Recruiter Shares How Job Seekers Can Stand Out

Felipe Cofino, Executive Recruiter and LinkedIn Coach, joined Annette Richmond, Personal Brand Strategist, career intelligence Resume Writing, to share Stand Out Tips For Jobseekers.    

Known for his recruiting and LinkedIn knowledge, Felipe generously shares tips, techniques, and advice regularly on LinkedIn Clubhouse, and now LinkedIn audio. If you’re looking for a job this year, even thinking about it, don’t miss this opportunity to find out what recruiters really think.  

Topics included:

✅ How to connect with recruiters on LinkedIn, making strategic connections.

✅ What recruiters think when candidates "ghost" them, and how they remember when you do.

✅ Getting ready for virtual job interviews, it's more than technology.

✅ The importance of researching companies before the job interview.

✅ Things to remember when you're formatting your resume, it's about the applicant tracking software system or ATS.

Smarter Career Moves LinkedIn Live Show (Previously Recorded) 

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Visit our website https://careerintelligenceresumewriting.com/

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(Previously recorded, Live Show)

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Transcript

[00:00:08.590] - Annette

Welcome to the Smarter Career Moves LinkedIn Live. I am so excited to be here with my guest, Felipe today. I've known you for almost a year. I'm at you on Clubhouse, and you were one of my first friends there and one of the first guests on my LinkedIn Live when I got it last year. So I'm so happy that you came back. And for anyone who does not know, you tell us a little bit about what you do.

[00:00:42.410] - Felipe

Sure. Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to come back. For me, it's been one of those things where when I did that first LinkedIn Live with you, that was actually the first one I ever did. So now to be back with you again. It's a pleasure. My name is Felicia Cofino. I'm a VP of HR and talent development for Signal Financial Federal Credit Union. We're located right here outside Washington, DC, in the Maryland, DC, Virginia area. And I've been in banking for about ten years. But before that, I was in hospitality for almost 20 years. For over 20 years. And that's where I really got my passion for recruitment and HR and training and development and employment branding. And I've been able to take all those skills I learned and apply it into the financial world, which has been a great marriage. And I've been fortunate to have an amazing team, great CEO, and just great peers that really have the same values and culture that allow us to really create an amazing workplace.

[00:01:42.390] - Annette

Well, I appreciate that. And I'm so happy so many candidates, job seekers are out there and they wonder what the recruiters think. What do they think? And so today is their opportunity to ask questions. So thank you for being here. Whether you're here live or on the replay, if you're here live, please do put your questions in the comments. And I will put my guests here on the spot to answer them for you. So I know that you have a few things that you kind of prepped, and we talked about them to share to help people that are looking for a job. And I know that one of the things and candidates ask this clients ask this to me. How do you connect with recruiters if you're on LinkedIn? So why don't you give us a little lesson in that?

[00:02:36.280] - Felipe

Sure. It's one of those things where I've learned so much with LinkedIn over the years, and I continue to learn from others as well. But one of the things I really learned early on was when you connect with someone on LinkedIn and you're really trying to either get a job or maybe trying to get a lead or establish a meaningful relationship with that person, when you hit that connect button and just send them a blank connect, that's the equivalent of walking by someone in the street and just waving high. They're not going to know who you are, it's not going to stand out, but sending a personalized message to a recruiter, letting them know that you have interest in their career opportunities they have listed on the website. Be specific. Be very specific about what your interests are and let them know that you would love to learn more about it. If they have a chance to talk or another Avenue is look and see if they're active on LinkedIn, if they're on LinkedIn and they're putting out posts and engaging. One of the things that I have found over the last five years easily is that the people who consistently engage with me on LinkedIn, whether it's through my post, DMs or both, they send out to me.

[00:03:42.160] - Felipe

I remember them. So the day that they reach out to me to say, hey, you have an opening to your company I'd love to apply for. I just want to give you heads up and I'm sending my application in today. Two things happen. One, I'm definitely going to look at that application and look at candidate because of the relationship they've built with me. Two, the messaging that we've done back and forth on the DMs is going to show me the history of who that person was to refresh my memory so I don't forget who that person was. And that really is so valuable because even if maybe they aren't the most qualified candidate, I'm going to at least give them that courtesy of interviewing them and talking to them about the opportunity because maybe they might be a good fit for another position I have. So that personalized invitation is so crucial and that really makes a difference. Also, after you've applied follow up emails, some recruiters can't help themselves. They have to respond to every email. So if you get one of those recruiters, great. But I think following up, if they don't respond after three days, do another follow up email, that's okay because recruiters are really busy and I always tell all my candidates after I interview them, I always lay out the expectations, hey, I'm going to get back to you by this Friday.

[00:04:51.950] - Felipe

If you have not heard from me by Friday at noon, I'd like you to call or email me because I have your name on the list to call. And if I haven't gotten to you, if you call me, it just gave me one phone call to make and I don't mind it. It's not obtrusive. So I always invite people to do that. So that's what I would recommend.

[00:05:08.490] - Annette

It's so helpful for you to say that because people are afraid. And I know when I was job hunting myself when I worked in corporate, you don't know, should you follow up? Should you not follow up? And people are really nervous about that. But I have a question about and I love what you were talking about, connecting on LinkedIn and seeing if they're active and building that relationship before you're looking I mean, if you're thinking, even if you're not thinking about looking, get to know some recruiters in your industry that way. But if people have the opportunity, is it better for them to email you or email you.

[00:05:47.490] - Felipe

So if it's on LinkedIn and you find me on LinkedIn, DM is going to be the primary thing. If I get an email and I don't know who you are, I sometimes are very quick to delete emails. I think they're spam. If they are external LinkedIn, I'm going to pay a little more attention to okay. That I feel like I'm getting specific people who are trying to reach out to me. Yes, some might be salesy, but I read every one of my messages there on the email. I'll be honest, I might be a little bit quick to erase if I don't recognize the name and if the beginning doesn't say anything. So that I think is something that use the email after you've established that relationship and you said a very important word there when you're looking for recruiters, making sure that they're active on LinkedIn before you reach out to them. And what I mean by that is when you find a recruiter at a company you want to work for, go to their page and look at their activity. See the last time they posted or commented or liked. If they did it in the past week, great.

[00:06:43.550] - Felipe

You know, they're active and they're going to be someone that will respond. But if they haven't commented or posted or done anything in eight months, there's a very high chance that you probably aren't going to get a response from them.

[00:06:55.410] - Annette

I want to ask you a quick question, because this has come up a couple of times with me this week, and I just like to get your opinion on this. Now, I've talked to two potential clients who just do not have LinkedIn profiles at all for various reasons. They have no profile. Now, I have read like, career builder surveys, studies that have said, like, I don't know, up to 47, I think was the last stat I read of recruiters or employers. If they don't see somebody on LinkedIn, if they don't see them on social media, then they get their resume that they just don't even bother to call them. So I just like to get your take on that.

[00:07:38.610] - Felipe

I'm not a recruiter that would say I wouldn't bother calling them when I get a resume and I pulled up on LinkedIn if I don't see a profile, it's disappointing because for me, when I find a profile, two things helps you and it helps me validate. Oh, okay. Here's some validation of your resume, and it's consistent. Also, you have so much more information that you share on your LinkedIn profile than you do on your resume and you have a chance to stand out. I can see some personality. I get some flare. If I'm recruiting for a digital marketer. I want to see what you can do on social media. So I expect to see a lot more videos and digital graphics and stuff like that. If you're planning to be an accountant, I don't necessarily need to see a whole lot of content on your profile. Just have a profile with your information. And if you're active and liking other people's content about finances, great. But I'm not going to expect you to be a content creator.

[00:08:37.770] - Annette

Right.

[00:08:39.450] - Felipe

But reaching outside of LinkedIn, if you don't have a profile, that's something that I think it's only going to be helpful to have it because you're going to be more visible. And there might be some recruiters that actually do what you said they might not consider you because I have run into a lot over the past few years. There's a rash of false resumes, people who are creating false resumes applying. And they were saying they were working at other banks and credit unions where I had friends at. I called them up. I'm like, hey, does this person ever work at your credit Union or bank? Like, no. And I would speak to the person. I said, listen, it's not helpful for you to sit there and line your resume. And I give them some tips, and I go, put down your real experience, give someone a chance to give you an opportunity to grow and learn. But line makes a Mark against you that people are not going to consider you if they know you lied before. So that's a horrible thing that people tend to do. And it leaves a bad taste in recruiter's mouth, where they start questioning.

[00:09:37.670] - Felipe

A lot of those people that lied didn't have LinkedIn profiles. So I think that's where that may have come from a little bit. But I still will not hold it against them. It might not put them to the top of the list.

[00:09:50.430] - Annette

Well, I appreciate that. I really do. And speaking of the bad taste in the recruiter's mouth, kind of brings us to our next topic. And I know that I've worked with clients who say that they respond to the ads or whatever, they talk to recruiters, and the recruiter goes them, they don't get back to them. But in fairness, it happens to recruiters all the time, too. Right? So tell us a little bit about that and how that can work against candidates even in the future.

[00:10:25.390] - Felipe

No, sorry, I'm kidding you. Ghosting is a serious problem. It's something that in the beginning, when ghosting started happening, it wasn't happening to me. So I didn't really pay a lot of attention. And all of a sudden it started happening to me. And I was like, what is the purpose of this? And I realized that some of it was people were just applying because they need to apply jobs. There's a rash with that. There are people that were just applying for jobs and lying on the resume but it was something that was very frustrating because you have a good candidate. And even if they got picked up by another company, the benefit to the candidates out there to respond back to the people that you apply to and let them know, thank you. I'm not interested. And I'm not saying that everyone that you applied to, you need to reach out to. I'm talking about the ones that you applied to and they responded to you. If I send you a response saying, hey, thank you for applying. I'm interested in you. Let's get some more information about you. Would you fill this out? And I don't hear anything from you.

[00:11:31.310] - Felipe

I'm going to make a Mark on my applicant tracking system. Can it? No response. Guess what? When you apply again in two months, I'm going to see the history that you ghosted me. Am I going to give you as much attention? No. Why am I going to spend time on someone that ghosted me didn't have the courtesy of professionalism to respond back to me? I'm going to move on to the next candidate. So that Appian tracking system, maybe jobs. You guys don't realize we have the history of every time you apply for any job. And if you have a creator like me that has a knack for memory names, I don't know why, I just have a knack for it. I remember names of people that applied 20 years ago when I worked at high hotels. I see their name, I remember them, and it sticks in my brain. Things that they did if they acted really well or if they didn't, poorly. So that ghosting thing is just something to be professional. Respond back to people because it is trackable and it will come back to bite you sometimes because I've had happened to a number of candidates and I've asked them, I said, what happened last time you go send me?

[00:12:36.030] - Felipe

Oh, well, I just got another job. And why wouldn't you respond back to an email? And they're like, I'm not busy.

[00:12:44.630] - Annette

It's so true. And I always think of it that way. Most industries are kind of small and memories are long. And whether you're leaving a job on bad terms or bad mouthing your boss or ghosting a recruiter, it can come back to bite you. So I just like to our friend Tiina is here. Tiina Pereira, I hope I'm pronouncing Tiina correctly. And she actually has a question for you. So if you don't mind, we can just veer off a little bit. So Tiina wants to know. And for people who don't know Tiina, she is an international head Hunter, but her question is how to write a LinkedIn about section as a job seeker. So what's your advice on that?

[00:13:33.600] - Felipe

That's a great question, Tiina. I think the about section of the job seeker. I was just doing a profile review with somebody yesterday and somebody from Cove House, actually. And it was one of the things where their about section, they did it really well. And one of the things I said to them, if they were a job seeker, what they did well is we always talk about in the Bow section, highlighting your accomplishments, highlighting your achievements, and maybe using emojis to make them stand out. Because if you just write and write and write, I don't care how beautiful writer you are, you might be a phenomenal writer. My eyes are glazed over after paragraph two. And so what this person did was they first started off immediately with here are my accomplishments and skills, and they highlighted it. And when I say accomplishments, make sure they're measurable like I increased revenue by this much or I reduced turnover by this much or reduced expenses, or I produced a campaign that resulted in ABC have something pleasurable to put on there. And then add the skills. Add things that you have to offer. You're skilled in certain technology.

[00:14:41.280] - Felipe

You're bilingual, whatever it may be. All those are listed in bullet points with emojis. And then go into your story, go and tell your story there after this. Because what happens is those highlights capture the attention of the recruiter. And that's what I'm looking for. I want to learn more about this person now. I'm interested in reading about the paragraphs.

[00:15:00.590] - Annette

Yes.

[00:15:01.140] - Felipe

And that's where you have the opportunity to really learn more about. Ok. This is what I am passionate about. This is what I'm looking for. And here's a little bit about me. That last part, a little bit about me is so crucial. Share a little bit of personality, of personal interest.

[00:15:16.400] - Annette

Yes.

[00:15:18.670] - Felipe

I love my two dogs. I play golf. I love going camping and hiking. And I enjoy the NBA basketball. Just those things right there can resonate with a recruiter just a little bit. And it stands out. And it's not a deciding factor where you get the job, but it makes their eyes catch your resume or your about picture just a little bit more because they have a similar interest.

[00:15:43.750] - Annette

Yes. And it's true. Everything is about the story. And one of the things that I do with the clients that I work with is tell a little bit about how they get started in their career. For example, someone that I mentioned all the time when I talk about this was a CEO who actually when he was a kid, I think it was his brother's parents gave the brother a computer. And the brother said, I'm not interested in that. And he pulled it out and he started writing software programs and all this stuff. And of course, we didn't spend paragraph talking about this, but a couple of lines that show how he gets started in that way. I think it shows that the passion and the excitement for what he does, because so many people are wanting to say, I'm passionate about this. I'm passionate about that. And I have heard that recruiters don't really like to hear passion. Passion. They want to see some passion.

[00:16:50.000] - Felipe

Yes. And you can see it in writing. When someone writes passionately, it comes across.

[00:16:55.320] - Annette

Yes.

[00:16:56.060] - Felipe

It's like when people say smile with your eyes. That's a real thing. I think we all learned that wearing masks nowadays, people you can really notice the eyes when they're smiling. But, Yes, that's definitely something I think is a huge thing is really lay out and tell that story about why you're passionate, because that story is another reason why it might be like, wow, this person really is something that we need because they really are just hungry for this. And they have a drive and they enjoy it. You can tell they enjoy it. And when I see that, I'm willing to take someone with less experience when they have that passion and drive and they can show it.

[00:17:32.470] - Annette

Yes. I have had clients of mine tell me that recruiters have told them I remembered you because of whatever it was, and it made you stand out because you're looking at I was going to say dozens, but hundreds of LinkedIn profiles and resumes and everything. The metrics are important. But however, you can stand out and make yourself memorable in a good way. I would say it's a good thing.

[00:17:58.850] - Felipe

I'll give you one example real quick with that is I had two people for two and a half years. They would regularly like my post, and every once in a while they would comment. And they worked at other credit unions and never did they apply. It was just I appreciated it. I was always commenting back to them. And then also, they both did not know each other, both within two weeks of each other, both applied for jobs at my company. And I hired them both. And it was great. And they both were qualified. They both had experience. They brought a lot to the table. It wasn't just but that connection. I called them first, and I felt that job with both of them and didn't have to interview any other candidates because they were that good. And it's one of those things where their experience is what got them the job. But the connection with me is what got them to interview right away.

[00:18:45.790] - Annette

Yes, it is that no like and trust factor, really, whether you are hiring a candidate or if you're hiring someone like me to work with, you getting to know somebody. And one way you can do that is by the interactions on LinkedIn. You do remember people who are around all the time. So we're going to talk a little bit about resumes in the ATS system. And I think a lot of candidates don't realize when they think of the ATS system, they only think about it as applying for the job. They don't realize that it's actually the database as well. What you were talking about where recruiters are making notes about you. But before we jump into that, we have another question from Tiina. So I hope you don't mind if we jump over here. Are references and recommendations important? So we're just talking about that know, like and trust factor.

[00:19:49.730] - Felipe

Yes. For me, I think they definitely add value and are important. Are they required? I don't think most companies require them, but to me it stands out. And what lately I've been doing is with those recommendations or references that I've gotten. I put them up on LinkedIn to see are they a real person? First of all, because we've all had that person like, oh, my sister is writing a recommendation letter and she's going to say she's my boss, but it does validate. And when you see where the person worked and you see that employers or that manager's profile, it adds a little bit more credibility to that recommendation. So I think it definitely helps. It can't hurt.

[00:20:32.730] - Annette

It is funny because I took my husband's name. So my husband and I have the same last name, but every once in a while I say, oh, I wish I had a different name, but I did have them actually on my LinkedIn live a couple of months ago when I hear my husband talking about SEO. What about the recommendations that you see on LinkedIn? Do those weigh heavily or not so much to me.

[00:21:02.110] - Felipe

I think that they are meaningful, especially when you read them and they're speaking to the skill set or the experience or the value that person brings. If they say, oh, they're a great friend, I've been a model of my life and I love them. They're just so trustworthy. That's great. And that adds some character reference. But because not a lot of people have recommendations on LinkedIn, I think when people do get them, they are very valuable. And I think that it does, especially when it speaks to to the skill set and experience they bring to the table.

[00:21:33.630] - Annette

Yes. Let's talk a little bit more about the ATS because I know you wanted to share some advice for people that are submitting their resumes to the ATS. So what have you got for us?

[00:21:53.630] - Felipe

So with the ATS? And again, ATS is an applicant tracking system that recruiters use. Before I get fully into it with the ATS, one thing I do with Ghosting, I practice what I preach. I don't want people thinking that all recruiters out there are going to ghost you, because I make sure that I actually just did a LinkedIn post today on Tuesday about this, specifically about are you experiencing this during your interview and outpatient process? If you are, that might not be the company for you. Here are some things you should look for, and the one thing is get back to the candidates. Even if it's my commitment, I'm going to go back to let you know whether you got the job or not or at least an update. But that's my commitment that everyone is going to have at least an answer. And that's so important as any recruiters out there listening. Is that's part of your credibility and your reputation and the company's brand that you're sending out? If you are not getting back to candidates, that word will spread. So that's a little tip for recruiters now for candidates, think about this. When you're applying through a different site.

[00:22:57.540] - Felipe

Indeed, Glassdoor, whatever it may be, CareerBuilder builders, they typically have their resume format that they want you to use, and that's what's recommended. I know Annette and Stella and a lot of other people have always been very clear about that, and that is my recommendation, too. But here's the other added thing. As a recruiter, when I get those applications come through to me, two things happen sometimes. One, that resume that's in their template came through, but sometimes it's not as legible or the format didn't come through as well. But all the contents there. So if I read it, I can see all the experience. My recommendation is this, that resume you have that maybe isn't ATS compatible, that looks pretty and formats nicely and has a little personality upload that resume, you spend time working on it. Don't just set it by the wayside upload it in addition to the template that you did on. Indeed, for example, because this would happen when I get that resume on indeed. And I see the format not working well and I see that you upload your resume, I'm going back to your resume that you uploaded and I'm able to look at that.

[00:24:05.330] - Felipe

And I love that. That is really helpful because when the format works well on Deed, I'm fine. But when it doesn't or in another website, I go to that uploaded resume. So it is a little bit duplicate. But as a recruiter, it's so valuable and it's helped me capture some people that I honestly might have overlooked because it was too hard to read.

[00:24:27.670] - Annette

No, I hear you on that. And I know there are some things and the ATS systems, the AI is getting more sophisticated and it reads more than it did five years ago. But there are so many different systems and you don't know which one if you're uploading, which one of the company is using unless they happen to mention it. But so many people don't realize that even if you put something like if you're using columns or something, the ATS may read it, but it may come out kind of jumbled and it's not well, it's technically readable. It's not exactly legible. Right.

[00:25:08.100] - Felipe

And that makes the whole ATS systems that I've ever used from Tolera the higher rates and Newton, to all the ones I've ever used in my career. The one thing that when you upload your format resume, that never changes. But when you input it in there, that's where if you try to copy and paste from your resume, that's not going to work. And that's where you have to be careful. But ATS are a little bit more forgiving than the website application system. So, like Indeed application system or glass doors, those are a little bit more critical than the larger company tracking systems. They're actually a little bit more forgiving of the format than the other sites. They'll let some things come through more than I've seen. Indeed, I've had a candidate applied on my website and through Indeed for me. And when I looked at it, I'm like, why they come through better online. And then I started comparing my ATS and tracking system to Indeed, and I started seeing some mine would let stuff come through that Indeed didn't.

[00:26:11.170] - Annette

Well, I appreciate it. That's great. I appreciate knowing that so that I can share it with the clients that I work with. And before we move on, do you recommend that if I'm looking for a position and I apply on Indeed and I know the company, should I also go to the company's website? Is one better than the other? Should I do both?

[00:26:34.870] - Felipe

So here's my personal preference. You apply Indeed and I like you. I'm going to ask you to apply our company website regardless. Okay? I need you to so it's to my benefit and makes my life a little bit easier. If you found the job on Deed and it shows you the link to our website, just go straight to our website. That makes it a lot easier. Because what happens is I'm having all this conversation with Indeed. I may be using the Indeed interviewer video at the end. If I like you. I'm like, great, I've already had the interview with you, but can you apply officially on our website now? So double the work. And that's not a great applicant experience. That makes the applicant, I think, end up having them do double the work. So usually when in my post I actually put in there, please apply directly to our site, or if I reply back to them, if they have interest, I say, here's our link. If you can apply directly here. And I'll set up an interview immediately after.

[00:27:32.230] - Annette

One of the things that I tell the clients that I work with and I know many of my colleagues do as well, is to choose companies that you want to work for and then go to their sites. I'd like to know if my assumption is correct. My assumption being if you're applying to Indeed, there's like thousands of people probably responding to that same job, whereas if they go to your company's website, the competition might not be as big. Is that true?

[00:28:05.490] - Felipe

Yes. And that's definitely true because Indeed, you might get a plethora of different people applying, and sometimes it might be even people internationally, too. So you might get a lot of candidates in there that you have to decipher and figure out which ones are got any experience, which ones don't if they apply directly to your website. I go to my website first. Before I go to Indeed, I'm always going to go there first and check those out first. And then after that, I go to Indeed Glassdoor and Meta Resources LinkedIn, of course. And that's something that keep in mind, if people are sponsoring an ad on Indeed, Glassdoor LinkedIn, they're paying for it, their active tracking system. They've already paid for it. So they're not paying an extra monthly fee to post a position. So that's going to be their main source, because there are times where I'm not paying any of the other sources to post positions. I'm going strictly based on my own posts and on people that are finding the jobs. So I take over the website first.

[00:29:07.570] - Annette

I love that you say that, too, because when I was recruiting, I primarily work contingency, and all of the positions that we were working were hired third party by the company. They were on the company website. They were just having trouble filling them. I would say 99% occasionally we would have a job that we were trying to fill where the person did not know they were leaving. But I would say that that is kind of the rarity rather than the norm. And it's just so important to go directly there.

[00:29:47.920] - Felipe

Yes, absolutely. I think if someone's retiring and you're retiring and you can start recruiting early on, that's great, but that's not always the case.

[00:29:57.550] - Annette

Yes. So you mentioned interviewing. And I know that when I was recruiting a decade ago, companies were already starting to interview even local people virtually. It was on the phone, I guess at that time. This video was not so hot then, but they would start at least initially, interviewing people virtually. And then, of course, COVID, it's the norm. And I'm thinking that it's going to continue to be that so kind of what's your take on that, and how do candidates get ready for that?

[00:30:39.470] - Felipe

Well, that's a great question. It's our reality right now. We are all living in a world where everything has been done virtually right now, and I don't think it's going to go away. It might reduce a little bit, but it's here to stay. And I say that because before we even knew about COVID, I started doing video interviews through Microsoft teams for all my candidates. And I did it for a year. And it was so helpful because if it worked out, then I haven't come in person for the second interview. And that saves people a lot of time, the candidates as well, having to drive in for an interview that they didn't get. But what I always try to remind people, especially when they get nervous, because, again, we all get nervous. And it happens to all of us, even those of us have been interviewing for years, decades, we all get nervous. But here are some tips, I think to help you at least with video interviews, one remember that you can say you probably have two years experience talking on video. Feel confident about that, because past two years that we've had COVID and this pandemic, have you not FaceTime been on Zoom in on teams, on LinkedIn, Live, whatever.

[00:31:47.540] - Felipe

You've already been on video. You have experience talking on video. So give yourself that confidence that you're comfortable, and then do the things to help prepare. Write down questions ahead of time. Make sure you have good lighting. This lighting right now, I have my It person said it perfectly. You can have the best camera in the entire world and all it takes is bad lighting to make you look bad. It doesn't matter that lighting, whether it's natural light, one of those small little square lights or the ring lights, they're not that expensive. It's something that videos are away in the future and they're not going away. It's worth your investment. I don't think you're going to buy it and not use it. Background if you're fortunate to have a backdrop like I have right now, great. Annette, you have your natural, organic backdrop. Annette saw my organic backdrop before. Trust me, you would not want to see my backdrop right now. It's messy, and that's not what I want to show people. And if you're a candidate interviewing, you don't want to have a messy backdrop. So clean it up, street it up. It's okay if you have a couch and some paintings or a piano or whatever the backdrop, just make sure you don't have all your junk.

[00:33:01.250] - Felipe

If you still haven't put away your Christmas decorations and they're also piled up, that's not the backdrop you want. So you pick that backdrop and make sure that you this is one that I think is important, that we've all gotten very comfortable during this pandemic to be on video, even ourselves. I put on suit maybe once or twice a week. Now, I don't wear a suit every day like I used to, but if you're going on an interview dress to impress still definitely dress to impress, especially if it's a professional job. Now, if I'm interviewing somebody for it, I'm not going to have a tie on. I might have a dress shirt, but no jacket because it jobs. Typically a wore casual dress. I'm going to dress properly for the interview. I recommend that candidates address appropriate for the interview. If you're going to work in it and you're going to be in a Polo shirt, Khaki is doing the interview. That's fine. Make sure at least it's a clean Polo shirt. It's not raggedy, it's not worn. And make sure it doesn't have our competitors logo on it either. That's never a good thing.

[00:34:06.750] 

Okay.

[00:34:07.160] - Felipe

And that has happened. That's almost as bad as having your cover letter say, I'm looking forward to joining  Felipe's Federal Credit Union. Well, you're applying a Signal Federal Credit Union so this isn't fully based. That's another question. I know we all apply quickly, but your cover letters, make sure that if you do them, customize them properly, if you think that's too much work, make them just a general one. But if you customize it for a specific job, you got to do that for every single job. And then I think the last thing I would say is, during those video interviews, it's very easy. And I'm guilty of this, too. When I do videos for LinkedIn is being too stiff. Show your personality. I talk with my hands a lot. For the longest time, you didn't see my hands on LinkedIn. I was sitting on my hands. I was in my hands. I was holding something because I didn't want to distract people. And then all of a sudden, people are like, oh, when you talk with your hands, you seem more relaxed. And that's my natural self. So be your natural self. Make sure that you show your personality, because we want to see the real you.

[00:35:16.790] - Felipe

That's the thing. If we see the real you, we're going to know that you've got some personality and we see who you are. If you're just giving us the candid answers, we can tell. Okay, you said all the right things, but I really didn't get a chance to get to know you.

[00:35:32.730] - Annette

Yes. So I have a question because I know when I was recruiting, I was the one doing the screening interview, so I was the first one. And if people impressed me, then I would send them on to our client. And one of the things that I would always ask them is, do you know anything about the company? And sometimes, excuse me, some would say, oh, yes, I've been following the company and this or that, or I looked at the website or something like that, and I would put that with my notes that I sent on to the company. Now, if they were really qualified but they didn't know anything about the company, of course, I would still send them on, but I would imagine that my notes say, oh, yes. When I asked Felipe about this when we were talking, he said that he knew the company about this and he was really interested in this new product line you had coming out or whatever it was. Is that something that you find as well? Do you really appreciate that?

[00:36:41.450] - Felipe

Oh, my gosh, I am so glad you brought that up. That is such a huge thing for me. When people do the research, two things. One, it benefits you. Because again, when I do my tips out there about tips for job seekers, one of the biggest ones is, do your research. Go on glass door. Go on. Indeed. Look at the reviews. Go on their website. Go on LinkedIn. See what they're posting about for general. Google them. Go on YouTube. If you want to see videos about if they have culture, videos, all that is so important to the jobs because it's going to give them a good idea of this company matches my values or I like what they're doing or the innovation or that they're growing. But here's the other part as an interviewer, if you want to make your recruiter or interviewer smile when you're interviewing them, tell them that you did all this research and actually do it and that you've learned about the stuff on the website. You saw their YouTube channel. You saw this. Because guess what? That's part of my interview spiel that I share with you when I share about the company and I talk about all these things when I know that you've done all that research.

[00:37:49.280] - Felipe

You just saved me so much time without having to talk about the company. And I can spend more time now getting to know you better.

[00:37:59.030] - Annette

Yes, I would think so, too. It's so important. And it also I would imagine it gives you without somebody saying, oh, I'm so interested in the company. Well, Yes, of course, you know, they're interested because they took in the time to do all this research. And you had just mentioned doing the videos on LinkedIn. And I want to ask you because I love your videos. If you're not following Felipe, you should be following him. He shares so much knowledge on LinkedIn regularly, and I love that you do them outside because it's kind of refreshing to see you outside. But I know and I think you may have been like this as well. I was very resistant myself to doing video. Most people don't like to see their face. They don't like to hear their voice. But you just kind of have to today. You have to get used to it, because if you're not doing videos for your business, you are having video interviews. So what are some tips? How did you get because you seem very relaxed when you do the videos and tell us a little bit about that for people who are nervous.

[00:39:14.910] - Felipe

So I'll say practice makes perfect or practice is very helpful. That is the key. But for me, it's one of those things where I still get nervous before I do videos to this day. And it's weird because once the video starts, it's almost like public speaking. I get nervous, but once it starts, the fear goes away. But here's what I did to help me, though, in the very beginning, right the year before Cobbing, I said I wanted to start highlighting our employees at Signal, and I didn't want to do videos by myself because I was too nervous to do it by myself. So I'm like but I'm really good at talking about other people. So let me do that. So I did that thing called What's Good Wednesdays? And it was once a week. I had one employee, two minute interview. What's going well for you in personal life and at work, give them a chance to share, and then I highlight a little bit about them and recognize them for what they've done for the company. I did that for every employee throughout the entire year of 2020. That got me over a little bit of the fear.

[00:40:16.220] - Felipe

But then there is somebody on LinkedIn that's been around for a long time. Diana Noin. She's from Australia. She did a LinkedIn live meet and greet here in Alexandria, Virginia. And so when I met with her, I was talking about the videos, and I was like, I'm proud of the fact that I've gotten the videos out there, and I was doing it consistently. And she immediately said, Where are the videos of you, like, right here? I was like, no, just no. She said, I'm challenging you to do that. So she challenged me, and that's where I started. Now, the first video I did, and I recommend this to anybody share that it's your first video you're doing, you'll get a lot more, I think forgiveness if it's a little bit clunky, and you'll also get a lot more support. I got so much support, and I encouraged me to keep on doing it. And I think that sometimes people are just natural. I know people that have to take 40 takes before they get the right video. I've learned early on you don't have to be perfect. Go ahead. And it's okay if you fumble a little bit or if you didn't say exactly the way you said it and wanted to say it, guess what?

[00:41:24.950] - Felipe

Nobody knows exactly. No one's going to know that you messed up what you wanted to say. For me, I usually do it in one to three takes, and then the editing is where I spend time in. But talk from the heart, be sincere, be yourself. And remember, you have experience talking to a computer. Don't think about all the people that are watching or all the people that might watch. Just talk to the computer and talk like you're practicing to talk in front of a crowd. And if you do that, it comes across a lot easier. And then as you start getting invited to wonderful things like LinkedIn live by Annette or to do collaborations, you start getting more comfortable and it just grows. But it is baby steps along the way and have fun with it and listen to your audience when they respond back to you, listen to your network. I honestly did the outside video. That as a last resort, because there are people in the house. It's too loud. I'm like, I'm doing this outside. The response I got from outside was amazing. I thought it was too noisy. The birds were chirping.

[00:42:31.130] - Felipe

I'm like, okay, this is not going to work. And Sebestian, that was great. So I kept on doing it. When it snowed last month, I'm like, all right, I got to do a video in the snow. Just once in the backyard because it looks so cool. So I did a video in the snow about our snow days gone forever, because now when we have a snow day, okay, great work from home. We're not closed. I'm like, oh, damn.

[00:42:53.470] - Annette

I know. It's so true. You'll have to go back because I miss that. I missed that one. And I do a lot of speaking to job seeker groups. And I used to be really nervous about it. Now it's just really fun. It's really fun to have that live audience. And I know we have some people here watching, and there'll be more people watching on the replay and listening to this on my podcast as well. But I'll never forget watching a presentation by a sort of speech coach, someone who worked with speakers to help them. And one of the things that has always stayed in my mind is people don't care what you look like. People don't care what you sound like. What they care about is what you are saying relevant to them. And that kind of really helped me change my outlook because we're here and we're talking and people don't care what we look like. They care. Is the advice that you're giving, is it relevant to them? Is it going to help them? And I think people, job seekers need to think about that with video as well. The recruiter isn't looking at you to say, oh, is that person have a wrinkle or is that person maybe a little chunky?

[00:44:12.740] - Annette

They want to know what you have to say, right?

[00:44:16.570] - Felipe

Yes. The moment your mouth opens, you start speaking, that's where your impression of you really starts coming across. That's where I start paying attention. Now, don't get me wrong. If you're in sweatshirts and yelled on your hair and chocolate on your face from lunch, Yes, that's not good. But Yes, absolutely. I think we look at the personality, we look at the person don't get fixated and all that. And it's kind of like my Angelo quote, they don't care what you say is how much you care.

[00:44:54.410] - Annette

Right?

[00:44:55.790] - Felipe

They can feel. And I think when we're doing videos, one of the things that I decided when I started doing videos, like, what am I trying to do here? How am I trying to help people? And I just came up with, you know what, I don't want to overwhelm information. I don't want to be too short and not relevant. So I came up with my five tips. That's where the food base came from, was just limit the five tips, no more than five tips. And that's where I try to provide information for job seekers. Because if I was just going out there boasting about, oh, here's what I know and here's what I think and blah, blah, blah, it's all about me. I truly want to help jobs, find jobs. That's my passion. That's why even as a vice President right now, the fact that I still do recruitment. Most don't want to do recruitment when they get to a vice President. I love recruitment. I want to keep on doing it for the rest of my career. At some level, I don't care if it's just certain positions. I'm going to be passionate about it and maintain that.

[00:45:46.770] - Felipe

And for me, when you have that passion that comes through, that's what I look for in candidates. And I think when you do that, well, that video is going to really come across sincere and everything else, the background and everything else that's minimal as long as it's again, clean and fresh.

[00:46:06.470] - Annette

Yes, I appreciate you saying that. So we have a comment from someone. I can't read the comments, but we have a comment from someone who's watching us on YouTube.

[00:46:15.010] - Felipe

Oh, cool.

[00:46:16.200] - Annette

I know. And it's kind of cool. So we are winding down to the end, and I could talk to you for hours and I hope you will come back and we can just continue the conversation on some other topics. But what final thoughts would you have? And I think you're actually on what LinkedIn Audio is it tomorrow?

[00:46:36.490] - Felipe

Yes, tomorrow we're doing LinkedIn Audio with the LinkedIn Mod Squad, and we're doing the first one. And we'll be doing profile reviews for anyone that wants a profile review of their LinkedIn profile. That's what we're doing tomorrow at 730 Eastern Standard Time or New York Time.

[00:46:51.360] - Annette

Cool. And so do you have any final thoughts that you would want to share for people who are listening now or on the replay?

[00:47:01.620] - Felipe

Yes, I think for job seekers and recruiters, for job seekers, going back to that research, when you do your research, that's a window into their culture. And I think that's an important thing for people because the culture nowadays, it matters. People are seeing it clearly with a great resignation happening. Companies need to really focus on the culture, make sure that they have a culture that is relevant, inclusive and supportive. And when you go on Glassdoor and see the reviews or go on YouTube, if they have a YouTube page like we do at Signal and we have videos, if you go to our playlist, we have videos about innovative branches and our innovative mobile branch. We have videos about employee engagement, how we Cook together. We have videos about what we do for the community. We have videos about our singing that we did lip singing, where we did lifting challenges, we did wellness challenges. We do different our new branch events that we do. So that shows you the engagement, the fund, the innovation, the growth of the company. I think that is really a great way to see that. If they have YouTube, if not see if they're on another platform.

[00:48:09.890] - Felipe

Recruiters. My last step for recruiters is this. If you have that platforms and you have those videos, showcase them, share them with the interviews. When I'm doing an interview, and I tell people, hey, I'm going to tell you a little bit about our innovation and about our future and about our play engagement. But if you want a visual of what I'm about to say, visit our YouTube page, go to Single Careers and check it out and there you'll see a visual about all the things I'm going to share with you during the interview. That is so helpful for me to be able to share that with them because I don't need to go into it in great detail. So it's a benefit for the job seeker and the recruiter to do that research but also promote what you have out there so the job seekers know about it.

[00:48:50.330] - Annette

Yes, well, I thank you so much for being here and all the information that you have shared. It's been such a treat to spend this time with you and I will be back with the Smarter Career Moves LinkedIn live next Thursday at 11:00 a.m. Eastern so pleased please join me then. So goodbye for now and enjoy the rest of your day.