal Network.
  2. Daily reflection about your values and your “why”, expressing gratitude either as a prayer or as gratitude journaling, setting intentions/goals, learning, and getting a little uncomfortable each day by doing something you have not done before.
  3. Taking time to contemplate and meditate. For example, learn about simple “pranic” breathing techniques.

The performance triangle

The performance triangle is Acceptance-Choice-Action.

Acceptance: The first step to great performance is acceptance. Taking stock of where we are and creating a game plan from there to reach our goals. Not approaching the job search from a victim mentality but from an abundance mentality.

Choice: Once we accept and take stock of our current situation, the inevitable question of choice comes up. We can either chose to take action and feel the pain of effort or not take action and feel the pain of regret. The choice is ours to make.

Action: One step at a time along the way to something bigger/better. We don’t need to “boil the ocean” but make a difference in our own unique way. We should appreciate, enjoy and even celebrate the action. Repeat the cycle by accepting the new moment created by your action.

Craft and Tell you Story (Leverage Your Unique-ness)

Here are the the components to crafting a compelling story about what you offer.

  1. Situation/Background – Events, Findings, Experience(s)
  2. Decision, Action, Results – Choices, Actions, Results
  3. What I like most – About current status/results
  4. Reactions – People [Clients] find that
  5. Engagement Question – OPEN ENDED

Invitation: Receive free Seven Simple Things™ introductory e-book for Entrepreneurs or Job Seekers when you join the mailing list on Tom’s website TomGammon.net.

Suggested Readings:
The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor
The Charisma Myth by Olivia Fox Cabane
The Success Principles by Jack Canfield
The Sedona Method by Hale Dwoskin
A New Earth ad The Power of NOW by Eckhart Tolle
The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra
The Path: What Chinese Philosophers Can Teach us the Good Life by Michael Puett & Christine Gross-Loh
Letting Go by David R Hawkins
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
How Good Do We Have To Be by Harold S Kushner
You are a BADASS by Jen Sincero

Hiring Companies

Bank of the West

Douglas Deyo, Recruiter
A subsidiary of BNP Paribas, Bank of the West has recently (October 2017) set up shop in Phoenix. They have plans to hire more than a 1000 people in the coming year. They have a laid back work environment due to their European roots and have a robust pay and benefit policy. Some of the roles they are hiring for are Customer Service, Administrators, Accounting professionals, IT professionals, Banking and Loan Operations professionals. You can find all their job postings at here.

LoanCare – A Servicelink Company

Robert Soukkala, VP Site Manager
LoanCare is majority owned by Fidelity National Financial, Inc. They have a casual dress code and laid back work environment. They are currently hiring in their Customer Experience, Collections, and Loss Mitigation departments. All of their jobs are listed at LoanCare.net.

Chase

Lekheythan Malone, Sr Recruiting Professional
Chase serves nearly half of America’s households with a broad range of financial services. The scale of operations provides job seekers with amazing job opportunities. There are ample opportunities to grow within the company. Their benefits are one of the best in the market. Additionally, they have various diversity groups including Veterans, LGBTQ and others.

Some of their open roles are:
Phoenix – Consumer Direct Mortgage Banker, Underwriter – Auto Finance, Customer Service & Collections Specialist I & III – Auto, and Lead Teller Ops Specialist Trainee (English/Bilingual)

Tempe – US Help Desk Specialist II, Customer Service & Fraud, Customer Service & Fraud (bilingual), Mortgage Services Specialist I, and Retail Customer Service

Find all of their job listings here.

Vanguard

Ralph Kimbrough, Sr Recruiter
Vanguard is one of the largest investment management companies. They put great emphasis on work-life integration. 37.5 hours of work is considered full-time work. They have some great benefits like on site gym, on site health clinic, tuition reimbursement, retirement savings, and learning opportunities.

They are hiring for various jobs from Entry level to Management level. Some of the roles are Client Relationship Specialist, Processing Associate, Financial Adviser, Compliance Manager, and Team leaders. For their current open positions, please visit their website.