SONJA MOFFETTGCDF PROJECT: SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE UNIVERSITY, FEBRUARY 15, 2015

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTIAL CONNECTION 3

THE INITIAL CONSULTATION 4

THE READY TO REFER PROCESS 8

COMPLETE BASE RESUME & COVER LETTER 9

MOCK INTERVIEW VIA SKYPE 14

THE CYCLE 15

SOCIAL MEDIA 16

STUDENT SUCCESS 22

THANK YOU 23

MAKING THE INTIAL CONNECTION

My first step is calling the student. If I cannot reach them, I email them a

follow up to cover both modes of communication.

THE INITIAL CONSULTATION

The student returned my call. She was low energy, despondent, and discouraged because she had applied “everywhere” and had not had a response from the countless resumes she had sent out of the past 4 months since being laid off from her law firm. I gathered pertinent information from her. I asked opened ended questions and was able to gather the following:

Career Aspirations: Paralegal, Lawyer Ultimately - Wants to work for the government OR go to wants to go law school (As I listened to her speak, I learned she had 2 interviews with city attorney’s office before we met and never heard back.

Currently … In the legal field – unemployed – legal assistant (legal assistant) Has been apply for jobs (indeed) - has applied at USC Law school (but they do not have a part-time program there – which she prefers because she needs to work while attending school) – she prefers to go part-time. Laid off last month from her job.

Problem: …she was disqualified from law school due to her GPA a number of years ago. At this point, she has to retake LSAT but fears the disqualification may hurt her chances to get accepted.

On a good note…. She is completing her Master’s with us in Justice Studies with a 4.0 GPA. She is still in her 20’s and very determined.

THE INITIAL CONSULTATION

THE INITIAL CONSULTATION: FOLLOW UP

The student disclosed that due to the hardship of unemployment, she is unable to take LSAT courses and pay for her LSAT. Since her plan was to do it in February 2016 and it was only October 2015. I decided to send her FREE LSAT resources that she could utilize as she prepares for her LSAT. I also decided to reach out to my colleague here at SNHU.

COLLABORATED WITH PRE-LAW ADVISOR FOR ADVICE

THE INITIAL CONSULTATION: FOLLOW UP

RESULT: The student still despondent was uncooperative in reaching out the Betty Rhoades because “I don’t feel she can tell me anything I don’t already know about this process.” The student said this because she had already taken the LSAT in the past and unsuccessfully attended law school for 1 year. Because a couple of years had past, she has to go through the process all over again. So I move forward with our Ready to Refer process.

Done!!!

Initial consultation

C O M P L E T E B A S E

R E S U M E & C O V E R

L E T T E R

C O M P L E T E M O C K

I N T E R V I E W

V I A S K Y P E

B U I L D Y O U R

P R O F I L E I N

SHNURecruit

O U R I N T E R N A L

J O B B O A R D

W E B S I T E

Y O U R C A A N D

T H E B D S P A R T N E R

T O I D E N T I F Y

O P P O R T U N I T I E S

O N Y O U R B E H A L F

( O N G O I N G U N T I L

H I R E D )

FROM YOUR DEDICATED CAREER ADVISOR SONJA MOFFETT 888-672-1458 EXT. 0679 S.MOFFETT@SNHU.EDU

INITIATE THE READY TO REFER PROCESS

THE STUDENT’S READY TO REFER PROCESS

COMPLETE BASE RESUME & COVER LETTER

The goal in initiating the student’s Ready to Refer Process was to resolve the financial hardship of unemployment and position her to gain the financial resources to sustain her cost of living while continuing to gain vital work experience for the next few years while she completes her law degree.

It started with re-customizing her resume and helping her understand why it was going to increase her chances of landing more interviews for relevant roles. Click email to launch the video.

STUDENT’S ORIGINAL RESUME– SENT TO SEVERAL FIRMS OVER A 4 MONTH PERIOD – NO BITES

Law firms specialize in varying

areas of law.

She had been working as a

foreclosure Specialist, but

targeting any law firm who

would potentially hire her.

She did not include a

PROFESSIONAL

SUMMARY at the top to

address her KSA’s that

correlated to the specific firm

She lead with her education –

which is not enough.

STUDENT’S “BASE” COMPLETED – NON-CUSTOMIZED – PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY ADDED

RECEIVED BITES – SHE INTERVIEWED BUT NO OFFERS

We decided to narrow down her

search to real estate law firms

that could use her knowledge

and where she would be more likely

to get noticed.

She was called for interviews but

either did not get a face-to-face or

did not get an offer after a face-to-

face.

This resume was the base for

subsequent resumes she customized for

other opportunities. The next page

shows a job-specific resume that goes

into more detail about what they were

looking for at a Mortgage Company.

Adding the PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

was critical in highlighting what they

wanted. While seemingly the same –

using her experience in their words

resonated with them.

We worked through additional

interviewing techniques

STUDENT’S RESUME CUSTOMIZED TO JOB – HIRED!

AFTER USING ORIGINAL FOR 4 MONTHS

The job requisition was

Asking for specific number of years of

experience. She needed

to break that out because her

law school education was specialized

to this position making up for her

lack of 3 years of work experience.

Adding law school back in was essential

giving her 3.5 yrs experience now

exceeding their desired expectation.

We highlighted her transferrable skills

of 9 years to demonstrate further

competency of her transferrable skills

out of field (9 years).

She highlighted her skills pertaining

to what they were looking for:

soft skills and core competencies

THE STUDENT’S READY TO REFER PROCESS

COMPLETE BASE RESUME & COVER LETTER

During the completion of the “base” resume, the student and I worked on identifying potential job opportunities that she was interested in pursuing. This enabled us to create a relevant PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY that would pique employer interests and enable her to easily customize it going forward for varying “foreclosure” assistant roles.

By narrowing down the focus on her “specialty,” (Foreclosure and specialty) we targeted firms that specialized in this area. We also tracked a greater number of phone and in-person interviews as a result.

We also worked through marketing her skills in her COVER LETTER

The student was not getting offers and started to get discouraged again.

Thus the next, steps in Ready to Refer - THE MOCK INTERVIEW

THE STUDENT’S READY TO REFER PROCESSMOCK INTERVIEW VIA SKYPE

THE MOCK INTERVIEW was scheduled via SKYPE

Enabled observation of kinesthetic queues that she may have been missing in her interview –provided feedback to improve the quality of her answers and how she handled “the behavioral questions.:

Discovered she was being “negative” – instead of answering what she could do, she started many answers with what she could not do.

Coached student to be positive with answers and demonstrate how she could learn new concepts with which she was not currently familiar by paralleling her 4.0 GPA and other educational and professional achievements.

THE STUDENT’S READY TO REFER PROCESSTHE CYCLE: CONTINUOUS CAREER DEVELOPMENT, JOB SOURCING, CUSTOMIZATION AND COACHING

The process is continuous until the student is employed.

Making the necessary adjustments and coaching through the “no’s” was critical to build the student’s confidence and perseverance.

She went from no interviews to getting interviews. The better she became at interviews, the close she got to landing a job!

The process is very hands-on.

SOCIAL MEDIA INTEGRAL THROUGHOUT THIS PROCESS

THE STUDENT’S READY TO REFER PROCESSSOCIAL MEDIA COACHING DURING THE PROCESS

The process is continuous until the student is employed. Social media coaching was a critical component of the career development and exploration process.

LinkedIn, being a critical source of corporate recruitment strategies was one area that needed improvement. The student had a profile on LinkedIn but did not understand the significance of it and how impactful it could be.

1. I ran her through the site, functionality, and how important it was to create an impactful profile BEFORE applying.

2. As a result of the resume customization, the student was able to update her LinkedIn profile to create a seamless professional brand for employers seeking to investigate her background.

3. One of the employers she subsequently applied for had viewed her profile – and she was shocked to learn what I taught her was ABSOLUTELY TRUE.

4. The next 5 slides demonstrate the social media tutorial and coaching she received from me.

THE STUDENT’S READY TO REFER PROCESSSOCIAL MEDIA COACHING DURING THE PROCESS

THE STUDENT’S READY TO REFER PROCESSSOCIAL MEDIA COACHING DURING THE PROCESS

The interface: I navigated her through the site and how to use it to search for jobs, resources, groups and HR recruiters. We reviewed how and when to interact with them. Also discussed was the various ways to get to the same information as shown below:

THE STUDENT’S READY TO REFER PROCESSSOCIAL MEDIA COACHING DURING THE PROCESS

The interface: Below demonstrated how to identify specific companies being targeted and their HR recruiters. Because of LinkedIn’s premium vs. free accounts. I educated her on how to transcend LinkedIn to engage with recruiters directly since she was unemployed and unable to pay for a premium account.

THE STUDENT’S READY TO REFER PROCESSSOCIAL MEDIA COACHING DURING THE PROCESS

Directing her to Google to find the address and phone number for the localized business location, including address and phone number – which was not on LinkedIn. Armed with a contact name and department – she can simply ask the gate-keeper (receptionist) to be connected with the relevant person instead of being redirect to “the website.” I do encourage students to adhere to the online application as per my earlier tutorial on the ATS (Applicant Tracking System) to show their compliance – but strongly encourage they also follow up in some cases (not all) with the HR Recruiter. This helps them “stand out.”

Continuous improvements throughout the process included her LinkedIn profile being up to date – her interactions increased and she was being viewed more by relevant employers interested in her as a candidate.

The student’s morale started to increase during this process. Click here to hear a message from the student.

A part of my coaching includes elocution and professionalism. On this recording the student is casual with me due to her comfort level. However it is demonstrative of the effectiveness of LinkedIn, the training and her willingness to implement the strategies – it paid off for her.

After months of working and reworking, coaching and rebranding in this process – she landed the job! A few days after updating her LinkedIn with the content from her newly customized resume, AND 3 days before her job offer – she left me the following voice message (click to listen):

SUCCESS!!! LETTER OF THANKS

TO SNHU CAREER FROM STUDENTWorking with a student is a journey. There are many barriers they must overcome to get out of their own way. This is just one of many successes – but she stood out because she was one of the most discouraged. She had to remove some mental block and improve how she was marketing her skills and with some confidence boosting along the way – she landed a great job… in a corporate setting as I predicted at the beginning was going to be the best place for her based on her personality, methodical nature and driven desire to be an effective worker. She has postponed her LSAT so that she can now have time to enroll in a prep course. In the meantime, she will be employed and gaining the experiential component she will need for the next step in her career as a future attorney.

THANK YOU!

I value what I do for my students and for non-students as well. It is very rewarding to restore hope and financial stability to the lives of those who are capable but a little lost professionally.

Outside of my role here are SNHU, I am known as the ProChange Agent. My slogan is IT’S NOT OVER FOR YOU! http://www.prochangeagent.com/

I am currently authoring a new book for career changers and am so happy to have the opportunity to gain this training. I am looking forward to continuing my work with my students and other professionals across this country to build a better workforce.

Sonja Moffett

Career Advisor SNHU