Saying Goodbye

By: Teri Grimes

I made it! Four and a half years later of hard work, and I’ll graduate in about a week with an honors dual degree. I’ve accepted a job offer in Chicago and now have less than a month to pack all of my things, find an apartment, and get settled before my start date of January 3^rd. In the beginning of my college career it seemed like I would never be able to take all of the required classes, but now real life is hitting me right in the face. In just a few short days I’ll be sitting in Elliot hall listening to a commencement speaker and waiting to hear my name called.

But what about what the commencement speaker isn’t telling you? What are you supposed to expect for life after college? The Wall Street Journal released an article in April that caught my eye, and is becoming even more relevant now. It’s titled “10 Things Your Commencement Speaker Won’t Tell You” by Charles Wheelan. It included some points that I agree are important for us December grads to know:

1. Your time in fraternity basements was well spent – Enjoying College and becoming a well-rounded person is important for post-graduation happiness and success. You never know where your good connections could help you network either.

2. Some of your worst days lie ahead – Although you’ve just achieved something great by graduation, there’s no doubt that some stress and failure lies just shortly ahead. That’s not saying you can’t overcome it, because you can and will.

3. Don't make the world worse – Remember that you don’t always have to be finding a cure for AIDS to change the world. You could be changing it every day with what you do in your career, so don’t make it worse.

4. Marry someone smarter than you are – Two incomes can help to alleviate stress on relationships, and luckily you’re about to be in a room where all the smartest people are wearing cords around their necks!

5. Help stop the Little League arms race – Do things just because it’s fun to do, and realize that not everything in life has to be a competition.

6. Read obituaries – You can learn a lot about a person’s life from their obituary, and sometimes it’s important to remember that everyone has a different journey and can still be successful after a few wrong turns.

7. Your parents don't want what is best for you – Sometimes your parents want what they think is a safer option, because they don’t want to see you fail. Make sure you’re pushing yourself to be the best person you possibly can.

8. Don't model your life after a circus animal – Working constantly for a little reward isn’t a good way to live your life, and it won’t make you happy.

9. It's all borrowed time – I know the Wall Street Journal wouldn’t put it this way… but in the words of some of my peers, “YOLO.”

10. Don't try to be great – You can’t control your own luck, but still remember that you don’t get what you wish for, but what you work for.

It’s been real, LACD fans. I’ve enjoyed my semester of giving career advice in the best way that I can, and learning a lot while I’m at it. Don’t forget to look me up some day when you’re applying for jobs too, I’d be happy to continue career coaching for as long as I can. Good luck to you all!

Live Your Brand

By: Teri Grimes

Alright… I’ve spent all semester blogging about the steps you can take in your professional life to build a brand and put together pieces that really represent you as a person. We’re getting even closer to the end of the year and for us December grads it’s come time to finally showcase what we’ve learned and dip our feet in to the waters of our chosen field. The most important thing to remember when showing recruiters your portfolio is to live the brand that you’ve created for yourself and be authentic while doing it. Nothing kills your credibility more than trying to be someone you’re not when talking to someone who could potentially be a future employer. The following is a list of tips to use when showcasing your print portfolio to an audience:

-       Be yourself. Live your brand, but make sure the brand you’ve created is true to who you are both personally and professionally.

-       Know every document that’s in your portfolio, and how to find it without stumbling around and flipping through a ton of pages

-       Introduce what you’re going to be taking about first, then ask if the recruiter would like to see an example of this, and then pull it out of your portfolio. This keeps the recruiter from just flipping through the rest of your pages while you’re talking and not really listening to what you have to say.

-       Explain why each piece is relevant to the talents you have to showcase. It’s great if you have an impressive work in the binder, but it’s better if you can explain its creation in a C-A-R story that applies back to the position you’re up for.

-       Be confident in what you’re presenting! You chose to put it in the portfolio for a reason, so make sure you let them know that this is a collection of work you’re proud of.

Print portfolios are greatly underutilized in interview situations, and can really give you a leg up on the competition if you build it correctly. Continue your professional branding on to the pieces you’ve created, and arrange everything in the binder with a specific order in mind that you can explain to anyone viewing it. Once you have developed a print portfolio you’re proud of, show it off! It could really help you land that first job.

Building a Digital Portfolio

By: Teri Grimes

The most effective way to prove to a future employer that you produce quality work is to show them. Although you can tell them about your previous work success all you want, never underestimate the power of a good visual. This is the reason why portfolios are so important. They are a visual representation of everything that you’ve completed in the past that has turned out really well. If you aren’t getting many interviews to show off your portfolio in person, it may be a good idea to build a portfolio online for recruiters to look through. Here are some tips for building an effective digital portfolio:

• Digital portfolios can be less extensive than print portfolios. Since you want the portfolio to be public so people can find it, you also have to worry about the amount of information that you’re putting online. You don’t want to post something just to have your information or works stolen.
• Have a friendly welcome page! It’s the first thing that a recruiter is going to see, so make sure it’s consistent with your brand and easy to navigate.
• Write an ‘About Me’ section, but keep it less than 500 words. Recruiters don’t need to know what the weather was like on the day you were born… just stick to anything that relates to your professional brand or the works present in your digital portfolio. The general rule for web writing is to keep pages like this to about a paragraph long.
• Upload your resume as a PDF document. This makes it both harder for someone to steal and copy, and it’s more likely that the formatting will remain consistent when opened on another computer.
• Have about 2-5 examples of your writing. It doesn’t necessarily have to be related to the industry, but can be something from your classes that you spent a lot of time on. Recruiters want to know that you sound competent on paper.
• Include a page with your references, but only put as much of their information online as each reference is comfortable with. You can always just leave it with their name and position title, and then include a line that says ‘contact me for more information’ at the bottom of the page.
• Have a section where you list your abilities, purely for search engine optimization reasons. If you have a lot of searchable key words on your page, it’s more likely that your page will show up in a search.
• Use websites like visualcv.com, weebly.com, or wix.com to build your own website. Some of these are easier to use than others, so it really just depends on how comfortable you are with web page development.

Now what are you waiting for? Get your work online and get noticed!

Acing the Phone Interview

By: Teri Grimes

Last week, we had a corporate recruiter named Abby Kohut speak to our class on a few tricks she picked up from her 16+ years of experience on the job. One of the topics she covered stuck out most in my mind because of my recent experience with them: phone interviews. She shared with us the recruiter’s perspective on what makes a good phone interview, and how to avoid the pitfalls that made recruiters not call you back.

The purpose of a phone screen is to find out if they want to interview you further. If at the end of the phone call they don’t specifically schedule a date for your next interview, that means that they probably don’t. If the recruiter says something like “I’ll pass your resume to a hiring manager” or “we’re not scheduling right now but we’ll keep in touch,” that usually means that they’re not interested. Why don’t they just come out and say it instead of using language that could keep your hopes up? Because then you might ask why you weren’t fit for the position and after they tell you, you still might argue to defend yourself. This way just keeps the recruiter on schedule by not dealing with unhappy candidates.

The number one rule of phone interviews is to always answer your phone. Recruiters have a certain number of candidates that they have to reach per day, and if you don’t answer your phone they might move on to the next person on the list and skip you entirely. No matter what you’re doing, however, tell them that you’re not in a place where you can talk and ask if they can call you back in half an hour or if you can call them back. Even if you’re at home and ready for an interview, say that you aren’t. This way, you have half an hour to research the company and use your knowledge to impress the recruiter. Know everything you can in that half hour about the company and the job listing.

Be aware of your first impressions on the phone as well. If you see an unlisted number and think that it’s a telemarketer, you might answer in a way that sounds boring and unhappy. This will be the recruiter’s first impression for you. If instead you say something like “Excellent, I have been waiting for your call!” The recruiter will be excited to talk to you as well. Keep in mind that phone calls often make you sound mellow and tired even if you’re an enthusiastic person. Try to keep your energy up by walking around the room, possibly occasionally passing a mirror and smiling at yourself. Recruiters can hear a smile through the phone.

Be sure to be using the C-A-R stories I blogged about earlier, and with these tips you should ace any phone interview!

Best Interview Practices

By Teri Grimes

We all know that interviews can be intimidating for the average person. What really helps to calm you nerves is having a solid plan in place for exactly what you’re going to do before, during, and after the interview. Most plans should look something like this:

BEFORE: Arrive about 10 minutes early. Don’t be any earlier than that, and don’t get there really early and sit in your car until you can go inside. People will probably see you in the parking lot and think you’re really creepy. When you do go inside, greet the receptionist and let them know the person that you’re interviewing with. If you have an email correspondence or something from the interviewer, it may be a good idea to print it out so you know their name and title exactly before you accidentally make yourself look unprepared. When the secretary asks you to take a seat, make sure you have good posture when you’re sitting down and you aren’t acting like the waiting room is your own living room. You can sit quietly and review your resume or portfolio, but occasionally look up and notice your surroundings. When you’re waiting in the lobby, you’re still saying something about who you are as a brand.

DURING: Once the interviewer arrives, make sure you have a firm and confident handshake. You don’t want to be giving a ‘princess-kiss-my-hand’ hand shake, that creeps people out too. Keep in mind that a good interview should sound like a conversation and not be so one sided. Make sure you do your research so you can ask good questions, and constantly prepare yourself for what they might ask you. Be prepared for how you may react if they ask you any ‘illegal questions’ such as your health, religion, politics, etc. and know how you want to answer them. Come up with about five points ahead of time that tell stories that highlight skills relevant to the job description. You can even write these all out so you really have it memorized by the time you get there. Practice active listening by rephrasing the question in the answer. If you don’t know the answer, admit is, but then try to connect it to some other relevant skill that you have.

AFTER: Thank them for their time, shake hands again, and ask about the timeline or next steps before you hear back from them. DO NOT ask about how much the job pays unless they offer that information already. Follow up the interview with a thank you note or a thank you email within 48 hours, and try to be specific and mention something that you and the interviewer connected over. Anything that you had a good conversation about, bring it up again and help them to remember which candidate you were. Don’t be afraid to follow up with them again if they haven’t reached out to you and the deadline has already passed. If you hear back from them and you didn’t get the job, be polite and feel free to ask suggested areas of improvement.

Hopefully with this plan in place, you can enter your interviews confident and ready!