Human Resources Management Association of Central MA

Jibrael Younis:

So welcome, everyone, all of our job seekers today through the MassHire Network. We appreciate you joining. Today we have a very special presentation. We often have this presentation from our friends at HRMA before our large job fairs. So I’ll just remind everybody that we have a large job fair coming up at the DCU Center on Tuesday, May 12th. That’s from 11 to 3. That’s here at the DCU Center in Worcester. We’re going to have over 100 employers from different industries joining us. And so every time we have a large event like this, our friends at HRMA are able to come in and just kind of talk about what are the tips and tricks and best practices for preparing for job search and engaging employers. So I want to introduce our folks at the Human Resources Management Association and their point of contact and leader there who’s going to be teeing us off, Anita Desai of Cytiva. Anita, thank you so much for joining us today. We really appreciate this.

Anita Desai:

Thank you so much, Jibrael, and welcome to all of our attendees today. We’ve got a really nice jam-packed program to help all of you in the community, and we’re really privileged to be here today. So as Jibrael said, we represent the Human Resources Management Association, which is a Worcester chapter based in our community in central Massachusetts, made up of small, medium, and large sized businesses. And we’re all HR practitioners of some input of expertise. And today, our panelists, there’s going to be five of us total that are going to help today’s program. And you see the names on the screen. We’ve got Amy Jalbert from Medicare Dental Plans and CTDHP, Andrea Healy from Green Leaf Construction, myself from Cytiva, Michael McLeod from DCU, which is now a division of First Tech Federal Credit Union, and Tamara Charron, who is from Jeffco Fibers Group. So again, all HR professionals with tons of great information to share with you today. So here’s our agenda today. We’re really going to kind of start off by talking a little bit about the difference between a job interview and a job fair. Of course, today’s program is really presented and focused on, you know, leading up to a job fair that’s coming up soon around the corner at DCU. And we really want to ensure that you know as much as possible to be able to prepare, be ready to have those quick conversations, how to, you know, ready up your resume, thinking about networking, how you’re going to present yourself, all the way to leading to what to expect, you know, when you grab that job offer and then any closing advice. So we’ve got a really packed agenda, and I’m going to pass it over to my first colleague, Michael, who’s going to get us kicked off here.

Michael MacLeod:

Hi, everybody. I am Michael McLeod. As I was introduced, I’m from DCU. We are now First Tech Federal Credit Union, and I’m a senior employee relations specialist there. And I’m going to kick us off. I think before we jump into the nitty-gritty, it’s really important to understand what the difference between a job interview and the job fair is, because today we’re going to be focusing on job fairs. So the real big difference is really going to be the nature of it and what happens at the two different events. A job interview is going to be much more formalized, and it is going to be a longer, more detailed discussion with the employer. Whereas the job fair is a lot more of a casual conversation. You’re going to be walking around, there’s going to be a lot of different vendors available who are looking for new hires, and you will have the opportunity to make a first impression with a lot of different places. You should expect a lot of people. And you should expect some long lines. So do be prepared and wear comfortable shoes. I know that that’s a silly thing to say, but it is an important piece of the puzzle. Do not expect to have job interviews at the job fair. It’s more of getting to know what the different companies are and getting a quick bite-sized piece of information about each of the different companies so you can decide which ones are the right fit for you. You should definitely bring your smartphone. There will be a lot of opportunities either to scan QR codes to get information, or there may be areas where you’re sent to a website. So I would definitely bring your smartphone. And the DCU Center does offer Wi-Fi, and so I would connect there. I also would use your smartphone to take photos of any of the places you’re interested in. So that you can follow up after the fact and also connect any business cards to LinkedIn. You can take photos of those because I tend to lose the business cards. For the job interview side, there may be some job interviews on site, but they will just be quick ones. I would expect follow up longer job interviews after the job fair. Next slide. So what are the advantages of going to the job fair? So you can meet a lot of companies in a less formal setting. I’m going to show my age here a little bit, but gone are the days when you would print out a bunch of copies of your resume and you would drive around and go and introduce yourself and meet people. This is kind of the new way to do that. Instead of driving around and going and introducing yourself door to door, you can now just do it by walking around the expo hall at the DCU Center. The goal is for you to give out as many resumes as you can. I would look into the companies that are going to be there and make sure that you’re prepared. And we’re going to talk about preparing in the future on the next slides. But you want to be prepared and know how you’re going to grow your network and compare the companies. You want to be able to go back and forth and see what companies are there, what companies are you interested in, and what companies are the same. And so you can compare which one is a better fit for you if they’re all in the same industry. And honestly, going to a job fair is great just to practice. Even if you’re not looking for a position right now, it’s good to go and just keep your skills updated. It’s also good just to work on your own self-confidence. And as I said, growing your network and making a positive impression. You never know who you’re going to bump into at one of these events. And it could be somebody that you don’t need necessarily to be connected with right now, but could be a good future networking opportunity. Next slide. So how should you prepare for the job fair? You definitely need to research. You want to look into which companies are going to be there, and you want to get as much information as you can about the companies without going overboard. So you definitely want to go into any company that you’re interested’s website, LinkedIn, Google, online articles, different websites, but I am going to caution you from using social media. So while when you Google, you may be brought to some pages that are on Facebook or Instagram, you do want to just be careful as remembering social media is more of an opinion. Than actual fact. When you are there, you want to plan out which employers you will visit. So you will be overwhelmed if you just go in with a plan to just walk around and talk to all the different booths. So you do want to go in with a little bit of a plan of who you want to visit. I would advise bringing in multiple copies of your resume so that you can give those out. And you may even want to bring different versions of your resume, depending on what types of companies you’re looking to speak with that day. If you’re going to be talking to some companies that are more back office versus some that are customer service facing, You may want to curate your resume and have multiple copies to give to the right companies. Another important piece is the secure and reliable transportation in childcare. You do want to make sure that you’re able to get there on time to get the most out of the event, and you do not want to bring guests. Or children with you. You do want to remember that while this is a casual chat and it is a more casual way to get in touch with these companies, you still want to be professional. So you don’t want to have friends with you. You don’t want to necessarily have your family with you if possible. So definitely securing that transportation and childcare is going to be important. So how do you prepare for the questions you’re going to ask the employers? You want to remember that just like you’re there to meet as many companies as possible, they are also there to meet as many candidates as possible. So you want to be respectful of their time, and you don’t want to ask too many questions, and you don’t want to take up too much of their time. So you want to be prepared in advance of what questions you’re going to ask. You definitely want to do some research beforehand, as we’ve already talked about. You want to know what values or mission statements do some of these company has, and do you want to make sure, and you want to make sure that they are in alignment with your own values. Definitely look at what open positions are available and what the qualifications are. Showcase your qualifications by making sure you’re talking back when asked a question. Don’t just pepper them with questions. Make sure that it’s a conversation so that they’re asking questions, you’re asking questions, and you’re answering those questions to show why you would be a valuable asset to them. Show interest in the company by thinking about and asking questions that are long-term. What does success look like? What are future opportunities? What are they looking for in ideal candidates for long-term tenure? And also make sure to wrap up the conversation. Make sure if you’re interested, you’re making sure to give your name, what position you’re interested in. Ask how you can get follow up. In a lot of cases, you’ll be directed to go online to apply for a position. Get an email address that you can use to follow up with after you’ve submitted. That application. A lot of companies will be giving up business cards. Take the business card so that you have that way to get back in touch after showing your interest in the position. But some things that you should avoid are also salary, vacation, and benefits. There are some questions that you may want to ask about salary, if there is a minimum amount that you are interested in, but I would not get into the nitty-gritty of how much a job pays, more general questions of salary bands. What does the company do is not a good question to ask either. Do some research beforehand and show that you came prepared and you understand what the company does. Even if that means you walked by a booth, you were interested, and so you grab that smartphone that I told you to bring and pull up their website and do some research before you go over. Another question to avoid is, is this job, office, hybrid, or remote? Again, looking up that information online is going to do better than asking the questions directly to the people and being respectful of their time. Um, next slide. So what is being respectful of their time? That is the elevator pitch. It is you taking a moment to just very quickly make an impression on whomever the person is at the booth that you are speaking with. It is a very brief, persuasive summary of who you are and what you bring to the table. I personally have practiced elevator pitches in the mirror. I know that it’s cheesy. I know some of you are probably rolling your eyes, but you really do only have 30 seconds to a minute to really make yourself stand out in the crowd. And so you want to practice and be confident and comfortable in the details you are trying to portray to the person. Make sure that you’re getting your name in there. Provide a summary of what you did or have done in the past. Explain what you want. Make sure that they understand what your long-term goals are as well as short-term. And then finish with a closing which asks them for follow-up. Ask them about how do I apply. Ask them, how do I follow up with you after I fill out the application? Make sure that you show that you are interested in following up with them. Make sure you connect your strengths and your passions. But most importantly, that last bullet of be authentic is very important. And that’s why I say practicing in the mirror so that you can really get down the nerves and get down the jitters and you are just being your authentic self when you are having these conversations. So with all that being said, I’m going to pass over the next set of slides to Tamara to take over.

Tamara Charron:

Thank you, Michael. So next, we’re going to discuss the process of selecting those potential employers and job opportunities and tailoring your resume and cover letter to each one. Michael already touched on some of these things. But first, let’s talk a little bit about AI and how AI may be beneficial to you or detrimental to you as part of this process. Now, the first thing you’re probably going to do is just type in the name of a company, and Google is going to return a result. It’s going to come from AI. It’s going to tell you what this company does. But don’t take that information as 100% factual. You want to look at some primary source documents. You want to actually visit that website. Look at some newspaper articles, trade journals, and learn more about what this company is known for, what they have accomplished, how they’ve contributed to the community. That’ll help you to determine if this is something that resonates with you and this is a company for which you would like to work. You also don’t want to use AI to actually write your resume. You could certainly use it for things like to improve the professional feel or flow of your resume. You might want to look at a list of action verbs that you could include in your bullet points. You could get examples of resumes of different styles or by industry or position. As well as a list of potential interview questions. But you don’t want to misrepresent your experience. You certainly don’t want to copy and paste something you found online that’s part of someone else’s resume, because that is something that will definitely count against you in the future, could potentially compromise your opportunity. Next slide, please. As you prepare your resume, there’s some important things to take into consideration. Now, I know not everyone has access to a printer. Now, there are resources available locally, such as the MassHire sites, or in Connecticut we have American Job Centers, as well as some other states have them, and even a public library. Could be used for printing fresh copies of your resume on clean, good quality paper. But first, before you do that, you want to make sure everything is up to date. Your job history goes through the present. Your contact information is accurate. You don’t want to have old copies of your resume where you’ve crossed off your phone number and put your new phone number down. That doesn’t make a good first impression. And as Michael mentioned, you may want to consider making multiple versions, saving different files for different jobs, especially if you’ve seen that at the upcoming job fair, there are going to be employers from a variety of industries. For which you are interested in applying for a position. You don’t want to give everyone the same resume. And you certainly don’t want to give one to every potential employer where it references in your objective statement that you are seeking a certain role and that’s not the role that they’re offering. That’s just going to come across as you are handing out resumes to everyone and it doesn’t make any difference to you and you don’t have any genuine interest in their position. Now, as you write your resume or revise your resume, make sure it’s concise. For most people, one to two pages is going to be sufficient. If your resume is 3 or 4 pages long, That generally means that you’re including way too much detail on some of the positions. You don’t need to list every single job duty you had while you worked at a certain place. And it might also mean that your font size is too large. Maybe your spacing needs to be adjusted. It’s much more visually appealing. To have a resume that’s one to two pages and is formatted consistently. Again, you’re using those action verbs to describe what your contribution was to that company and what you did that made a difference. Next slide, please. In those bullet points, you want to, as much as possible, quantify what the results were that you delivered wherever possible. If you know something, you’re not misrepresenting information, you’re not making things up, but you’re using numbers or percentages or dollar amounts. For example, you know, while in a management role, You reduced turnover by 50% with the development of new communication channels for employees. Or you increased monthly sales by 25% through customer engagement techniques versus just saying, you know, increase sales, something very vague. It sounds much more authentic and verifiable when you have those facts. And it suggests to the potential employer that you may be able to do something similar for them. When it comes to the formatting, again, be concise and consistent. Don’t use five different fonts. Don’t use 10 point, 12 point, and 14 point. And sometimes that can happen when copying and pasting is done, which is best avoided. And because that may appear, it may make it look like, you know, you’re taking things from other sources and it’s not your authentic experience. Yes. And we also recommend that you save your resume as a PDF to avoid there being anything that happens in transmission if you were to send it electronically. Next slide, please. When writing your resume, it is not necessary to include personal details such as your age or inadvertently provide that information by things like the year you graduated from high school. That is not necessary. Or talking about your hobbies or anything along those lines. Unless there’s some direct relevance to the industry, the company, the position. If you have gaps in your work history, particularly when they’re six months or greater, that is something that you may want to incorporate by including, as if it were a job, let’s say, something that you were doing with that time. Perhaps you were acting as a caregiver for a sick family member, or you had some kind of educational pursuit, you were getting a certification, you were taking a college class. It would be okay to include those in the chronology of your resume. Speaking of chronology, The most standard format would be reverse chronological order, where you’re listing the current or most recent position first. That is the clearest to the employer, shows the progression, and that’ll likely be the most relevant information. You don’t necessarily… Need to include every job you ever had, particularly when it’s not relevant to the job for which you’re applying. So again, if you have multiple versions of your resume, for one job, it may be more relevant to include a certain position you worked at for two years, while in another case, it may not be relevant because it doesn’t have any bearing on that industry. It doesn’t show any any experience that’s transferable. But in general, you’re looking at going back 10 to 15 years. If you have a job history of 30 years, you probably don’t need to include all of those jobs unless it’s important to do so to show that progression of greater responsibility. Next slide. And finally, a cover letter. This is something that’s often omitted, and it’s not often required, but it’s a good opportunity for you to show a little bit more about yourself that will set you apart from other candidates. You may also want to have multiple versions of the cover letter, or you take that one template you have, and as you prepare to submit an application via LinkedIn or Indeed or at a job fair, change some of the specific wording. I usually start with the first paragraph by talking about how I learned about this opportunity, how excited I am for the specific opportunity, like, let’s say, HR manager position for this company. So you don’t want to accidentally give a potential employer a cover letter that was meant for someone completely different. In the second paragraph, I’d like to talk a little bit about my experience and my career progression and how that is relevant or how I feel it’s such a good fit for what it is they’re looking for. And it’s good to reference some of the things that they mentioned in their in their ad for the position and their description of the responsibilities. Again, make sure that you are confirming that this is the correct cover letter for that particular position. And though I forgot to touch on this in a prior slide, very important to proofread to ensure that your spelling and grammar is on point because that will definitely make a bad first impression if not, when it viewed by a potential employer. And with that, I will turn it over to Andrea.

Andrea Healy:

Thank you, Tamara. Hi, everyone. Nice to virtually meet you. My name is Andrea Healey, and I am the Director of Human Resources and Compliance at Green Leaf Construction based out of Leominster. So my job today is to talk to you a little bit about networking. This is something certainly that a lot of people find challenging. I know I did when I started out my career, so I can completely appreciate that. But I, you know, to start out, like, let me reassure you, you’re not the only person who finds networking intimidating. Introverts and neurodivergent individuals you can network successfully. I think starting out, it’s great to formulate some type of a plan or structure in how you’re going to do that. But you want to make it easy. Start with people that you already know. That is the best place to start. You don’t have to cold call or email strangers. Reach out to current and former colleagues, alumni, members of online communities that you already belong to, former coworkers, because there’s already some trust and shared experience there, which makes reconnecting much easier. And really the best networking tips come down to one thing, building real relationships relationships and not collecting contacts. You want to be as intentional and authentic about networking as you can be, because it’s an opportunity to share what’s worked well for you, as well as learn from the experiences of others. It’s an opportunity to gain new perspectives and, you know, create a feeling of solidarity, It’s always nice to know when you have support from others. It’s an opportunity to meet other people from diverse backgrounds and worldviews. You know, in the past, the career that you have had may have been something different. And maybe this will entice you to look for a different career or go down a different path. And so it’s an opportunity for you to grow relationships that can turn into help when you do search for new opportunities. So a great little check-in message with these folks that you already know could be, hi, Andrea, it’s been a while. I was just thinking about that networking meeting we were at, and I wanted to see how you were doing. I’d love to catch up and find out what you’ve been up to. So really like just authentic, short and sweet, and then just try to reconnect with that person and take it from there. So you want to just kind of fill your calendar with things, upcoming job fairs or networking events. Open houses, hiring events, educational programs. There’s a lot of free information out there and free training on computer literacy, resume writing workshops. And then be willing to do some self-learning on companies. You know, what software do they use? If they use a certain software, do a little bit of research and find out about that. You know, they’ll ask you if you have experience with it. And, you know, you may say, I don’t, but I did look it up and here’s what I found. And I think I could catch on quickly. So do your homework. It’s really important to do that. And then there’s a lot of professional events in the community, especially in the Worcester community, free webinars, in-person meetings, and then certainly discounted memberships for folks in transition. So those are all opportunities for you to fill up your calendar with some networking events. Next slide, please. So networking best practices. First and foremost, be proactive. You want to project confidence and have a positive attitude and take the initiative to build rapport with others and take advantage of any opportunities that are offered and make suggestions or give advice where appropriate. Because other people are networking too, and you may have things that can help them. So it’s always, and that always feels really great to help others. So, you know, take your experiences and share them as well. Acknowledge, you know, the positive qualities that you recognize in other folks, project confidence and optimism, even if you don’t really feel like it, because some days we don’t. And add to your LinkedIn network. Send messages, share articles, comment on posts of others within your field of interest. You can also join some wonderful groups on LinkedIn as well. Search for people that you know, see what they belong to. Great place to research employers. It can tell you the employee count. It will give you their mission statement. So that’s also a great place to learn about a company as well as any upcoming events they might have or contacts of your new contacts and their employers. And you know, when you’re networking, you know, you want to develop these connections, exchange business cards. I know you can go on VistaPrint and very reasonably create your own business card that you might want to hand out at networking events, you know, if you’re not going to bring your whole resume with you. Also, you want to leverage social media to maintain contact with these folks that you’ve met. And it’s really important I think to follow up with a thank you or a nice to meet you. The world is an email and electronically driven world. I do think it’s great when I get a thank you card in the mail from somebody, the old school thank you, I think goes a long way as well. But email is also fine. And don’t be overly persistent. You don’t want to sound dire. You know, check in every couple of weeks if you don’t hear anything. And then after that, if you don’t hear anything, certainly it might not be the place for you. But certainly a firm handshake and a smile go a long way. So you want to make sure that you take those with you everywhere you go. Next slide, please. So this slide is a reminder of how do I act at job fair. This is your time to shine. So you want to be as confident and prepared and focused as possible because any conversation can lead to your next opportunity. Bring plenty of resumes on nice paper. You know, make sure that they’re easily readable and use the, you know, the how-tos that we’ve given you in previous slides here on how to create a great resume. Bring plenty with you. You know, keep your phone on silent unless you’re exchanging electronic. Cards with an employer or you’re taking a picture of a QR code or whatnot. And then remember to make childcare arrangements in advance so that you can fully focus on your goals and your future. And then create some business cards for yourself, like I had said before, as a leave behind and grab theirs too so that you can follow up with that thank you email or thank you card. But really, this is your time to shine. So make this all about you. Put your best foot forward and just really be present and proactive. Next slide. So we have talked about the job fair. We’ve talked about networking. So how do we dress for success? Remember, first impressions really matter. Eye contact, handshake, those are all things that you can’t forget, but certainly how you present yourself physically is very important. Dressing for success shows employers that you’re serious, you’re confident, and you’re ready to start. Make sure that you’re clean, neatly dressed, shaven, and that you feel comfortable. Only bring what you need so that you can move around and shake hands easily. Some people, if they don’t have a smartphone, maybe just bring a little field notebook with you and a working pen so that you can take any notes or, you know, gather any information that you need to take back with you for those thank yous. Avoid being heavily perfumed. The goal is to be remembered for your conversation, not your scent, of course. And first impressions matter. People form a first impression about you within 7 seconds of their first sight of you. So that’s a really quick turnaround there. And then clothes are really expensive, and I certainly understand that. But there are local organizations who will help you dress for success. One of them is the Dress for Success Boutique, which is on Stafford Street in Worcester. And there are other organizations too that will help you through this. So look out for those as well. You know, in your search for your best attire. Next slide, please. So when you get a job offer, what comes next? You want to make sure that you give good references, that the contact information is accurate, that you give full information in terms of a name, email, and phone so that These folks can easily do reference checks. You want to make sure that you’re ready for onboarding. So you want to make sure that your IDs are up to date. Make sure like you renewed your license. I know I pulled my license out one day and I was like, oh my God, I forgot to renew my license. So you want to make, because they don’t remind you anymore. So you want to make sure that your IDs are up to date. And not expired. You want to make sure that you’re prepared for a background check and what can ensue from that. You know, being up front before you get this offer about any criminal or financial history is the best way to go. Honesty is certainly the best policy. You may, if it is a school or a nursing home may have to submit to a CORI or a SORI check. There’s a link in this presentation which will be provided where you can learn more about that. Drug testing is often something that employers will require if it’s a safety sensitive role. You want to make sure you have a bank account that can be set up for direct deposit. Most employers now do rely on direct deposit and not paper checks. You want to make sure you understand how to fill out a tax form. And certainly, that’s part of the onboarding process. You’ll get a link probably from your employer if they do electronic onboarding. Where you’ll need to fill out all this paperwork and it can be very overwhelming. So maybe having someone with you there to support you through that process who has been through this before would be helpful so that you know how to fill out those documents and can sit with you for some explanation. Next slide, please. So in closing, our best advice at job fair and best practices, be open to learning about employers. And with that, I’ll say be open to new professions. There might be something out there that you never thought of that suddenly piques your interest. Be open to that. Make a strong professional first impression. Eye contact, handshake, super important. Listen actively and stay positive. Ask for contact information and next steps. And then follow up with that thank you email or that thank you card. Take notes and track the employers that you met with and who the main contact is there. Having that little field notebook or your smartphone with you will help you do that. Be respectful and on time and don’t interrupt or linger around the table. Watch your body language and your nonverbal cues. And network with everyone as much as you can. But always be courteous, humble, and grateful. But I think confidence is probably the most important factor here in my mind. But I’ll leave you with this quote. If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door. You can do this. It all seems very intimidating, but it’s not. And once you get going, you’ll be absolutely fine. And I wish you all the very best. And I will send this over to Anita, who will close us out.

Anita Desai:

Sounds great. Thank you so much, Andrea. That was amazing advice. So I hope that this presentation has been extremely helpful. Again, yes, there were many questions about are the slides going to be shared. Any links that you see in this presentation, those will be live links so that you can still. You know, move forward with researching beyond the information that you see on the slides. And so we will share that out to MassHire and they will, you know, take it from there in terms of the distribution for those who are registered for this event today. And then of course, there is this contact information should you all require any future points of contact with MassHire for their services and their partnership. And then from a collection of our presenters, we also have, you know, various job openings at all of our locations. And so we certainly want to include this. And so wherever you see the word job openings, that’s also a live link. And again, you’ll be able to click through the presentation copy that we’ll be distributing out to all of the attendees today. And, you know, similar to what Andrea said, we really just want to wish everyone all the best. So thank you. You know, do your best to prepare for the upcoming job fair and good luck to all of you. And I think now we’re going to shift to any Q&A. If there are individuals with their hands raised, then would love to engage further.

Jibrael Younis:

Thank you, Anita. Yes, we do have one person with a hand raised. I think they also typed the question in the chat. How does one discover which companies will be attending the job fairs put on by the DCU? So actually, the job fair is put on by MassHire. It’s just taking place at the DCU Center. And if you go to the job seeker registration page online, For that, if you visit the MassHire website, which is masshirecentralcc.com, which I will type in the chat right now. When you go to our events page, you will see. That, and it looks like someone just popped it in the Eventbrite, which is the direct link that you could go there and it’ll have the list of the participating employers. Okay, and if it’s not on there right now, then we typically put it out just a few weeks before. So it should be coming up soon. If it’s not the full list, we try to keep it updated. You’re welcome.

Anita Desai:

Mm-hmm. Especially, I think also because the event is still upcoming and employers are still registering and, you know, making their making their presence available with the job fair. So that usually I’ve heard that the DCU job fairs are just great amount of opportunity and, you know, several

Jibrael Younis:

Exactly. Yes.

Anita Desai:

employers from all different types of backgrounds and industries will be there. So we wish you all the best there. Any other questions that are coming up in that anyone wants to come off mute and ask or raise their hand?

Jibrael Younis:

Mhm. We do have one in the chat and then I see someone has a hand raised, but we’ll go to the chat first. I’ve been out for work some time due to a prior medical matter now resolved. How shall I justify the years on the resume? So I’m assuming the gap.

Anita Desai:

Mhm. Anyone on the team want to take that or? Tamara, we just spoke about that the other day. Do you want to take that question?

Tamara Charron:

Sure, and I did see some similar questions that were asked earlier. So that may be an example of something that you could include on your resume itself. I know it’s a little bit different if you’re caring for yourself versus someone else. But the other responses to the same question were, you know, that you want to emphasize the fact that while there was a time that you were concentrating on your own physical and mental well-being, that you were overcoming something, you have since done that, and you are now ready to rejoin the workforce. It may also be something that you could mention in your cover letter. Particularly if we are talking about a period of years.

Michael MacLeod:

I’ll add something that I’ve seen is they utilize that space not only to talk about the time, but also what you may have learned or done during that time. So while you were caring for yourself, think about any hobbies that you might have taken up, any other things that you did that The hobby itself may not be something that can be connected to the job, but the skills around it are something that you perfected during that time.

Andrea Healy:

And Michael, I’ll tag on to that in terms of, you know, it is very prevalent that folks are caring for older parents right now. And so they do take time away from the work, the workplace to do that. And I think really it speaks to your core values. So going into that space on your resume and being able to talk about it in terms of family is really important to me. I took time away to care for my aging mother. I think that really just speaks to your core values. And so being honest and upfront about that and turning it into something that is a great character trait for you, I think is very important.

Anita Desai:

That’s a great point. And even just going back to some of the tips that we gave on networking, you know, although I’m also a caretaker personally, and I know it can be very time consuming, but if you’re doing caretaking full time, try to carve out time for yourself to keep your network active. You know, making those weekly coffee conversations, phone calls, making sure that you’re in touch with, you know, your professional network, keeping people informed and staying connected to what’s going on in the working areas. Not only can it help you for your own mind refresh, and wellbeing, but it helps you kind of keep that balance and not become so detached, right? So that when you are ready to ease back in, you’ve stayed abreast of, you know, those contacts and networks and the individuals that, you know, you’ve partnered with that can help you kind of repurpose back into the workplace whenever you’re ready.

Andrea Healy:

That’s great, Anita. And certainly I think self-care is important. And part of self-care is, you know, doing what you promised yourself you’d do and keep on track and doing that and looking for jobs and networking like Anita had said. Someone else had mentioned in the chat about taking time to be present as a mom to little ones.

Anita Desai:

So.

Andrea Healy:

I think it goes the same way in caring for an elder. Taking care of children as a parent is the most important job anybody can have. And so having a core value and knowing where that stands in your core values says a lot about you as a person, and you should be proud of that and bring that forward.

Anita Desai:

Mhm. There was just a question from Sarah in the chat about, you know, how do we continue to network but not have to, you know, spend money and it can become very expensive to meet people up for a coffee. And I think in my mind, when I say like just a coffee chat, a coffee connect, you can do it virtually, right? So I think leveraging either Teams or Skype, those are free services. And just making sure that your camera is on and you’re present and you’re focused. The other person may or may not turn on their camera because that could be personal preference. But you could certainly tune in. And say, hey, can we meet up for a virtual coffee, you know, or would just like to grab 15 to 20 minutes of your time. Is it okay if we meet on camera, right? Get their buy-in and then go ahead and set up that invitation. You know, what’s the best email that I can send you the invitation? Looking forward to seeing you on camera, you know, kind of. Plopping that seed in also just states that you’re going to be camera ready and hopefully they’ll be camera ready to engage with you. So there’s a couple of ways there that could be easier. Even meeting, you know, if you have reliable transportation, I know gas is like through the roof right now, but the other thing is you could even meet up at the library. Right? Those are public areas that have, you know, sometimes some of the libraries have small like little cubby rooms, etc. And you could simply meet, you know, at a coffee location or sorry, at a library location. So sometimes those are some. Affordable, effective ideas too.

Jibrael Younis:

And.

Andrea Healy:

And with this nice weather, you can bring your own lunch and meet up at the park, even.

Jibrael Younis:

Before.

Anita Desai:

Mhm.

Jibrael Younis:

How about we go to someone who has their hand raised and been patiently waiting? I’m gonna enable your mic. It’s Paula there. I’m gonna allow your mic, but I think you’re gonna have to manually unmute yourself, Paula.

Paula McKeever:

Got it. Thank you very much. Hi, thank you very much for this program. It has some great information that I appreciate. My question is this. I live in southeastern Massachusetts near Providence, Rhode Island. Of course, I keep my eyes open for job fairs there in Providence. Haven’t seen any, but I’m still looking. But I’d also like to take advantage of job fairs in Massachusetts. However, there aren’t many within my general vicinity, my general area. Does it make sense, for example, to attend fairs at the DCU when you may have a distance issue? And if so, how does one politely suss it out? I know some companies appear to have jobs in different parts of the state.

Jibrael Younis:

Mm.

Anita Desai:

Mm. Yeah. I think a good trick would be, you know, maybe using co-pilot to your advantage, right? So Paula, maybe I’d suggest that the publication that will be on DCU with all of the employers that are attending, maybe put in a prompt and say,

Paula McKeever:

Thank you.

Anita Desai:

you know, I am a current job seeker and these are the companies that are currently, you know, or will be engaging in a job fair upcoming. Is there a location for any of these companies near my zip code 12345 in a 25 mile radius? Maybe if that’s the radius that you’re willing to travel. And then maybe it’ll say, oh, these 10 companies companies out of the 100 that are going to be at DCU actually have locations that are within your desired range of travel for working commute. And then you can cross reference maybe those 10 companies, seeing if there’s maybe viability there for you to decipher making that decision to travel into DCU or not. So maybe I would use, you know, because looking up each and every company will take a little while, but if you drop it into Copilot and ask them to help do the work for you, I think you’ll find some faster results that way.

Paula McKeever:

Great, that’s a great suggestion. Thank you so much.

Anita Desai:

Yeah, good luck.

Jibrael Younis:

Few more questions in the chat, so go ahead. Thank you.

Michael MacLeod:

I bet I could jump in. I was going to answer. We got a question in the chat from Vince. The question was, is it possible to have a job coach to bring with you in order to prepare for job interviews because they are working with somebody? I would say if you’re going to go and bring a job coach with you, there really should be two goals that you have. With having them there. If it is to provide you feedback on how you’re doing with your elevator pitch, then yes, I would have them come right up to the table with you, going into it as the purpose of that experience is less that you are looking for the position and that is a positive outcome that could come from it, but you are looking for feedback on the interaction. But if there’s a position that you are specifically interested in very strongly working with, I would advise doing the coaching beforehand and going up to the booth yourself, making the impression, and then going back to them afterwards to have a debrief about the experience.

Anita Desai:

That’s great input, Michael. Thank you. I also see another question here from Arlen, and sorry, I’m looking away because I’m on my phone for the chat feature here during the meeting. It says, my background is rooted in residential mortgage operations, but much of my experience centers on process improvement, implementation, and cross-functional coordination. How can I better position myself so that I’m considered for broader operational or change focus roles rather than being narrowly categorized within mortgage. Any thoughts on that from the team?

Andrea Healy:

I was just typing in the chat, Anita. I think, Arlen, it would be best to, you know, I think it was Tamara who maybe had said, have different versions of your resume, right? So that you can focus your resume on the position that you’re looking for. I would make sure you take those skills that you’ve had throughout your career Find the ones that are focused on the roles that you want and really highlight those the most. And then make sure you have a good objective statement at the top of your resume that says what you’re looking for and where you want to go. And then also your cover letter should be strong and why you would be a good fit for some of these roles. Again, focusing on your past experience and the things about those roles. That fit well with the current role that you’re looking for. I hope that makes sense.

Aimee Jalbert:

I’ll add to that, Andrea, as well. For that particular question, think about the keywords of the job that you’re looking for and make sure they’re embedded in your resume with your experiences. Sometimes your own resume with the verbiage that you’re using or the repetitive words are narrowing that down. So make sure you brought in your resume if it’s not a different version to keep those keywords pertinent to your future opportunity.

Anita Desai:

And I’ll go ahead.

Aimee Jalbert:

1. I was going to say, I have another question I wanted to ask Michael to talk a little bit about the importance of having a clean slate, such as your voicemail messages, making sure as you’re engaging in a job search that you’re prepared to receive inquiries, whether it be via email, phone calls, the way in which you answer your phone to unknown numbers. Michael, would you take that one?

Michael MacLeod:

Yeah, I think that that’s a great call out. You have to remember that you’re potentially going to be putting yourself out there to a lot of different places when you go to this job fair, especially if you’re going to be filling out applications at each of them. If you are anything like me, if your phone rings and it is not a number that you know, you immediately panic and you do not answer. That may need to be a shift in your mindset that you have because you do want to try to connect with these people. There are going to be opportunities that you may not be able to answer. So do take a moment to make sure to listen to make sure that your voicemail is set up. I personally recommend having yourself introducing. Who you are in your voicemail, especially after a job fair where the person may be listening and hearing the same voice. Also, make sure that your voicemail box is enough room for any messages you are getting. There are limits on the number of messages that can be left. And I have personally experienced time where I have called people and their voicemail box is full, so I don’t have a way to let them know that I’m trying to get in touch with them. Email address is another important thing that a lot of people might not think about. What is your email address? And is it something that is appropriate to be handing out to potential employers in the future? So creating a new voice. I’m sorry, not voicemail, a new email that may be your, you know, name or some form of your name or something more professional than what you are currently using is something else to keep in mind.

Tamara Charron:

If I could just add to that, you know, there are sometimes greetings or even, let’s say, music that are part of a person’s voicemail introduction that could be inappropriate and really reflect poorly on you, right? And as Michael mentioned, the way you answer the phone, right? When you do answer the phone, and it could be a potential prospective employer, you know, that’s, you know, being polite, it goes a long way there. And in terms of the phone number and email address, as I mentioned about the resume, sometimes what can happen is when it’s an older version of the resume, it hasn’t been updated.

Michael MacLeod:

No.

Tamara Charron:

You’ve since changed your phone number or email address, and then that potential employer cannot get in touch with you. I’ve even had potential employees that have applied via Indeed that have reached out to me separately to give me a different phone number because the phone number that’s on their resume is not the correct one. I’ve had phone screens scheduled. With candidates where I couldn’t get the person on the phone because it turned out that phone number was no longer in service.

Anita Desai:

Mhm. It’s all really good advice. So Sarah’s asking, she usually answers the phone saying, hello, this is Sarah. How may I help you? Same thing, Amy. I was just going to say like that, you know, that is perfectly suffices. Sheila had mentioned that, you know, should she go to the job fair? And I know there’s already been a response to you, Sheila. And I guess I just want to say like, I think everyone’s a professional at any job level, whether you’re a professional operator, you’re a professional technician, you’re a professional office worker, you’re a professional software developer. We are all professionals in what we do. So take that confidence forward with you. And I agree. I think. DCU will have a large variety of job openings and employers for everybody. So definitely take advantage of what you can do to participate there. So. Any other questions in the chat?

Aimee Jalbert:

Anita, I’ll bring up a few. We’ve got Michael White asking, some mobile phones, some mobile phone providers have introduced a screening functionality where a caller not on your contact list is asked to identify him or herself and why they are calling. And what are our thoughts on using this technology? As a job seeker. What would you say to that question?

Anita Desai:

I mean, I think that, oh, go ahead, Michael.

Michael MacLeod:

I’m gonna… Oh, I was just going to jump in because I have that on my phone. So I can say from personal experience, I have not had any issues with it. What I would do is make sure you’re calling yourself so that you can hear what perspective people are going to hear. A lot of times you have some flexibility in the settings.

Aimee Jalbert:

Yeah.

Michael MacLeod:

on how it answers the phone and different companies are going to answer it a different way. So I think the technology itself. Especially in the world we are in now, where there are so much scams and so many things going on. I’ve had to take advantage of it. But just like a lot of other things, just do your research to make sure that it fits into the needs of what you’re trying to use it for. Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt you.

Anita Desai:

Bye. Yeah. No, you’re fine. I was just going to say I think it is personal preference. And if you do have that feature turned on, then just be timely about checking those screen calls. If an employer is reaching out, I would say 99% of the time they will leave a voicemail with the information if they don’t reach you right away. So, and then when we were talking about the previous question about, you know, email IDs and, you know, your voicemail and how your ringer is set up and all those sort of things for greetings. Another thing to think about on the email side is that some outreaches are electronic first. Not all employers will pick up the phone and do the voice contact first. So be checking your spam. And junk mail too. Every now and again, depending on how your screening filters are set up, you may get some outreaches, but they make it to your spam or junk. So just build that into your routine to kind of, you know, periodically keep on top of that and check your messages so that you don’t miss out. And on any opportunities of outreach.

Aimee Jalbert:

Great advice.

Anita Desai:

Amy, you said there were some other questions, right?

Aimee Jalbert:

Yeah, I’m going to highlight a few here. I wanted to mirror off Michael’s comment, as I was also going to mention. Right from start to finish, make sure you’re looking at yourself from the employer’s lens, right? When you walk into a job interview or a job fair, Any job search and candidacy starts in that moment. So have your best face on, make sure you’re acting professional, and know that every piece of this is part of the interview, your email address, your resume, your follow-up skills. So make sure that if, you know, look at it through our eyes, what what would you hire you if you behaved in this way or had this type of email address or information on your voicemail. So always a good advice. I did want to address an earlier question if Tamara would take a moment to answer if jackets and ties are required or if men should wear them. As a baseline for dressing professionally.

Tamara Charron:

I would say that is not necessary. It’s completely fine if that’s what you’re comfortable with. I would say something like business casual would be appropriate, though it may depend on the position for which you’re applying. The company I work for currently, we don’t have a very strict dress code, but I wear slacks and a button up to work every day. I would wear something very similar if I were attending a job fair. I think, you know, it’s much easier to say what you should not wear to a job fair anywhere you’re meeting prospective employers, which we talked about in the dress for success slide. You know, you shouldn’t be dressed like as if you’re going to the beach, even if literally you are going to the beach afterwards. You know, bring a change of clothes, right?

Aimee Jalbert:

What?

Anita Desai:

Yeah.

Tamara Charron:

And, you know, and just be dressed tastefully, appropriately, right? Don’t be wearing pajamas or something like that, right? I know these days, things have changed. Expectations have changed, and there are a lot of things that I think people see today as being okay. Or being acceptable that weren’t before, like people wearing that type of clothing outside of their home. Definitely don’t wear it to a job fair and be neat and, you know, don’t have wrinkled or stained clothes, don’t have, you know, don’t be wearing your pants too low, things along those lines.

Anita Desai:

Okay. I do want to just add to that. I think you make a great point, Tamara, where different organizations will have different dress code expectations. When you go to a job fair, because there are so many employers in there, there are so many people, let’s just say, quote unquote, in the audience, right? Because you’re there to perform your best in a way in terms of like networking and mingling and meeting meeting individuals for opportunities, I would say at least keep it business casual and or more, right? Depending on, you know, what line of work you’re in, what you’re comfortable in. But I definitely think, you know, similar to Tamara, you know, presenting yourself, being well groomed, having your hair done, you know, not being overly scented and overpowered with scent. You know, just present yourself, you know, fresh for that day of interaction.

Aimee Jalbert:

A couple other questions to talk about here. It relates to candidates that have a lot of qualifications. Someone that’s been in the job market looking to start a new job. Perhaps it’s the first time they’re looking for a while. What are some ways in which those candidates can really set themselves apart without fear that they’re overqualified for jobs, or, you know, this thought of what ageism is when an employer looks at a candidate. Would anyone want to address those concerns that someone raised?

Anita Desai:

I can answer my perspective. I mean, I personally have more than 24 years of experience, so I can definitely relate. If I was in transition, that may be something that also comes on my mind, like, okay, you know, how should I present myself to compete with, you know, what could be coming in for my role of interest? But I think it’s valuable to keep in mind. That more experience can also be an advantage to be able to see things a little bit more holistically, maybe strategically. So think about how you wanna position yourself and your amount of experience, right? Do you have a particular craft that makes you an expert? On that experience, like if you are in a more hands-on role and you’ve done that type of work, like the amount of quality eye that you have, perhaps the amount of safety experience that you have, the amount of following work instructions and standard work that you may have in those environments may be super helpful. The things about quality and safety also can be in processes, right? So if you’re in a different like process oriented role, now you’ve got, you know, maybe somebody else may have two examples where they’ve really led processes, but you may have five different scenarios where you’ve led processes. So, you know, take your experience to your advantage. I think it’s always all important that when you are interacting with individuals live, you know, it’s easy when you have a lot of experience to want to offer a lot in response. But initially, you want to keep it high level to responding to what you’re being asked. And then if they want more detail, go into more detail, right? So sometimes it’s automatic for us to say, oh my gosh, I’ve got, you know, 25 years of experience and I’ve done all these things, but take it in bite-sizedd pieces, let them and let, you know, let the speaker interact with you and make it and make it a balanced exchange. And I think then, you know, you can highlight those values of. Your experience a little bit more louder than to go through a laundry list. So that would be my advice.

Aimee Jalbert:

That’s great.

Michael MacLeod:

I think I’d also add, unfortunately, we live in a world that there is unconscious bias that people may not even realize that they’re doing. And something that I notice a lot is people who include photos on their resume. I personally would advise against that for that specific reason.

Aimee Jalbert:

Hello.

Michael MacLeod:

people don’t know that they are making a judgment because of that unconsciousness of what they may have been brought up with or what they learned. So by removing the photo, you’re just taking another piece of the puzzle off of the table for them to make that judgment based on something other than the words. That are on there.

Anita Desai:

But I think that’s a balanced approach too, because a lot of organizations also go through diversity training and things of that nature. And honestly, like we live in central mass and surrounding areas, and we have a very multicultural workforce. And sometimes when

Michael MacLeod:

Yep.

Anita Desai:

candidates come from other countries, they’re using what they know to be best practices. And maybe in other countries, that’s an acceptable practice. And they’ll still come through. So, you know, I think finding employment, the key is that it’s got to work for both sides and you want to be still true and authentic to what you have to offer. And the employer equally has to be accepting of that authenticity, right? So I think, you know, in most cases, employers and professionals are trained to not, you know, to not, you know, ill mark things that like that that can happen because we’re trying to be more diversified in terms of, you know, making sure that for us as an employer, the right goal is really finding the best candidate for the role. So full of those common practices here that may be different than what you may be used to if you if you’ve had an upbringing in a different cultured area.

Aimee Jalbert:

That’s great advice, Anita. Some of the other points and questions we’re seeing in the chat relate to those gaps in employment. So I’d like to circle back to those as we think about our stay-at-home parents who are now re-entering the workforce. Somebody asked, how do I address that? I’ve seen that address on resumes and very creative clever ways to demonstrate during that time how the candidate has continued to grow and evolve with technology and different skill sets to make them marketable at the time they are ready to start working again. For example, one of the stay-at-home moms that I interviewed talked about her Excel skills and how she used Excel for everything from grocery list to kids scheduling and keeping everything balanced. Volunteer work, too, is also a great subject to bring up. Maybe somebody was, you know, volunteering on the PTA or a treasurer of the Girl Scouts. Something like that goes a long way. Make sure that you bring that to light, too, when you talk about any gaps in employment and what you did to continue to grow your skills during that time. We’ve got two other sensitive questions I’d like to address too. We’re asked about time away from the workforce for those individuals who may have been in prison. How do they come back? What’s some advice we could offer to those individuals? On how to address that in their gap. And then the medical condition. I think we’ve already addressed that as well. But is there anyone on the panel willing to take a crack at the question about imprisonment? And if not, I can shed some light here. My constant theme is honesty. Be honest. We as employers, there’s an appropriate method in which we can ask those questions at an appropriate time. During an introductory time is not an appropriate time for us to learn of that. So don’t feel the need to. Over communicate it, but rather if it’s addressed and when it’s addressed, make sure it’s the proper timing and that you can address it with facts. Make sure you have yourself looked at your felony record. What does it look like? Is it accurate? Because a lot of companies will run background checks. So if you’re working with a community outreach, coordinator or a PO, make sure that you ask them what their advice is. They may have some experience with companies who are notorious for tapping into this candidate pool. There are some industries that unfortunately can’t hire individuals with convictions, but don’t limit yourself to those. Really open up your mindset and find those that do. And then we have another question here. Perhaps Andrea could take this one. Somebody is feeling a little bit concerned about how they’re going to present honestly. The fact that they were let go from a job. They don’t want to be mistruthful, but they’re a little bit embarrassed about the situation. How can they gracefully answer that question and still be a candidate and not have that be a knockout factor?

Andrea Healy:

Sure. I do think honesty is the best policy, but I don’t think that you have to get into great detail. If you were let go from a role, I think people are let go for all different reasons. And often you’ll hear it wasn’t a good fit for you or it wasn’t a good fit for them. I think, you know, saying that, you know, if it didn’t align with your core values, just saying that, you know, it didn’t align with your core values, that you… You had difficulty adjusting to the culture there, or whatever it might be, make it short and sweet. I don’t think that you have to get into great detail, certainly unless you’re asked. But again, I think honesty is the best policy with these things.

Anita Desai:

And to add to that, you know, again, I agree, make it brief. You know, unfortunately, that opportunity didn’t work out and I’m moving forward to find myself with a new opportunity. For the few months that I haven’t been working, I’ve been working on X or I’ve been trying to upskill by reading books on this particular skill set or volunteering or, you know, something else to kind of keep yourself engaged and continued in that learning mindset. The other thing to really also think about is when you’re asked that question at any point in time, if you did have a negative experience or an unfortunate experience, you don’t want to go down the rabbit hole.

Aimee Jalbert:

The.

Anita Desai:

with bad-mouthing that experience. All you say is that unfortunately, you know, the employer and my style were not on the same page and it didn’t work out and I’d like to be able to move forward to pursue an opportunity. I’ve heard great things about the culture working here, right? So like you can kind of take it forward. The minute that you disparage another employer, it’s going to raise a little bit of red flags to say, okay, well, I wonder really what happened. And then they start, you know, employers will start thinking like, okay, well, kind of the whodunit, like, you know, where did the fault really happen? So don’t blame, don’t shame, don’t fault. Just say, hey, unfortunately, it didn’t work out. But I’ve heard really great things about the opportunities here and you know, I’m really excited about my interview today, right? So, so just some tips there.

Aimee Jalbert:

I also want to add to that because from an employer standpoint, I always listen for the growth that one is demonstrating in that opportunity. What did you learn from that? Everybody has things on their resume that they’re not looking to highlight. So don’t highlight that. But if asked, make sure that you have an appropriate response. And it’s also really important to show that you can receive that feedback from your employer, that you’re not disgruntled by it. We all have learning every day to do. So make sure that you show your potential future employer that you’re willing to hear constructive feedback and that by demonstrating your experience in that situation, you’re also demonstrating your willingness to grow. And to recognize that sometimes that just wasn’t highlighting the skills that you brought to the table. Sometimes job roles change. And it’s perfectly okay to say, when I started, I brought with me XYZ skills, but at the time the company evolved and it no longer aligned with the company’s needs. My skills just weren’t. Quite there. There wasn’t another opportunity. And we parted ways. It can be that simple. But also we’re asked about addressing layoffs. I think to the same point, honesty is the best policy. As Andrea said, you answer that honestly, I was laid off. I wouldn’t lie about a termination if in calling it a layoff. Like I said, just have that elevator pitch ready to address that and follow it up with a positive. So if you have something that you’re saying that might not be the highlight, make sure the end of the conversation. But since then, I have learned XYZ. And because of that experience, I’m now poised to do XYZ. I think those would be some good takeaways from that.

Anita Desai:

Bye.

Aimee Jalbert:

Question. Looking at the chats and seeing what else might be up there. If someone feels like AI was the reason for their losing their job, would it be okay to say I got caught in the AI riff?

Anita Desai:

I would be careful with that, because for one company, they could be going through a transformation where they are implementing AI, and therefore maybe that particular company needs less individuals, and you unfortunately got impacted, whereas another company may be implementing AI. And they may need more individuals, right? So you don’t know what kind of journey the organization may be on, where your skill set and the value that you bring to an organization will differ from one company to another. So kind of goes back to my previous commentary. Like if you say like, oh my gosh, AI took over my job and I got laid off and, You make it seem like AI is the worst thing possible. Another company may be embracing AI, but they do have openings and they do need to hire people. So then they may start thinking like, well, if he or she is already thinking negative about AI, they may not be willing to embrace the culture here. Because we are on the AI journey to do more. So just be careful with that. But you can say the company was going through a technology transformation, and unfortunately, they needed to downsize the number of individuals, and my role was impacted. So just keep it. Factual and keep it, you know, almost like saying keep it unbiased.

Andrea Healy:

And you want to portray that you are interested in learning new things. Just because AI didn’t work at your previous job, to Anita’s point, it may be something that you’ll use a little bit at your new job, but it’s not necessarily going to take over your role, but it might be something that helps you be successful at your new role. So you want to make sure that you stay open-minded to AI. So just saying, you know, that your position was eliminated or something brief like that, I think is probably your best bet.

Aimee Jalbert:

We have a few questions in the chat as it relates to the timing of references. What kind of information are potential employers finding out by contacting the previous employers? How far back do you typically go? What would you, what would the employer contact the previous employer to find out more about? And at what point of the interview would they contact the previous employer? Anyone want to take a stab at this answer for them?

Tamara Charron:

I can address that. I’m the person who does the employment verifications for my company. And I think most companies have a very strict policy when it comes to what information they can provide because you’re not legally allowed to provide information that could potentially compromise that opportunity for the candidate.

Aimee Jalbert:

Great.

Tamara Charron:

So if I get a call or, you know, sometimes I get an email communication, you know, sometimes it is something very specific for which there’s a, you know, a signed authorization. But in most cases, the only information I can provide is the dates of employment, the position held, the hourly rate, and I can’t even really technically respond to the question of whether the person is eligible for rehire, though potential employers do try to ask that question. So I would say it’s not something to worry too much about. Now, back in the day when you were filling out a standard application, there was usually a box where you could check whether they could or could not contact the prior employer. I think these days, they’re probably just looking to confirm your history that is not misrepresented on your resume. And they’re going to be contacting those references that you provided. Someone asked earlier, who could be your references? You know, and the response was a good one. You know, preferably managers or supervisors or at least one person to whom you reported directly, as well as potentially former coworkers, people that can speak a lot about the quality of your work. Those are the people that those potential employers are going to be reaching out to. We normally try to do 3 professional references for each candidate that we hire. And those are ones that you are selecting, but select them well, because sometimes I’m really surprised by the people that a person has selected that either have very little to say or actually don’t have anything positive to say.

Aimee Jalbert:

And another, ohh, go ahead, Michael.

Michael MacLeod:

Can I also, I just want to add real quick, if you’re going to put somebody down as a reference, please make sure that they know. You definitely want them to be aware that these people are going to be reaching out. Some companies reach out via email, some reach out via phone. I would find out how your references are going to be contacted and make sure they know to be on the lookout for either of those emails.

Aimee Jalbert:

It.

Michael MacLeod:

or be ready for those phone calls.

Anita Desai:

And even before that step, when you make your short list, ask the people, would you be willing to be a reference for me? I’m going to be starting a job search. And then, yes, if you receive a communication from an employer stating, hey, I think we’re going to move forward with the job offer, but we have this process that we need to go through for background checks, then that’s when you do.

Aimee Jalbert:

Play.

Anita Desai:

you know, Michael’s advice and now remind your referral, sorry, remind your recommender that they may get an outreach.

Aimee Jalbert:

Ohh.

Anita Desai:

for a job at Jeffco Fibers, and it’s this type of position. So even it helps your recommender be prepared for what are those transferable skills, then I could speak positive about you with the potential employer.

Aimee Jalbert:

Absolutely. It is the candidate’s responsibility to equip their references with highlights that would be important for the employer to hear. Really hear that, that it’s your responsibility to make sure your references have the powerful information that’s going to help you stand out as a candidate. So that work is on you to explain to them, this is the role, this is why I think I’m a really good fit. And I’ve chosen you to be my reference because I’d really like you to focus on this project that I worked on and address these types of skills that I bring to it. We have a question in the chat about LinkedIn recommendations and how important are they truly to the employers. I personally look at them. Go ahead, Anita. Do you have some insight?

Anita Desai:

I can take. I was just gonna say, I hop on LinkedIn as well to check out someone’s profile and see, you know, like maybe how they’ve organized their profile. You know, if it, you know, if it’s well organized, what kind of recommendations that they have, what kind of information have they, you know, taken the time to put in their profile. So I usually do take a look at it. So it doesn’t certainly hurt to have recommendations in LinkedIn.

Andrea Healy:

And I think it’s just a piece of the pie, right? I think it’s just a piece of what you put forth about yourself. It’s not obviously a deciding factor, but on as many fronts as you can bring your best self forward, that’s just a tool that you could use to do that. So certainly something we look at, but not necessarily a deciding factor.

Anita Desai:

And I know we’re coming close to time, but on speaking about LinkedIn, you know, sometimes when we find ourselves in transition, we really focus on the resume and the updates and all those sort of things. Make sure you’re going back to your LinkedIn profile if you have a LinkedIn profile that matches the information and the dates and the employers, et cetera. Because maybe I created my LinkedIn three years ago, and since then I’ve had one to two jobs. Now I’ve got that on my resume, but then when an employer goes to your LinkedIn profile to just, you know, study you before the interview, they may feel like, okay, well, the resume has these two additional jobs. You know, kind of seems a little careless that you didn’t take the time to, you know, update your LinkedIn profile as well. So I know it seems like a little bit of double work, but if you’re going to take the effort to create that second outward profile that’s public, then take the effort to keep that updated equally to your resume.

Aimee Jalbert:

Keep in mind if the employers are participating in the job fair, they want to be hiring people. These are professionals taking time out of their busy schedules to be available to you in a unique setting that really does give you an opportunity to set yourselves apart from everybody else. It’s taking away the applicant tracking system.

Anita Desai:

The.

Aimee Jalbert:

So have fun at the job fair. I think most important is to show your enthusiasm for whatever type of work it is that you think you are a good fit for or what you’re looking to do in the future.

Anita Desai:

Awesome. I think this has been a great session. I really, really appreciate all of the engagement. Jibrael, do you have any closing comments?

Jibrael Younis:

Mm-hmm. Just want to thank you guys so much for your time. Anita and team, you guys are great. We appreciate you doing this ahead of our large events. There’s so much going on with MassHire right now to all our job seekers. So please join us for the job fair at the DCU on May 12th. For those who might be interested in apprenticeships, we also have a career fair here at the Worcester Career Center on May 1st. That’s happening in the morning from, I believe, 10 to 1. So that’s another great event if you want to meet employers. It might be a good place to come and even just kind of, you know, prepare for the DCU. It’s a good little warm up. It’ll be a much smaller event. So yeah, there’s so much going on with MassHire. Keep an eye on our events. And again, just thank you so much to everybody. Who joined today and thank you to our friends at HRMA again for all their wonderful insights. You’re hearing it right from the professionals, the experts, you guys. So this is a great opportunity. We really appreciate it. Thank you.

Anita Desai:

Absolutely. Thank you, everyone. Good luck.

Andrea Healy:

Thanks for having us. Go network!

Michael MacLeod:

Thank you.

Anita Desai:

Yes, thank you. Take care.

Aimee Jalbert:

Good luck. Go get him.

Tamara Charron:

Thank you.

Jibrael Younis:

All right, take care everyone. Thank you.