Tips And Takeaways From Our Hiring Pros
Alliance for Women in Media SoCal members and friends listened to HR experts discuss how to prepare for the post-Covid job scene during our Career From Here online event!
Attendees walked away with some great tips and best practices from talent acquisition professionals on how to conduct a successful job search and interview in today's competitive job market.
Polish Your Personal Brand
- Include a cover letter with your resume. Employers want to see your writing style and ease of communication.
- Tailor your resume for the primary jobs that you desire. You don't have to reinvent your resume for every job application. Instead use your cover letter to highlight those skills that align with a prospective job description.
- Examine your personal profile and benchmark it against the competition, so you can highlight the skills or assets that make you stand out.
- Send a thank-you note after your interview. Show appreciation for the time they took to meet with you and remind them why you are perfect for the job.
Networking
- Leveraging your professional relationships is key for opening doors.
- Be professionally persistent. Pick up the phone and make a personal call rather than just sending emails or texts.
- Be kind. Be respectful. Perception is reality.
- Practice a positive mindset and build new relationships to expand your networking base.
- Humor and levity helps to break the ice, especially with HR personnel that conduct back-to-back interviews.
- Use business cards as a top-of-mind networking tool.
What Companies Look For
- Do your research. Be prepared for questions about the company that you are interviewing with. Know their brand and products so you can provide informed answers.
- Companies are looking for problem solvers. Position your skills as solutions to address their needs.
- Listen more. Talk less. Let the employer or interviewer lead the discussion.
- Companies are looking to diversify their workforce. Look at joining associations that can help you open diversity doors.
Helpful Tools
- On Linkedin, change your profile settings to "open to opportunities". This lets HR execs and search firms know that you are looking for job opportunities.
- themuse.com provides tips for resume writing and interviewing, etc.
- On Indeed you can create a job alert. It's like having a robot recruiter working for you.
- Go directly to company websites. If you are targeting a specific company, whenever possible, go directly to their website and apply, rather than using a job board.
Addressing Job Gaps and Age Gaps
- When re-entering the workforce after an extended absence, have a great list of activities that you accomplished during your gap time to share during the interview.
- Address the elephant in the room and position your gap time as a gift.
- Age discrimination unfortunately exists for job seekers that are age 50 and over.
- Your experience matters. Own your wealth of knowledge. Be intelligent in your process and professionally persistent.
- Don't include the year that you graduated on your resume if you are an older job seeker and only include the most recent 10 - 15 years of your work history.
- Try to condense your resume to one page or two pages at the most.
Many Thanks To Our HR Experts!
AWM SoCal extends our appreciation to the Career From Here panelists who volunteered their time and shared their expertise with our members & friends.
Panelists:
DENAE (BUTTE) BLUETHMANN, SVP Recruiting + Development at McDermott + Bull Executive Search
STEPHEN DIVENERE, Director, West Coast Talent Acquisition at ViacomCBS
CAROLYN KAISER, Manager, Human Resources at Cult Gaia
TED MILNER, President, Executive Temps
MYRNA NEJAT, Manager, Talent Acquisition at Mattel, Inc.
CINDY LEDERMANN, Moderator, Director of Programming, AWM SoCal
Feedback from the attendees was overwhelmingly positive!
For more career resources and industry job boards, be sure to visit the AWM SoCal Career Center!
Produced By
Credits:
Created with images by Keren Levand - "untitled image" • Cytonn Photography - "untitled image" • Christina @ wocintechchat.com - "untitled image" • Headway - "Gaining a deep understanding the problems that customers face is how you build products that provide value and grow. It all starts with a conversation. You have to let go of your assumptions so you can listen with an open mind and understand what’s actually important to them. That way you can build something that makes their life better. Something they actually want to buy." • Amy Hirschi - "untitled image"