Landing Your Next Job With Help From a Recruiter

Today, Ali and JoDee sit down with Jennifer Jeansonne, a former educator who is now an independent recruiter, operating JAJ Recruiting Consulting. Together, they’ll discuss how teachers can utilize a recruiter to find a new career, tips for optimizing your LinkedIn profile, and why networking on LinkedIn can be such a powerful tool for your career.

Connect with Jennifer:
Website: www.jajconsults.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferjeansonne/
Email: Jennifer@jajconsults.com

Connect with Ali and JoDee:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teachershift
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/teachershift
Teacher Shift LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/teacher-shift
Ali’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisimon/
JoDee’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodeescissors/

Website
https://www.teachershiftpodcast.com/

Episode Transcriptions
https://www.teachershiftpodcast.com/blog

Transcript

Ali  0:06  
Teachers are natural innovators, entertainers and problem solvers. They dream of growing old into the profession, teaching their kids kids. But sometimes career goals shift, and that makes opportunities outside of the classroom seem intangible questioning who am I if I'm not a teacher? I'm your host, Ali Simon.

JoDee  0:29  
And I'm your co host, JoDee Scissors.

Ali  0:32  
And this is Teacher Shift.

JoDee  0:43  
Having trouble getting started with your shift? We understand the struggle. Luckily, there are great people that can help you take that first step. Today we speak with an expert in recruiting so you can get your LinkedIn and resume ready for your next role.

Ali  0:59  
Jennifer Jeansonne is an independent recruiter operatingJAJ Recruiting Consulting, where she brings cost and time saving talent acquisition solutions to small and medium sized businesses with a special passion for young businesses. She has dedicated her entire career to being intimately involved in the full life cycle of the employee, and has enjoyed working in a variety of industries, including hospitality, tech, nonprofits, education and health care. And you may not be surprised to discovered that she started her career as a teacher. Welcome to the show today, Jennifer.

Jennifer  1:37  
Hi, thanks so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

Ali  1:40  
We are so excited to connect with you too. And I just want to tell our listeners a little bit about how we met. We met in New Orleans at a Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans, J Nola remote day at Propellor. And I don't want to give too much away, but it was so wonderful connecting with you that day, working remotely but together as a group, and I'm really glad to have you on the show.

Jennifer  2:02  
Yeah, thanks so much. You know, it was it's always great to connect with folks that your former teachers. I started my career there kind of haphazardly. I love kids. I love to write. I love coaching basketball. And I wanted to live in a specific geographic area after college. And I didn't really know what I wanted to do with my life. And so I have such a connection with so many folks. It's a great talking point. I even talked to someone this morning about something completely different. And he learned he was a former teacher too. So it's a nice connector with folks. And um, then I learned about what you guys are doing. And I really wish that I, you know, 10 15 years ago, when I left the classroom, I would have had access to some resources like this. So when Ali invited me to be on the podcast, it was a absolute yes. Just, you know, I want to be able to get back in any way that I can. So thank you all so much for having me. 

JoDee  2:52  
Well, Ali has been singing your praises since she met with you. So I personally have been really pumped about this episode today. I've been checking the time like, is it time yet? So yeah, we're excited to learn for you. Because I know that what Ali has learned from you, she's been kind of filling me on some things that she's learned. And so I feel like you've kind of inadvertently coached me a little bit. But I wanted to start the episode off today with kind of something different than what we usually do, which is just usually like q&a between the guests, and Ali and I. But I wanted to start off with a question for the both of you. Because you do have this little pre existing relationship in terms of your business and the services that Ali was receiving. So we'll start with Jennifer and then and then Ali can respond. But I want to know what it's like, as as a teacher who's considering transitioning, what is it like to work with a recruiter? 

Jennifer  3:46  
Yeah, so recruiters can be an incredible resource for someone that is looking for a job. So independent recruiter or an agency is, is usually hired by a company to fill a role that they're trying to fill. So for example, I'm hired by a client right now to find a specific type of civil engineer. So they pay me as the recruiter to go out, connect with talent, and convince them to come and join their team. So they really do your project managing the process. So that's my main function of my job. But I love working with job seekers as well. I am constantly building my candidate database. So I can connect people that are looking for new opportunities with my clients with, you know, other people that I know to help them find jobs as well. So, you know, working with a recruiter like me often cost candidates nothing. We're great to help give additional insight into the hiring manager and what they may want to see. You know, we're usually up to date on like tips and tricks and helpful hints that can help position you in the right way to find the job that you want. And they can also be an extra connector between you and the hiring manager. So, you know, we're all constantly networking, meeting people, learning new things about talent acquisition and the job search process. So someone that's a recruiter can help introduce you to people in their networks. My network has expanded just by, you know, meeting Ali, that one day a few weeks ago. You know, I've tapped into to now this Teacher Shift that is just blown my mind. And I see jobs. Like I saw one yesterday that, you know, I sent there where I was like, hey, this one would be great for a potential opportunity for a teacher. You know, I was thinking even in this conversation I had before with this product called Teamable, that they need people to teach people how to use technology in different roles. And it has nothing to do with being in the classroom. But the skills that you have there can be translated in so many ways. So you know finding a recruiter that you work nicely with, that you enjoy their company, that you connect with, can really help you in your current stage. But also, they can help you later in life. You develop those networks, because they have big networks, and they can start to connect you with people, you can then use it in your next job. However, that might be. You know, people love to give advice, people love to help. And it's often a free resource that you can use. A lot of times, not me, specifically, I'm not industry, I don't have an industry niche. But a lot of times people are experts in a specific industry. So if you really love hospitality, connecting with a hospitality recruiter can get you really some great insights on that one particular industry, or a way to position yourself within that industry. You know, I've listened to some of the other podcasts before this. And, you know, some of the challenges that I know that teachers go through when trying to transition out of the classroom is how do I word, my teacher skill sets and the things that I really excel at it done on a daily basis. How do I word that for another industry? Just ask the recruiter that. You know, people love to interact on LinkedIn. Ask for a 15 minute call. Most recruiters, if they're any way good at their job, always want to add more great candidates to their network. So it's a free way for them to connect with people to. So if the recruiter is reaching out to you on LinkedIn, they're usually paying for it. And so it's not cheap. So by the time that, you know, if you already have a pre existing relationship with someone, they're gonna go there first, to try to fill a role. And they love to interact with that industry specific thing, too.

JoDee  7:20  
If there's anything that teachers love more, it's something that's free. 

Jennifer  7:24  
Yes, I agree.

JoDee  7:26  
I think that's a really good selling point right there. So Ali, what about you, you were on the other end, you were the one being coached. So what was that like for you working with a recruiter?

Ali  7:38  
So I have to say, at first, you know, I, I always go into talking with someone about my professional life. And I lead with what I'm doing now, which is I'm a project manager. I work on a Youth Apprenticeship Grant and go into what I do now. And then, at some point, I'll say, and I used to be a teacher, you know, for seven years. And I always get nervous about that, to be honest with you. Because I think that, like we talked about on the podcast, the outside world doesn't see teachers in the same way that all of us know teachers should be seen, because they have so many valuable skills. So when I learned that Jennifer had also been a teacher, immediately, I was like, calm, more relaxed. I just I wanted to be like completely, you know, transparent about, like, what I thought my strengths and weaknesses were and like that I had, I have been in a new industry for a couple of years, but not as long as I was in my old industry. And so, you know, she really helped me think through like, well, what kind of jobs might you be looking for in the future? Or what's your goal with, with LinkedIn and your resume? Like, are you working on something specific? Is it more general? I'd already realized that my LinkedIn was like, a little bit out of date. I mean, it's just, I set it up a long time ago. I don't really, you know, I don't really do that much. You know I do stuff for the podcast on LinkedIn, but I don't really do stuff for myself. And so she was really easily able to walk me through, like, what are the key things that I needed to do. And of course, my my teacher, brain self, I'm like taking notes. I'm like, let me open a new spreadsheet, like, so I just wanted to hear all of her knowledge as a recruiter, because she's on the other end, right? She looks through profiles on LinkedIn, to find candidates. And so I don't want to go too much into it now, because we're gonna we're gonna dive deeper into LinkedIn and a little bit. But to hear that side of what people are looking for, it was so helpful to me. Because I'm always thinking of just maybe a hiring manager for one job like that was my mindset is that oh, I'm going to be tailoring LinkedIn, or my resume for the jobs that I'm applying to. I've had a few recruiters reach out to me, but not nearly as many as my friends who are like engineers, for example, or, you know, computer scientists. Like they have people reach out to them all the time because they're in very high demand industries. So I love that perspective of what recruiters would find valuable on LinkedIn and even you know, in a resume that they would see coming through. 

Jennifer  10:02  
There's two different types of recruiters. So like, currently I'm an, I'm an independent recruiter. I work for a bunch of different companies and clients. There is also an in house recruiters. So the larger the business is the bigger team that they can have as part of their HR team. So a lot of times, they'll have an in house recruiter, which is what I did prior to this. So I had worked at Raising Canes as an in house recruiter, and I worked on a very specific type of role, and a book of business within that one company. So if you are interested in working for a very specific company, it would also be advantageous for you to connect with a recruiter in that particular company, because then they can kind of tell you about what they're planning and what they're hiring plans for the next six months, you know? Are they opening a new business somewhere that they might need a lot of manpower. Then you can really get to know that recruiter, because I view it from the mindset if like, I'm hiring for this one position, yes. But like I consider a candidate for any and all positions that I have open, I have coming up, or I could have coming up. And I think if you think of that mindset, it's a true partner, that it may not be a yes for this one position. But if you are able to build a little bit of a relationship with them, they'll remember you. And they'll be like, who was that person that did this, this and this, and they'll go back and look at their notes. And even if it's a month later, those are some of my favorite hires that I've made as people that I've kept in touch with and had in my candidate database that didn't necessarily fit right then. But I was impressed by the person reaching out and connecting with me, and, you know, establishing a relationship with me that I remembered that person for future hiring needs that I had. So that's another way that recruiters can help you out. Especially if you're kind of at the beginning of your process, just starting to explore it, you know, you have a job currently, maybe it's the middle of the school year, and maybe you're thinking about transitioning out at the end of the school year. So now, it'd be a great time to kind of reach out and do that. But to do that, you need to have your ducks in a row and be able to explain who you are. And you know what kind of value you could add.

JoDee  12:05  
We have teachers reach out to us all the time that we know, within our personal network who've been listening to the podcast, and they say I've been listening. And, you know, I've taken these tips. And I've done this. And one of the things that I see very commonly is that they have just this one resume, that when I look at it, when they send it to me, it looks exactly like a teacher resume. And it doesn't fit whatever job they're applying to, or sometimes they'll be applying to any job out there. And so that's one of the biggest mistakes that we see is just you have this teacher resume, and you're going for all these jobs, and it's not really going to, you're not really going to be selected in a pool because you don't have the right words that are triggering what exactly you're going to be doing in that role. And so, do you think that when teachers are trying to transition out of the profession, they need to leave the teacher resume behind? 

Jennifer 13:10  
Oh, 100%. So and how do you do that? You know, there are all sorts of things that you can do. But here are a couple of tips that I feel like might be helpful for you. Just, you know, really focusing on highlighting skill sets and achievements, over regurgitating a job description. You know, you want to think of things that can set yourself apart: metrics achieved key accomplishments, big wins, problems that you've solved, programs that you've supported, awards recognition that you've had. You know, really big data and hard numbers in any way that you can. And I know there are a lot of things that are sort of hard to translate, but you know... I'm just pulling this out of my head. You know, if you had 97% of your students pass a leveling exam, you know, explain that, you know, use that. Did you plan 17 different units of work in a year? You know, that quantifies things for people to see the amount of work that you can juggle, the things that you do. You know, what else did you do while you were being a teacher? So, you know, it's it's not just a teacher mistake, like you're saying, but everyone that's going through a job change is trying to figure out, how do I connect with another industry. And you have a great tool at your hands, you have internet available. And there's great tools like ChatGPT, where you can ask it, you know, what types of skills would an HR admin have? And they'll give you like a list of things. So then I would take that list, the jobs that interest you, take that list, and then compare it to the things that like your list of things that you've done day to day and like literally put them side by side, you know, the whole like pros and cons structure. You have more pros and cons, it's a two column thing. And you can then look and see where things similar. So does this person do data management? Yes, you do that for 300 people on a daily basis in your classroom with managing accurate grades. You know, those two things go together. And it can help spark your mind on, on key phrases that you could use. Also read other job descriptions out there, to see what types of jobs are catching your attention. So you can learn the type of wording that's like, in those particular job descriptions.

JoDee  15:36  
So like I said earlier, a common mistake that they made. And I, I almost regret saying the word mistake, because you're trying something you haven't tried before. And you should be given the grace to learn something new. And in your form, you said, one of your best teacher brings skills is, you know, to use your ability to teach someone something new. And sometimes we have to give the teacher brain hat to ourselves and say, Hey, now I'm going to teach myself something new. Because we know teachers can take a concept, break down the strategies, and teach it effectively. And sometimes we have to do that. And we have to teach us to practice those skills. 

Jennifer  16:23  
Right, that's such a great correlation. You know, they say imitation is the greatest form of flattery, that's out there, I am constantly seeking ways to do something better in my life, and I go and get inspiration from other places. You're not copying something. There's also a great way to do... just Google, a specific type of job resume example. And then go to Google Images. And it'll show you some skill sets and phrases and ways that people have already communicated it. So utilize that tool to help spark your memory. And then once you get your memory, or not your memory, your inspiration, you know, spark your ideas flowing, get your creative juices going, then put your own personal touch to it. Because the thing about your resume, it's showing who you are, what your achievements are, what you know, you can bring to the table. And use the actual resume part to communicate those achievements and things that you've had. But then use the cover letter to make those connections between why having the teacher skill set of being able to take a concept, break it down, and make that connection for them in the words that you can in there. But also don't, don't stress too much on just utilizing your resume to get a job. Yes, it is one tool, it's a very important tool. It's how someone knows that you're interested in a role. It's how you know, when you apply somewhere, it shows your experience and what you bring to the table. But also, utilizing your network is so efficient, and so helpful as well, because people want to hire you. You know, they know you they know what you bring to the table. Being involved in volunteer things or parents know you, you never know what parents have a business, you know, they think very highly of you, they taught their child five years ago. They will remember that, that's part of your network. You know, utilize those people that know you personally, to help you get those skills, and then the resume is a piece of paper. So I think we also stress too much about getting it perfect. You know, there are a lot of resumes that are seen by recruiters and hiring managers on a daily basis. So, you know, you want to really focus on what you can bring to the table. But I wouldn't stress too much about having the perfect font, or the perfect format. Like, honestly, I don't remember things that were wild and crazy unless they were really, really bad. So, you know, give yourself a little grace there to, to not have to submit that 100% of paper with with the 10 bonus points that come with it. Like it is great to get it out there and get it applied and start. And the good thing is that you can always update it, you can always change it. You know, and another thing you said earlier, you should be changing it for the job that you want. You know, you have a variety of skill sets, you might be you know, great in three different industries. Have three different versions of your resume, so they can picture you fitting into their job and their industry. That's very specific. So that would be you know, kind of my my advice there and, you know, a lot of recruiters I specifically work with people one on one and coaching as well. So, you know, if you're having a hard time figuring out like very specific things and want someone to work with you one on one, you know sometimes it is worth paying someone for an hour of their time to really give that personal one on one help. That can just really give you some quick injection of time.

Ali  20:02  
It's always worth reaching out. And you know, one of the things I've learned especially, honestly from knowing you for like a very short period of time is the LinkedIn visibility to recruiters. So, you know, spending some time whether it's by yourself or whether it's working with someone professionally. Can you talk a little bit about why it's important to have your LinkedIn up to date and that level of visibility that you would have with recruiters? 

Jennifer  20:26  
Absolutely. So recruiters, search for keywords on LinkedIn. So there are two things that I recommend that you do on your LinkedIn, if nothing else. Set it up and fill it out, kind of completely. You know, make sure you have your picture you have, you have your jobs captured, and you're up to date, you know, even if it's minimal, like explanation of that. And then also use the skills to connect to the job. So you can put up to 50 different skills. So this is where you can utilize your tool, LinkedIn, and your research to, you know, say, you're good at project management, time management, and really pull out 50 different skills that you can use. And this might be a fun blog posts for you guys, how to utilize those LinkedIn, like actually pull out for former teachers and help people just populate them. They auto populate if you start typing it. And then you can connect it to the jobs that you've done them at. LinkedIn is also really, really great because you can put like extracurricular things that you do, and other organizations that you're a member of. So I encourage you, like, Ali and JoDee, make sure you guys have, you know, the podcasts that you do. It doesn't have to be paid employment, it's something that you guys are volunteering on or working on. Are you a member of community organizations? You know, tag those people in LinkedIn, because the next thing that LinkedIn does is it's really great at showing connections. You'll see first, second and third, connections and LinkedIn. And what does that mean? So if you and I were directly connected Ali, like we are. Everyone in my network is a second degree connection to you. And you can have access to tag them in posts. Those people then see my interaction with you on my page. So it really, the more people that you're connected with on LinkedIn actually helps a recruiter find you and reach out to you. Because certain functions of recruiter, that a paid recruiter service by LinkedIn, are only available if you have a first, second, or third connection to someone. So building your network out with people that you know, is a simple way to really expand a recruiter's access to you, but also for you to see and ask for warm leads. So LinkedIn is super buzzy right now. And really, really people are using it in really cool new ways. But it's also almost a non negotiable in the job hiring space now to. Because what a recruiter will do is say, here's a candidate, I'm looking for XYZ skill set. I'm gonna go and search XYZ skill set in XYZ location, or if it's a location independent type role, then they remove that factor. You know, oftentimes, they'll search for types of degrees or years of experience. And then they can find that at their fingertips through LinkedIn. Way easier than they can with other resources that they have.

JoDee  23:25  
Like on your LinkedIn how at the top, you have talks about hashtag recruitment, career advice, personal brand career coaching, recruiting strategy. And that really got me thinking about how I could revise my LinkedIn page because I know I need to do it. And Ali, I know you've been doing a lot of work on your LinkedIn lately. Do you have any updates on what you've been working on since you met with Jennifer?

Ali  23:52  
A couple of things that I did after meeting with Jennifer, and I'm actually like, not that deep into it. But I'm very motivated at this point. So I haven't changed my photo yet. I do want to update my photo. I added a like a banner in the back, which before it was just like this blue empty space. And this can really catch people's attention. I put the Teacher Shift banner there. One thing that I see that you could change very, very quickly. This would probably be my number one tip. If you only have time to change one thing, besides making sure your pictures up to date would be instead of having... I had like my job title and the company that I worked for, right underneath my name. And so Jennifer and I talked about instead of doing that, do it like what people are doing now, which is really to share a little bit about the different things you do. So now instead of saying project manager lead at High Impact Partners. It says project manager, training guru, podcast creator, military spouse, leveraging teacher brain skills to support youth workforce development leaders, exclamation point. And that just is like a quick snapshot if someone looks at my profile, all the things that I do. That was like really exciting when I put that up on LinkedIn. The one thing that it's on my agenda to do next is the skills. And that's because of what Jennifer explained. I didn't realize that recruiters will search the skills area. And before I actually used to think like, a couple years ago, I was like, who are these people who are putting all these skills on their jobs? And I'm like, well, they're doing the right thing. They were actually ahead of the game. So yeah, that those would be like my few quick tips that you could use right now, if you don't have a lot of time to update your LinkedIn profile.

Jennifer  25:31  
Yeah, and one thing that I always recommend people to back to the like, imitation is a biggest form of flattery. If you see something that works... is like, cool on somebody's page, or like you want to be this type of employee or this type of industry, go look at their page and see the wording that they use. You know, you're like, Oh, I will actually do that, too. Let me add that to my skills. You know, another point that I prepared is exactly what we just said about the LinkedIn headline. That was going to be my next step to like, elevate it up just a little bit. You know, take out just your job title and the company that you're working for. Say something more about who you are, you know. And go to look at mine, mine says recruiter on demand, leveraging relationships and creative strategies to help you build your dream team. Like, it's very specific to me. Another one of my friends, she's currently looking for a job, and she's in a creative field. So her says, corporate communications and marketing fortune teller, culture ringleader. Like, that's kind of her jam is to be like, good with words, and, and she's all about, you know, company culture. But make it you 100%, who you are. And the good thing is, is that you can change it whenever. Your entire network is not notified when you change it. So play around with it. If you see something that works somewhere else, or it catches your attention, and you're like, Oh, I couldn't make mine say this. Don't hesitate, just update it. It's another free way to keep life interesting and keep it connected to the type of job you're wanting to obtain. So if you want to be in the training field, make sure you talk about being that corporate trainer or utilizing... breaking down concepts to make them easy to understand. Or like have it really focus in the type of role that you want. You know, if you want to be in IT, you know, make sure you've somehow mentioned that, a related concept in that headline, because that's the first thing that a recruiter sees there. I could talk about this forever and ever. I know we're limited on time, but it also isn't going to just help you get a job. It's going to help you, when you have your job to. You know, continue to make connections and do your job well. You don't have to be super active on it. But people are utilizing LinkedIn for for all sorts of business connections these days, They are looking for advice. Using it to connect with people to help them with projects that they're working on. Potentially, you know, if you're in a sales position, you know, people use LinkedIn in a whole nother way. So the work that you put into it now is going to help you get that new job. But it's also going to be beneficial for you in that new job because so many more and more people are utilizing it as a professional networking opportunity.

Ali  28:03  
Yeah, I think that's fabulous advice to go ahead and utilize LinkedIn, even if you're not looking for employment right now to keep updating. In my current job, I'm planning a conference in early 2024. And we need speakers. And so actually, I've been able to, the different connections that I've made and the space that I'm in, network that way to try to find the right speakers for this very specific topic of a conference. And so I think you're right, it's not just your job prospects, but it could also be the job that you're in right now. I think you gave us some really great advice. I hope that we've motivated our listeners to take a look at their LinkedIn profile, to look at their resume. It can be really overwhelming. I say this as someone who's literally been like trying to do this for about a week now. So just do bite sized pieces. Just focus on one thing. Use the tools that you're learning from today's episode, and give yourself a refresh. You deserve it. You deserve to highlight all the amazing teacher brain skills that you have. All the things that you've done inside the classroom, but also outside the classroom. Don't forget about those extras that you do. That you've managed budgets. That you've supported extracurriculars. That you've traveled on out of town trips. That you've managed those budgets. Don't forget about all those extra things that you can easily build in. So thank you so much for being on the show today, Jennifer.

Jennifer  29:22  
Of course! Yeah, thanks so much for having me. I look forward to continue to support you guys and your effort. Feel free to send me a DM if you guys have questions. I'm happy to happy to answer. Please connect with me. I would love to add you to my candidate database. Like I said, constantly making connections for my clients and others and you know, always happy to refer you along to someone in my network to if I can. So please let me know how I can help.

Ali  29:45  
So if you'd like to connect with Jennifer, you can find her on LinkedIn or in her website, jajconsults.com or you can email her directly, Jennifer@jajconsults.com. We'll link this all in the show notes.

Are you interested in suggesting a topic for Teacher Shift? Being a guest or recommending a guest? Please see the episodes page on our website to make a submission. And if you'd like to write for us, see our blog page. If you liked Teacher Shift, give us a five star rating and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Apple podcasts, Spotify and Amazon music. Today's episode was written and recorded by me, Ali Simon and my co host, JoDee Scissors. Executive produced by Teachers Shift. Produced and edited by Emily Porter. Original Music: Emoji by Tubebackr.