​Employment Seminar

for

Recent College Graduates

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You are now a college graduate. Congratulations! Now what? Since that marvelous day when you, with all your fellow graduates, threw your caps joyously in the air, several things have probably occurred to you:

 

     • The job search is much more difficult than you expected.
     • Your vision of that charming one bedroom apartment in Manhattan or Hoboken seems like a distant pipe dream.
     •  Living with mom and dad, although certainly enjoyable, is not what you envisioned after getting your degree and beginning to

        carve out your place in the world.
     • Your alma mater did a wonderful job teaching you such things as English Literature, History of European  Civilization and

        maybe even that class you took in ceramics. However, they really suck at preparing you for the job search.



It's discouraging, isn't it? As you are probably aware, you share this plight with many of your fellow graduates. Don't be too hard on yourself. It's rough out there right now. It's probably worthwhile to get a more complete idea of the current employment situation.

 

To do so, click here:

 

For recent college graduates, the plight is even worse:

 

     •The non-partisan Economic Policy Institute calls this labor market "grim", saying that unemployment and underemployment

      among college graduates younger than 25 has averaged a whopping 28.5%.

     •A Rutgers University study last spring of 444 graduates who received bachelor's degrees from 2006 to 2011 found that only

      51% were working full-time. The rest were in graduate school, unemployed, working part-time or no longer in the job market.

     •Those who got jobs beginning in 2008, the height of the great recession, earned a starting salary, on average, 10% less than

      those graduates who entered the job market in 2006 and 2007.

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Okay, are you depressed enough now? Well, there is also some pretty positive news. Despite all the “gloom and doom”, three out of four graduates eventually find work. However, if you're after a good job at a decent starting salary with good prospects for the future, you have to develop a skill set which you probably lack right now: the ability to construct and execute a professional, effective job search campaign. That's where I come in. 

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How the Seminars Started

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After a 35 year career in sales and sales management for major companies in the computer industry like IBM, CDC, DataSwitch, General Signal Networks, StorageTek and SUN, Bill Freind tried twice – unsuccessfully – to retire. The first time, Bill missed the fun of leading a group of sales professionals and went back for a “victory lap” at StorageTek. Thanks to an outstanding sales team, Bill’s district led the world in revenue percentage in 2006 and, in October 2007, Bill retired for good – or so he thought at the time. Bill had two goals: to protect his portfolio from the ravages of the financial meltdown (he did) and to significantly improve his golf game (he didn’t). And then fate stepped in.

Bill looked around at all the millions of people who were losing their jobs and thought: “Somebody ought to do something about this!” Then a little voice inside his head said, “Why not you?” Why not indeed?

Bill was uniquely qualified to help in this arena. He had spent his entire career interviewing, rejecting, hiring, training, mentoring and, sadly at times, releasing employees. He has reviewed between 5000 and 6000 resumes, conducted over 1500 interviews and has learned a number of things that can help others:

     • What works, and, more importantly, what doesn’t work in the job search process
     • How to turn a job into a career and proceed up the corporate ladder
     • How to tell when the “storm signals” are flying for your industry, your company or your position
     • The art of building an “exit strategy” long before you ever need it
     • And so much more



The result was TAG for Productivity— aimed at helping people and corporations more effectively address the problems of this terrible recession. The first offering was an Employment Seminar for folks who found themselves without a job. The response was overwhelming. Bill initially planned this as a onetime event and anticipated about 10 to 15 people attending. Instead, Bill has now conducted six seminars, having taken over 160 people through the process with a success rate of better than 90%!

 

To see Bill Freind's complete biography, please view his LinkedIn Profile HERE:

 

 

 



The seminar: a disclaimer

 

When people hear the word “Seminar”, they often picture some professorial pundit in the front of the room, waxing poetic and totally entranced by the sound of his own voice. This is nothing like what you will experience at a TAG seminar. Yes, I will be in the front of the room imparting knowledge but that is where the similarity ends.

 

 

There is an old saying that goes like this:

 

 

We hear and we forget

We see and we remember

We do and we understand

 

 

 Yes, you will hear. You will also see because each of you will have a workbook that has a copy of every slide being presented. But the most important part is that you will DO!

 

 

As we finish discussion of each seminar topic, it will be followed by a workshop where you actually get to put into practice the things you've just learned. For example, when we talk about the resume, you'll learn a whole new concept of what makes a resume work for you. At the end of the discussion, you open your notebooks or your pad of paper, take a critical look at your resume, and immediately begin reconstructing your resume until it screams VALUE. That will be followed by a workshop session where you exchange your resume with several other participants and get some critical feedback on what they like and what they don't like.

 

 

It is very similar to the experience you might have had taking golf lessons, tennis lessons, or academic lessons in the past. If telling you how something should be done was the only thing the instructor did, the increase in skill would be minimal at best. A good instructor, coach, or seminar leader will follow instruction with a session where you get to put in practice the skills you just learned. The net result is that, when the seminar/workshop session ends, you will walk away with a whole new set of skills that you not only learned but also actually put into practice.

 

 

 

The seminar/workshop: what you can expect.

 

 

A key criterion for the success of any seminar, learning session or instruction session is what your “Exit Level Behavior” is when you leave. After attending the seminar, here's what you can expect:

 

 

• A thorough understanding of the current employment picture stripped of all the hype and inaccuracies that are being presented by our TV and print media. This will significantly increase you effectiveness in the way you go about your job search activities.

• A prioritized list of your business strengths.

• A thorough understanding of the value that you have provided to your previous companies and that you can provide to your future companies.

• Crisp professional statements demonstrating the value of what you have provided. This will be done in a SARS format -Situation, Actions, Results- that will impress the people to whom you are speaking and will move your job search rapidly along.

• A significantly enhanced resume that screams VALUE and does it early and often.

• A thorough understanding of what a professional contact plan is and a step-by-step plan for executing one.

• A thorough understanding of the interview process, complete with practice interviews where you will you get a chance to exhibit the skills that you've learned.

• An understanding of, and an ability to effectively use, social media, primarily LinkedIn but also others including Facebook, Twitter, etc.

• A completely revamped LinkedIn profile that screams VALUE throughout. (Are you beginning to get an understanding already of how important the concept of value is in the job hunt?)

• The ability to professionally but firmly conduct a salary negotiation session.

• An understanding and a plan for how to deal with interview follow-up, and the rudeness that is so often a part of the interview process in today's environment.

 

In short, when you leave the session, you will have progressed from an apprentice job seeker to a journeyman, with an in-depth plan as to how to take it to the next step and become a master. 

 

 

The Seminar: What the participants say

At the beginning of each class, I tell the participants my goal is to at least double their effectiveness in the job hunt. The feedback I have received indicates that we have almost universally exceeded that goal. Below are some of the comments from class participants:


• "I just wanted to thank you for donating your time to run this seminar. I think you did an outstanding job and provided a really valuable service. I found it incredibly helpful to review my resume and really work on adding value. I also felt the questions you gave in the notes were a great tool to practice with."

• "Thank you so very much for all your help in my job/workshop planning. I really feel so blessed to have you as a mentor."

• "Just got a job offer today and finalized salary discussions. Your seminar and our one-on-ones were extremely helpful in getting my thought process in order and getting my resume to the point where it really sizzled. Thanks!"

• "I just wanted to send an enormous thanks to you and to let you know how much I appreciated your extreme efforts towards all of us. I am currently reflecting and acting upon all of your advice, along with venturing into Part 2 of the book."

• "Just wanted to let you know that I thought the class last week was great; I really appreciate the time you’re giving all of us. You certainly gave me lots to think about over the past few days."

• "Glad my resumes were able to help and were a HIT! It was thanks to your advice and help that I was able to 'transform' the resume to where it needed to be."



Details on the Seminar 

The goal of this seminar is to help you land "The Job of your Dreams." Each of the seminars consists of two sessions a week apart.Seminars are scheduled on an as needed basis as soon as we have at least 5 attendees: 

 

          Seminar Details: 

 

Dates:  To be determined. Usually on successive Tuedsays

Time:    6:00 PM to 10:30 PM

Place:   Our Lady of the Magnificat School

             2 Miller Road

             Kinnelon, NJ 07405

Price:    $295.00

 

ENROLL NOW:

 

 

 

 

 

This is not intended to be a "feel good," "you can do it" session but rather two full evenings of hard work aimed at vastly increasing your effectiveness in the job hunt. Having reviewed upwards of 5000 resumes and conducted over 1500 job interviews during the course of my career, I know what works and, even more importantly, what can destroy your chances in the first 2 minutes of an interview or, even worse, prevent you from ever getting to the interview stage. In addition to the classroom, we will be scheduling two one-on-one sessions with each of the participants to custom tailor a crisp, results oriented Job Search Plan. Here is a summary of what we will be covering: 
 

First Session



• Today’s business environment – it’s not as bad as you think: companies are still hiring.

• Why is the job hunt so hard?

• Identifying your strengths

• Workshop: identifying and prioritizing your strengths

• Identifying your most significant job accomplishments

• Workshop on your most significant job accomplishments

• SARs: communicating your accomplishments in a professional effective manner

• Workshop on creating your SARs

• Practice session on communicating your SARs effectively

• Bill's Short Cut Method for getting back to work in as little as 30 days

• Bragologues: how to put your best self forward.

• Workshop: creating your "cocktail Bragologue"

• How to build a great resume (yes, I know you think yours is great but 90% of the resumes I’ve reviewed are mediocre at best!)

• Resume workshop: revising your resume until it "Screams VALUE".

• Resume feedback session

Second Session



• Best and worst ways to look for a job

• Contacts

• Contact workshop

• Building a “Brain Trust”

• The Interview:

  • 3 different kinds of interviews

  • The "Informational Interview": a dynamite tool

  • Keys to interviewing success

  • Interview workshop

  • Handling Objections

  • How to "close the deal": Negotiating the job offer

• How to deal with the “rudeness” of the job search

• Your detailed step-by-step job plan

 

One on Ones:  To Be Scheduled


     • Individual one-on-one practice interviews
     • Individual one-on-one counseling
     • Building a results oriented Job Search Plan

Prerequisites:

 

• Bring everything with you that can help in the job search. This will include such things as:

  • Your laptop computer. You will be using it but don't worry about it if you don't have one.

  • Appriasals, letters of commendations, awards - anything that shows your successes

  • Plenty of paper and pencils, pens and paper.

  • Your list of current contacts in your network.

  • The below listed books and anything else you think might help.

• Buy and begin reading a copy of "What Color is your Parachute? 2014" by Richard Bolles, the greatest book ever written on the job hunt. Bring it with you to class. You can get it at any bookstore or at Amazon.com.

• Buy and begin reading a copy of "Brag! The art of tooting your own horn without blowing it" by Peggy Klaus. You will love this book.

• Be prepared to work hard. Under the best of conditions, an effective job hunt is a difficult task – and these are definitely not the best of conditions!

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KEY POINT: If you know someone who is unemployed or underemployed, please tell him or her about the seminar. You will be doing them a huge service.
 



 

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