Area employers share job advice

By Brian Babcock
Staff Writer

Looking for a job, but not sure how to stand out as a potential employee? At WCC’s recent career fair, employers shared top tips to getting the job.

People skills, a strong work ethic and clear communication are key

Companies want their employees to get along. Cheryl Harvey, director of career transitions, said there is a strong need for people with these qualities.

“The soft skills are really what [companies] are struggling with, and what students need to have. That would be problem solving skills, communication skills, people who come with a good work ethic, and people skills,” Harvey said.

Jeremy Ortiz is the head recruiter at Busch’s Fresh Food Market, a grocery store chain. He offered similar advice for those looking to get into higher-ups management in the retail market.

“The number one quality is going to be communication personability. You’ve gotta have someone that can speak with people and can build rapport with people easily,” Ortiz said.

“Personality plays a huge factor into people getting jobs in general, so being able to come across and relate to people is a huge thing,” Ortiz added.

Have a polished resume and personal portfolio

Another common piece of advice given was to have a competitive resume, a personal portfolio and even a cover letter. Harvey, who helps students with this regularly, offered some input.

“The number one thing students could do [to set themselves apart] would be to do an internship or co-op,” Harvey said. “They have to be able to get something practical in their field which they can have on their resume.”

“Number two would be to have a professional resume,” Harvey added. “We are encouraging students to come over and have us look over their resumes for grammatical errors, misspellings and formatting.”

Harvey also encourages students to include a quality cover letter with their resume to give them an edge over competing applicants.

Keep a clean online presence

This might be the most difficult step for people to accomplish because of how much is available on the internet for employers to find. The truth is that employers do look at this when hiring.

When using social media, ask yourself: Would I want a future employer to see this?

You can always make your social media accounts private, but what’s to stop your friends from re-posting your images or videos and tagging you in them? One step to help eliminate these concerns is to search your name, city and age on Google. Go through Google Images, go through your social media accounts and clean up everything as best you can. This could save you big time down the road.

Have a strong LinkedIn profile

One last tip comes from Kevin Ronquillo, a professional recruiter at Aerotek in Detroit. Aerotek is a company which specializes in hiring candidates for large engineering and production companies.

Ronquillo encouraged students to create a LinkedIn account and start professionally growing it.

Not only does this allow you to make business connections with recruiters and human resource professionals, many of whom are on the platform, but it also helps you organize your professional relationships.

Ronquillo also mentioned how LinkedIn is a good way to display your talents and past work experience.

“Having that [LinkedIn profile] up to date gives you credit for what you know and what you do . . . but be prepared to back it up if you get to a phone-screener interview,” Ronquillo said.

LinkedIn accounts are free  and offer a paid “premium” account upgrade offering additional features.

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