Ali Kafel, a Shrewsbury resident, is the Director Marketing for Extreme Networks and also an Adjunct Professor at Suffolk University where he is currently teaching CareerLinks, a course on personal branding and marketing, career building, and job searches. On June 25, he gave an excellent presentation on some of the tools that job seekers can use during a job search.
Ali emphasized the importance of LinkedIn:
- Recruiters will find you if are on LinkedIn. Employers can reach out to you and you can reach out to hiring managers.
- It's not who YOU know. It's who knows you or who can find you.
- You can connect with people from your college or with your ex-bosses or former colleagues.
- You could ask for an informational interview with a person who works in the company you are interested in.
- If you want to send a message to someone you're not connected to, see what groups they belong to. You can then join one of the groups and then send a message to them.
- Learn about a company and its managers by following them on Twitter
- Use Twitter to create a brand for yourself
Ali explained how blogging too is a great way to make yourself visible.
He gave some tips on resume writing:
- Make sure to use the keywords relevant to the job you're applying for.
- List the achievements that prove your claims; focus on your completed projects or accomplishments, not just the tasks you've performed
- Use power verbs to describe your achievements
- Write your own resume and then get it proofread by others
Ali had a wealth of information to share and has promised to come back for another WIN presentation!
Priya- Thanks so much for inviting me to speak at such a wonderful event. Always fun to meet such wonderful people, as I did yesterday. I was so pleased that so many people were engaged. It made the experience a lot more fun. Also thanks for the awesome summary!
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