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WozU

12/13/18 – 5 Superpowers To Be Unstoppable

December 19, 2018 by Sheila

Jean BrieseWritten by Rachel Gersten

KEYNOTE PRESENTATION

5 Superpowers To Be Unstoppable

Jean Briese

Jean Briese has been honored as Arizona’s highest ranked motivational speaker and business coach. Prior to starting her own business, Jean spent 25 years leading successful sales teams in corporate American.

Jean started her speech by sharing a story from her childhood. She was the oldest of 4 raised by a single mother who left her children two weeks before Christmas when Jean was 15 years old and the youngest sibling was only 5 years old. Through these painful early life lessons, Jean developed the superpowers necessary for success.

3 Things To Focus On:

Inspiration

Information

Transformation

The Superpowers recommended by Jean are:

Superpower Number 1
The Power of Habits 

Jean looked at behaviors of top performers in various fields. One of which was Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian in history.  He doesn’t believe in can’t and will not even think or say the word can’t. Instead he envisions himself successful and overcomes obstacles.

Superpower Number 2
The Power of Purpose

Each of us has a set of talents and gifts. Stop to think about who you are and what makes you special. No one has the same gifts, experiences, and knowledge as you do. Look to your passions. A strategy Jean recommended is to send out an email asking friends and colleagues to list 3 of your strengths and 1 weakness. Then pick 1 strength and make yourself amazing at it.

Superpower Number 3
The Power of Your Beliefs

A negative mind will never give you a positive life. Jean spoke about her negative feeling about not having a college degree, but she turned that negative self-doubt around and said I have everything I need for success.

Superpower Number 4
The Power of People

We rise and fall to the level of our relationships. Some people are blessings and some people are lessons. Try and surround yourself with positive people. Ask yourself these questions and work on your answers. How should I add people to my circle? Do I have a mentor?

Superpower Number 5
The Power of Actions

Fear is the number 1 reason we don’t take action.  It’s important to remember one must fail first to accomplish anything. A recommendation Jean had for the group was to commit to one idea by putting it on your calendar and doing it within the next 24 hours.

Jean concluded her remarks by reminding us, THE TIME IS NOW.

HIRING COMPANIES

Career Evolutions

Christian Kaijser, Managing Director

Career Evolutions a recruiting agency that opened its doors during one of our countries’ worst recessions in November of 2008. The company has thrived in large part due to their understanding of how to brand the job seeker properly and knowledge of the ever-changing job market.

Top 10 Search Tips:

  • Start the search immediately.
  • Treat the search like a job.
  • Be open to consulting/freelancing.
  • Don’t panic, be patient.
  • Stay fit and relaxed.
  • Network, Network, Network.
  • Have a dynamic relevant resume.
  • Manage your personal and professional brand.
  • Do your homework.
  • Don’t talk about salary too early.

Solar Mosaic

Eve Clark, Recruiter

Mosaic makes it simple to go solar by leveraging technology and financial innovation, with a goal of providing access to clean energy for everyone.

Positions Available:

  • Customer Support Associates
  • Sales
  • Credit Underwriting Reps
  • Salesforce Administrator
  • Software Engineering Manager
  • System/DevOps Engineer

Farmers Insurance

Surrie Atkins, Recruiter

Established in 1928 Farmers Insurance has been an innovative leader providing care and assistance when help is needed the most. Farmer Insurance offers an extensive array of coverage options. They have been recognized as a leading insurer for small and mid size businesses. Due to the companies ongoing success Farmers Insurance will be hiring an additional 1000 employees to work in their North Phoenix office.

Positions Available:

  • Customer Service
  • Inbound Sales

RESOURCES

Rohn Financial

Tom Rohn and Jamey Pugh

Five Financial Keys to a Successful Job Transition

  • Do a financial reality check, which entails creating a spending plan- for example, the everyday extras like a cup of coffee from Starbucks may no longer be in your budget.
  • Create additional income sources, such as freelance work and part-time work.
  • Manage your debt. If you have credit card debt, call the credit card company and explain your situation and discuss your options with them. Also remember to stop using cards.
  • Maintain proper insurance coverage such as medical, life, car and homeowners insurance.
  • Ask for help from a trusted advisor.

Rohn Financial Services Include:

  • One hour consultation
  • Budget forms
  • 401K rollover
  • Financial planning
  • Direct2MD

WozU

Jason Jones, Strategic Partnership Specialist

The University’s Mission Statement is to bring opportunities in the technology field to the masses. WozU has a passion for education. For a career in technology, students will learn different computer languages such as Java, .NET, Ruby on Rails as well as Data Science and Cyber Security. If you are transitioning in your career and wish to learn more about technology, contact a representative at WozU for additional information. They provide career services support.

CLOSING

Jessica Pierce wrapped up the meeting by reminding the group to visit the Career Connectors website at https://careerconnectors.org for additional information on upcoming meetings, support tools and event recaps. She went on to thank our wonderful host Highlands Church for their support, as well as, all our amazing corporate sponsors and volunteers. Also, Jessica spoke about upcoming events. The next meeting will be held on January 10th, 9 am at the Phoenix location of Grand Canyon University – 5115 N 27th Ave, Phoenix, AZ. Please remember to sign up online for our next meeting. Seasons Greetings!

I will end our last blog of 2018 with a quote from Laird Hamilton. “Make sure your worst enemy doesn’t live between your two ears.” Stay positive! 2019 will be an amazing year.

Filed Under: Event Recaps Tagged With: Solar Mosaic, Superpowers, WozU, Jean Briese, Career Evolutions, Farmers

11/13/2018 – Overcoming the Stress of Change

November 14, 2018 by Mary Peralta

Johnny LaurentWritten by Mary Peralta

KEYNOTE PRESENTATION

Overcoming the Stress of Change

Johnny Laurent – High tech Leader, Coach, Trainer, Speaker, Consultant

Johnny Laurent spent 30 years working for Corporate America, and loves to learn.  He believes we learn most from things around us rather than from books.

Stress-Creating Change is change which raises stress levels…

  • Job loss or change
  • Promotion
  • Relationship issues
  • Physical issues
  • Money

Stress is caused not by what happens to us, but by how we respond to what happens to us.

The Ripple Method is a four step process to methodically handle change in our life.  It is a four step process to get from where you are to where you want to be.

Ripple One – Discover Yourself

  • Assess yourself
  • Involve others
  • Just the facts
    • Why are others not successful?
    • What do you think this office needs?
    • Be willing to take the chance.
    • Consider me.

Ripple Two – Building Foundations

  • Determine the gaps
  • Skill development
  • Tactical plan of execution

Ripple Three – Learning Together

  • Peer group
  • Safe learning environments
  • Open and candid

Ripple Four – Create Accountability

  • Person of trust
  • Openness to feedback
  • Not a “yes” person

Stress is how you react to situations you are in.  Put a plan in place, so you can react to the plan.  No matter what you are trying to change, these sets can help you.  Don’t rely on yourself.  Get help; don’t do it alone.  Find out who you are to get to where you want to be.  If you don’t have friends to help, invest in a Coach.  Tell someone what you want to do.  Make a commitment to yourself, and put a plan in place.

HIRING COMPANIES

FIREFLY EDUCATE

Diane Greenlee – Talent Acquisition Consultant & Paul Quinn – IT Recruitment Specialist

Firefly Educate is a global IT training company headquartered in Chandler, Arizona.  They utilize expert instructors to provide technical training on next-gen networking, computing and storage technologies.

Open Positions

  • Account Manager (must be coachable and have a sales background)
  • Business Development Specialist

ALLSTATE

Steve Morin – Senior Sourcing Consultant

Allstate is in over 16 million homes, is #84 on the Fortune 500 List, and continues to grow.

Open Positions

  • Information Technology (4)
  • Human Resources (2)
  • Product (1)
  • Claims (6)
  • Sales Management (2)
  • Executive Financial Specialist
  • Agency Owner
  • Licensed Sales Producers

RESOURCES

VCANDIDATES

LT Ladino Bryson – CEO/CMO Founder

  • They are the Next Generation Recruiting Tools!
  • They are a three-pronged recruiting tool supports small to medium staffing firms.
  • They expedite the search, screening, hiring, and presentation processes making recruiters more efficient.

WOZ U

Jason Jones – Strategic Partnership Specialist

  • Coding bootcamp for software development, cyber security and data science
  • Provides a quality technical education to each student that attends their program
  • Supports each student in finding a career in the technology field
  • Offers lifetime support to each student

CLOSING

The December Career Connectors events are scheduled for Thursday, December 6th in Phoenix – Master Your Mindset to Land Your Next Job, and Thursday, December 13th in Scottsdale – Becoming Unstoppable – register today.

Jessica thanked Central Christian Church in Gilbert, our host facility, and gave a big shout out all our volunteers.

Filed Under: Event Recaps Tagged With: Firefly Educate, Johnny Laurent, WozU, vCandidates, Allstate, stress

10/23/18 – Top 10 Steps to Employability

October 26, 2018 by Sheila

Top 10 Steps to EmployabilityWritten by Jim McBride

KEYNOTE PRESENTATION

Top 10 Steps to Employability

Abby Kohut – Speaker, Influencer, Author of “Absolutely Abby’s 101 Job Search Secrets”

Abby Kohut is on a mission to help one million job seekers land their next great career opportunity. Yes, one million job seekers.

“I was put on this earth to help people,” said Abby. Our keynote speaker has been featured on NBC, ABC, CBS, SiriusXM, Bloomberg Radio, Monster and The Ladders among many other traditional and social media outlets. To say the least, Abby absolutely knows her stuff.

Abby’s been driving and flying all across America for several years delivering on her goal. For the captivated Career Connectors audience, she shared the absolute truth about the job search process that other recruiters simply won’t tell you.

Top 10 Steps to Employability

  • Be Perceptive
    How many pages should your resume be? One? Two? Five? There is no resume police or resume law enforcement. There’s also no resume data on what’s right or wrong. Ask 20 experts and you’ll get 20 different opinions. The proper length is whatever works for you.
  •  Be Prepared
    • Research the players – Finding the interview players on LinkedIn does not make you a stalker. It will help you find common ground (or common connections) and help you build rapport.
    • Prepare your “why” – Why THIS company? Why THIS position? Search deep down. Make your answers specific to the employer. Include the whys in your cover letter (Tip: always submit a well-written cover letter).
    • Prepare SAR’s – Be ready for the Situation Action Result interview questions. Reflect back on your work history and memorize your stories in great detail. Expect to be asked about your past mistakes and a time you didn’t get along with a co-worker.
    • Prepare for HR questions – These are the standard interview questions. “So, tell me about yourself…”
  • Be Prudent
    • Important – never complain about ANYTHING or ANYONE, unless only your pets can hear you! Even if you mention the insufferable Arizona summer heat you may be perceived as grumpy. Don’t do grumpy.
    •  Important – NO typos. Be certain your resume and cover letter are completely error free. Get proofreading assistance. This is from an actual resume: Reason for leaving my last job – took time off to renovate my horse.
  • Be Persistent
    • Set goals that you can reach. For example, two networking events and five job applications per week are attainable goals.
    • Keep your job “funnel” full. Leave your house, meet people and network.
    • Apply if you’re at least 65% qualified. The other 35% will be based on your culture fit.
    • Don’t quit.
  • Be Picturesque
    Please – no pets or family members in your LinkedIn profile picture. Avoid the mug shot and the selfie-on-the-mountain. Use a professional, face-forward photo with a nice smile (Career Connectors resource).
  • Be Personal
    People have landed great jobs because they’ve listed a personal interest or hobby on their resume (Abby is an example). Again, there’s no police. Including personal interests on your resume is up to you.
  • Be Predominant
    Refresh your resume every Sunday on the job boards. This gives the appearance that you are a fresh prospect. Recruiters are searching for new candidates on Monday mornings.
  • Be Pliable
    • Had enough of corporate America? Tired of the daily grind? Become a coach or a consultant or an author. That thing you do for fun and are truly passionate about…could you earn money doing it for others?
  • Be Pleased
    • Avoid the mindset that “everything stinks.” Despite an unexpected career transition, there’s plenty to be pleased with in your life. You have a home, electricity, air conditioning, a car, a family, etc. Be grateful.
    • Start a Top 10 list of people or things that please you. Read it every night.
  • Be Patient
    • There is a job out there for you. And when you land it, you’ll understand why this career transition may be the best thing that’s ever happened to you.

November and December are fabulous months for job seekers as hiring companies get revved up for the new year. BE employable!

HIRING COMPANIES

FREEDOM FINANCIAL NETWORK

Heather Marcom – Head of Talent Acquisition

When Freedom Financial was founded in 2002, the primary mission was to help people overcome debt and enjoy financial freedom. Today, Freedom Financial provides solutions for debt settlement, mortgage shopping, personal loans and more.

  • 2100 employees, located in Tempe, beautiful new facility
  • Core Values are a vital component of the culture: Care (for everyone), Act with Dignity (every time), Get Better (every day), Collaborate (with everybody)
  • Freedom has been voted as the #1 Place to Work in Phoenix two years in a row!

Open positions
Call Center, Sales, Ops

  • Sales – Personal Loans
  • Debt Relief program sales
  • Customer Service Rep
  • Sales Team Lead

IT/Engineering

  • Software QA Lead
  • BI Engineer
  • Sr. DevOps/Cloud Engineer
  • A/V Support Specialist
  • Cisco Network Engineer
  • Salesforce Developer
  • Systems Engineer (Contact Center)

Analytics/Accounting

  • Director, BI
  • Accounting Specialist
  • Sr. HRBP
  • Contract Recruiter

Freedom Financial Careers

STATE FARM INSURANCE

Molly Romine – Recruiter

The State Farm mission is to help people manage the risks of everyday life, recover from the unexpected, and realize their dreams. Join a community of good neighbors!

  • Marina Heights campus overlooking Tempe Town Lake
  • 7000 workers locally and continuing to grow
  • Benefits include paid time off, Health & Welfare, Financial Planning & Retirement, Work life & Well-being.

Open Positions

  • Accounting Financial and Banking
  • Administrative Support
  • Claims Investigation
  • Facilities Management, Administrative Services
  • Legal Compliance and Risk Management
  • Human Resources
  • Marketing Design, Communications
  • Research and Analytics
  • Sales Support
  • Technology and User Experience
  • Underwriting and Actuarial

State Farm Careers

RESOURCES

Woz U

Thomas Frederickson – Business Development

The Woz U mission is to bring opportunities in I/T to the masses, provide a quality education and launch each student into a career in the technology field.

  • Thousands of open positions for developers and data scientists across the US
  • Over 3400 open positions in the valley
  • Fastest growing career field in the world
  • Our own curriculum – Java and JavaScript in Arizona
  • Placed 82% of students last year. Starting pay is typically over $50K
  • Entry level programs require no background experience
  • Career Services assists your job search upon graduation

CLOSING

The next Career Connectors event is scheduled for Thursday, November 1st in Glendale. The event will feature a panel discussion with experts from the healthcare field. If you’re even remotely interested in a career within or supporting the healthcare industry, register today.

Jessica thanked our wonderful team of volunteers and gave a big shout out to our host facility, The Central Christian Church in Gilbert.

Filed Under: Event Recaps Tagged With: WozU, Freedom Financial Network, State Farm

10/18/18 – Your Focus Determines Your Expansion

October 23, 2018 by Sheila

Your Focus Determines Your Expansion Written by Rachel Gersten

KEYNOTE PRESENTATION

Your Focus Determines Your Expansion
Travis Hardin

Travis Hardin’s passion is giving inspirational speeches for purposeful living with more than 15 years of public speaking experience. This dynamic speaker lives by the inspirational message, that is, “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.”

He teaches people to redirect and focus their minds to make positive changes in their lives and the lives of others. Travis went on to explain how harmful STD’s, Stinking Thinking Diseases, are to an individual’s growth.
He asked the group to close their eyes and imagine their first day at a new job? When this was done and the group was asked to describe what they imagined they did not have Stinking Thinking Disease, because there were no distractions.

Many people live by I wish..I wish..I wish.., instead of thinking of what they already possess. Travis recommended that people read books on dealing with the mind. The top three books he suggests reading are:

Battlefield of the Mind – Joyce Meyer
As a Man Thinketh – James Alan
Business Secrets From the Bible – Rabbi Daniel Lapin

The 4 Key Points to Thinking More Effectively are:

  • People with great attitudes possess a teachable spirit. Redirect your focus, because things are always changing and evolving. One must always keep working on strengthening their mind.
  • People have to take responsible for their attitude. People tend to look outward instead of inward for their failures.
  • People have to travel the high road. At times people believe in others more than they believe in themselves. Take a chance by focusing on helping someone else.

The 3 roads to take when traveling on the high road – Success impresses people; failures impact people

  1. Treating people worse than they treat you
  2. Treating people the same as they treat you. An example of this is an eye for an eye.
  3. Treat people better than they treat you. Redirect your thoughts on rising above any negativity others bring to you.
  • Understand the value of positive thinking. Travis spoke about how his mother impacted her whole community. With only a 5th grade education she possessed a wealth of knowledge and positive attitude on life. Understand the importance of a great attitude. People don’t care if you get knocked down, they care that you got back up.

HIRING COMPANY

Allstate
Steve Morin, Senior Sourcing Consultant

Allstate has a longstanding reputation in the insurance industry with over 80 years in business. There are over 70,000 employees serving over 16 million households. The company’s philosophy is more products = more profits. If you want to be a small business owner, look into becoming an agency owner with Allstate.

Open Positions:
Information Technology
Human Resources
Product
Claims
Sales Management

RESOURCES

WozU
Jason Jones, Strategic Partnership Specialist

The University’s Mission Statement is to bring opportunities in the technology field to the masses. For a career in technology students will learn different computer languages such as Java, .NET, Ruby on Rails and more. If you are transitioning in your career and wish to learn more about technology, contact a representative at WozU for additional information.

CLOSING

Jessica Pierce wrapped up the meeting by reminding the group to visit the Career Connectors website at CareerConnectors.org for additional information on upcoming meetings, support tools and event recaps. She went on to thank our wonderful host Calvary Church for their support, as well as, all our amazing corporate sponsors and volunteers. Also, Jessica spoke about upcoming events. The next meeting will be held on October 23rd, 9 am at the Gilbert location Central Christian Church – 965 E. Germann Rd, Gilbert, AZ. Please remember to sign up online for our next meeting. Career Connectors will also be hosting a Diversity & Inclusion Career Event on November 8th 10 am to 1 pm at NAU North Valley Campus.

Filed Under: Event Recaps Tagged With: WozU, Allstate, inspiration

08/28/18 – I Want a New Job, Now What?

September 3, 2018 by Sheila

Written by Nicole Langston

KEYNOTE PRESENTATION

I Want a New Job, Now What?

Sierra Collister

Sierra Collister is a local Gilbert resident with 15 years of progressive sales and marketing experience, specializing in building multi-million dollar brand strategies for consumer products on Amazon.com. Her broad experience in the business world includes management roles for diverse organizations including large publicly traded companies and small family owned businesses. In her career, Sierra has survived (and thrived) financial restructuring, re-organizations, layoffs and more. Sound familiar?

SIGNS IT’S TIME TO LOOK FOR A NEW JOB:

Whether you are in between jobs, in a bad job, or were passed over for a promotion. (That bites!)

  1. Maybe things are not going well with your boss, your coworkers.
  2. Maybe it’s not a good culture fit for you.
  3. Maybe you are depressed about work, when you aren’t there or even when you are there. If there are times that you wake up and feel like you have a brick sitting on your chest, then that is a sign.
  4. Maybe your company has had multiple rounds of layoffs, and you are going down.
  5. Maybe your job has advanced/changed in skills, but you aren’t getting the compensation aligned for that level of experience.
  6. Maybe your skills are not being utilized and you are bored.
  7. Maybe your stress has become unmanageable and it is spilling into your personal life.
  8. Maybe you have lost your work/life balance entirely.
  9. Maybe you have a unique reason not included here, maybe your personal life goals have changed.

“Nothing happens, until the pain of staying the same outweighs the pain of change. – Arthur Burt”

LET’S GET STARTED

Sierra is excited to help provide tools to find your next role. Even if you aren’t currently active on social media, there are many tools that are needed for your professional search.

What does your social network say about you?

  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

Sierra uses the last 3 channels for personal branding or personal life. LinkedIn is non negotiable, you have to be on it, as it is your digital resume. Personally she doesn’t connect with coworkers on the last 3 either, but that is her preference.

  • 60% of hiring employers use social networking sites to research job candidates.
  • 2 in 5 employers said they are less likely to interview job candidates if they are unable to find information about the person online.
  • She highly recommends Googling yourself! That is the first thing an employer will do.
  • Work on branding yourself positively and professionally.
  • Clean up and work on your name profile results. If you happen to have one bad review, then get active on social media to move that negative rank/presence down and the new activity to drive positive up.
  • 50% of hiring managers who screen candidates via social networks said they’ve found information that caused them not to hire a person.
  • Hiring managers will google you!

Social media photos – the Biggest Offenders:

  • Inappropriate drinking or drug use
  • Bigoted comments
  • Bad mouthing previous employers

Keep in mind your audience.  Your LinkedIn profile picture should be a professional headshot.  Get one here today! Sierra recommends updating every 3-5 years as long as image still looks like you.

SELF-ASSESSMENT

  • Elevator speech
    • Script it out until it feels natural. Focus on your top 3 skills or super powers.
    • She always ends with an open ended question for the interviewer. It gets them to answer/reply.

“Hi, my name is Sierra, but some people call me the Queen of Amazon.com. That’s because I work with companies to …. At your company, how do you handle your business on Amazon.com?

  • What do you want to do with your career? (next one)
  • Career Assessment – CC includes some resources for free to attendees (DISC Assessment)
  • Career Coaches – CC includes coaches onsite at events (LinkedIn, Resume, Social Media, Financial)
  • Clean up and update/optimize your LinkedIn profile!
    • Recommendations – give and get recommendations on profile
      • Usually a client/vendor/partner is best, never your boss, only a coworker if you know they will be discreet
    • Skills
    • Endorsements

*Again the CC coaches can help you with these items.

ITS ALL ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIPS!

  • Who do you know? Who can you reach out to? Who are former mentors? Who is on your short list from these?
    • Current and/or former business associates
    • Peers
    • Past Companies
    • Friends
  • Who are your targeted companies? Develop your own hit list of approximately 5 to focus on
  • What networking events will you attend to target that?
  • Reconnect with people
    • networkingphoenix.com – There are so many different types of groups you can find to connect with.
    • LinkedIn groups – can be very helpful. You can target your industry, your job focus, and more. You can build your lead pipeline from it.
    • Church groups
    • Next door (neighbors/friends, etc.)
    • Facebook groups

Find out who you know from the above that can help you.

  • Speak positive
  • Be positive – always go in with a positive outlook. Even if you don’t get what you need that day, you may help someone else. That is all positive!
  • Spread positive vibes

PREPARATION

  • Use a “human voice” in your resume instead of a robotic zombie voice
    • The CC Resume writer coaches here can help
  • Stop writing “cover letters” and start writing “pain” letters. Approach the cover letter as what you can do to help them with their company/job needs

Get ready for the interviews

  • Sierra likes to provide a copy of the job description, a copy of the resume and get input on ways to align/improve
  • Your portfolio (this is optional and may not apply to all jobs) – remove all sensitive information (names of companies, financial figures etc) your successes, achievements, work etc.
    • Bring your 30/60/90 day plan to the interview
    • Maybe you can help develop a process for them
    • Maybe you can bring in XX amount of clients
    • Maybe you can bring in XX amount of revenue
    • Print on nice resume paper
    • Bring prepared questions to ask
    • Bring common interests
    • Research!

ATTRIBUTES

Before the employer asks their questions, ask them the top 3 attributes someone needs to be successful in this role.  Then when you are asked questions, you can include the needed skills in your response.  Do the same thing for each person you interview with, as they will each have their own ideas.

REMEMBER ME

Find something personal that will make you stand out from the crowd, so you can leave a memorable impression with the interviewer.

GETTING READY

  • Where do you need help?
    • If you are getting an initial screening but not in person, then maybe you need help with your interviewing skills
    • If you aren’t getting phone screening requests, then maybe you need to focus on your resume (CC Resume Writers can help you)

“What is the #1 reason people lost jobs or didn’t get promoted within their organizations?”  Failure to stay current in their field.

GETTING RESULTS – MOOCs

MOOC = Massive open online courses

Harvard business reviewed surveyed 52K people around the world

72% said their online classes helped them professionally

43% improved candidacy for new job

26% of respondents cited the classes as a reason they found a new job

19% changed to a new career

  • Take courses, add them to your resume or LinkedIn profile, if relevant
    • Once you take the course, post something on LinkedIn, share the link to the course
    • Shows you are a lifelong learner
  • There are many sites that offer online courses
    • Here’s the Top 5: EdX, Coursera, Udacity, and Future Learn
    • Her fave is EdX
    • Udemy – 35K+ courses, 80+ languages, 2K courses added
    • Coursera – partners with the best universities in 26 countries
    • Linkedin Lynda – curates its own 4,200+ courses. Look on LinkedIn’s “Learning” menu

IS THE JOB RIGHT FOR YOU?

When you get a job offer, you need to evaluate and make sure it is a good fit.  You will be spending 40 hours + and want to be happy in your job.

BEING SENSATIONAL AT YOUR NEW JOB

  1. Behave as if you are still being interviewed
  2. See your manager as a person you help, not a person who tells you what to do
  3. Build relationships based on performance, not conversation
  4. Go the extra mile early and often
  5. Spot the high performers and mimic them
  6. Find a way to stand out
  7. Create your own Project
  8. Find people to help
  9. Never forget why you were hired
  10. Watch and learn

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of ruts and start searching for different ways of truer answers.” – M. Scott Peck, American psychiatrist and author of “The Road Less Traveled”

Q&A session:

Q:  What does it look like to grow relationships in your network?

A:  Social media is helpful, reach out to those in your network that you haven’t connected with in a while. Have conversations to stay in touch; renew those contacts; even if they don’t have a job for you, ask they keep you in mind; if not maybe you can help them with someone in your network. Maybe even consider adding a calendar, 2x a year reaching out to them personally to stay in mind. Maybe you share a family photo, send Christmas card, etc.

Carl Forkner (Coach) added a LinkedIn recommendation idea; for those of you that have paper recommendations, you can scan them and attach them to your profiles as well. Many of us have pre-social media recommendations.

Q:  What does she mean by cleaning up/optimizing your social media profiles?

A:  Sierra clarified that means making sure the your results are all positive.

Carl Forkner (Coach) added that while you should keep your Facebook profile private, but you can create a public business page instead that can be found on the web. Good tool to utilize.

HIRING COMPANIES

Republic Services
Shannon Taylor, Director Talent Acquisition

Shannon leads the talent acquisition strategy and process, recruitment technology, and vendor relationships nationally. Shannon is a partner to the business and translates the human capital initiatives into commercial and operational excellence.

Republic Services motto is “We’ll handle it from here.”

They look for candidates who are citizens of the earth.

The red star that you see on their trucks, represents their 5 Rs which are their 5 company values.

Who are we seeking? Java Developer, eCommerce Analyst, Analyst Operations Effectiveness, Billing Coordinators, Senior Analyst Digital Marketing, Manager Financial Support, Systems Engineer, IT Risk & Compliance Analyst, Corporate Accountant, Quality Assurance Manager, GIS Developer and more.  Go here to apply.  Staff are eligible after 6 months to apply to other roles in house.

Liberty Mutual
Justin Oviatt, Sr Branch Manager

Liberty Mutual is a Fortune 100 company with 50K+ employees in 30 countries and 5 continents. As a point of reference, they are larger than: Starbucks, McDonalds, Facebook, Nike, and American Express.

They have 2 campaigns they do annually:

  • Give with Liberty
    Employees can take their money and donate to any charity they want. Liberty Mutual will match .50 to the dollar. It comes directly from the paychecks. They donated $52M globally in 2016.
  • Serve with Liberty
    Employees can take a day to donate their time to a company that they partner with. (Goodwill is one of them).

They are growing themselves and are currently #6 but want move to the #3 top life insurance company. Industry and how we live our lives continues to change daily. Liberty tries to get ahead of that and be innovative. Currently Liberty Mutual utilizes mobile claims and drones for evaluating disaster relief.

Available positions in Arizona:

  • Field Service reps
  • Inbound sales and service reps
  • Inbound claim positions

RESOURCES

Goodwill of Central and Northern AZ (GCNA)
Bobby Ghisolfo, Director of Mission Services

Bobby is the Director of Mission Services for Goodwill of Central and Northern AZ. Bobby and his team collaborate with over 700 employers in the Phoenix metro marketing to understand the expectations and standards they are looking for in prospective job seekers.

Bobby asked audience “What happened to the economy 10 years ago?” The recession. He was let go and looking for work. He applied to 125 jobs at the time. How many interviews do we think that he got? Answer = 0 not a single one. He found out that his resume was really bad.

Bobby stared with Goodwill in 2015. He had negative impression of Goodwill prior to starting with them. Goodwill does a lot to help job seekers, which is why they partner with CC. Goodwill does have career advisors, resume and interview coaches as well. Goodwill will do a phone interview and mock interview with candidates to help them prepare. Goodwill works with many companies/employers.

Goodwill’s new platform will be going public in the next 2-3 months.  Visit it virtually instead of onsite at mycareeradvisor.com

Woz U
John Bernard, Director of Business Development

How many of you have heard of Woz U?  How many have heard of Steve Wozniak?

One of the owners, has made their money. Now their focus is to give back to community. Help and teach development so people can grow. If you are tired of what you have been doing, if you have had a lot of interviews and nothing has come up, maybe it is time to consider doing something else. Yes, there is a cost involved to take the classes, but you don’t have to pay it back until you land in a new job.

CLOSING

Recaps: if you missed any of the information today you can always go to our website and see the recap  www.careerconnectors.org/recap

Photos: we don’t email you your photos. In a few days we will post them. www.careerconnectors.org/photos

Sheila concluded the meeting by thanking our wonderful host Central Christian Church – Gilbert for their support, as well as, all our amazing corporate sponsors and volunteers.

VOLUNTEERS: We can’t make these events happen without our volunteers. Many of our volunteers are in transition and we always welcome additional help.

NEXT EVENT: The next event will be held on Thursday, September 6, 2018 at our Phoenix location (GCU) Grand Canyon University. Topic: Salary Negotiation – Make More Money.

Filed Under: Event Recaps Tagged With: WozU, Goodwill of Central & Northern AZ, Republic Services, Liberty Mutual

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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.
A good friend told me of her success using Career Connectors networking.  She landed an interview and later, a job in her field, after attending one networking event.  So, when it was my turn, I had to check it out. I was starting to get the blues about being unemployed but the speaker lifted me out of the dumps and put my life back in perspective. So many people were there to help and offer support!   Just by networking that day, I was given a job lead that has led to two interviews and a… Read more
Mary B.
Career Connectors offered me a one-stop-shopping capability for all of the coaching, resources and connections I needed to perfect my job searching skills.  The package of services, and support I found while attending these workshops over the past 7 months was unique to, and more productive than any other networking venues I attended. I am thrilled to share that I’ve landed with B/E Aerospace in Tucson.  I recommend to all Job Seekers to find out what works for you, and exploit it for best r… Read more
Aidan F.
I originally found Career Connectors during a large quarterly networking event and started attending meetings in May/June with a girlfriend who was also laid off. I appreciated all the information, resources, encouragement and genuine support I felt from everyone at Career Connectors. What you are doing is an amazing service for  those of us who find ourselves “displaced” in these tough economic times. The benefit you are providing is not only for those “transitioning” — but also for lo… Read more
Candice T.
It was amazing, you guys did a great job! I found several potential companies!
Irene
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.
I own a Leadership Company, and have enjoyed attending the Career Connector events. With gratitude I listen to the speakers you line up… they offer phenominal and practical information. What has struck me each time has been the audience. My heart hurts for them. They are in a desperate place in their lives. I have had the opportunity speak with a few of the people in attendance, and they have shared their stories… I walk away thankful to God for the opportunity to meet these people and they … Read more
Bonnie M.
I took advantage of Career Connectors when I found myself unexpectedly out of work and back in AZ.  The ease in using their website to locate meetings and identify subject matter at their weekly meetings kept me informed and engaged.  Their meetings are interesting and provide relevant and useful information toward getting into the right job.  They say that a network event is what you make of it … with Career Connectors they create the events and provide the resources you need to land your next … Read more
Jennifer V.
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 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.
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