What Recruiters Wish You Knew

The Jopwell recruitment team spills the tea on “What We Wish You Knew”, our panel discussion series on what we wish candidates knew in today's job climate. During our first virtual Q&A session, Jopwell recruiters shared their insights on recruitment trends across employers and best practices for both active and passive candidates. In case you missed it, here are the key takeaways from our team (+ tips from our community members!):

Be proactive in the current job market

For current jobseekers, our panel of recruiters and community members shared the following actionable advice and trends on how to navigate the current job market.

• “Resume relevance is key. Only include info relevant to the specific role you are applying for in your resume. It's OK (and important!) to have multiple versions of your resume.” -Stefanie D., Jopwell recruiter
• On skills employers are prioritizing and hiring for: “Direct experience is the biggest shift I’ve noticed in my search. And after 200k tech layoffs, there is a lot of specialized talent available.” -Gem J., Jopwell community member
• On gaps in resume and addressing layoffs: “Be prepared to tell the story. Candidates can get ahead of the laid off conversation by explaining why/how the layoff happened by choosing the right timing to share the information, being honest, highlighting their achievements and skills, and sharing how they have been upskilling themselves while looking for a new opportunity.” -Asia W., Jopwell recruiter
• “Building on timing – try to be an early applicant. Set LinkedIn alerts for keywords. Check every day for new postings.” -Natalia B., Jopwell community member
• "Connect with or follow the talent acquisition team at your dream companies. Like Asia W. [Jopwell recruiter] said, the planning ahead is crucial.” -Guy R., Jopwell community member
• “If you are open to relocation, be sure to include that in your LinkedIn for recruiters to see and list any titles you’re open to.” -Asia W., Jopwell recruiter
• “Send InMails/messages to whoever shared the job post (usually the person who led the team) and have those messages act as your cover letter.” -Rebecca B., Jopwell community member

Leverage your network and connections

Networking is crucial. Tap into your networks whether that’s peers, friends, alumni groups, LinkedIn, or professional organizations (i.e. ALPFA, NSBE, SPHE, AISES).

• “Attend in-person networking events to stand out as recruiters’ inboxes are likely flooded with messages. Places to find in-person events include Jopwell, Meetup.com, and local professional organizations (Chamber of Commerce, Urban League, etc.).” -Jopwell recruitment team
• “Make an effort to meet the hiring teams and make an impression, whether that’s a personalized interaction or well-delivered elevator pitch.” -Jopwell recruitment team
• “Staying in touch with former teammates is helpful. I recently hit up a former colleague who now works at a company I’m interested in joining and he’s doing some detective work on my behalf.” -Tameka M., Jopwell community member

Tailor your resumes for each role

“Beating" the applicant tracking system is the way to get the interview. Include action verbs from the job description and quantifiable metrics in your resume to demonstrate results of your achievements.

• “For Sales, CS or Marketing roles—metrics are literally a MINIMUM requirement for your resume. If you don’t have them listed, I wouldn’t expect to even get to an initial screen let alone a job offer.” -Marcus M., Jopwell account executive
• “Keep a professional journal/brag file [to track your accomplishments].” -Guy R., Jopwell community member

Work smarter by leveraging AI to draft your resumes. These new tools can help reduce time spent on applications and catch any mistakes in your resumes and cover letters.

• “Copy the job description and copy your resume into the open source AI then ask that it update or craft a resume or cover letter that addresses the job description. Refresh that 3 to 4 times, then edit and add your own personal touch.” -Alex B., Jopwell community member

Prepare and practice for the interview

Know your stuff. Your enthusiasm and passion for the role will be evident when you’ve done the research on the company and hiring team.

• “True, unbridled enthusiasm can take you so incredibly far in literally any role. The person who is the most genuinely excited about the role will almost always be the hardest candidate to exclude from a round!” -Marcus M., Jopwell account executive
• “Passion leads to discipline which leads to results.” -MV, Jopwell community member
• “When you do research on your companies, don’t just look at what the companies are doing—look at how the people you care about move on social. Google your hiring manager, your division leader, your CEO/CFO/C-Suite. Read their quotes. Lookup who the marketing leaders & social media marketers are—how THEY talk about the company tells you how the company WANTS to be talked about.” -Marcus M., Jopwell account executive
• “I always pre-prep questions. I love stalking LinkedIn profiles before interviews.” -Dwayne M., Jopwell community member
• “Understand how the company you’re applying to makes money. If you truly understand that, it will take you so incredibly far in understanding why the company works the way it does!” -Marcus M., Jopwell account executive

During the interview, ask questions that indicate your investment in the role and show you’re thinking ahead. Here are some examples of questions to ask from our community members:

• “What does success look like for the person in this position in the first 60 to 120 days?”
• “What would your competitors say is the toughest thing about competing against you?”
• “What’s the “next big thing” that your CEO/leadership is working on right now?”
• “When was the last time a change was implemented due to employee feedback?”

Be concise with your interview answers. Use the STAR method and practice ahead of the interview with a friend.

• “You are not going to get better by actually doing interviews. You will get better with practice OUTSIDE of the interviews.” -Marcus M., Jopwell account executive
• On thank you notes and follow-ups: “They’re a great opportunity to expand on answers or “fix” an answer you feel you may have messed up on or not answered in the way you prepared.” -Natalia B., Jopwell community member