Career Connectors

Connecting professionals in career transition with hiring companies and quality resources

Career Connectors eUpdate
Subscribe Here

The Hartford

6/10/2020 – Expert Tips on How to Navigate the ATS

by

Written by Michele Rock

Jackie Shierenberg

Sometimes a job search can feel overwhelming, especially during these unprecedented times. Do you often wonder if your resume went into a black hole? The whole process can feel impersonal and extremely frustrating. Today, Career Connectors brought back Jackie Schierenberg from CommonSpirit Health (previously known as Dignity Health). Jackie has over 20 years of experience in talent acquisition, with expertise in finding top talent, HR Technology and maximizing social media in the hiring process. She shares her insights to help us better understand how to successfully navigate the ATS (Applicant Tracking System).

Keynote

Dignity Health…Our alignment to Common Spirit Health

  • February 1, 2019 alignment completed
  • Currently have 159,000 employees, last year hired 34,000
  • Open positions = 7200 +
  • Recruiters handle 40-120 requisitions at one time
  • Recruit in 22 states
  • 139 Hospitals + Urgent Cares and Medical Groups
  • Dignity Health ATS = ICims
  • CommonSpirit ATS = Taleo
  • 2019 reviewed over 1 million resumes

How does a Recruiter attract, find, and engage talent?

  • Current Candidates
  • Past Applicants
  • Employees
  • Referrals
  • Social Media (Share what it is like to work at the company, feature leadership, showcase hard to fill positions, etc.)
  • Career Portals and Talent Pools (Follow specific companies and never miss an opportunity.)
  • Passive Jobseekers
  • Boolean Search
  • Association and Conference Lists
  • LinkedIn
  • Job Boards

A Job Search is like a puzzle. One needs to employ all of the aspects highlighted above to pull it together and be successful!

What is an ATS?

It is a software application that recruiters use to manage their recruitment and hiring needs. It will do everything from posting a new job on websites, filtering applications, storing job descriptions, supporting collaboration efforts with hiring managers, documenting the hiring process and providing advanced reporting. Companies rely heavily on these systems to process the hundreds of applications that come in for a posting in a faster, more efficient manner. Many newer systems are using artificial intelligence to aid in the overall process and remove human bias. Companies are able to maintain compliance and pull reports to analyze metrics about a specific posting, role, candidate and more.

Most job searches today start on Google.com. Candidates can search to see who is hiring, research targeted companies, learn minimum requirements and the keywords to include in their resume, gather salary information and tips for interview preparation.

When you are ready to upload your resume keep in mind the following:

  • Keep it simple! – Many ATS systems will strip away formatting or even omit information if they find unknown tags within the document. Font type, bullet points and some file types can “confuse” older systems. Consider a basic formatted version using Arial or Times New Roman to specifically upload online.
  • Be aware of the requested file type – Jackie recommends using a PDF format unless noted otherwise.
  • Keywords – Be sure your resume has terms that are specific to the role and used in the company’s job description. You can use generic keywords for a specific job, but if you are looking for a nursing role and the description specifies RN, be sure to use RN rather than Registered Nurse. Some recruiters may include both when they search for candidates, but you have a greater chance of rising to the top of the search by using the exact terms for the company’s posting.

Do Your Homework

  • Company Career Sites – In addition to Google Search use the filters on a company’s career site to search job postings. Job boards may not be as up to date with positions. There is not just one way to search. Always search using the different filters to ensure you get all the possible results.
  • Leverage Your Network – Try to find people who are connected to individuals at the specific company you are targeting.
  • Talent Pools or Communities – These are available on the employer career portal. They are helpful for recruiters to proactively find candidates and great for Passive Job Seekers (warm leads). You will also receive recruiting news and be part of email campaigns.
  • Glassdoor.com – Research the interview tips, salaries, and benefits.
  • Sign Up for Email Alerts and automate wherever possible – This feature is often in the search function after you have uploaded your resume on the company website. It can save you time since you will not need to regularly check the company’s website to ensure you don’t miss a new posting. You may also be one of the first candidates to apply if you are on this list.
  • Recruiters Often Tag Candidate Profiles – Try to make personal connections with the talent team by social media, career fairs and even cold calls. Recruiters can apply tags to a candidate profile to make candidates easier to find later.
  • White Text – Type keywords from the job posting in white text at bottom of resume. The words will not be detected when printing, but could help your resume get pulled by the ATS.
  • Meet the Minimum Qualifications – Always review the minimum requirements and ensure they are demonstrated on your resume. Recruiters are looking for those minimums to share your information with the hiring manager.
  • Be Discoverable – Companies can see the different resumes you have submitted and your history, but are going to look at your most recent one. Make sure your profile is as complete as possible to ensure it is pulled.
  • Get Personal with Recruiters – Leverage LinkedIn to find recruiters and hiring managers. Once you find them, search for their contact information on Google and make a call or reach out directly to the talent or hiring team.
  • Cover letters – Recruiters generally do not read cover letters. However, if you have an impactful story to share – add it as a cover letter and combine it with your resume as one document.
  • Resume Guidance – It should never be more than 2 pages and should not include a photo. Your contact information should be at the top of the page, then a summary of your skills, then your work experience and highlight your education at the end.
  • Salary Expectations – Companies should not be asking your current or previous salary. You do not have to include salary expectations. Instead use $1 or 9999 to get past the field.
  • Virtual Events – Be authentic and be prepared to discuss the opportunities. Recruiters are also learning how to successfully maneuver in this new space that was caused by Covid-19.

Hiring Companies

The Hartford
Chet Joshi, Sr. Talent Consultant

Since 1810, The Hartford has been helping people pursue ambitions, seize opportunities, and prevail through challenges along the way. They continue to this day on a path of excellence receiving a variety of recognitions, including being named a World’s Most Ethical Company 12 times over the years by the Ethisphere Institute. Over 19,000 people are employed by The Hartford with 800 employees in the Scottsdale office. The company is known for its industry leading benefits including 19 days of PTO. Chet is currently recruiting for Sales Agents (Job ID Number #2000962), but checkout all of their openings on their website. All roles are currently remote. However, the opportunity to work from home long-term will be available for those who meet/exceed their KPIs.

Dignity Health
Allen Riggs, Recruiter Talent Acquisition

Dignity Health was founded in 1986 and is currently doing business in 22 states. Their goal is to create environments that meet each patient’s physical, mental, and spiritual needs. They also believe this healing philosophy promotes the well-being of their staff and the patients they serve. Patient facing and Non-patient facing positions are available. The culture and benefits are in line with a company promoting both the well-being of patients and staff. Go here to search and apply to open positions.

WealthWave “The HowMoneyWorks Company”
Jason Wiseman, Sr. Marketing Director

Jason shared an entrepreneur opportunity. WealthWave’s Network of Leaders are all independent business owners who have been flying in formation for years shaking up the status quo of the financial industry and shifting the advantage in favor of families all over North America. There is both a void of effective material and a lack of trained educators that prevent the vast majority from learning the financial concepts and strategies they need to know. This allows society to be easily taken advantage of by those who know how to leverage this lack of knowledge to construct their own wealth. Check out Jason and the opportunities available at the website.

Resources

The Career Connectors’ website offers a number of free resources to assist job seekers, including online coaching, free DISC assessment, LinkedIn basics, and career advice. Click at the top of the resources page to register in order to receive updates.

Closing

CEO/Founder of Career Connectors Jessica Pierce reminded the online audience that Career Connectors will continue their webinars on Wednesdays starting at 9:00 AM through July until live, in-person events can resume. For anyone seeing the presentation via Facebook, or if you haven’t registered, register on Career Connectors’ website (upper right corner) to receive notices about upcoming meetings and other related career information.

02/15/18 – Your Work Begins Before the Interview

by

Your Work Begins Before the InterviewWritten by: Lauren Kutsko

“Take risks: If you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be wise”

Author Unknown

KEYNOTE

Your Work Begins Before the Interview

Martha Rockwell

As someone who has reinvented her professional career 5 different times and has been in the resume writing industry for 20+ years, we were delighted to listen to Martha deliver valuable insights into the actions we can control during our career transition. Without some of the actionable steps she shared to keep our job search positive and connected it is easy to feel overwhelmed with a wide open calendar and nowhere to aim your efforts.

She shared 6 major areas of the job search to keep in mind as you seek interview opportunities.

  1. Resume, Cover Letter, LinkedIn
  2. Personal Criteria/Work Preferences
  3. Networking
  4. Research and Targeting
  5. Interview Preparation
  6. Time Management

Resume, Cover Letter and LinkedIn Profile
Many major corporations are using Applicant Tracking Software to sort and organize resumes. Because sorting is being done by computers there are a few things to keep in mind when submitting yours:

  • Do not use tables or text boxes.
  • Have your designated title at the top of the resume match exactly for the position you are seeking.
  • Adding keywords that match the job description throughout your resume will strengthen your match and bring you to the top.
  • Simply put, a LinkedIn profile is just a must. If you do not exist online you don’t exist! Career Connectors has coaches onsite to help you with yours. As far as the cover letter, they aren’t always necessary. If you do submit one, take the time to address the specific qualifications listed in the job description and speak to how you exemplify them in your work and attitude.

Personal Criteria and Work Preferences
In career transition you have the opportunity to make a change to your life. To do that well it’s important to take a look back and acknowledge what you like and don’t like to shape your future. Take an honest look at your previous work history and explore what you loved what you hated and what you would like to have in the future.

Networking
80% of all job placement is done through networking! Martha encouraged us to keep the emphasis of networking as we make connections, not to land a job. If you go out with the only intent of getting a job it’s likely that networking will feel inauthentic and dry. You never know who other people know! Reach out to old friends, take them to lunch. Make a list of everyone you know and start making the small connections to build your network. Don’t forget to list people out of state, you never know who they know here in Arizona.

Research and Targeting
I thought this was a very cool proactive place to start your job search! Start with a group of 20 companies that you have always thought would be interesting to work for and begin to do research on them. Perhaps you will find a few don’t have offices in your city. Perhaps a few just released press releases saying that they laid off employees. As you research, narrow your list to 3. Then begin to look through your network of people to see if there is anyone you know that could hand deliver your resume for you.

Interview Preparation
An interview should be a conversation between two interested parties. So as you answer their questions consider finishing with a question like, I would like to know more about the qualifications you are looking for. She also encouraged us to write out and practice the dreaded “tell me about yourself” statement. Include your background, how you found the position, your strengths and then don’t forget to end it with a question back to them!

Time Management
As I am sure you know, without setting clear goals it is too easy to get overwhelmed and delay the start of your job search. On of the easiest ways to overcome dread is to make a plan! One of the goals is to get out of the house everyday. There is a fantastic resource at www.networkingphoenix.com that lists all the events that are happening around the valley. Now that you have the time, make coffee and lunch dates with old friends or coworkers. Remember you never know who other people may know that could land you your next position!

To learn more about Martha’s company check out her website!

HIRING COMPANIES

Northstar
Peter Swenson, Divisional Vice President

Northstar is a growing smart home securities company based in Utah. With an office in Tempe, they are accepting college interns and hiring heavily in sales and field tech services. Their mission is to empower confident living. They do that with their clients through products that make people feel secure and they do that with their employees by ensuring work life balance and employee development. Current openings are in recruiting, customer service, field service technicians, sales representatives and sales managers. For more information go to their website.

The Hartford
Chet Joshi, Sr. Talent Consultant

With a new office on Raintree and the 101, there are many opportunities at this very established company! With over 200 years in business, this company offers some of the most competitive healthcare and 401k matching plans available. They like to say they don’t have job openings, they have career openings. With low turnover and rapid advancement opportunities you can build an incredible career here. Their current openings are in Phoenix and Scottsdale, including Customer Service Rep, Workers Compensation Claim Rep, Liability Litigation Claim Consultant, Client Relationship Manager, Underwriters, and Auto Claim Rep. More information here.

Staff Logic
Justin Hook, VP Sales and Recruiting

As a local staffing firm that has deep connection with some of the valley’s best companies, this is a great place to start your networking efforts. Staff Logic offers not just temp to hire positions but plenty of professional direct hire positions. They have placed over 50K professionals in long term careers here in the valley. 63% of their referrals come from clients or professionals that they have placed! They work in many fields such as accounts payable, banking and financial services, bookkeeping, credit and collections, audit, public accounting, executive staffing, software development, IT engineering, customer service, software sales, medical administrative, marketing, HR, and executive searches. For more information click here.

RESOURCES

Goodwill of Central and Northern AZ
Carter Ellis, Professional Career Advisor

Goodwill is more than a retail store. In fact, 90 cents of every dollar earned at their stores supports their work of ending unemployment here in the valley. With over 18 different career centers valley wide they support their clients with career coaching, resume critiquing, mock interviews, talent sourcing, and access to a job posting board. They do not just hire entry level positions. Because they have relationships with 600 different employers around the valley, their recruiting is diverse for the professional placement as well. For more information about hiring events or their Career Centers, check out their website.

CLOSING

Sheila Coulam reminded us that pictures are uploaded to the website, they will not be emailed to you.

There is an upcoming military career event that all are welcome to attend. Attendance is FREE for all job seekers! Create your profile to be pre-matched with hiring companies for onsite interviews March 7! More information including participating companies can be found here: BCAZ 2018 Military Career Event.

On Feb 22nd in Glendale Kevin Dumcum will speak on how to Activate Your Job Search and Jim Sorenson, will be sharing from DES/Unemployment Insurance and how to take advantage of DES services. The hiring companies will be DES and Honor Health.

5/15/17 – Overcoming Job Search Anxiety

by

Overcoming Job Search AnxietyWritten by Susan Lamphiear

Ever had anxiety over having to change one of your many passwords that have become a part of life in our high tech lives? Ever worry about your kids, your spouse, and your bills?  Ever get nervous when the boss invites you into the office at the end of the day? Ever get anxious when you think you’ve lost data off your computer?  All reminders that anxiety, stress, worry, fear, have become part of our modern day life. So, is it any wonder that a job hunt or job transition provokes anxiety?

But there is hope for managing high anxiety which is often part of that job hunt.

Keynote

“I’ve been on four interviews only to hear nada, crickets, zilch feedback.” Keynote speaker Andy Gray admits he’s “been there.”

“One of the great conundrums of job hunting. You feel  lousy after a bad interview.” Then after a good interview you feel upbeat, even great, and start making plans.

“And then the rejection (or the no-contact) makes you feel lousy. So just in general, you feel lousy all the time.” You feel anxiety.

Andy Gray, who has been on both sides of the interview, is here to remind job searchers that even though anxiety is almost certainly a part of any career search or job transition, if we’ve worked at other careers, other jobs, then we’ve experienced our share of anxiety there, too.

Andy wants to give job searchers hope by offering tips on handling the anxiety and stress inherent in job searches and compares that anxiety to handling anxiety on the job—they’re similar and they are controllable. With over 35 years of experience working in marketing and communications, Andy’s expertise has helped him mentor and guide people seeking career change.

Andy broke into his current career in coaching and mentoring when he helped one of his sons who was just getting out of college to manage his job search. Andy helped his son with the process involved in landing a job.  Based on his own career experiences, and his background in marketing, Andy advises job candidates at all levels to think of themselves as their own product they’re marketing.

Think of your last job and how much time and effort you spent. Apply that same concept in your job search. Be prepared to write down your goals and strategies, not just think about them. There’s power in writing it down. When Andy learned famed Dallas football star Emmett Smith wrote down his goals in football every year, Andy started writing his goals every year, too.

Andy’s Advice to Manage Job Search Anxiety

The entire process of the job hunt strategy — including preparation, practice, positive attitude and respect for the job search —  will help reduce anxiety during the job search.

Preparation

Devote as much time and work as the projects you managed or participated in –projects that went well and that you were proud of. Didn’t these positive outcomes give you confidence?

  • Identify your purpose.
  • Write down your value. Andy wrote, “Senior executive who has directed, centralized and strengthened how customers are acquired and retained.”
  • What is your goal? Andy wrote,  “My goal is to present myself as someone who is accomplished and skilled in the Marketing discipline and as someone who is very experienced in structuring, organizing and demonstrating the value of marketing to companies.”
  • Write your introduction and background.
  • Write down your strategy.
  • Create your personal brand. Personal branding is the practice of people marketing themselves and their careers as brands. Personal branding is the ongoing process of establishing a prescribed image or impression in the mind of others about you. You’re being judged every day in your job hunt, so you need to be in A game all the time, just as you would adopt that attitude in any paid job or project.
  • Prepare to talk about tangible experiences, strengths, and areas of improvement you desire (aka “weaknesses”), presenting areas desired for improvement in the best possible light.

Practice

  • Don’t just think about what you’re going to say, practice it, whether it’s online, with your cell phone, with a friend, or in front of a mirror.  Practice 30 and 60 second messages. Prepare for information meetings, not just interviews.
  • Practice dressing the part and practice stance, walk and sitting. Even on the phone, dress up! Videotape yourself.
  • Ask yourself how much work and time did you devote to projects you’ve managed? Replicate that effort in your job hunt.

Maintain Correct Attitude

  • Manage your own expectations
  • “You can’t control the process, but you can influence it.” Marty Neumeier, The Brand Gap
  • Make a list of who and what you can influence
  • Use LinkedIn to your advantage
  • Shore up a required skill or learn new skills
  • Volunteer
  • Stay healthy

Respect the job search process

  • Nothing happens easily.  Plus consider the other side of the job hunt—the hiring manager. What you think isn’t necessarily what the other person thinks.
  • Be positive through research. Get to know more that just the company culture before applying. What’s their hiring process and interview questions, who will you be meeting, latest industry and regulatory trends, and the latest company trends and SWOTS (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, four elements of an organization, project, or business venture).
  • Do your homework, adopting the mantra to underestimate and over deliver.
  • Remember your resume will face a lot of competition.
  • 1000 individuals will see a job post.
  • 200 will begin the application process.
  • 100 will complete the application.
  • 75 of those 100 resumes will be screened out by either the TS or a recruiter. Tip: Many ATS systems may not be able to scan and read PDF files.
  • Only 200 seconds to receive the 1st resume after a position is posted, only 17% of recruiters read cover letters, 61% of recruiters reject resumes with typos, and unprofessional email addresses will be rejected 76% of the time.
  • Consider this: Deloitte, a top accounting firm, brags it only hires 3.5% of applicants. And Google gets over 1M applicants per year. During its robust hiring periods, they hire 4000 people 4/10 of 1%.

Remember, in life and in the job hunt, some days don’t go well. It happens. So, move on. But move on confident you know how better to handle anxiety of the hunt.

Hiring Companies

Waste Management

Sam Mobley, Talent Acquisition Advisor & Cesar Retamal, Director of Inside Sales

Waste Management, located at I-17 and Bell, employs 1500 people and boasts 25 million customers. Concerned with sustainability, the company is the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America, providing services ranging from collection and disposal to recycling and renewable energy generation. The company maintains a low attrition rate and attracts qualified talent, including their leaders.  They strive to keep their existing customers while continuing to bringing in new business.

Career areas include transitioning military, programs for college grads, experienced professionals, front line operations, and internships. Specific openings include Inside Sales Rep, Account Manager, Collector and Customer Service Rep. Advantages of working at WM include laptop, cellphone, vehicle reimbursement, plus comprehensive health care benefits, 401K and more. To learn more about the company and specific positions available, and to apply, visit their website.

The Hartford

Ted Williams, Sr. Staffing Coordinator and Chet Joshi, Sr. Talent Acquisition Consultant

The Hartford is a leader in property and casualty insurance, group benefits and mutual funds.  Employing 18000 employees, the Phoenix site employs 500 people who handle personal lines operations, groups benefits operations, auto claims, property claims, workers compensation claims, general liability claims, auto bodily injury claims and commercial claims. Voted the World’s Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere Institute for the ninth time, they’re also among the top 100 companies for remote work, at 35%; other awards include diversity innovation, best employer for healthy lifestyles, military ties best for vets and corporation of the year by Latinas & Power Leadership.

Service center job opportunities include customer payment associates, customer service consultants, and customer sales representatives. It’s not a call center but instead a very professional service center where the focus is not on how long you’re on the phone but instead the quality of the service. The company offers fulltime, part time and flex schedules. Benefits include comprehensive healthcare starting on day one, 19 PTO days per year plus 8 company paid holidays, health savings account, tuition reimbursement, wellness initiatives to decrease healthcare premiums, and life insurance. To learn more about The Hartford, visit their website.

NESCO Resource

Kelli Perkins, Area Manager

NESCO Resource, a temporary staffing company since 1956, has gradually grown from IT to service a wide range of industries through a branch network and national recruiting centers, and supports Engineering, IT, Administrative, Industrial, and Accounting & Finance specialties.

Winning a number of awards, its parent company NESCO, is a Fortune 1000 company. Ranked as one of the fastest growing US staffing firms, they have over 90 branch offices including Peoria and Tempe.

Current NESCO Hot Openings including professional, clerical and industrial. If you see an opportunity, call to speak with a recruiter and they will schedule an appointment. Keep your resume updated including volunteering but be prepared to customize. NESCO benefits include the chance to test out the culture of companies, health/welfare benefits and benefits specific to the assignment.

To apply call for an appointment, or visit their website.

State Farm

DeAnne Prigmore, Recruiter

State Farm, a stable insurance company in business for 95 years, has a mission to help people manage the risks of everyday life, recover from the unexpected, and realize their dreams. Not just about selling insurance,  the company offers jobs in many areas including immediate and ongoing opportunities of claim associate, CCC sales rep, CCC service rep, State Farm Bank, and Systems/IT. Experience, including legal, is needed in the area of claims, property, total loss and injury.

Benefits of working at the Tempe location include their Marina Heights facility — a two million square feet area, 8000 employees, with retail space including Starbucks, Matt’s Big Breakfast, Mountainside Fitness, Honor Health, Grab-n Go, with more on the way.

Job opportunities include accounting, administrative support, claims and investigation, customer service, facilities management and administrative services, legal, compliance and risk management, human resources, marketing, research and analytics, sales support, technology and sales experience, and underwriting and actuarial.

Feel free to visit the Tempe site which is open to the public. For more information or to apply, visit their website. You may also apply online to open positions, and you may apply using LinkedIn.

Resources

Coder Camps

Jason Jones, Senior Admissions Advisor

Coder Camps prepares individuals to become web developers. Coder Camps has campuses in Scottsdale and Seattle. It’s a fast-growing, understaffed field. They teach  full-stack web development and partner with their students to find work within the field. With training and five years’ experience a coder can earn $100,000.

Coders are so needed that it’s also been impossible to keep up with the need for trainers for these camps. Currently 223,000 coder jobs are available that go unfilled because there are not enough people trained for this field. You need little or no training in coding to attend a boot camp. Currently, there’s also a huge push for women in this technological field so $2000 scholarships are available for women.  A 12-week coder camp completion also means free ongoing training for life.

For more information or to apply, go to their website.

Closing

Executive Director of Career Connectors Jessica Pierce closed the formal part of the meeting. She thanked volunteers and the beautiful facility, Highlands Church, for hosting the event. Attendees were invited to fill out forms to apply for gift cards, available based on income, courtesy of Highlands, for individuals in career transition. Jessica reminded everyone that they are all eligible to take the DISC assessment free through the Career Connectors website. During breakout sessions, all in attendance have a chance to obtain assistance in LinkedIn and resume writing; to have a professional head shot taken; and to speak with hiring company representatives.

Please note: Because of church scheduling, the next Scottsdale event of Career Connectors will be held on the third Thursday of June – June 22, 2017 — rather than the second Thursday. Keynote speaker will be Jean Briese, speaking on the topic of Discover and Unleash Your SuperPower.

For details about times, dates and topics for upcoming events, click here.

Parting Thought:  Check out on You Tube So Much Anxiety by Standup comedian Aparna Nancheria.

 

8/11/16 – Why Know Your Why

by

Written by: Chris Layfield

Opening

Kirsten Hall, Career Connectors Board of Directors,  stood in for Jessica today with opening and closing comments:

· Get connected to the weekly email, check the event recap, and join the LinkedIn Group Discussion

· Consider volunteering

· Take the DISC assessment and pick up the Phoenix Business Journal book of lists – they’re free!

Keynote

Cristi McMurdie

What would it be like if you were so aligned between your heart and your head that you could communicate who you are so clearly in your first interview that you didn’t need to go through your experience in detail later?

Cristi McMurdie says that just about everyone knows WHAT they do, some people know HOW they do it, but very few know WHY they do it. WHY we do things is our “Sub-Operating System” – it’s how we are hardwired, what we believe, what we are compulsive about, and what makes us special. WHY we do things lives deep in the part of the brain that was formed early in life and which gives us our most inherent survival/success formula.

When we are aligned between WHY, HOW, and WHAT we do either personally or in business, we have passion that resonates out to our families, our employers, our peers, and our customers. When we understand our WHY, we can be agents in creating that alignment over time.

Based on work done by Simon Sinek (look up his TED talk or his book Start with Why) and subsequently by Dr. Gary Sanchez, there are 9 potential WHY’s:

· To contribute or to make an impact

· To build trusting relationships

· To make sense out of things

· To find a better way and share it

· To do things the right way

· To think differently and challenge

· To seek mastery

· To create clarity

· To simplify

One member of the audience said that several of the WHY’s looked familiar. Cristi pointed out that we only have one; she suggested that what happens over time is that we learn HOW’s which may look similar to a WHY, but are really just tactics to support our one WHY.

Hiring Companies

THE HARTFORD

Amy Witte, Senior Recruiter

The Hartford is a company that has been in business for 200 years. They are growing their presence in the valley with a new office at the 101 and Raintree in Scottsdale. The organization has a ‘promote from within’ approach to development, and they are looking for people with a ‘get a foot in the door’ attitude. Benefits apply the 1st day on the job and new associates are paid during training.

Get set up on www.thehartford.com/careers; don’t forget to take the assessment, and apply there for immediate consideration.

Currently Open Positions

· Bilingual Customer Service Positions (offering hiring bonus and stipend)

· Customer Service Consultants

· Workers Compensation

· Associate Claims Representative

 

HOMEBELL

Kristiana Laugen, Recruiter/Country Manager and Jennifer Rojas, Head of Human Resources, USA

Homebell is a start-up company with a mission to shake up the home improvement industry by bringing transparency to the process of selecting and pricing home improvement jobs. Based in Europe, the company is in the process of expanding its business in the U.S. and its employment in the valley. They have a temporary office in North Scottsdale, and they are actively looking at mid-town/downtown space. The company has an entrepreneurial culture with the associated opportunities to take ownership, to make a difference, and to grow careers.

Currently Open Positions highlighted

· Inside Sales – Team Lead

· Customer Service – Team Lead

· Inside Sales Representative

· Customer Service Representative

While the highlighted positions are customer service, keep an eye out for technology and accounting positions that support customer service as the company is in a dynamic phase of growth. Apply for positions by visiting the jobs page here.

KFORCE

Bobby Arnott and Andrew Ferris, Talent Representatives

Kforce is a staffing firm looking for finance, accounting, and technology professionals to match with the needs of the thousands of client firms it works with.

In the Phoenix market, Kforce provides specialized skills for both large established organizations as well as for start-ups.

Bobby Arrott and Andrew Ferris are Talent Representatives who represented Kforce at Career Connectors. They are particularly focused on technology and engineering skill sets in the areas of:

· Functional-Project Management/Analysis

· Application Architecture/Development

· Enterprise Data Management

· Infrastructure, Security, & Support

· Embedded Software

· Test Engineers

· Business Ops

· Electrical Engineering

· Mechanical Engineering Manufacturing

Get set up on their site.

HONOR HEALTH

Dan Stowell, Senior Sourcing Strategist

HonorHealth was created in 2015 through the merger of John C. Lincoln Health Network and Scottsdale Healthcare. HonorHealth is among the top 10 employers in the state with more than 10,000 employees with a mission to improve the health and well-being of those they serve.

Highlighted positions include: technology support for the new electronic medical records system (Application analysts, Help desk technicians, systems administrators, IT administrators, and IT security analysts) as well as nursing, allied health, and administrative support.

Set up a profile at www.honorhealth.com/jobs, and the agent will notify you as new opportunities open that align with your interests.

CANYON STATE INSTITUTE

Steve Caparelli, Director

Canyon State Institute offers in-demand career-based certifications. Certifications are funded through government grants and are available in the areas of:

· Microsoft Office

· Comp TIA

· Cisco Certified Network Administrator

· Medical Support Specialist

· PMI Project Management Professional

· SHRM Human Resources

· Process Improvement (e.g. Scrum, Six Sigma)

· Digital Marketing Specialist

Steve Caparelli represented Canyon State Institute at the Career Connectors event. What sets CSI apart? Small classes (maximum 6 for most programs), career advisors on staff, and the ability to audit the next set of classes while studying to pass national exams.

Look them up at canyonstateedu.com.