20 April 2024

Archives for 2017

Constructive Criticism Built Confidence for Interview

Lizz Russell-Sow

Love this message. Love the fact Lizz came to JobSeekers to say, “Farewell and Good Luck.” All the best to you, Lizz!

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Hi Dave. Hope you are having a good start to your week. I am happy to report I received a job offer for Corporate Traffic Coordinator with Gray Television. They have TV stations in 49 states. They are creating a hub in Atlanta to traffic commercials / audio / programming for all SE stations. I am so thankful I received the offer.

I am so glad God led me your way. My job ended in February, and I was beginning to get discouraged. JobSeekers encouraged me immensely. Thanks for the great advice and fellowship. The interview session last Friday came at a perfect time, and I used the constructive criticism to help me confident in my interview.

Thank you again,

Lizz Russell-Sow

Jeff Sheehan on Social Selling and LinkedIn

jeff-sheehan-picture

Jeff Sheehan

Come this Friday to learn from Jeff Sheehan, a widely-recognized expert on social selling and LinkedIn.

Jeff Sheehan is an IBM Influencer / Futurist and writer who advises and writes on various trends involving customer engagement, predictive analytics, and IBM Watson. He is also the founder of Sheehan Marketing, a marketing and sales solution provider. His background includes 30+ years of global high technology marketing and sales working with some of the world’s largest companies including Intel, Apple, HP, IBM, AT&T, and Cisco , to name a few. During his corporate career, he and the teams he led were responsible for cumulative sales of over $500 million.

Jeff is a well-known speaker nationally and in the Atlanta area on the use of Social Selling, LinkedIn, Personal Branding, Social Media, and Marketing. Jeff is also a Toastmaster (CC), and volunteers extensively for multiple charities.

Additionally, he is the co-author of “HIRED! Paths to Employment in the Social Media Era,” a book that deals with an integrated approach to the entire job search process that was based on his work as the Volunteer Director of the Holy Spirit Career Ministry in Atlanta, as well as the numerous discussions with job seekers over the last 7+ years.

With over 330,000 followers on Twitter, he has been repeatedly recognized as one of the top people to follow on Twitter in the world for social media, marketing, and sales. He is also among the Top 50 People Most Retweeted in the World by Mid-Size Marketers and has been honored as one of the Global Top 50 Marketing Thought Leaders Over 50.

Jeff holds a BBA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, an MS in Finance from Bentley University, and an MS in Marketing from Georgia State University with additional training at Northwestern University and the University of Virginia.

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JobSeekers meets every Friday morning at First Baptist Church in Peachtree City from 7:30 to 10:00 am. First Baptist Church is located at 208 Willow Bend Road.

Click here for more information about the meetings and agenda.

See you on Friday!

– Dave O’Farrell
Executive Recruiter, Outplacement Consultant
O’Farrell Career Management

“Atlanta’s most effective career services firm.”

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Networking and Positive Attitude

networking positive attitude

Dennis Bennett

Here’s a guy who took the things he learned on Friday mornings and turned them into action items. Desire plus discipline equals results. Congratulations Dennis!

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Hey Dave,

I had been coming to JobSeekers for about three weeks. Two things I learned and implemented from your teaching were to network, network, network and to be positive. I ran into an acquaintance about two weeks ago and found out there was a position at his company. I gave him my elevator intro and a copy of my resume. Within five days I had an interview. So networking paid off.

In the interview, I was determined to show myself and my skills in a positive manner. Today, I was offered the position, which I accepted. So being positive worked.

I also achieved my ultimate goal of leaving my current industry. I thank God for answering my prayers of finding a position outside of my industry, and for putting people like you and the care team in my life. Thank you for what you do with the JobSeekers ministry.

Oh, the position is as the Work Center Manager for ABM. They are contracted by Delta. I may have the ability to hire a few team members within a few months, I will let you know when that happens so you can let the JobSeekers group know.

Thanks again!

Dennis Bennett

Only Interview in 18 Months

We loved having Eni’s bright, shining face and cheerful spirit at JobSeekers each Friday. We also love the fact that we won’t be seeing her anymore because she landed an awesome job. Congratulations Eni; very proud of you!!!

– Dave O’Farrell

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Hi Dave,

I hope this reaches you well. I am writing to inform you of my great news! Today I was offered a job with a contracting firm as a contractor for the CDC, which I accepted. My job title is Public Health Analyst. I would like to share with you how this job came about.

I began job hunting while in Tampa almost 1.5 years ago. In March of 2016, I began to make friends with a recruiter at this contracting firm after a friend gave me a small tip that making friends with recruiters is helpful. I would contact her every couple of months to see if there were any available positions and to keep me in mind.

At the end of November 2016, I applied to a job with this contracting firm and decided after a JobSeekers class to follow up with my recruiter friend to see if they had any jobs available. She immediately replied and said she thought there might be one. When she got back to me she realized it was the job I had already applied for that she thought would be a good fit. However, she realized the position had already been filled.

This past Monday I got an email from my recruiter friend asking if I was still available to work, this was the day the freeze on government hires was implemented. I notified her that I was available. She informed the program manager and HR, and HR contacted me the next day to schedule an interview.

I spoke with them on Wednesday morning discussing the responsibilities and they asked me if I had any questions. Once the conversation drew to an end I asked if they thought I was a match and when I should expect to hear from them. They affirmed they thought I would be a good match and that they would inform me no later than Friday after they spoke to the CDC client.

The next morning I received an offer letter with a competitive salary + health benefits and I will be starting work on 2/6/2017, exactly four months to the day that I moved from Florida to Georgia after resigning from my job of nearly six years at the VA.

Dave, this is the only company I interviewed with in my whole job search.

I want to thank you so much for your invaluable lessons and constant encouragement. I most certainly believe and know my steps have been ordered by the Lord. From meeting Mr. Dana Wilcock at church and him inviting me to JobSeekers, Ms. Linda Wells assisting me immensely with my resume, your brilliant classes (value-added references, interviews, etc.), and Mr. David Halm providing the Project Success Method course. My cup runneth over and I am indebted to your services.

Best wishes and have an awesome Friday!

Kindly,

– Eni

 

Perfect Job — Gone in 60 Seconds

Tom Andersen

This wonderful message came in about three weeks ago. I’m delighted to share this with you now. Notice the combination of identifying a job lead, and then leveraging influential contacts inside the company.

Congratulations Tom; I’m very proud of you!

– Dave O’Farrell

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Dave,

Earlier this year I thought I found the perfect job at Cree. Little did I know that it would be short lived because of a companywide restructuring that took place in early October. It hit me hard as I was doing well personally, lead our group in sales and had a solid pipeline of business opportunities lined up.

I never expected to lose my job with all the good that was happening. After I regrouped I started doing the things you teach each week, especially networking, networking, networking! I found that there were not a lot of opportunities in my field and although I had all this knowledge and experience I was “over qualified” or did not have the right degree, or was not in New York, Philadelphia or some other Northeast city.

I found a post for a job on the Edison Report and sent in a cover letter and resume on 12/1. I received an email reply and a call in a couple days from the hiring manager. I had not heard of the company but during the call found they were from Germany and had been in the US for only a couple years but they also owned another company in SC that has been around about 20 years in the USA. This other company is Hess America. I know the COO and the inside CS manager at Hess very well and worked with them prior to them going to work at Hess.

During the call the hiring manager mentioned the two individuals I knew. The call went well and I asked the hiring manager if we could meet in person to allow me to learn more about the product, the job, and how I could help them fill the needs they had. I offered to drive to SC for the meeting.

That turned out to be the best two tanks of gas I ever spent! I met with them the better part of last Wednesday afternoon and was able to see those I knew from Hess and talk to them as well. I followed up with a “thank you” to everyone on Thursday outlining my understanding of their need and how I could achieve the goal they had. I received an email acknowledging the same from them and that they were going to check a couple references.

When I was with them last week I closed the meeting by leaving my reference testimonials and recommendation letter one of the managers I worked for had provided to me. Yesterday the hiring manager sent me a message that he was preparing an offer letter and I would receive it today.

It is a great offer with a good salary package, benefits, car allowance, and three weeks’ vacation. I start on 1/1/17. Further proof – The Hiring Season is now! I appreciate what you do and teach and learned a lot from attending your class and going to the meetings in the past.

The outplacement my last company Cree provided was of minimal help and what they suggested I was already doing because of what I had learned from you. From when I saw the job post to accepting an offer was only 13 days! I continued to follow up on other opportunities and call others in the industry as this was not a for sure position until today.

Thank you again and I hope you have a very Merry Christmas with those close to you and a very prosperous New Year!

Best regards,

Tom Andersen
East Region Sales Manager
Noedeon USA
678-457-2913