Tag Archives: Networking

From time to time we bring you Q/A sessions with recruiters, who provide insights on their company, its hiring practices and job search tips.

Celinda Appleby, HP

Tell us about yourself. I have been recruiting in the DC Metro Area for eight years in both agency and corporate capacities, supporting the Intelligence Community for the past three years. Currently I am a Strategic Sourcing Lead for Hewlett Packard – Federal. I am a Montgomery County native and a huge Redskins fan. I am slightly obsessed with my Kindle, reality TV, organic living, and Pinterest. Most nights, if I’m not scouring the net for cleared candidates, you could find me having an impromptu dance party…

The best thing about a job fair: an entire room full of companies who are hiring. The worst thing? An entire room full of companies to impress.

Patra Frame, owner of Strategies for Human Resources, told job-seekers exactly how to survive with the best results at the September 2011 ClearedJobs.Net Cleared Job Fair by sharing her six steps for making the best impression, leaving with the right information and starting meaningful connections you can use now and in the future.

1. Create an Elevator Pitch

Job fairs are inherently a marketing event, and you’re the “goods” up for grabs. You need to summarize why you’re the best hire…

Lately there have been a spate of blog posts and articles on common job search mistakes. A quick search will show you lots of good lists. And yes, otherwise smart people make some silly, even stupid mistakes…but so do employers. How do you cope with employer mistakes?

1. You submit a resume following the employer’s instructions and hear nothing.

The dirty little secret of most employers is their applicant tracking systems (ATS) which is where your resume goes when you submit it as directed. You might be a great candidate. But if the job specs are even slightly differently stated, the ATS only knows what is programmed in — and…

Do You Listen?

“No man ever listened himself out of a job.”
- Calvin Coolidge

At a recent networking event I met several job seekers who were very interested in talking about career opportunities. I noticed most of them were not listening. All wanted to share their skills, proficiencies and qualifications, what they did and did not want in a corporate culture, and how so many companies had been unresponsive to them.

I listened and listened some more. I provided advice. At any networking event my goal is to give each job seeker one bit of actionable advice that they can take the moment they get home.

But the…

Networking can be a scary word for some job seekers. It sounds much more accessible and friendly when you think of networking simply as human connection.

You need to keep that human connection going throughout your career. Networking is not just important in landing a job. It’s also critical in furthering your career. As Patra states in the following video, “People who are really successful are people who have really good networks.”