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Career Speaker Series: Jennifer Connole '94, Talent Acquisition Specialist

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running start for canola MD Talent acquisition specialist here at Mac Construction we are a general contractor that is based here in Santa Fe Springs so right in that Los Angeles area one of the cool things I learned about after joining that is not actually built quite a few of the structures at Mater Dei McGinnis long after I graduated and I'm at the school look very different back then but you're Aquatic Center and a few other buildings were built by Mac Construction play Jade Presents in contract let me hear if you would happen to a never jump on LinkedIn to look up people you can take a look here is a little bit about me and I also have my contact information along with my cell phone so always feel free if you ever want to reach out to me if you ever have any questions about interviewing find a job you're more than welcome to reach out to me go to the next slide so my position a little bit more about what I do at Matt's I help with the company with their recruiting function do with our company we typically hire project Engineers all the way up through senior project managers I support the campus recruiting efforts I help hire for corporate positions of County Human Resources reception I also do new hire onboarding and then I'll send you hire orientation so on your first day with the company you'll sit with me and some of the other members my team to make sure that you're up and ready to start your career with the company all right go to the next slide please the little bit about me I'm so I worked during High School I am a graduate of Mater Dei I graduated in 1994 my first job in high school was through JCPenney so I worked I believe my sophomore year full time working in retail I don't know if you still require the 80 hours of community service if you do I serve mine at the Santa Ana Zoo that was my choice I've been in Talent acquisition for now about 30 14 years 2 and 1/2 years of that construction and I started my career as a talent acquisition have been a Target in one of their district offices more importantly something to know about me I have interviewed many many times and I got the job so you can see some of the places below here are some of the places that I interviewed at that wasn't hired interview to Taco Bell corporate unfortunately didn't get that position Everything but water that is a retail store I Believe In Father during High School Allied Universal did not inherit their action Property Management story though I didn't get fired during the first time but they actually came back to me about a year later and asked me if I wanted the job and I stayed with them for about five and a half years so let's mobile soccer what is you always want to keep in contact with people that you interview with because you never know if they might reach out to you again at some point to see if you're available slide please I will talk about today again this is meant to be interactive so at any point if you would like to ask a question and if you wanted to to find out any more information we'll talk a little bit about the introduction give you an opportunity to introduce yourself I know something 3rd already put in with greater in we're going to talk about how to prepare for an interview we're talking about how to engage the interviewer so once you're sitting and in an interview what do you do to connect with the person that you're talking to I will talk a little bit about the process of how it works department that you don't get to see her that I'm involved in with my hiring managers what you did you once you completed the interview and then receiving feedback what kind of typical feedback are you going to get it once have you done any point again you're more than welcome to jump in and ask question next line please alright here's a little bit of an interactive part 4 tell me a little bit about so I'm going to look in the Q&A right now I'm actually pulling it up how many of you out there are already working how many of you have interviewed for a position before and or or working while you're going to school you can go and put it in the chat anybody any questions at night all right well ultimate some of your problem played working currently I'm sure do you have opportunities and we have to do one student said they had a job last year and it stopped because it's called it and then another works as a referee so there was no interview required for that job funny okay what do it mean at least you have some fun racing you know once you work for either company or you've been you know I'm a teen you knows that there's expectations when it comes around performance so if you got a head start in the job market alright thank you so then next flight will talk a little bit about you know if looking to get your first position either in high school or once you graduate if you're looking to do the work where do you start supposed to Justin's are always do some research to find out where you want to work if you say you know you're looking for a real position or you want to work in a restaurant while you're in high school walking to the establishment ask to speak with the manager or how to apply for the position it's really kind of find a person who's in charge of the hiring because you can be direct go to the and directly ask them you know what's the fastest way to complete an application is being proactive is going to get you noticed rather than just submitting an application online and then what wondering if they're going to call you I always say if it's a retail establishment or restaurant go ahead and walk does it hurt to talk to somebody once you do graduate if you are in college attend campus recruiting events as far as my company's concerned we attend a lot of Campus recruiting events for the types of positions that we're hiring for all of the campuses have days where you'll be able to go out and explore a lot of different different employment opportunities so there's are some options right there couldn't remember connection to relationships are your network employee girls are usually given a priority so if you happen to have a friend who works in place that you like to work have that friend referral for you to the management or have you reply and there's a good chance that you'll get interviewed once you get the point when you're filling out an application make sure that your contact information is accurate what are the things that I particularly challenge with sometimes as when candidates will submit a resume to me but their telephone numbers not wrong the email address doesn't work I can't get ahold of you if the information that you provide to me as an accurate Frozen fever but your voicemail is set up and you were able to receive messages trying to get ahold of you but for the most part a lot of us will go people actually still pick up on call and it most of the time what we get now or as people that haven't either turned on their mailbox yet or their mailbox is full and we can't leave a message remember if the management can't get ahold of you then we can't hire you if you already have work experience make a resume my suggestion is to create even if there's only one job on there in your volunteer experience or your school experience going to put together a resume and then provide that you include your school and your group whatever Club you belong to anything that you can really put on there to get you started to pray any questions so far all right next next light please the great so you've identified where you want to work you resume you talk to the right people and now you've been selected for an interview how do you prepare this is the most nerve-wracking fees for people that aren't used interviewing maybe it's your first job and I may be your second job to do your research learn a little bit about the company beyond what you see so that the store research the corporate there's corporate side of it saved you know in my case I work for Target I knew about Target stores that I didn't know about Target corporate do a little research online and come into the interview BBQ table ultimately the first question that the interviews going to ask you is why do you want to work for this company why do you want to work for this restaurant be able to communicate to them why you'd like to work for them once you get into the interview process be able to questions about teamwork and collaboration even if you don't have work experience think about your school projects that you worked on maybe your sports anything where you've been a part of a group or you had to come to a decision and influence others be able to fit talk about that a book about being able to navigate a difficult situation maybe you had a deadline that you weren't able to meet or use had to come up with a creative solution to some sort of some sort of challenge in one of your classes anything that could have ties back into how you would handle situation like that is really irrelevant communication and what you like to gain from working for company if it's a restaurant you want to gain management experience you wanted to gain time management skills what you'll gain from the position that you're interviewing for be able to communicate potential career goals I like to manage the store one day or I'm just looking to get experience while I'm in college at your point at your point in high school nobody's really work too much about long-term career goals with it they just want to know that you're able to commit and it to the time and schedule and that you're really interested in working for that particular company but once you get a call when you get a little bit longer your career will you be able to communicate your potential career goal that even includes if you choose a major that has nothing to do with what you're working for and let them know I'm working while going through school my suggestion to everybody is right down your answers and practice most of the nerves that I see come out of interviews or people that maybe get stuck on a question and they don't entirely know how to answer it if you write down your answers and you practice practice equals talk out loud repeat the questions practice with a friend pack artifact your parents answering questions and being comfortable in front of an interviewer the better you'll do any questions on that okay next light please Sommore on the preparation think about your resources most campuses either high school or college have Career Centers look at your website knows again it's been many years since I've been on campus and I wanted to see what resources you have and modern-day does have career counseling available to you career exploration obviously you're all attending events like this so you're already doing your homework when it comes to seeing what the there and how to how to interview and be prepared once you do get on college campus the crew centers are really robust they have people that will help you out they will have people that will practice with you and you can set up mock interviews I mean you will get this out either the the college or university level that you can get a life even if you decide to take classes on a campus over the summer if you're still in high school you can still utilize their services and then once you're able to I could have supplied anybody over the age of 18 if you're in high school or if you were in college that you need to work a job and see if there's anything you like meet you at the Q&A down here conceited has any questions don't miss anything what is the most ask question or the question that people get stuck on the bus usually the question to give people get stuck on has to do with tell me about a time where you had a creative solution to a problem there's there's conforms to the question people ask it a little bit different ways but really what they're looking for is a time where maybe you got stuck and you had to come up with something out of the box or created in order to it Solution on it okay so it's like an Austin asked question and one that I think about it if you need a minute to think about your answer go ahead and ask we totally understand on the Fly get yourself compose think about your answer and then you'll give good response another question is at some interviews they ask you what is your weakness or what are your weaknesses what's a good what are your weaknesses you know what we're really looking for it and you don't actually, you don't hear the word weakness much anymore is about challenges are opportunities so a lot of times with your interview to ask you what are your challenges what are your opportunities what they're really looking for you to be humble and come forward with a time or maybe you weren't right and say will my opportunity was in this case I just listened to the other side of the story and I made my own judgment I moved forward incorrectly it's being a open when letter you weren't fully listening and did or didn't maybe you did something wrong but your opportunity was too maybe listen to the other person and take their opinion into consideration before moving for is more about the situation and how you could have made me handle the differ lunch places where can you get Fox interviews I can answer a bit of that is that if you'd like to reach out to your counselor we would be happy to do a mock interview and then typically in senior year we have a senior interview day so we have volunteers alumni and Friends of MD and other resources I'd love to hear about it. yes and I'm a resource if anybody ever wants to reach out they want some practice I'm more than happy to help as far as the campuses late and I know this is it's a little bit we're just answer this way because you're still in high school but I'm afraid you were taking maybe some college courses summary of the ability to to enroll in some like mtkc college classes all of the Jaycees have campus crew centers that usually explicit mocking her being as well from my perspective but I seem like we were going how do USC and USC's there prefer be engineering department will set up mock mock interviews for the engineering students yeah those are great  thank you so much for being available and I will say that play the spy school students if you are going to enroll in Community College card those are free for you so again reach out to see if there's a class you're interested in college recently I reached out Santiago Canyon and they also have some workshops for high school students in the area of career development that you're interested can I text me or look on their website no but those are awesome one we have other ones all right so you you've applied you got the call back answer the phone you got your interview set up personal presentation and interaction are at what do you do once you get in front of the person dress professionally and I always say read the culture of the company right if it's if you know that you're going into a company that wears jeans and t-shirts that's that's fine interview Jesus t-shirts but make sure that you look presentable in your prepared it doesn't need to be expensive right it's I think one of the biggest concerns I always hear about it doesn't as long as you're put together and it doesn't look like you run everything in you kind of jumped out of the car and we're prepared and everything flying all over the place take some time to get yourself together and get yourself prepared come in and look like you're ready to talk to the person I like to tell a story that when I was at Target and I haven't had a candidate. reviewing key was I was either an intern or he was going to be just graduating high school going into college and he came into Target and he actually bought a suit off the rack in Target and came in and completely prepared before his interview and it's not about play wearing it's more about the pretty everything together looking like you're prepared to interview and represent your best self my next keep for at least me and what I've seen is engaged the interviewer eye contact is a big deal I know not everybody's comfortable making contact but if you're sitting in person and you're face-to-face with them you want to be able to show that you're listening to them and I contacted usually the best way to know sometimes the person interviewing you might be looking down and might be fiddling with you again I can do them directly make the eye contact engaged with them and listen to what they have to say I can get a little upfront longer into your career you might search in phone interviews my tips and tricks because I do a lot of fun in her but the candidates that I talked to please get yourself in a quiet place if possible I hundred percent realized that these days it's very difficult everybody's working from home but I would say when it possible go ahead and get yourself someplace where it's minimal on that noise I'll be driving while you're talking to the person you're interviewing with we want you to be safe we don't want you crashing while you're talking we wants to ask you a question that's going to throw you off and send you off the road fat people that they're on the phone and there's people in back are there trying to do an interview that's just not not the best time to represent yourself so please don't schedule an interview while you're driving try not to be molting I know it's hard again when things are going on but put your phone down and put everything down turn your screen around you and pay attention and communicate with a person that's in front of you if possible and lastly I always helps my candidates please reschedule if now is not a good time I hundred percent understand if there's distractions if you're running late if you're not feeling well you're the person that you're talking to is going to understand would rather talk to you when you you're ready and you're prepared and you feel like you're ready to communicate and represent your best self reschedule if it's a bad time and finally I told people relax ultimately if you're going to join our company we really want to see kind of you being you don't feel like you need to put on yours to come talk to us for yourself and that's why again we want you to come in relaxed and prepared and ready to go any questions on meditation in our interaction what is if you have a question for free to stop biting your nails we can come back if you have a question about this part you can put it in later alright so your interviews now complete now what happens meanwhile behind the scenes you don't see typically viewed with either the recruiter in the hiring manager will discuss interview notes so we'll talk about kind of how you answered the how you answer the question how did it go what were you like in the interview and we'll talk about that usually the top two or three candidates may be asked to return for a second interview and so that's good if you get the call back that means things are going well clear and concise answer to our question again tell me about it and where you had to deal with a difficult customer tell me about a time where you had a co-worker and you didn't get along how did you manage something like that you're able to articulate the answers to the questions that will get you far in the process I'm in finally orchid parents alliance with the company hiring he's that's a big one right if I'm looking for somebody that has sold in a 15 pairs of jeans in the last month and that's you then you're going to line better than somebody who's only sold one pair in the last 15 months and then demeanor dispositional how did you present during interview where did you come in and did you pair confidence did you feel like you were in the place where you really want to work for this company did I read that off of you that you would be a great fit here. That's part of it as well and then ultimately the hiring manager is going to provide the recruiter with the hiring decision me as the recruiter I don't make the call I'm the person that provides the options to the hiring manager my hiring managers make the decision on who to move forward with with my in foot any questions on behind the scenes after you've completed an interview it looks like we have a few questions so what one was what question should we ask them usually made at the end when an interviewer asks what questions do you have for me aside and asked those kind of very on the surface questions they see everything our information that's on our door company but they haven't done a whole lot of research underneath that I paid this is your opportunity to find out everything that you need to know about the position so you absolutely can ask about the pay rate you know this is but if it's your going into retail establishment and you want to know how much per hour ask them how much it is find out about the schedule because never one specially during high school or you know you're working and going to school the same time you need to make sure that the schedule drives and you're going to be able to work I'm asked about what it's like to work in the department or at the company you know ask the the person that's in front of you what was their experience getting hired at the company you can also ask him about any challenges they see you know what would you say is the most challenging thing about working at this company or what's the you know what was the hardest part that you found when you first came into the company this is your opportunity to find out what you need to know about the position that and how is it work for you thank you and I love you question is when you're interviewing is it true that you have to be confident in your wording and there's no stuttering in the process you know his finger vs. natural and if he's better or it's something that you come across as nervous in the interview is not necessarily it's not necessarily a bad thing it's more about the thoughtfulness behind your answers as what how you communicated by person right there isn't one way to do it it's more about having a clear and concise answer and being able to address what the person asking you that worried about you. Net behind it and it's understandable what's a good way to stand out in a group interview you know that in my experience that has to do with location of I'll give you an example of this particular presentation we do a lot of presentations with campuses when we're looking for intern so with Northern Arizona University we recently hired a gentleman as our insurance can be coming in the reason we hired him not only because he's a great candidate but he was one of the two people that actually spoke up in the group of 30 so if you're in a panel interview and be the leader up to don't be rude that type of thing but lots of interesting thing in class break the more you raise your hand where you're going to get noticed that's it for questions for now I'm going to the next slide please alright it's follow-up time what are you doing out so the most challenging part for a lot of people once they've applied for a job interview now you have to wait for the decision this to be hard and I know depending on who you ask some people are better at follow-up than others some companies are better than follow pit others but typically the decision if you don't hear back and I said give him at least a week things are a little bit challenging right now just do to you know everybody's adapting to all the changes with covid-19 if you don't hear up and then your back right away at to give him about a week and then go ahead and follow up go ahead and call the person that you that you interviewed with feel free to send an email as I said don't don't stop them don't be trying to blow up their phone a bunch of times and see if you can get a decision and then usually all her back either via phone or email whether or not you got the job you were selected congratulations that's awesome if you didn't here's what to do next I know it's disappointing I know it's hard but in life like I mentioned I've interviewed a ton of places not got the job is something that eventually you kind of get used to doing you get a lot of practice at you know I appreciate you know the one just clean it I wasn't selected thank you so much for your time I still beat you if you're interested I'm still interested in working for your company you can ask for interview feedback after that if you won't always get it especially as it with larger companies just a lot of times people don't have the time or the resources to provide the detail guy puts a lot of times you do you know you might get lucky and have a person sit down and communicate via what they think that you might be able to improve and be open to the feedback if you're generally ask then also request to stay in touch for future opportunities remember if you weren't selected this time it does not mean that you might not be selected in the future I'm the living example of that interest group on a positive note the recruiter I interviewed interviewer will remember do I guarantee you that because I've been recruiter for what 13 + years and I remember a lot of the people that I interviewed am I actually worked at a company that we would frequently the person maybe would get hard the first time but a year or year-and-a-half later I call him up and see if they're available in variable higher than then Battlefield goes if you had a bad experience if you were rude to the interviewer and it's but something went wrong typically they'll remember that as well and most of all just remember you've got a long career ahead of you. your options at this point you know if you're flexible on hours and time and what you're looking for there's a lot of different career opportunities out there that you can check out so so take your time and you know pick something that you really think would be a good fit for yourself have a lot of fun doing it any questions about that I'm taking a look if you have a question the follow-up and you farted. all right well I mean as far as my presentation and I mean that covers a lot of it so that was really an opportunity again for this is this is your time this is an opportunity for you she's going to get answers out of somebody who's done a lot of interviewing at what can I tell you about the interview process what can I say job searching is there anything that I can answer for you you have a student who asked you have any suggestions for a good first time job should I start with me today anything presidents usually the easiest to get started in his retail and they're usually the most flexible when it comes to hours but I worked in a lot of industries that hire people on a part-time basis good example when I work for Action Property Management we managed homeowners associations that require front desk staff so we needed bail people we needed Porter's we needed front desk staff to work night shifts look at the hospitality industry I have also worked when I have supported her Vine Comp support at the Pelican Hill Resort and so they needed people for the golf course they needed people for the restaurants on hospitality is going to be picking back up so I think there's a good opportunity there and also I know a lot of people that work through coworker College ended up making a career out of it but they check out Hospitality retail restaurants and then there's also going to be probably some summer jobs coming up in various different interest rate another question that's kind of related is what kinds of jobs should we be applying for as teenagers so after a certain age maybe student is it seen or just a teenager in general and he said that yes I'm thinking about my screen so I know that Lisa like team sports there might be opportunities for people to join as an assistant coaches that way there might be a might be more volunteer than working when I was that age I was in Babysitting I took a first Red Cross first aid babysitting course when I was in grade school and then when I got into high school I actually had a family that I babysat for for many years up until about my junior or senior year so childcare might be a big part of its you know if there's Church facilities that need support into and I think this is probably where your high school guidance counselor I don't have a whole lot of insight into the kind that below 18 employment opportunities these days but I think use your resources within the high school and they can help you out with that too yes like are CPR training and having a certificate or that could be in early or even volunteering first and CorningWare shadowing and that he needs to of position at the allegations of those are all great ideas something that you're interested check out she's got all kinds of different ways to volunteer right now this question was how do you tell the company that you are open for the job at a later time if you were rejected stop feeling more about it depends on if do you have somebody that you were talking to if you made a connection with a manager or recruiter keeping their email and just letting them know if there isn't any one person to stay in contact with its about reapplying to the position once. So once the position to fit and go back to reply this question. Can you tell us what the minimum rate for starting or starters are I'm not sure if this means like Ray J here I got to I should know this I'm a bad HR person for this but I'm going to Google the California minimum wage right now $14 per hour which is awesome said he was 425 when I worked at JCPenney can depend on which city with pride of a satirist is it going to find how did your first interview a little bit of a spine kind of it in order of time so I hear that Everything but water so that was my first interview after I got after I left JCPenney and leaving a teenager not having a filter I remember sitting down with the manager at me and asking me why I was interviewed in the or why I was interested in the job and how I like to be managed and I told her flat out that I didn't really like being managed I didn't appreciate it when a manager watched over me all day long and she said thank you and I promptly I ended the interview and I did not get the job there Taco Bell with one of those an interview there for an HR position and when I was an admin and I told myself that if I didn't get the job there I was going to take a trip to Japan unfortunately I did not get the job. Going one way we can have vacation to Japan by interview process there was very very professional I'm trying to think if there's been any resent that I can get older in your career interview becomes less challenging but competitive so you may do an awesome job in your interview and not get selected and I mean that's a big challenge that people probably in my age group really struggle with is that not you know what there's just a lot of competition out there so you didn't do anything wrong in the interview get the job there's somebody out there that was ultimately a better fit for the position and I tell people don't get to do this hardened by knocking selected to that just means that it wasn't the right opportunity for you and it splits open you up to find the right opportunity thanks for sharing the fun another question so after you have your job how do you tell your manager that you will be out of town or if you can't make it to work in a respectful way I think about you have to give the person time to read why did most companies will have a policy about how much time if it's not an emergency if it's something if you're if you're planning head if it's a vacation or you no family or something respectful to request the time off ultimate lyrics information if you have the ability to take the time off and it needs to make sense for the business about approaching your manager it's knowing that there to be open to listening and giving them an opportunity if you are going to be out to be able to to work Shuffle challenge that is they might not always be able to give you the time off so it really depends after that if it's something that it's critical that you take time off being able to sit down and talk to her about the reasons why does that answer your question I think so if you have a follow-up to that question feel free to chat it that's for that in the chat we have a couple more what can we do make us more memorable you know all I can do is speak for my experience and it's being able to connect with the person that you're talking to it it'll give a little bit to the point where you're able to talk more about your personal things and you talk about your high school experience talk about the group affiliations that you've that you work with maybe ask that person about like you know what was their college experience like or what was their first to connect with a person on kind of a human level Beyond just a little I can tell me about a time when you did something XYZ right it's more about the human connection really going to come down to being able to answer the question to the clearing they'll remember that for sure actually help being able to answer the questions definitely very important in the memorable one last what did you learn from those first experiences of interviews be able to get wrong at the time it is it's you grow as an adult you know when you're young in your career you feel like if you didn't get the dog work the person that interview didn't go well it's not kind of not your fault it's like other just didn't like me or you know there's no there's two sides to every story there's a lot of interviewing going on why you learn to be professional but I learned to be concise in my answers I learn to do my research cuz I've been caught off guard a couple times when I've done interview before over the phone right I literally didn't do enough research about the company and they say happy Mississippi question and I wasn't able to answer it so kind of embarrassing situations that's the probably been my experience in the past and trying to pull up my way through an interview when maybe I was interviewed Dish Network to qualify for maybe coming up with the some stories that weren't you know entirely 100% true why was I so helpful to have right of each abilities that what the experience is like with your injuries. really awesome questions the other questions I know this is kind of like a millennial joke that I always say the job posting says you know you want to get experience for the job but it says to get hired for a job you need experience tell people it's again this is you got everybody on this called young enough in there their work experience and I can even think her generate work experience that it'll all add up eventually I wouldn't stress about that too much now obviously if you're applying for a sales position that requires some Celtic spirit there might be no challenge there but for the most part entry-level the expectation is you show up you do the job your plight of the customer's you you know you like I said you show up on time to communicate with your manager and then you start enjoy what you're doing great if it turns out here in an opportunity when you really don't like it you really don't enjoy it try something else I highly recommend going out and seeing what's out there do I really just exploring you know wonderful job that I saw that I didn't even know about there apparently on Catalina Island do you think you could be a zip line operator they're hiring always for the summer thank you everybody I appreciate your time today I know we can't see everyone but he was one of a black leprechaun. Thank you so much for your help. I mean going through the entire process then a little bit during the presentation and the follow-up and just bring lots of questions. Hang in there guys I know it's been a challenging year for you especially congratulations on those of you graduating in June y'all have a unique experience that you're dealing with but I'm sure I'll handling it like like awesome monarchs that you are I think he's coming in students at the end of the 11 or there will be a link for a 3-4 feedback click on it and the Letterpress please went if you have a chance take a minute you say have a nice day bye

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