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[ Silence ]
>> Pat: Welcome to today's MARA Colloquia, RIM Opportunities.
What does the world have to offer our RIM graduates?
Our speakers today are Jason and Beth Hynes, and as I look at their bios,
I see that they do form an ideal partnership for identifying employment opportunities
for SLIS graduates who are preparing to enter the records and information management field.
Jason has 20 years of corporate experience, including global business exposure.
And he has managed and hired others, so that he really understands the job description
and interviewing process very well.
Beth has 15 years of experience as a RIM technology and professional services consultant.
But you can see that's also a certified records manager, a member of ARMA International
and has served as a board member of the Twin Cities
and Milwaukee chapters of ARMA International.
Right now, I'm going to turn the presentation over to Beth and Jason.
[ Silence ]
>> Beth Hynes: Hello, this is Beth.
Thank you, Pat, for that introduction.
As she had mentioned, that I am the records side of the partnership,
and Jason is from the business side, more or less.
And again, as Pat mentioned, Vision Search is a very specialized recruiting organization
that specializes just in records and information management positions out there.
And our presentation, then, keep in mind, is through the eyes of the employer,
or our client that we work from, from a recruiter's perspective.
Again, if you've got any questions, we'd like to make sure we get
through the content of our presentation.
Feel free to type them in a chat area, and possibly we will take time if it looks
like it's appropriate to answer that question right away.
Otherwise, we will address the questions at the end.
That way, we can raise our hand and exchange the mic and let our voices be heard,
and the answers as well, at the end of the presentation.
So, first of all, let's get started with kind of just an outline
of what we're going to talk about tonight.
We're going to go through the different job opportunities that are available for you
after graduation, or through your career progression in records management.
We will be taking a look at, from a different --
various perspectives, as well as different areas in there.
We're also going to be looking at the reporting structure --
who we report into and why that's important, within the presentation.
And then, of course, important is our education and our continuing learning and staying
up on the different processes and things that are happening
in the industry, so certifications.
We'll go into, then, our resume -- what's on paper.
What we should and shouldn't do there.
And then of course our communication style will shine through the interviewing process.
And then we're going to also speak about networking and using social media in order
to stay connected with our peers in our industry.
So, let's get started with talking about the different job opportunities that are out there.
And what I'd like to start with is, first of all, the different industries
that we see our most active in -- as a whole.
What we're seeing out there -- we recruit, like I said,
we are all over the U.S. as well as in Canada.
So, there are different industries that we find are more prevalent in records management,
where we see things -- industries that are really tied to regulatory restrictions
as well as needed -- highly compliant.
So, those industries seem to be more active than some of the others.
And some of those active industries are listed here on the slide.
We deal with a lot of pharmaceutical, a lot of legal.
We're dealing financial services and energy -- oil and gas, utilities and so forth.
And then, of course, you've got, you know, the government.
That's always kind of a different animal in and of itself as an industry.
And then different consumer products, manufacturing and so forth,
are making up a large portion as well.
Now only are industries important to think about, where you're going
to carve your niche, but also your specialization.
What's going to set you apart?
What's going to make you unique for these employers, which is also important, as well.
We see a lot of specialization, in different technology areas particularly,
and that is a lot to deal with -- you know, Microsoft SharePoint, there's a lot of demand
for records managers that are able to customize the SharePoint applications in order to use them
as [inaudible] technology solutions.
We're also seeing a lot in the way of e-discovery.
If you get into that legal industry and get either in on the vendor side of things
or in a law firm setting, e-discovery is definitely a hot area.
We're also seeing -- it's just a part of a solid records program as well,
having a records hold program involved, and of course, e-discovery is a big part of that.
And dollars are usually tied to e-discovery because of the cost of litigation, and,
you know, bringing relevant information into a case usually has a lot of dollar amount.
So, you can save an organization a lot of money if you are involved in that.
And again, anything that's involved in the technology area -- electronic management --
we're seeing a lot of the library and archival positions turning to electronic-type libraries
and archives, so anything you've got there is definitely going to be something you'd want
to highlight in your -- in your background.
Okay, the next thing we have, besides the industries that you come from
and specializations that you decide to move into, are some of the hard and soft skills
that our employers that we work with look for.
And we kind of categorize them into two different areas --
some hard skills, which are over here, and then we've also got some soft skills in this column.
The hard skills that mainly we see are requirements are a degree.
So, definitely that's a good thing to finish that up and get your degree.
Along with the degree, what makes you more unique
than just having a degree is your certifications that you decide to go with.
Also, we look at -- or employers will look at your progressive career track as to, you know,
the different levels and titles that you move to within your career progression.
We do want to see very limited job-hopping, just because people want to see
that you have a commitment to an organization and that you're not just in it for compensation
or changing a title, that you are looking out for the good of the organization.
They also want to make sure that you do continue your learning process, your education,
your association memberships and that you network with people in order to stay
up on the current trends within your industry.
Sometimes we see, you know, if you are at a managerial or supervisory level experience,
that you do put that on your resume and mention that in interview processes.
Just because records management is so project-based,
your project management skills are going to be something that you're going to highlight as well
as what I mentioned before, technology skills.
The other side of the fence, we've got kind of the soft skills of your managerial side,
your personality, what kind of culture you're going to fit in best with, and just, overall,
your ambition, your ability to make an impact on an organization and bring change that needs
to happen within the records management arena.
A lot of times, you know, records management is not top on everybody's list.
And a lot of times, they're thinking of it as an add-on and something --
action that have to do, making your life harder,
so change management skills are so important and very key.
And a lot of times, we are seeing executed change management that you've got
that in your background that you can actually -- a proven track record of that.
Along with change management, of course, influence your ability to communicate,
your leadership style, all coming into play with that.
Being able to solve problems, and of course, be positive and engaged.
Because nobody wants to work with somebody who obviously is kind of hard-nosed
and drops the hammer on you and isn't in a positive light.
All right, so now that we've talked about soft skills, what are the kind of titles
that you're going to be going after in the job world?
These are some of the more, I guess, general titles.
What I'd like you to think about is, at any of these titles, you can put records
or records information management in front of these titles,
and that will make it more specific.
A lot of times, in the different industries, there are also, not necessarily a records
or records and information management -- sometimes document management or, you know,
a document manager, instead of a records manager, is going to be the title.
Even, we've seen more specialization where there's an electronic records manager
and our electronic records coordinator in place of just a regular records.
Even if records isn't in there, sometimes even knowledge management, or on a broader scale,
more general, information governance can also be put in front of any of these titles.
And it's -- of course, you can also see that we've got kind of the entry level
through mid-level through manager, as well as the top-level positions of VP or officer
or director, where we see our records titles topping out.
From there, let's talk about something that probably is going
to grab your attention quickly, and talking about compensation.
What can you expect from some of these records management career opportunities?
And we have broken this out from the entry level clerk, coordinator specialist, to an analyst,
manager and a director and above.
Also, I want to make sure that you keep in mind that this definitely varies
on a different -- a few different variables.
First of all, it could vary by region.
Cost of living is going to be different in different regions.
Also, changes to the industry -- if you're highly regulated and more compliant
and risk-oriented, they're going to put greater importance on some of these positions,
and they're going to comp you a little bit higher.
If you've got an education, sometimes our employers will forgo the education or the degree
in lieu of greater amount of years of experience.
Compensation is usually tied to that as well.
Also, demand -- like I had said, those SharePoint analysts
and SharePoint architects are in high demand right now,
so they're going to get a higher compensation.
All right, so on from compensation is something you might not have thought of, which is,
where does this title, or this position port into in an organization?
In the org structure, where am I going to fall?
It's very important, because, with any position, especially in records management,
you need top-level executive support to do a lot of things and the changes you'd
like to implement within a records program, you're going to need the sign --
the stamp of approval, the sign-off, from top executives.
For some of the lower-level, as well as, the higher-level managers,
to actually get on board with what you're trying to do.
So, part of your fact-finding through your interviewing processes is
to find out who it reports into.
And here's just a summary of where we see a lot of these positions reporting into.
The best positions we see are reporting into information technology, legal --
I'm going to skip over admin, because that's not a highly sought after one to get --
to report into, but compliance, risk,
legal and information technology are probably the top ones.
A lot of times, we see more government, maybe schools and universities reporting admins --
office administrators and so forth, and into operations or facilities.
On a very strange occasion, we'll even see reporting into finance.
But probably going into IT or legal is probably your best bet as far
as high-level support for these roles.
All right, now we're going to kind of change a little bit and talk about your education,
your certifications and the importance of that.
And I've already touched on just a bit about the importance of having a degree,
but most employers will require some kind of degree.
Sometimes they will forgo that in lieu of years in the industry, but a lot of times,
we're even seeing that a lot of numbers of years in the industry --
say you're in the industry for 25, 30 years, sometimes that's kind of a negative, actually.
Because we're seeing probably the sweet spot for years of experience to be anywhere from five
to 10 years of experience, because they figure that amount of experience is probably a person
that stays more current in the industry, that is closely tied from their education into this,
and maybe -- we hear -- it's kind of funny, but we hear some of our clients,
which are those employers, say that they don't want somebody called a file granny.
That's what they're calling those people with 25-plus years in the industry.
They want somebody current, somebody who's on top of it -- leading edge, cutting edge.
And that's where we're seeing the years of experience to be --
also, my middle point here is, people who -- our employers want technology experience.
Records management is no longer in the paper world.
We've got out of the paper world, you know, a long time ago, into the technology world.
And it's just going to be so important to be able to understand those technology databases,
repositories for the electronic content.
All right, that's enough with that.
Education -- so, you got your degree.
Now, it's -- now, it's moving on to where can you add on to that education,
add on to that degree to still make you unique and more valuable,
and that's going into your specializations, and that's where I see some
of these certificates going into specialization, like AIIM has.
That's one of the associates.
Particularly the electronic side of records management,
where they've got electronic content managers, electronic records management certificates.
And these certificates are usually at two different levels.
They're at the practitioner level and a master level.
Also, my certification, which is the -- I'm a certified records manager,
the ICRM puts that out as a more comprehensive --
way more comprehensive than AIIM's certificate program.
There's six tests that you have to go through and pass each one
of them before you get the CRM certificate,
and then you also need continuing education credits in order to maintain it.
We're also seeing different certificates in privacy.
The CIPP is definitely one we're seeing more and more of --
the privacy professionals and the certified information professionals.
We're seeing more and more of that.
Also, I had also mentioned previously that the PMP, the project management certification --
records management is so project-oriented, so committee-oriented
that that definitely is a plus for you.
I don't see this one too often, the CDIA.
It's the digital compliance architect.
It's focused mainly in the imaging world, taking paper to electronic through imaging.
A lot of times, that's kind of a vendor certificate,
if you are a service provider, to do conversions.
And then also this one here is the NARA certificate,
and that is in the government world mainly,
because it's the National Archives certification process.
A lot of that is in the Washington, D.C., area, I'm seeing a lot of NARA certifications.
But otherwise, sometimes I also see that in oil and gas a lot as well.
All right, let's move on into the paper world.
Your first impression at an organization is your resume that comes in across their desk.
So, what I'd like to do here is talk about what needs to be on that resume,
and then follow that up with what you probably shouldn't have on the resume.
First and foremost is, everybody's busy.
Everybody has got a ton of things to do, because they're multitasking and wear many hats.
So, what's on your resume and what's on the top quarter of the page is really,
really important in order to make an impact quickly and get you in the door
to get scheduled for an interview.
That top part of the page should include a summary of who you are --
your background and experience, your industry, what makes you unique, what you specialize in,
should be summarized in two to three sentences max.
And I'd also like to have your technology experience bullet-pointed, very easy to read,
not in long sentences, like you've got to read [inaudible] -- it's too long.
It takes too much to go through that.
So, make sure you be concise, and bullet points, whenever possible, are always a good thing.
Your education and certificates -- I like to put that near the end.
Why? Probably because they're going to make sure -- that's usually one of their requirements.
Do you have a degree?
What kind of certifications do you have?
And they'll go looking for it.
And I like to liken that to the grocery store putting the gallons
of milk in the back of the store.
It makes you go through the aisles, through the whole store, to get to where you want to look.
And this helps you at least get a summarized glance at your whole resume in order to get
to your education and certifications at the bottom.
Use key words in your resume.
If you're customizing your resume to a particular job description,
make sure you are repeating some of the key words in the requirements in your resume,
because we're seeing employers have an automatic resume submittal portal.
So, you go to their website, you submit your resume online.
How do you think they're going to find you again?
They run a keyword search to see if you're a fit for that position.
You want to have some of those keywords, many times,
repeated in your resume for optimization and searching.
Also, I had mentioned, you know, bullet points -- make sure that's on there.
Why the bulleted points?
In your description of your functions within a job category,
it's going to help limit your resume to a shorter amount,
maybe two pages is all we want to see.
Also, use action verbs -- what you've done.
I have done this.
We don't want to tell a story, necessarily.
We want to show what we've done within our different categories of our jobs.
All right, so that's the do side of it.
What shouldn't we do?
And I kind of, I guess, touched on this a little bit, but first and foremost, don't exaggerate.
Be truthful.
It's going to come out in the end.
Once they get to know you, once they bring you in for an interview,
make sure you haven't exaggerated anything, because it's only going
to get you in trouble, obviously.
Also, try to stay away from those personal pronouns -- the me and the my and the I.
This is about how you can benefit their organization.
You can work as a team and join them as a we as opposed to an I.
Also, we find that some candidates are leaving out contact information --
not necessarily contact information, but location information in thoughts
that you're being -- you know, you're being private about this stuff.
You don't want to get that all out.
At a minimum, they've got to know what city you're in and what state you're in.
Because a lot of times, if you're a relocation candidate -- you're not from the local area --
they need to know that, and they may or may not weight consideration on that,
because sometimes there's no relocation package, and they're not really willing to look
at candidates that are not local.
So, city and state, at a minimum, you've got to put it on there.
Obviously, you want your contact information.
If they're interested in you, they need to know how to get a hold of you.
Put your phone number on.
Put an email address on.
And of course, I see this sometimes -- I see, if you're currently employed,
some people are putting their work email addresses on there.
That's probably not a good idea.
Put a home email address on there.
And sometimes, home email addresses are pretty casual.
They have a silly -- maybe it's a nickname for yourself.
Try to stay from those.
Set yourself up with a new account that's more professional.
Also, in order to keep your resume at a minimum [inaudible], don't put anything older
than 15 years on your resume in great detail.
Yes, you should have it on there, but summarize it at the end.
Put the job title, the organization you worked for and years you worked.
If it -- especially if it's older than 15 years, or if it's not necessary relevant,
because they were new positions that you were working into right out of college,
and maybe they -- you didn't hop into the industry right away, get those on the end.
Also, these are inevitable.
They happen -- gaps on your resume.
What happens if professionally, you have a gap where you have not continued in the industry
for an organization with a -- with a records management title.
What I would suggest -- a lot of times what records managers do if they're not
in the industry, they take time off if they get sick, if they have a child,
if they've got personal reasons where they had to leave.
I see a lot of times they're consulting, and that's what they put in there.
But put it in there only if you are really, truly doing consulting.
Otherwise, it's fine.
Just make sure that you've got a real well thought-out professional explanation
for those gaps.
Also, references -- don't put them on your resume right away.
They don't need them right away.
In the beginning of the process, when they're evaluating whether or not to speak with you,
they probably won't be checking references immediately unless you go further
down in the process.
Put those separately.
Have them to be -- you know, if requested, they'd be available.
Also, a lot of consultants' resumes get really, really long, because they're on a project basis,
and they write a book about each of those projects.
Those type of engagements can be kept in a separate document.
A lot of times, we have really -- have professionals in the industry who speak a lot.
There's a lot of speaking engagements, they do a lot of publications, or they write articles.
That's great to put on your resume or put that in a separate document as well when you get
in front of an employer, to put that in with your references and your letters
of recommendations and your packet of information,
or your portfolio that you're going to bring for you.
That might be a good place to include that.
Well, from there, I see I don't -- I didn't have any hands up,
and I don't have any questions here on the chat board.
So, I am going to turn the presentation over to Jason, and he is going to start talking about,
not the paper side of it, but the on-site, in-person communication in your interviewing.
And then he will finish the presentation,
and we'll jump in together to answer any kind of questions.
Thank you.
>> Jason Hynes: Good evening, everybody.
This is Jason Hynes.
Appreciate your time and attention.
Would like to make one last request.
If there is any questions on the first portion of the presentation, I'll give just a moment
for someone to grab the mic or perhaps write a question, just in case there's something
that we could hit, you know, in a timely way now.
>> Lisa: I've got a quick question.
I noticed on the certification listing that there wasn't a certified records manager, Beth?
And I know that's -- is that something that you're seeing or not seeing from your clients
that they require a certified CA -- a certified records manager?
[ Silence ]
>> Beth Hynes: Lisa, actually the CRM is the -- under valuable certifications,
and I can skip back through to that.
The first one on my list is the ICRM, which is the certifying body
of the certified records manager, or CRM.
So yes, I am seeing CRMs as not necessarily required certifications.
Sometimes we see it, but a lot of times it's preferred.
Keep in mind there's only about 800 of us -- maybe 600 -- something like that.
There's a limited amount of us throughout the whole, entire United States and internationally.
So, they may not -- may or may not have a big pool of candidates if they require that CRM,
especially ones that are local to them, so more likely,
they need to relocate somebody, which would be [inaudible].
I don't know if you were necessarily also talking about the certified archivist.
No, that is not on here, but definitely that is one of the certifications
that would be beneficial to have.
A lot of our positions that we're working on are not necessarily focused in library sciences --
the librarians and in the archives, but in those positions,
that would be a valuable certification.
Lisa, if you've got any more comments, go ahead.
I'll give the mic back to you.
>> Lisa: No, thank you.
I think we all -- CRM is exactly -- we're seeing that a lot.
But I'm -- and Dr. Franks has listed CA.
It was specifically the CA, or certified archivist, designation I was asking about.
But yes, thank you for your -- for your answer.
>> Martina, do you have a question?
>> Martina: Yes, I wanted to ask about virtual or semi-virtual job positions,
whether they are frequent or whether you see them more now?
[ Silence ]
>> Jason Hynes: Yeah, I assume you're talking about virtual meaning working from home or,
you know, intranet-based, Internet-based-type businesses where you're not necessarily on-site?
Is that the question you're referring to?
[ Silence ]
>> Martina: Oh, yes, that's correct.
>> Jason Hynes: Yes, it's more popular, more so on the technical or engineering
and architectural side of the business, in terms of RIM, where you're doing more,
not necessarily programming work, but more of the project management
and things that you can do remotely.
I would say less than, you know, 5% of what we see is virtual today.
But it is becoming more prevalent.
But it's not growing at any, you know, crazy rate --
maybe, you know, 1/2 a point to a point a year kind of thing.
It's probably 95% of the activity we see is on site, where you need to be, you know,
working at the corporation or working for the government location or what have you,
so growing but still a small piece.
>> Jennifer?
Go ahead. I think you are -- do you need to type in the chat area, or do you have the mic?
[ Silence ]
We'll wait for you if you're typing your question in.
[ Silence ]
C.J., do you want to ask something while -- oh, I see Jennifer's got hers here.
Wondering how feasible is it to transition from an academic background into RIM?
[ Silence ]
>> Beth Hynes: So, transitioning from your educational background into RIM,
probably you're going to need to start out in the entry [inaudible] positions
at a record coordinator, record specialist, an analyst role,
especially if you don't have any prior experience in the --
in the industry itself or managerial-level experience.
You're going to have to take those steps to kind of earn your wings
in the industry before you can jump into the higher-level records positions.
But anytime you can obviously do any kind of internship, if you can work maybe
as a consultant, we place a lot of higher-level records management consultants
that are doing project work, like doing records inventory, helping interview
and revise a records retention schedule -- if you can get on a project-based work just
to get some experience in the industry, I think you're going to be well ahead of those
that are just coming fresh out of school.
[ Silence ]
>> Jason Hynes: Okay, this is Jason.
I think we'll pick back up on the -- on the back half of the presentation.
We've got three primary topics to cover, and the back half's a little shorter
than the front half, so maybe it's 2/3, 1/3.
We're going to talk about interviewing do's and don'ts.
We're going to talk about networking.
And we're going to talk a little bit about social media.
And an add-on to the last question, in response to that, I think anytime you transition
in anything you do in life, right, but I mean,
imagine a basketball player transitioning to be a football player.
Clearly has the athletic skills, but it's totally different, right?
Same thing holds true in industry and public- and private-sector jobs.
It's challenging.
And for the most part, I would say 90% of the employers we work with are looking for someone
from the industry, or from the, you know,
particular area where their expertise or their business is in.
So certainly you can transition from A to B. No question.
And that's where certifications come in,
and that's where some differentiating skills come in.
And being highly networked is very critical to make those jumps a little bit smoother.
Because most times, law people want law people, and pharma people want pharma people,
and health care people want health care people.
It's the norm.
So, it can be done, but it's tricky.
Okay, onward to interviewing.
Let's talk about things that -- somewhat obvious, but then again,
things that need to be reminded in terms of preparing for an interview.
When I say look the part, we all know we need to look the part physically, that's important.
What we're really getting at here is knowing the company dress code
and understanding the culture before an interview is really important.
And with all the different websites out there today
and different research channels you can work through, there's a lot of ways
to get insight into what that means.
The point is, do your homework.
Be prepared.
Find out what's in the news about the company.
You know, do a LinkedIn search for the specific people
that you're going to be interviewing with.
Know who you're going to meet with and, as best you can, where they went to college and,
you know, what kind of things are of interest to them.
Show enthusiasm about the job and the company itself.
It's surprising how many candidates we have, from time to time,
that just don't seem to be really engaged.
They're sort of kicking the tires a little bit.
If you're going to interview and put yourself into play, you know,
put your A-game on, and really show some enthusiasm.
Have some passion for your industry, whether it be RIM or some related area.
Understand those key elements of the job, and have passion around it.
Make sure your answers to questions are clear and concise.
They need to be crisp.
They need to be content-rich.
And they need to answer the question.
If you find yourself beating around the bush, probably not a good idea, you know,
in trying to make something out of nothing in terms of a response.
Be cautious on how that -- how you do that.
Know what your strengths are, and try to find a way to repeat them or weave them
into the interview through dialog or through response to a specific question.
But you want to take a strong look at the job description.
And KSAs means knowledge, skills and abilities.
Know what your KSAs are -- your knowledge, skills and abilities --
and align them to the three most relevant things in the job description as you see it,
so that you can play that into your presentation, your elevator pitch, if you will,
about who you are and what makes you unique.
Be prepared today in interviews, for not just the functional and the technical questions,
but more and more behavioral questions and even more and more video interviewing.
We attended a seminar recently on video interviewing,
and it's likely that we'll be adding that technology to our toolkit here in 2013.
So, be prepared for it, and don't shy away from it.
It's a great way to differentiate.
And with the technology age that we're in, you're going to see more and more of that.
Some people think, actually, phone interviewing will completely disappear
over the next five to seven years.
So, be prepared to show yourself.
Have three relevant questions ready to ask.
Go into an interview with them written down.
One might be about the company, one might be
about the position, one might be about the culture.
But have three kind of specific things that you want to get some insight on.
Have a closing remark sort of thought out.
You know, at the end of the interview, and it's kind of done, you don't want to just say, "Well,
thanks, really appreciate your time.
Goodbye." You know, have some comment you make that kind of closes and wraps up your --
who you are and, you know, yes, I'm interested.
You know, and kind of remind them in some way to make yourself memorable.
Ask for a business card.
Ask for some feedback.
You know, be careful on that one.
You don't want to push this one too hard, because there's probably multiple people
in play, but ask for some feedback and potential next steps.
In terms of a professional portfolio, what I mean by this is, you know,
have a resume with you in a -- in a nicely bound folder.
Have any references that -- with you.
Don't need to bring them out unless asked, but have them with you.
Maybe you've got some recommendations from a previous job.
Maybe you've got some published articles, some sample work.
Anything that would help show and differentiate you in the role,
have that in your professional portfolio and ready to go.
Here's a few candidate interview questions not to ask --
topics that you want to be very cautious to approach
and certainly not during the first interview.
Never talk money on the first interview.
If asked -- sometimes during a screen or phone interview screen, or even an on-site screening,
kind of that first round, sometimes the employer will ask you,
so be prepared to ask what your current compensation
or your expectation is, but don't bring it up yourself.
Same thing holds true for benefits and vacation time.
Flex time -- more and more people ask us, and it's okay to ask a recruiter,
but be careful when you ask a recruiter these kind of questions, too, because guess what,
the recruiter is the eyes and the brain, if you will, of the employer.
The contract that the recruiters sign are on behalf of the employer.
They're representing you as a candidate, if you choose to engage with them, but really,
they have to answer, so to speak, or we have to answer to the employer.
So, treat the recruiter really like the employer and be cautious
on how much you get into about these things.
But it is okay to ask in general terms about these kind of things with the employer.
Same thing holds true in terms of telecommuting or the virtual office.
Great thing to have if you can get it -- they are out there, like I said,
not real prevalent, but growing in demand.
But be careful on how you ask about whether that's possible,
particularly in the first or second interview.
Personal questions -- I mean, that's kind of an obvious no-no, but sometimes when you get
into a casual environment, there are some casual interviewing environments,
you kind of just maybe feel a little too free to ask questions
about the person you're interviewing -- or, who's interviewing you.
Now, just shy away from, you know, getting too buddy-buddy early on in the process.
And you never want to ask too many questions, or any really, about, what does the company do,
and how do you go to market, and you know, what is your primary product line,
and you know, don't do that kind of thing.
Those are things that you should know and should have researched up front.
From a employer point of -- from an employer's point of view,
here's some questions that you could ask.
And there's lots of them.
These are just some ideas to consider.
You know, good idea to ask, particularly if you're interviewing with the hiring manager
or an HR person that's very well versed in the position,
how would you describe the key responsibilities?
You know, what are the primary challenges of the job?
You know, what are the things that you're going to really be looking for from me,
so to speak, early on in this job?
What are the most important things that you would like me to accomplish?
That's a great one.
Understanding the expectations for this role are really important,
because the job description does not tell it all.
It just frames it.
What does the -- who does this position report to?
That may be known up front, but sometimes it's not.
Definitely want to understand the reporting structure.
Beth talked a little bit about that -- whether it reports into IT or law or,
you know, what have you -- compliance.
Make sure you understand how that reports, and how is it supported.
Where is it in the organization in terms of hierarchal -- not performance, but importance.
Really important to understand.
Company culture questions are great, right?
I mean, working at Nike, for example, is very different than working at IBM
and is very different than working for the Washington, D.C., Department of Defense.
Completely different, right?
So, really get a good grip on culture, and do some research online,
and also ask some questions around this.
This is a really nice question, too, to ask.
What do you like most about the company?
What attracted you to this business?
What keeps you, you know, engaged and happy and high-performing?
It's funny, you know, but as a -- as a worker,
sometimes you don't really think about those things.
But when a candidate asks you, right off the top of your head, those things you respond with,
your body language and your responses, are really telling.
So, that's an excellent question to put in your arsenal when you're, you know, interviewing.
From an employer's perspective, again, some questions that employers can ask
that are really things you might not think about every day, and sometimes the toughest questions
for us to answer as human beings are the ones really about ourself.
Tell me about yourself, Jason.
Wow. You know, what [chuckles] -- okay.
When you get that question, and it's more prevalent than not sometimes, you want to --
you want to talk about your professional upbringing.
You don't want to be too rigid.
Show your personality.
Let it shine through.
And tell them what differentiates you, why you're special, and most importantly,
how you fit the role, why you're interested in the job.
What do you know about the company?
This is a great question that employers ask.
In fact, we have an interview going on in California, multiple interviews this week
with a major client not far from you actually,
and one of the first questions the hiring manager asked our first candidate
that interviewed last week was, what do you know about the company?
Wow. How -- I was trying to figure out how prepared the individual was.
This is also excellent.
What separates you from the other RIM professionals?
Why should I hire you?
What makes you unique?
And this is where certifications can come in.
They're not the edge-all -- or the end-all.
They don't make you Superman or Superwoman.
But if all things are equal, and you're a CRM, or all things are equal, and you're,
you know, pick another one, these are big.
How do you handle challenging people that resist change?
What kind of environment do you work best in?
That can be a double-edged sword, so you want to be careful about that, right?
Are you best working independently, or are you best working as a team player?
Are you best in, you know, collaborative situations,
or are you better in, you know, whatever?
What frustrates you at work, and how do you deal with it?
So, these start to get into behavioral-based type questions that are rather prevalent today.
That takes me to a slide that does talk specifically about more behavioral-based --
typically, in an interview process, every company's different.
The least amount of interview steps that we see is two steps --
a phone interview, typically, and then an on-site interview.
It could be as simple as that.
Those are fairly rare, but sometimes a two-step interview is out there.
We also have clients that consider themselves best in class, and there's a six-step process,
where you might phone screen two or three times.
You might go on site, meet HR and the hiring manager in step three.
You might come back in step four to meet some higher-ups.
Step five, and then sometimes even a step six, that's the most elaborate.
There's also more and more testing going on.
Aptitude testing, intelligence testing, job-specific functionality testing,
particularly in the more techy IT-type sides of RIM, like information security,
information privacy, information compliance, we see more technical verification work being done.
So, on a behavioral question type of thing, I'm not going to go through all of these,
but just a couple at the top, you know, see here,
tell me about a time you successfully worked with a different co-worker.
None of us have ever had that, right?
We get along with everybody.
Not. So, that's a great way to tell, you know, how somebody reacts to things.
A question came in from Amanda.
When asked these types of questions, are you working with people resistant to change,
is it okay to provide specific examples
from your past work environment and how you overcame them?
Absolutely.
That's the best way to do it.
I think when you can speak from an experienced situation,
or talk about a specific case crisply -- you know, you don't want a long story --
but if you can do it quickly, yes.
Those are excellent, and that's exactly what they want to hear is, what was the issue?
How did you overcome it, and what role did you have in that?
So, provide a specific example of a time you had to juggle multiple projects.
Describe a time when you succeeded at work because of your ability to communicate.
That is such an underrated and overrated word all at the same time.
People are looking for leadership skills today, and clients, just like us as consumers
or human beings, we want the silver bullet.
We want the best of everything.
So typically, what our clients ask us for is, we want somebody who can think strategically,
develop plans and somebody who's a doer, an implementer,
somebody who can actually get it done.
Amazing, right?
There are those people, so your ability to communicate and develop plans and build teamwork
and actually implement solutions is really, really important.
Connie came in -- should we -- should we [chuckles] -- good question, Connie.
Yes, maybe so.
Connie asked, maybe I should change a word
in here a little bit about, you know, difficult co-workers.
Yeah, I think so.
I wanted to make the point pretty stressed here, though,
because sometimes there is challenging situations that happen,
and some of them can be work-based, and some can be personal-based, but I think we all have
to overcome those, and the good employees typically do.
Describe an instance where you made a significant mistake.
That's a tough question.
And the client wants to find out, you know, are you humble?
Can you admit a -- admit it when you make an error?
And if you did, how did you overcome it?
Share an example of how you're able to motivate employees or co-workers,
and describe a decision you made that wasn't popular and how you handled implementing it.
You know, in the world of records and information, or information governance,
or any of these jobs that are related, oftentimes, you're trying to implement change,
implement new policy, procedure, new tools, new ways of managing data and information.
And, as we know, that's not always popular.
So, we really find a lot of questions around this topic
of how you implemented things successfully.
Networking and social media, seguing into that topic, this is really, really critical.
You know, our presentation up to now has really talked about how to build up your, you know,
your skill set from an education, resume, interviewing standpoint.
But this is kind of a whole new -- a whole new topic in terms
of networking, and how do you stay connected?
How do you stay relevant?
We have employers ask us all the time about, you know, they say, well,
we want someone who's really on the cutting edge, who's really modern
in terms of their technical toolkit.
We want someone who's engaged in the appropriate associations who understands the trends
and who can somewhat, you know, kind of see the future and where we're going to go.
Because we want our platform, our RIM program, to be best in class.
Everybody wants that, right?
Or most everybody does.
Good companies do.
And so, to do that, you've got to stay networked.
You've got to leverage your own network.
You've got to build your own network of people you know in the industry.
This is really, really important.
You want to be, you know, connected to colleges and universities.
Obviously, you guys are, through the program you're in.
This is really important.
And I encourage you to stay networked, find a way to stay connected after classes
and after you graduate and after you move on.
That network will be one of your strongest.
Social media networking events -- they're all over the place.
You might not think about it, but if you just Google, for example,
Santa Clara County business networking events, or Santa Clara social media clubs or, you know,
social media network hookup events, there's amazing number of things going on.
I did that a couple of days ago in preparation for today, and in any major metro,
there's all kinds of that stuff going on.
There's always job fairs.
Whether you're looking or not, be aware of where the job fairs are and who's participating.
Most of that information is available online,
but it tells you who the hot hirers are -- the hot companies in your area.
So, if you choose to go and practice your elevator pitch on who you are and what you do
and what you're looking for, which is a great place to go do it, at a job fair,
it's good to know who's there, because those are the companies that are active.
Association membership and participation is huge.
It's very common for clients we work with to ask for, you know, people that are involved in AIIM
or ARMA or other associations, depending on the kind of job -- really important.
And as I mentioned, there's local business networking groups --
more out there than you realize.
You know, there's Rotary activities.
There's Toastmasters.
There's chamber of commerce.
There's all kinds of stuff going on in your local community,
if you're -- if you choose to go after it.
So, networking, networking, networking is really, really important.
Social media is a juggernaut today.
I mean, it can be as big as you want it to be or as nothing as you want it to be.
You know, I don't have a particular recipe to prescribe in terms
of what makes one more successful than someone else, but I can tell you that,
generally speaking, our customers or clients are looking for technical savvy people.
What does that mean?
That means people who, you know, are using Skype or are using FaceTime on Apple or are using,
you know, different tools out there to connect with people.
And particularly in RIM-type jobs, it's somewhat of an assumption,
at least for the newer more with-it clients, that they want somebody IT-tech savvy,
and social media plays into that to some degree.
So, develop a social media strategy that fits your goals -- doesn't --
I'm not going to prescribe anything specifically, but have a good feel for,
you know, what types of organizations that you want to work
for and understand how they network.
You know, go find four, five, six people that work in the kind of space that you want to work
in a company that you might want to work for, and take a look at how they network themselves.
You'll find them on Facebook or LinkedIn or Twitter, or they'll be blogging,
or they'll be in a LinkedIn group, or they'll be at an associate event.
And once you understand the circles, so to speak, that they run in, or that they work in,
you'll get some ideas on how to build your social media strategy.
That comes down to building an online profile, and LinkedIn is really important.
This is the number-one tool, by far, in our business, from a recruitment standpoint,
and from an employment -- or employer's perspective, too,
they go to that LinkedIn profile right up front.
That's -- oftentimes, we get clients that ask us to submit the LinkedIn profile with the resume.
So, they want to see.
Because, sometimes the LinkedIn profile is kind of a Cliff Notes version of who you are.
They don't have to go read the whole resume.
They can just go there and check it.
So, this is very common and really critical, I think.
Platforms such as Twitter, that's a personal preference.
You can certainly help build a brand around yourself or around a business you're in
or a particular topic or association you're a member of.
There's all kinds of things out there.
YouTube, Pinterest, Foursquare -- I could have listed a number of them,
but, you know, you'd be surprised.
More and more people, particularly the younger generation, are using these kinds of tools
to build a presence around what they do.
And, you know, that's up to you as to how you use that, but it can be very helpful,
particularly depending on your field of interest.
Blogging is a -- is a big deal.
There are, you know, all kinds of LinkedIn groups and different blog sites where you can go
to and read about things that are, you know, important in your space.
So, be aware of those.
You don't necessarily have to blog and write content yourself, but be aware of the --
of the players, if you will, in the industry that do.
Because they're very active, and sometimes their content can be very relevant to reference
and be aware of during interviews.
So, use social media certainly to research organizations and people.
If there's nothing else you do, use the content that's available to understand the companies,
the industries and the people that are important in your world.
I'm going to talk a little bit about professional organizations.
We've talked a lot about some of these already
through the event tonight, but ARMA is a major one.
The ICRM, AIIM, the ALA, NARA.
PRISM is another one.
Maybe some of you might not know too much about, but the Professional Records
and Information Service Management Group is another organization that can be, you know,
very helpful in terms of learning -- you know, different kinds of companies that are maybe more
so in the service side of the industry.
But you'll see those people out there as well.
So, check out those organizations.
Next is job boards.
Some of you might know of, you know, many of these job boards already.
Some of them are obvious, but the two that I really wanted
to point out are Indeed and Simply Hired.
Indeed and Simply Hired are two different job consolidating boards.
Both that find all the different job posting on the website -- they kind of work like a spider,
and all the jobs get consolidated there.
So, if you want to set up alerts --
you know, job alerts for certain titles that might interest you, or certain companies
that might interest you, you can set up multiple alerts on either of these sites
so that you get an email sent to you, or a flag alerting you that,
hey, there's something of interest.
LinkedIn, I mentioned, is outstanding.
If you don't have a profile on LinkedIn, I'd encourage you to create one and get it
up to what they call 100% rating so you're very relevant on that site.
You can join up to 50 groups on LinkedIn.
I also think, not necessarily that you have to join 50, but make sure you're a member
of the groups that pertain to your industry and your area of expertise.
It's a great way, and maybe arguably one of the best ways, to network on the web today.
CareerBuilder and Monster and Dice, I'm sure you know they're all very prevalent.
Don't forget association job boards.
ARMA's got an excellent job board on a local level and on a national and international level
and posts, you know, quite a few jobs on a regular basis.
So, association job boards are another place to frequent.
And then, also, I would recommend, you know, picking out --
if you're looking to get into your first job or transition to a new job, or just want to follow,
maybe, a particular industry to see what's going on,
I would earmark some career pages of target companies.
I use Nike, for example, because I just like that company -- or Google, or pick one.
But, you know, follow them and see what kind of job openings come
up on their site over a period of time.
So, for example, if you know you might want to job transition a year from now,
or two years from now, start monitoring, you know, a small number of companies
that interest you, and understand what kind of jobs they fill in your space.
Print out the job descriptions and think about the requirements and how you might compare.
It's a great way to kind of, you know, get yourself ready, so to speak.
Next slide is kind of the wrap-up slide for us in terms of questions.
We'd like to open it up and go from there.
I do see a question coming in, and let me just read this one from Connie.
Can you explain what a headhunter does or can do for a student or person looking for a job,
particularly who pays and who doesn't pay and so on?
Yeah, I can.
The way that recruitment works, generally speaking,
the fees for a recruiter are paid by the employer.
So, we have contracts, formal contracts, anywhere from two pages to 100 pages,
with companies -- from small to large companies who are looking for specialists, you know,
in the field that we've talked about.
And we agree upon terms and conditions with them.
And then, they provide job descriptions, scope of work and, you know,
expectations and all of that sort of thing.
And then, collectively, our team -- our recruitment team and the client, we partner,
so to speak, to go out to the market
and find the specific requirements that they're looking for.
And that's the way it typically works.
Recruiters can be a very good resource for you.
They're -- particularly the ones that specialize in a particular field or industry, because,
you know, no one knows everything, but the good ones have a pretty good pulse of what's going
on in that space and can be -- if they can't find you a job, because sometimes they can,
and sometimes they can't, but they can certainly give you some great insight
about getting your resume up to speed, getting prep for interviews
and sort of aligning you, so to speak.
So, any other questions?
I'm going to give up the mic here for a moment and see if someone wants to grab the mic
or perhaps type in a question or two.
>> Connie: Hi, Jason.
This is Connie.
I just wanted to piggyback off what you were saying and that was --
it's been interesting to me, as I've gone through my career, and I've coached
or mentored other students or work colleagues, and it seems like everybody seems to think
that recruiters you have to pay a service fee for them to find you a job.
And I really tried to rack my brain on how to communicate that more effectively,
so you just did it so eloquently for the students that are on the session today.
Essentially, you're working for the student, or for that person who's looking for that job,
if you provide -- if we were to provide our resume to you, then you --
we would be part of your database, and if a position came open, then you would reach
out to us and say that you'd be interested.
I think it's a good way for us, who might be seeking a new position,
to work smarter, not harder.
Would you agree?
>> Jason Hynes: Yeah, that's exactly right.
I think, you know, you have to determine whether you're a student or a professional
in transition, meaning between jobs, or you're a professional that's confidentially looking
for a new job.
What, Beth?
But you might be a professional that's confidentially looking for a new job.
Whatever your case may be, you want to make sure that you're ready to sort of get
into the job market when you contact a recruiter.
You can contact the recruiter confidentially and say, hey, I'm, you know,
happily employed at Company A right now as a, you know, ABC,
but I'm really looking for something different.
You know, could I supply you with my resume and my general requirements,
and would you be so kind to contact me when you see something that looks like a fit?
We get that all the time, and that's really important to do it that way.
>> Beth Hynes: Hi, this is Beth.
I wanted to include a little bit of insight on -- and using recruiters as well.
Keep in mind that we talk to a lot of hiring managers.
These are the people that are looking for you -- looking to hire you.
We've got a huge network all over the U.S. And use us.
Use our network.
Because it is more beneficial to you to have somebody make a phone call on your behalf
and talk to somebody personally, so to speak, about your background and experience,
rather than sending a blind resume in and hoping that you have those keywords,
hoping that you did catch their attention in the first quarter of your resume,
that they'll call you and set up an interview.
We bring that -- we highlight that, and get direct feedback for you,
and it costs you nothing to do that.
So, I always recommend, use a recruiter, send them your resume.
Let them really understand who you are, what kind of things
that you do best, what you specialize in.
And then, how you can actually maximize that potential
and shoot them a list of target companies.
These are the companies I'd really like to work for.
Can you make a phone call me and see if there's any positions?
There might not be any now.
But in the future, we've got you on our radar, and we'll definitely stay in contact.
Any other questions?
[ Silence ]
>> Beth, if my resume sucks, does Vision Search help me perfect it?
>> Beth Hynes: We can definitely give you some pointers, because believe me,
we read hundreds of resumes, and we know a good or a bad one.
So definitely, we coach many a candidate into a lot of improvements in their resume in order
to make them more effective, more memorable, and so forth.
So, yes, we won't necessarily do it for you, but we'll definitely coach you through it.
[ Silence ]
>> I think, Lisa, you have a question?
>> Lisa: Thank you, Beth and Jason.
This has been really informative, really great.
I just have one question that I get a lot from students is,
in this current economic environment, what are you seeing in terms of change or trends in terms
of job opportunities for students?
It sounds from your presentation that there's really an active market.
Just generally, your thoughts on, you know,
given this current economic climate, on employment in RIM.
>> Jason Hynes: Hi, Lisa.
Jason here.
I guess I'd answer that in a few different ways, or two different ways.
First, I'm going to talk about the economic sort of situation we're in in general
and answer the question, well, are there a lot of jobs out there?
Are people still hiring?
Is it robust?
Is it weak?
So, let me answer that kind of question from our perspective.
First of all, we're a national recruiting firm, and we also cover Canada.
So, we see, you know, coast to coast.
And I would say that the economy, albeit not great, and certainly not like the roaring '90s,
so to speak, it's still pretty strong.
It's still pretty strong.
We're -- we had a very good year in 2012 in terms of our activity.
So, if that's any bellwether as to how things are, I think, you know, pretty decent --
maybe seven out of 10 on a scale of, you know, 10's really great.
We see that the head of the big metro areas, you know, whether it's L.A. or San Fran or San Jose
or whatever, we see a lot of activity on the coasts in the big metros,
even up to Vancouver, Seattle -- still very active.
We see a lot of activity on the East Coast as well, from New York and Boston,
down to even the triangle in the Carolinas -- Charlotte and Raleigh and so on.
The Midwest has been a little bit softer in terms of activity,
but overall, still pretty decent.
The second side of that question might be, you know, what are we seeing in terms of RIM,
you know, kinds of jobs, and I think a couple of themes that you heard
from us throughout today's presentation -- electronic records is really big.
People who have background in the electronic, the digitization, the transition,
the convergence from paper to electronic, whether it --
in any media form that it's transferred or transitioned in, that's big.
So, people with electronic skills in this domain are highly sought after.
Secondly, people with technology skills -- and when we say technology, we're primarily talking
about software, and an expertise.
You don't necessarily have to be a subject matter expert,
but people who have a deep understanding of, you know, whether it's Documentum or SharePoint or,
you know, pick one, I think those people can find more specific types of jobs.
So, technology and electronic records, I would say, are the two fundamental things there.
[ Silence ]
>> Do we have any other questions?
We're just about, in fact, over our time limit,
but if you have one more question, I'm sure we can take that.
[ Silence ]
All right, if not, I'd like to thank all of you for attending.
Yes, I will receive a link to the recording after we close this session,
and I'd be glad to share it with any of you
if you just send me an email afterward, if you think about it.
And I do have one email for Kate already, so I'll be sure to pass that along.
If you have questions, or would like to contact the presenters,
their email addresses are right up there on the screen.
This session will be turned into a webcast so that it will be available
for quite some time on our Colloquia website.
You're sure able to invite others to view it.
So, do recommend it to your peers who weren't here this evening.
There's a lot of valuable information that was shared.
All right, thank you, everyone.
Thank you, Beth and Jason.
Goodnight.
[ Silence ]