My Friend in HR

Episode 5: Behind the Scenes - Let's Ask a Recruiter!

• Njsane Courtney, SPHR, SHRM-SCP

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Have you ever wondered what recruiters are really looking for when they sift through piles of resumes? Our guest, Talent Acquisition Manager, Alejandra Villegas, reveals the truth behind the job application process. From the ideal length of a resume to the common mistakes made during interviews, Alejandra provides invaluable advice that could help you stand out from the crowd and land your dream job.

We don't stop at resumes and interview tips. Alejandra also offers a unique perspective on applying for multiple positions within the same organization and the art of negotiating job offers. Her insights provide a roadmap of the job market, outlining how to avoid potential pitfalls and turn challenges into opportunities.

In addition, we take a look at the role technology plays in recruitment. She helps us understand the implications of AI in the hiring process and how to use it to your advantage. Don't miss out on this conversation filled with valuable insights that could transform your job search strategy. 

Speaker 1:

Welcome to my friend in HR. I am your Njsane Courtney, , your friend, and your guest in the elusive world of human resources and career fulfillment. I'm glad you guys could join us. I'm sure you noticed something different. It's not just audio. We're coming to you live with video. So we'll see how this works If I don't lose all my followers, because now that you see my face I'll keep it going, but we'll rock and roll with that.

Speaker 1:

You guys realize, over the last few episodes we've really spent a lot of time talking about getting that next opportunity. How do you get that next job? What things set you up for success for that interview process? And you heard me ramble for three or four episodes, but I thought it was really important to make sure that I brought in an expert. So I have Alejandra Villegas and she is a. She is a seasoned recruiter. She's been in the recruiting industry for a number of years and she's been able, she's been a change agent and she just rocks and rolls when it comes to talent acquisition and I thought it'd be really great to get it from the horse's mouth Someone whose job it is to find that next crop of talent. She talks with leaders, she talks with executives, she talks with hiring managers, so she understands the needs and she understands where some candidates tend to fall short. So, alejandra, thanks for joining the show, thanks for coming on board.

Speaker 2:

No, absolutely super happy to be here, excited to kind of share and hopefully make an imp tech on someone's career progression and search. So definitely excited to kind of share.

Speaker 1:

She wants to make an impact too, so she should be on the podcast full time. What do you think? What do you think? Put it in the comments, alejandra, you got that, but no, I think it's. I think I'm glad you said it, because that's really what this podcast is about. It's about to. It's about getting people that insight behind the lines, about what it is that you see as a recruiter when people apply, because I can say it as a HR professional, but you're literally your job is to talk to those folks. So we're going to dive right in, and so my first question is you know, we watched a lot of articles on LinkedIn. We talk about it being kind of an employees market at this point. Do you think that that's the case? Employee employers market what are you seeing right now?

Speaker 2:

I do. I think there's a misconception. Obviously, we're kind of all aware of the recent layoffs across different verticals, specifically in the tech space, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's an employer's market. I think it's kind of the opposite. I think employees, or candidates rather, are really still the driving force. You know, we went through the great resignation and now we're kind of moving into this new phase post COVID, but what we're realizing is that candidates really still have options, especially the talent that we all want. They are the ones that candidates that companies are you're going to definitely go after, and I mean, I see it at my own company we'll put all our guards out there sometimes if someone's just really really hot. So yeah, still definitely an employees market.

Speaker 1:

So employees market. So basically, what you're saying is that candidates have a choice, absolutely, and good people can find good jobs. Yes, it's out there. And it's not to say that, you know, folks don't have challenges. Depending on what city you're in or what industry you're in, there's always going to be challenges, but you don't have to settle Correct. There's choices out there, great. So that's a great message for our listeners. So let's start at the beginning. So you got a new position, a candidate you know, a hiring manager has said Alejandra, I need this person, I need my purple unicorn, this person with this exact skill set, and you post a position. When you start looking at resumes, what is the first thing that catches your attention on the resume?

Speaker 2:

So, first of all, purple squirrels, purple unicorns, we get a lot of those, a lot of those. You have no idea.

Speaker 1:

You know what, and we need to be careful. I want to make sure I don't use too many HR terms when we say purple unicorn. So when we say purple unicorn, purple purple horses, whatever squirrels, what are we talking?

Speaker 2:

about. It's those very niche, hard to find, very technical kind of roles that maybe a candidate has very, very specific type of skill sets. That's kind of what we mean. But you asked, what is the first thing that you look at when you look at a resume? And I'll be honest, I look at the format. Did you spend some time on this or did you just throw whatever it was on a document and it just looks like a novel or one page paragraph? That is what I look at. Is it easy to read? And then I just kind of dissect it from there.

Speaker 1:

So let's take a mid-level career person, sure, and you get their resume. In one of my podcast episodes I said really you should keep your resume down to maybe three pages. What's your opinion?

Speaker 2:

I think two tops Okay. Once it goes past that, for me it's a matter of can you articulate what you really accomplished in your roles? And if you can't do that when you have time by yourself, when you're not in front of a company or an interview or a hiring manager, then there is a bigger issue there. Two pages max, because if not, I'll be honest, you're not. Typically you're not the only candidate that's applied to the opportunity. There are other resumes in the bank and if I compare it to someone else's that has spent the time to really focus and zone in on what value they can bring to my company, then it gets a little washy there.

Speaker 1:

So and this may be a little selfish to say but should the candidate keep the recruiter in mind when they're getting their resume together, meaning you and your team interview? I mean, sorry if you don't score as a resume today, and so does it benefit a candidate to like let me make it easy for them to select me. Yes, it seems like an obvious question. So what does that mean? So, if I'm getting ready to apply for a job, how do I make it easy for you you talked about formatting, you talked about, you know, the attention to detail, but how do I make it easy for you to select me, to call me in for an interview?

Speaker 2:

So you kind of mentioned it also in one of your other previous episodes. What you listened to my podcast. Yes, I heard all four episodes, dear diary. I did. I did Awesome, wanted to make sure what I was walking into right. I had to do my research. I never ambushed you.

Speaker 2:

I never would, but no, definitely. You know, just kind of hit it on the nail there. It's about keeping who is your audience, right. Is it the recruiter, is it the hiring manager? Because we all do see your resume. So if you want to send out, it really is about how are you presenting yourself, because that is what a resume is. It's that very first impression we get of a candidate, and that's one thing you guys should all keep in mind of when you're job hunting. What do I want to tell people about myself through a piece of paper? And so being able to portray that is important.

Speaker 1:

Right. One of the things I put in an episode of one of the podcasts was that your career is kind of like a novel and the jobs you have are like the chapters in that and you want the resume to be a story that the recruiter wants to learn more. They want to give you a concept. Oh, this person looks great, so they're formatting, making it easy for you to paint, and she said it two pages max. Those novels, you guys got out there, cut it out, and I've actually talked to candidates in one of my previous lives where they say, well, but I've done so much and maybe it's a R&D position. They've written all these papers and they want you to know how smart they are. What do you say to folks like that that I've had a 20-year career, it's hard for me to condescent in two pages. What do you tell to a professional like that?

Speaker 2:

I think it comes down to what, from your previous experience, is easily relatable and easily transferable to the specific new role that you're targeting. That's what you need to highlight. I mean, once upon a time I used to be a checkout clerk at Marshall's. You will not find that on my resume. It's not something related to my career, where I want to go.

Speaker 1:

So wait, so it should tell a story.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely, I love it. I love it. So you mentioned you definitely have to be intentional about what you put on it, and I know you've mentioned that in one of your previous episodes and so definitely just kind of echoing that your resume should be specifically for that role and kind of maybe skipping ahead here or maybe some other things you want to touch on. But you brought up on one of your episodes what is it that you really want to target in your career? This is that. This is you kind of pitching yourself, giving your elevator speech to someone that you have no idea who they are, what their personality is, and so how are you going to capture me? It's by showing me what value you bring to that specific experience. Sorry, that specific opportunity, that specific role, yeah, and how can what you've done in the past tie to what I'm looking for?

Speaker 1:

I love it. Again, it's as she was doing the other podcast episodes with me. She's we're totally aligned on that. So story time OK. And again, I can't even start to count the number of positions you've filled in your entire recruiting career, but I like that. Look back in your brain and pull out a story of where a poorly designed resume really kind of tanked a candidate, when it's just wow, this person probably was great but the manager just could not get past the bad formatted resume. Is there a story like that?

Speaker 2:

So it actually happened. When I first started my recent company, I was getting a general understanding of what we would do, and it actually happened with an internal candidate.

Speaker 1:

Oh really, yep. So the person already worked at the company where they were applying?

Speaker 2:

OK, and so they thought that because they had been here, they didn't really need to brag about themselves. They, it seemed like they literally took the job description, pasted it in the resume and submitted that, as well as attaching a bunch of different certificates. And I went back and I told them hey, trust me, we understand the value you've brought to our company in the past, and even most recently, but we want to know a little bit more about how you feel that translates to this new role. It's something outside of what you've done before. You know really helped me understand the connection here, and they just didn't see the point in that.

Speaker 1:

Really. So you gave them advice and they just like eh.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and so they moved forward and I submitted what they had and the manager said if they can't spend the time on highlighting their experience and again how they can bring value to my role, then I'm not sure they're the right fit.

Speaker 1:

Wow, wow, that's unfortunate. I mean, just because they, just because they didn't put enough time into the resume, they lost out on a potential opportunity. That and that's unfortunate. I mean it's one thing if you're not qualified, it's one thing if you don't have the skills and things like that, but to lose out just because of a lack of effort, I mean that's one thing I also mentioned on episode, episode three, I believe. It says you know, you want to put your best foot, for Of course, it's almost like taking like a first date. You want to put on the best for, you want to put on your best suit. You want to, you know, go ahead and get the crap out of here.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, you know you want to bring, you want to bring your best self right. Great, I appreciate that. So let's move forward and let's talk a little bit about the interview. Okay, and so now you found a couple of candidates. Well, first, just for people's awareness, because I also want to bring awareness to people who really want to understand, like the interviewing part, like what recruiters, growth, go through. So, for a typical position, let's not, let's note, it's not appropriate for unicorn.

Speaker 2:

Got it. We definitely filter through and we probably do. From those hundred we'll probably cut back to 15, pre-screened, they'll screen with me and from there I'll only present five to my hiring manager at Max.

Speaker 1:

Right, because you don't want to bombard the manager with a bunch of recipes.

Speaker 2:

There's no reason to muddy the waters there. They already have other things going on, and the last thing I want to do is confuse them.

Speaker 1:

So why did I ask Alejandra that question? And that's because everything counts. Yep, right, you're competing against another 99 folks potentially that applied over the weekend for the same job you want, and so she just said it maybe up to five. We'll make it to the hiring manager. So you want to do everything you can to be on that top five. So that means formatting, that means alignment, that means all those things we've talked about about keeping your resume top notch and presenting your best self. So when we talked about the interview, you know what are some mistakes you've seen candidates make when they showed up for an interview.

Speaker 2:

When they show up for an interview. First of all, you didn't take the time to Google how far we would take your house.

Speaker 1:

I can tell there's some passion behind this. This is great.

Speaker 2:

Did you map out your time? Did you take into consideration our city's traffic? Did you dress the part? Did you ask me what the business, what the dress code was? Most of the time I'll provide that information, but I'll be honest, I'm human, sometimes I forget. So someone definitely don't want you to show up and flip flops in a T-shirt, right?

Speaker 1:

Well, what about? Let me ask you a question, so, but a lot of interviews are being happened. They're happening via Teams, sure. So does the same dress code apply if it's a virtual versus in person?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. If you are in Teams, you need to be in a quiet area with a clean background. I don't want to see all of these different posters in your background or your undone bed, Cause those are. Other. People may disagree, right, but it shows part of your character. So, just if you can't find an empty space in your house, just a blank wall, Quiet space. Definitely no distractions, cause we can tell when you're looking somewhere else or when you're taking a little bit too long to Google an answer.

Speaker 2:

So Wait, you've had that Somebody's like, click on it For a technical conversation. We definitely it happens. It happens or you'll see someone even telling them what to say in the background.

Speaker 1:

Wait, is there somebody whispering?

Speaker 2:

You can tell that they're trying to figure out and you know that they're not looking at a screen, they're looking at somebody. Wow, so it happens. So definitely make sure you're alone. Put your phone on mute. A lot of it seems like common sense, but you'd be amazed in certain circumstances. It just kind of goes over people's heads sometimes.

Speaker 1:

A lot of times we hear the term cultural fit for an organization, so I'm gonna bring this up into two quick questions. Number one is cultural fit still a thing, and if so, how do you determine cultural fit?

Speaker 2:

That's a great question and it's definitely something that we're seeing kind of shift in the workspace. We're seeing more of cultural add instead of cultural fit, and I think a lot of it has to do with us just being more aware of the demographics within the workspace, whether that's the differences in generations or in just population, and what we're realizing it is that external new perspectives really do add value to the workplace and so sometimes and it's a proven fact people hire people that are like them. Right, and I'm not definitely not saying we're knocking it, but what we've come to realize is a cultural add definitely brings more value.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely.

Speaker 2:

And what we're seeing is that we are now assessing as to can this person work collaboratively with these people while providing new ideas of fresh perspective and just a brand new way of doing things, While still meeting the value of the team, meeting that business goal, because I mean, let's be honest, that is what we're all employed to bring value to the organization and accomplish something together. So that's kind of the movement we're seeing. We see it be a better success as more and more teams start to adopt this.

Speaker 1:

I love it and just so everybody's aware, like Alejandra and I do a lot of work together on the diversity, equity, inclusion space and so I'm totally singing it to. And I love that whole aspect of shifting to a cultural ad versus a cultural fit, because there are studies out there that shows that the more diverse organizations are, the more you avoid group think they tend to be more profitable. There's all kinds of studies out there in Harvard Business Journal to talk about the value of having that. So not getting stuck in that whole terminology of cultural fit, I totally love it. Here's a great question for you what do you think about a candidate who applies for multiple positions within your organization?

Speaker 2:

So I kind of disagreed with you a little bit. No, I will be honest.

Speaker 1:

That's all the time we have for today on my Friend Nature.

Speaker 2:

In my line of work we actually hire for a similar role across many different locations. So for me, in that specific opportunity, it's actually a win If a candidate applies to multiple locations, even though the work at that specific area is a little different than the last area they apply to, the concept of the role itself is similar, and so to me that means, hey, flexibility, I may not be able to hire this person here, but over here they'd be a total plus.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so now here I gotta ask, though but you say that they're similar roles.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

I get where you're going right Now. You mentioned, I believe, someone you know applying in marketing or HR or business development. You know different complete verticals, right. Here's where I think that there may be some gray. If it's a coordinator type job in each of those verticals, I think that the skill set's definitely transferable. Right, if I'm applying to an operations coordinator versus a marketing coordinator, versus an HR coordinator, sure, there are some differences, but the foundation should still be the same in some of those areas, at least I think so. Right, and I have seen people make the change.

Speaker 2:

Now, if I'm seeing someone apply to a VP role versus let's see analyst versus an engineer versus An accountant, you know, in that I'm like, okay, buddy, we, we probably need to take a step back. Why we? I mean you as a candidate. We need to take a step back and just kind of reevaluate what do you really want? Right, if it's high money, I get it. You know, at the end of the day, we're all still here to make a living that we all love and that can enjoy, but definitely need a come to moment with yourself and just really understand your strengths and weaknesses and where you can really grow and bring value.

Speaker 1:

And in that sense you know, I Ehh.

Speaker 1:

Hey, it's okay. It's okay, my wife disagrees with me, so it's totally fine if you disagree with me, but that's what it's about is about having different perspectives, but you bring up a very good point. It's about really kind of the totality of it all. If it makes sense, then it makes sense, but just make sure it makes sense. Yes, so we're gonna move on to Tours, and so the interview process is over and now we get to the negotiation phase, or the offer phase. Okay, so as a recruiter, you're often the middle person between the candidate and the hiring manager. First question In general, what do you think about when a candidate tries to negotiate?

Speaker 2:

I do not see any issue with that at all. Most of the time I actually expect it. It's very seldom that I'll have a candidate that just kind of accepts on the first offer, unless and I think you touched on this in the podcast, actually you did unless you told me upfront hey, this is what I'm expecting and I tell you. You know what. That's outside of my comp band, but I really think you could bring value and me as a recruiter. I'm gonna go to bat for you, and probably the hiring manager too, because I know that they're gonna like you. So we go to bat, get the budget approval for that increase and then we bring it to you at what you said you would accept. And then, guess what? You tell me. You know what I actually wanted a bit more Oof, oof. That is very tough.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 2:

Because I've been trying. One thing I do pride myself is a transparency. I'm gonna be upfront with you hey, these are my constraints and I will put it in your court. Is this still something you wanna explore? And if you tell me yes, then we move forward, right.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Speaker 2:

But if at front you know we I was honest with you, I expect you to reciprocate that. And down the line, if we're getting, you know you're our lead, you know we're whining and dining you and you come back with that.

Speaker 1:

It's just kind of questionable.

Speaker 2:

It's bad for yeah, yeah, it's like oof. Are they gonna do something similar where they're in?

Speaker 1:

the role.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you know, this person's gonna be interacting with XYZ, are they gonna do something? That kind of stems from that Mm-hmm, and so, yeah, it's definitely bad form, but otherwise there's absolutely nothing wrong with negotiate, right? If you tell me hey, I'm looking for 60 to 70, right, okay, I come back and I'm like you know, we want to offer you 60K. And you come back and you're like you know what? I know I told you, with 60 to 70, you know, you're offering me kind of at the low end of that. Is there any way that we can go to 65?

Speaker 2:

Definitely nothing wrong with that, because you were upfront about what your expectations were and you've come to know a little bit more about the role and you see, maybe now you're taking into account hey, you know what this place is about, 10, 15 minutes away, further than my last job. So that's more wear and turn in my car, more mileage. Maybe I gotta pay for an extra toll or two. So you're factoring all those things now and I understand that right, right, yeah, so it kind of balances out. Definitely nothing wrong with that.

Speaker 1:

And so and I'm very rarely, speaking, absolutes, but in the podcast I did make an absolute like I have never actually seen an offer get completely withdrawn just because a candidate tried to negotiate no, but where they go wrong is how they choose to negotiate. If it becomes adversarial or something like that, then that becomes more of a starting off at the bad foot with a manager, and then the manager may say whoa, what am I, what am I potentially bringing into my team? Exactly Right. So again, negotiate. You can always negotiate. The worst thing you do is say no and then you still have the offer right, exactly so. When you look on LinkedIn and I know you've seen these two because I've seen a ton of them there's a lot of folks that complain about how long the recruiting process takes, right. They always say, oh my God, it took three or four months and no one ever called me back, and these things like that. What do you say to folks like that in terms of like people who complain about the length of the typical recruiting process?

Speaker 2:

I'll tell you that sometimes those actions don't come necessarily just because we want to. I'll be honest, a recruiter's job is to fill those roles, and to fill them quickly, right One?

Speaker 1:

You guys even have metrics that measure.

Speaker 2:

So the longer a role is open. Hey, that's my bonus. That's gonna be.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, exactly, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So, trust me, I'm trying to get you in the door that all for out. Let's go From a hiring team perspective. That team is impacted negatively sometimes. If the role is vacant, then who's doing the work? More often than not it's being broken apart between team members or maybe even the hiring manager itself. So they are probably right alongside me trying to get this role filled as soon as possible, right? So sometimes there's just circumstances that delay us, maybe budget constraints, maybe travel plans, maybe someone got sick. If something's taking a little while longer, it could be something very easily related to that. I would be remiss to not say sometimes the interview process just does include everyone on the team to speak with you, and, trust me, as recruiters we understand that's not optimal, right, we're not here to waste anyone's time. But sometimes managers just really, really care about who they're bringing into the team and they wanna make sure that it's right, and so sometimes they really do just need to put someone through the vetting process and unfortunately sometimes that does just take a little while longer.

Speaker 1:

Now are there. There are companies out there, though, whose process just takes a long time.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and sometimes some even pry themselves in that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, because they think for some, in some strange insane thinking, they think, oh well, if it's long, then we're doing due diligence.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

Versus. Okay, I fell in love. This is the person I wanna bring in. Let's just commit and do that right, so yeah, so there you go. I mean, sometimes it's internal situations that the candidate's not always aware of. Sometimes that's just the nature of the company. If you wanna work for these big companies, these big name companies I won't name the name of them, but I know up two or three off the top of my head you just know, when you hit apply, you hit submit, it may be 30 days before you hear from somebody, right.

Speaker 1:

So, getting towards the end of this same thing, you also hear from candidates oh, the recruiter never called me back. I feel like if they're gonna reject me, I shouldn't just get the cold. We've picked someone else that best matches the skill set that we tend to put in our applicant tracking system. What do you say to folks who's like? I feel like you should call everybody back who's applied. You guys can't see her face right now. Maybe you can see the twitch of her eye. We should have zoomed in on that. But seriously, I couldn't tell you and me, being a former recruiter, I get it right At my viewpoint. You said a minute ago sometimes it's 100 resumes and you have to screen, you have to interview, you have to prescreen and all these things. And then the candidate's like well, I never heard back. I applaud them. I mean, what do you say to folks like that?

Speaker 2:

I'll tell you that.

Speaker 1:

She's trying to give a thoughtful answer. So great, so great.

Speaker 2:

No, to be honest, behind every platform, behind all of these hundreds of applications, there is only a person right and there are only so many hours in a day and we really do have to sometimes lean on our systems to keep the business going forward. And some people forget that we're people too, and I say that because we know that there's people that are actively applying and that are trying to find a new career and that do have bills to pay on the other side of this paper. I mean, we work with people. We're a people person, so we're not completely out of the notion that, hey, you need a response, we need to be able to get back to you.

Speaker 2:

Sometimes, I'll be honest, it's just really difficult to do that one-on-one touch. But trust, we really do strive to get back to y'all, absolutely. It's just sometimes impossible to do that and still keep the ball rolling from a business perspective, which is why we do lean on AI platforms or applicant tracking systems to help us with some of those automated functions once we've reviewed resumes, to kind of move them into that next phase of hey, sorry, thanks for applying, but just not the right fit for this role.

Speaker 1:

And I'm glad you brought up AI, because that was one question I was gonna ask, or I was gonna ask, but that's chose not to. But since you brought it up, you know there's also this sense of like there's more AI involved. So they're saying, oh, there's not a person, and so now, either through bullying, searches or whatever the case is, my resume is gonna be taken out and no one ever reads it. But if you read my resume, you know I'm the top candidate and things like that, and you just mentioned that somewhere behind that there's still a person. Yes, you know what? Do you think about AI becoming more involved in the recruiting process in terms of do you think it's gonna help, continue to help you guys, or?

Speaker 2:

I think that and I'm so funny. I was actually just having a conversation with my colleague the other day about this. They were actually saying we're gonna get left without jobs because of it.

Speaker 1:

The recruiters.

Speaker 2:

Well, not on my team, actually a peer in.

Speaker 1:

HR yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.

Speaker 2:

And I actually told them. No, it's actually the opposite. I think you need to be able to embrace it and leverage it, Because if you don't, then you will get left behind. I think there's so much technology out there that if you learn how to use it right, it really does save you time, but it teaches you something you bring more value, not just to you but your business and your hiring managers as a recruiter.

Speaker 2:

So, as far as a resume goes, you had mentioned in one of your podcasts shifting your resume to be formatted so that it is friendly for AI, and that's really the ticket. There's so many companies that lead on these types of platforms and if you're not becoming more aware of it and just kind of understanding that that's the shift that we're going towards, then it will be a little harder to get a call back. Making sure that your resume is concise, making sure that it has the right words, making sure that it's not just a copy paste from a job description or a job posting those are types of things that these AI functions pick up Right.

Speaker 1:

So, alejandra, I really do appreciate you having some time and talking, because I think our viewers and listeners I love being to say viewers, now we can say viewers, but our viewers and listeners really got a lot out of your insight Because, again, this is literally her role, this is what she does. She's out there trying to find the next generation of talent. What's one thing you'd like our listeners and viewers to take away from this? Just that one golden nugget that'll lead them to career fulfillment. What would you say?

Speaker 2:

I think it really is like a short of the beginning. Your resume is the very first impression anyone at that company is gonna get about you. It is about you understanding that your resume is gonna take time. It's not something that you can just put together last minute. It's something that you need to be intentional about and you really need to think about. What do you want your first impression to be for that company? When I connect with you as a recruiter, you know what story are you trying to tell me through a piece of paper and then kind of share more insight on this? We connect on the phone call.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. So there you go. Impressions matter. We can get as technologically advanced as we want to, but at the end of the day, it's about putting forth the effort, it's about putting forth the initiative, it's about those little details that will put you ahead of the pack and lead you down the path of career fulfillment.

Speaker 1:

My friends, I appreciate you guys once again joining us here. Tell me in the comments you know whether or not this video feed, this video actually works for you or you just rather me get off camera and just stick with voice. We'll see. The camera didn't break, so I'm assuming we'll be successful for next time. But anyway, as always, folks, I really appreciate you guys tuning in. Hopefully you got some good nuggets about the recruiting process and some tips that will help you be successful in your next career journey.

Speaker 1:

Please thank my guest, alejandra, for joining us and sharing her insights. As always, if you want to connect with Alejandra, alejandra is very active on LinkedIn. She's very active on the diversity, equity, inclusion front, so you can find her on LinkedIn account. As always with my friend in HR, you can email me at myfriendinhr, at gmailcom, and you can find us on Instagram at myfriend underscore HR, as always. So until next time, not just to others, but to yourself, and remember that your job is meant to support your life. Your life is not meant to support your job. Until next time, my friends.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Njsane Courtney

Host