Teamwork

1. SONJA MOFFETT
GCDF PROJECT: SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE UNIVERSITY, FEBRUARY 15, 2015

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
 INTIAL CONNECTION 3
 THE INITIAL CONSULTATION 4
 THE READY TO REFER PROCESS 8
 COMPLETE BASE RESUME & COVER LETTER 9
 MOCK INTERVIEW VIA SKYPE 14
 THE CYCLE 15
 SOCIAL MEDIA 16
 STUDENT SUCCESS 22
 THANK YOU 23

3. MAKING THE INTIAL CONNECTION
 My first step is calling the student. If I cannot reach them, I email them a
follow up to cover both modes of communication.

4. THE INITIAL CONSULTATION
 The student returned my call. She was low energy, despondent, and discouraged
because she had applied “everywhere” and had not had a response from the countless
resumes she had sent out of the past 4 months since being laid off from her law firm. I
gathered pertinent information from her. I asked opened ended questions and was able
to gather the following:
 Career Aspirations: Paralegal, Lawyer Ultimately - Wants to work for the government
OR go to wants to go law school (As I listened to her speak, I learned she had 2
interviews with city attorney’s office before we met and never heard back.
 Currently … In the legal field – unemployed – legal assistant (legal assistant) Has been
apply for jobs (indeed) - has applied at USC Law school (but they do not have a part-
time program there – which she prefers because she needs to work while attending
school) – she prefers to go part-time. Laid off last month from her job.
 Problem: …she was disqualified from law school due to her GPA a number of years
ago. At this point, she has to retake LSAT but fears the disqualification may hurt her
chances to get accepted.
 On a good note…. She is completing her Master’s with us in Justice Studies with a 4.0
GPA. She is still in her 20’s and very determined.

5. THE INITIAL CONSULTATION

6. THE INITIAL CONSULTATION: FOLLOW UP
 The student disclosed
that due to the
hardship of
unemployment, she is
unable to take LSAT
courses and pay for
her LSAT. Since her
plan was to do it in
February 2016 and it
was only October
2015. I decided to
send her FREE LSAT
resources that she
could utilize as she
prepares for her LSAT.
I also decided to
reach out to my
colleague here at
SNHU.

7. COLLABORATED WITH PRE-LAW ADVISOR FOR ADVICE
THE INITIAL CONSULTATION: FOLLOW UP
 RESULT: The student still despondent was uncooperative in reaching out the Betty Rhoades
because “I don’t feel she can tell me anything I don’t already know about this process.” The
student said this because she had already taken the LSAT in the past and unsuccessfully
attended law school for 1 year. Because a couple of years had past, she has to go through
the process all over again. So I move forward with our Ready to Refer process.

8. Done!!!
Initial consultation
C O M P L E T E B A S E
R E S U M E & C O V E R
L E T T E R
C O M P L E T E M O C K
I N T E R V I E W
V I A S K Y P E
B U I L D Y O U R
P R O F I L E I N
SHNURecruit
O U R I N T E R N A L
J O B B O A R D
W E B S I T E
Y O U R C A A N D
T H E B D S P A R T N E R
T O I D E N T I F Y
O P P O R T U N I T I E S
O N Y O U R B E H A L F
( O N G O I N G U N T I L
H I R E D )
FROM YOUR DEDICATED CAREER ADVISOR SONJA MOFFETT 888-672-1458 EXT. 0679 S.MOFFETT@SNHU.EDU
INITIATE THE READY TO REFER PROCESS

9. THE STUDENT’S READY TO REFER PROCESS
COMPLETE BASE RESUME & COVER LETTER
 The goal in initiating the
student’s Ready to Refer
Process was to resolve the
financial hardship of
unemployment and position
her to gain the financial
resources to sustain her cost
of living while continuing to
gain vital work experience for
the next few years while she
completes her law degree.
 It started with re-customizing
her resume and helping her
understand why it was going
to increase her chances of
landing more interviews for
relevant roles. Click email to
launch the video.

10. STUDENT’S ORIGINAL RESUME– SENT TO SEVERAL FIRMS OVER A 4 MONTH PERIOD – NO BITES
Law firms specialize in varying
areas of law.
She had been working as a
foreclosure Specialist, but
targeting any law firm who
would potentially hire her.
She did not include a
PROFESSIONAL
SUMMARY at the top to
address her KSA’s that
correlated to the specific firm
She lead with her education –
which is not enough.

11. STUDENT’S “BASE” COMPLETED – NON-CUSTOMIZED – PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY ADDED
RECEIVED BITES – SHE INTERVIEWED BUT NO OFFERS
We decided to narrow down her
search to real estate law firms
that could use her knowledge
and where she would be more likely
to get noticed.
She was called for interviews but
either did not get a face-to-face or
did not get an offer after a face-to-
face.
This resume was the base for
subsequent resumes she customized for
other opportunities. The next page
shows a job-specific resume that goes
into more detail about what they were
looking for at a Mortgage Company.
Adding the PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY
was critical in highlighting what they
wanted. While seemingly the same –
using her experience in their words
resonated with them.
We worked through additional
interviewing techniques

12. STUDENT’S RESUME CUSTOMIZED TO JOB – HIRED!
AFTER USING ORIGINAL FOR 4 MONTHS
The job requisition was
Asking for specific number of years of
experience. She needed
to break that out because her
law school education was specialized
to this position making up for her
lack of 3 years of work experience.
Adding law school back in was essential
giving her 3.5 yrs experience now
exceeding their desired expectation.
We highlighted her transferrable skills
of 9 years to demonstrate further
competency of her transferrable skills
out of field (9 years).
She highlighted her skills pertaining
to what they were looking for:
soft skills and core competencies

13. THE STUDENT’S READY TO REFER PROCESS
COMPLETE BASE RESUME & COVER LETTER
 During the completion of the “base” resume, the student and I worked on identifying potential job
opportunities that she was interested in pursuing. This enabled us to create a relevant
PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY that would pique employer interests and enable her to easily customize it
going forward for varying “foreclosure” assistant roles.
 By narrowing down the focus on her “specialty,” (Foreclosure and specialty) we targeted firms that
specialized in this area. We also tracked a greater number of phone and in-person interviews as a
result.
 We also worked through marketing her skills in her COVER LETTER
 The student was not getting offers and started to get discouraged again.
 Thus the next, steps in Ready to Refer - THE MOCK INTERVIEW

14. THE STUDENT’S READY TO REFER PROCESS
MOCK INTERVIEW VIA SKYPE
 THE MOCK INTERVIEW was scheduled via SKYPE
 Enabled observation of kinesthetic queues that she may have been missing in her interview –
provided feedback to improve the quality of her answers and how she handled “the behavioral
questions.:
 Discovered she was being “negative” – instead of answering what she could do, she started
many answers with what she could not do.
 Coached student to be positive with answers and demonstrate how she could learn new
concepts with which she was not currently familiar by paralleling her 4.0 GPA and other
educational and professional achievements.

15. THE STUDENT’S READY TO REFER PROCESS
THE CYCLE: CONTINUOUS CAREER DEVELOPMENT, JOB SOURCING, CUSTOMIZATION AND COACHING
The process is continuous until the
student is employed.
Making the necessary adjustments
and coaching through the “no’s”
was critical to build the student’s
confidence and perseverance.
She went from no interviews to
getting interviews. The better she
became at interviews, the close she
got to landing a job!
The process is very hands-on.
SOCIAL MEDIA INTEGRAL THROUGHOUT THIS PROCESS

16. THE STUDENT’S READY TO REFER PROCESS
SOCIAL MEDIA COACHING DURING THE PROCESS
The process is continuous until the student is employed. Social media coaching was a critical
component of the career development and exploration process.
LinkedIn, being a critical source of corporate recruitment strategies was one area that needed
improvement. The student had a profile on LinkedIn but did not understand the significance of it
and how impactful it could be.
1. I ran her through the site, functionality, and how important it was to create an impactful
profile BEFORE applying.
2. As a result of the resume customization, the student was able to update her LinkedIn profile
to create a seamless professional brand for employers seeking to investigate her
background.
3. One of the employers she subsequently applied for had viewed her profile – and she was
shocked to learn what I taught her was ABSOLUTELY TRUE.
4. The next 5 slides demonstrate the social media tutorial and coaching she received from me.

17. THE STUDENT’S READY TO REFER PROCESS
SOCIAL MEDIA COACHING DURING THE PROCESS

18. THE STUDENT’S READY TO REFER PROCESS
SOCIAL MEDIA COACHING DURING THE PROCESS
The interface: I navigated her through the site and how to use it to search for jobs,
resources, groups and HR recruiters. We reviewed how and when to interact with them.
Also discussed was the various ways to get to the same information as shown below:

19. THE STUDENT’S READY TO REFER PROCESS
SOCIAL MEDIA COACHING DURING THE PROCESS
The interface: Below demonstrated how to identify specific companies being targeted
and their HR recruiters. Because of LinkedIn’s premium vs. free accounts. I educated her
on how to transcend LinkedIn to engage with recruiters directly since she was unemployed
and unable to pay for a premium account.

20. THE STUDENT’S READY TO REFER PROCESS
SOCIAL MEDIA COACHING DURING THE PROCESS
Directing her to Google to find the address and phone number for the localized business
location, including address and phone number – which was not on LinkedIn. Armed with a
contact name and department – she can simply ask the gate-keeper (receptionist) to be
connected with the relevant person instead of being redirect to “the website.” I do
encourage students to adhere to the online application as per my earlier tutorial on the
ATS (Applicant Tracking System) to show their compliance – but strongly encourage they
also follow up in some cases (not all) with the HR Recruiter. This helps them “stand out.”

21. Continuous improvements throughout the process included her LinkedIn profile being up to date – her
interactions increased and she was being viewed more by relevant employers interested in her as a
candidate.
The student’s morale started to increase during this process. Click here to hear a message from the
student.
A part of my coaching includes elocution and professionalism. On this recording the student is casual
with me due to her comfort level. However it is demonstrative of the effectiveness of LinkedIn, the
training and her willingness to implement the strategies – it paid off for her.
After months of working and reworking, coaching and rebranding in this process – she landed the job!
A few days after updating her LinkedIn with the content from her newly customized resume, AND 3
days before her job offer – she left me the following voice message (click to listen):

22. SUCCESS!!! LETTER OF THANKS
TO SNHU CAREER FROM STUDENT
Working with a student is a journey. There are many barriers they must overcome to get out of their own way.
This is just one of many successes – but she stood out because she was one of the most discouraged. She had
to remove some mental block and improve how she was marketing her skills and with some confidence
boosting along the way – she landed a great job… in a corporate setting as I predicted at the beginning was
going to be the best place for her based on her personality, methodical nature and driven desire to be an
effective worker. She has postponed her LSAT so that she can now have time to enroll in a prep course. In the
meantime, she will be employed and gaining the experiential component she will need for the next step in her
career as a future attorney.

23. THANK YOU!
I value what I do for my students and for non-students as well. It is very rewarding to restore hope
and financial stability to the lives of those who are capable but a little lost professionally.
Outside of my role here are SNHU, I am known as the ProChange Agent. My slogan is IT’S NOT OVER
FOR YOU! http://www.prochangeagent.com/
I am currently authoring a new book for career changers and am so happy to have the opportunity
to gain this training. I am looking forward to continuing my work with my students and other
professionals across this country to build a better workforce.
Sonja Moffett
Career Advisor SNHU