Despite unemployment rates at multi-decade lows, disabled job seekers are struggling to get a single job interview, let alone land a job.
AccessAbility Officer provides hands-on, skill-based training programs that teach people with disabilities proven strategies and tactics for systematically getting more interviews and receiving job offers from companies they want to work for.
For Vocational Rehabilitation counselors, the last mile is the most difficult.
Helping an employment-ready job seeker gain and retain competitive integrated employment.
To help vocational rehabilitation counselors solve this problem, AccessAbility Officer provides the Getting Hired Playbook, a vocational rehabilitation program offered across the United States. You can learn more about enrollment and client fit by submitting this form here.
The Getting Hired Playbook is a 12-week instructor-led program that requires a focused client effort. But, Marianne Haegeli and Tanner Gers have packed the most valuable and actionable tactics your clients can implement right away in a short 30 minute webinar.
If you find this valuable, we’d appreciate a quick share via email with your fellow counselors or colleagues.
Video Transcript
Holy moly. Oh my goodness, thank you all for your patience. If you're still hanging around with us, it was completely my fault. As always. I can only imagine the amount of stress that's putting Marianne through. So anyway, my apologies. Hey, everybody. I'm Taylor years managing director at Accessibility Officer. And this is the Getting Hired playbook webinar. Right, and DEF, we're going to be doing a LinkedIn profile assessment later on in the presentation. So if you want to get to volunteer yourself, if you want to be put up on the chopping block, if you are ready for scrutiny, and other punishment. Go ahead and drop your LinkedIn profile in the chat or in the q&a, or Janey is that where are they supposed to drop that at?
You can drop that right into the chat or you could drop that into the q&a.
Chat. That's what they call it. Okay, I've done this before. We're gonna be sharing the recording of this webinar for everybody. And I think because we're so late, why don't we go ahead and get right in Marianne?
Yeah. Well, I love the way you you're selling people trying to share their LinkedIn profile with us. I'm Marianne Haegeli, Great to be with all of you. And thank you Tanner for taking all the blame. And that's not appropriate, but I love it. Well, the reason why we're here today is to discuss the best ways to leverage LinkedIn to find a job. And we all know looking for a job is not for the faint of heart. And there are additional challenges for those job seekers who have disabilities, right. So tell us in your experience, what do those include?
I mean, there's a ton, there's a ton of problems that people run into, right, that can you know, consistent, lower, no interviews, no feedback on wire, what's wrong, and really just leaving people candidates with disabilities like in the dark, and I remember one time submitting an application long time ago, and I immediately go to my inbox, and I've already got the rejection letter. But I mean, it was like, pretty humiliating was like, Wow, I did automatically, I'm disqualified. But very, that doesn't even come as close to the one bad experience that you had one of your clients share.
Yeah, one of our participants in one of our programs shared this with me, she said, the letter or phone call I absolutely can do without is the one which says, unfortunately, we are unable to offer you this job opportunity. At this time. However, you are our second best applicant. Really?
I read silver medal right? No one knows who won the silver medal. And, and that's and that's so sad, right? But if this sounds familiar to any of you like constant rejection letters, no real feedback on what's going on, you know, idea was really how to break through and you know, convinced that you're permanently going to be the second best candidate than you're on the right spot. This is the Getting Hired playbook informational webinar. And what is in it for you today. The Getting Hired playbook webinar, what we're going to talk about is going to help you stand out from the crowd, get recruiters and hiring managers attention, build your network and a strategic network at that, and get more and more interviews so that you can ultimately get hired at a company that you actually want to work for. But, you know, who are we and what is the craziness that we're spewing?
Why should give me a second Tanner here. I think I want to interject that yes, this is the Getting Hired playbook informational webinar, what we're trying and we're sharing a lot of very valuable information with you and Tanner is going to share some amazing hacks that will help you today. But really, what we're trying to set you up for is the full length getting hired playbook program that will go into great depth of how best to leverage LinkedIn and your personal brands that you should develop, to find, you know, the next job and hopefully a an amazing employment opportunity. And I think Tyler you had a success story from a graduate from the full program.
Yeah, thanks for slowing me down. I mean, we've got the we've got a cohort right now a training class going right now with the Getting Hired playbook one one client is you know, in talks of, of getting a job right now which is awesome before the program's even over, we've got standouts, like Justin heard are doing tremendous things, and Jeff Humphrey Be in human resources and others. So yeah, but win in 2023. I think what's really powerful for, you know, for the Getting Hired playbook and really leveraging LinkedIn is, you know, you can do things so fast. And in one of our first classes early to 2023, Aces January, we had a young man fresh out of college just got his certification, he's ready for the workforce, he launches his LinkedIn profile for the first time never been on it before. He customizes his profile, according to the how he said, and he actually took serious action on the tactics that we discuss here and what we're going to be sharing with you today, and in two weeks, he had a recruiter reach out to him, set him up for an interview. And he was in the hiring process for a job making six figures a year. That is powerful. Now not everybody's going to experience things like that, right? He's in a specific role in a specific industry that happens to pay well, right. But that's what's what's possible with these tactics, strategies, and the getting our playbook
back to where you were gonna go. Why in the world would you listen to us to? So Tanner, why don't you introduce yourself in a little more detail? Yeah, thanks.
I'm managing director at Accessibility Officer. My name is Tanner Gers. And when I was a young adult, I was in a really bad auto accident, I woke up in the hospital totally blind. So I had been in college, I had been in the workplace, I had led a team, I knew how the world works. And when I figured out that the for people with disabilities, the world worked differently, especially in the corporate world, I couldn't get a job to save my life, I had to do something different. So I found myself in the digital accessibility world, built up a couple agencies started my own business a couple of years ago. And now I'm really just focused on ensuring that people with disabilities can get hired. I mean, that's why our vision and Accessibility Officer is that the US disabled unemployment rate is the same as the US unemployment rate. And we do things like this to make that happen.
And Tanner was was kind enough to partner with insight N-S-I-T-E. That is the organization I work for. I'm the director for learning and leadership. And insight is an organization that came out of the National Industries for the Blind. We are now our own independent, nonprofit. And just like Tanner's organization's goals, ours is also to get blind and visually impaired people gainfully employed. And the way we go about it is we have a whole portfolio of career skills trainings for different career tracks. And then we also help our graduates hopefully find a job down the road. So our mission and vision aligns beautifully. And this is why we're here today. I know we have a couple of polls, but for some reason, 10 or I can't access those.
That's okay. It's probably my fault. Again, I take responsibility. But I'm going to tell you why. If you're a vocational rehabilitation counselor, or you have an open case with Dr. Marianne Haegeli is somebody that you want to know, please get in contact with her and follow her please. But this is let's get into why you may want to leverage LinkedIn to get hired. That's just a some of the reasons why you should have been on LinkedIn yesterday, if you're not already. Maybe you are. Maybe you're streaming this live right now on LinkedIn. But more than 90% of active recruiters are searching for candidates right now today on LinkedIn, over 60% of job opportunities are found through your first degree connections. I'm right now looking for a salesperson. And guess who I'm tapping all of my first degree connections. I'm saying, Hey, who do you know, like over 70% of employers use social media to screen applicants, they are wanting to see what you're doing, what you're creating who you are. One in four employers will not consider candidates without a social media presence, right? Are you a human being? I don't know. If it's not on LinkedIn, it didn't happen. Recruiters take 7.4 seconds to initially evaluate a candidate for their resume and their profile. That is quick, and I'm going to do it later for you today. So drop your LinkedIn profile in the comments. 46% of employers include think that resume gaps are acceptable, which is great for if you're a person with a disability, because retaining employment is hard and even just to securing it so and your college degree is the eighth thing in order in terms of priority and what they're looking at. Right. So I mean, even looked at LinkedIn, how it prioritizes education, it's way down there. They want to know who you are, what's your headline? What's your experience, what's your activity? What's your activity before you even get to your job experience? Right? And below that, is that education. So what are we going to be talking about today on on the agenda, what are our objectives today, Marianne?
Well, here's what you're going to learn during this brief session to give you a flavor of what's yet to come right Tanner will walk us through why getting hired requires both hard and smart work. And you've already heard why you should leverage LinkedIn. I mean, some of these statistics are truly scary somebody deciding in seven seconds, whether you're worthy a second look or not, should tell you how powerful your profile has to be to make sure you get to that next step. We will talk about why it's all about who, you know, Tanner, we'll get into your brand and digital as your big digital business card and why it's important to actually figure out what your brand really is. And then we'll look at strategies and tactics on how to succeed, you cannot make this a willy nilly approach, you have to think about LinkedIn, go about it strategically, and employ some of the key tactics that Tanner is going to share among them is going to be his number one getting hired playbook pro tactic that you can implement the second you get off this call and see where it will take, it's gonna be amazing. And then of course, we'll have a q&a, right,
of course, q&a, and for those that don't know, willy nilly, that's a technical term specific vocational rehabilitation, okay. But, but, you know, like, when we say, this is the Getting Hired, we're gonna give, I'm gonna give you everything as much as I can, the best that I can for free today, right now, okay, I'm gonna give it all to you, I want people to get jobs. But what is really required here is the full comprehensive program, I can't tell you how critical this is, in order to help your clients successfully transition if they're employment ready, this is going to help them understand how to develop strategy, how to develop tactics, how to do strategic analysis, and assess themselves, how to do a personal assessment, how to develop, it's like all of these, I'm going to tell you everything today, but I can only tell you so much. And it's really the devils in the details. And so that's why it's a 12 week, instructor led hands on program. It's pretty intense, but it is what it you know, what happens is what it's called the Getting Hired playbook. Okay. So like Marian was saying, oh, hard work works, right. But smart, hard work wins, smart, hard work, right? We've got to step up as people with disabilities, we got to step up and do extra, right, we know that there's extra demands, there's extra requirements, they don't understand, right? People that haven't walked in the shoes, the type of bandwidth demands assistive technology concerns, right? Accessibility, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, right? So we've got to not only just work hard, but we've got to work smart. And part of that is leveraging our tools to save time, energy and mental bandwidth to do that higher level thinking right to solve problems so we can stay competitive, right and competitive integrated employment and win. Right? So we have a personal professional assessment, right? This is we want to be a smart with actually the job opportunities we're going for, right map your value to the open available job opportunities, not going after something that you're not qualified for is not intelligent, that's just a waste of your time, right? Are you qualified for the jobs that you want? And if you have a gap, what is the gap? How do we bridge that we will help you with this in the Getting our playbook. Instead of looking for jobs? Why not this? Why not set alerts for the jobs? Like a lot of the content that I'm creating, right? Google's bringing to me automatically, you should be doing the same thing for jobs. And you should be signing up for newsletters that curate the jobs for you, indeed, sends me alerts all the time for open job positions, new ones, right? I want to keep my finger on the pulse of the marketplace. So I've got alerts coming to me. Right? Yeah,
I think this is usually the place where I say, you know, when we say smart, hard work wins, you got to really be realistic, and, and self critical in your personal and professional assessment. That's really important. And the hot tip that I have for you is keep in mind constantly, that as you're applying for jobs or looking for jobs, please remember that when you submit an application, it is not about you. It's about the potential employer who needs a problem solved, which is why they have an open position advertised, right? So like Tanner said, don't just apply to anything under the sun that you may or may not be qualified for. Take those that that time that required to do that analysis and match it to your skills and experience and background before you send an application and then think about why are they advertising for this position? What do they need? What problem do they need solved? And what are my skills? How can I credibly present to them that I can solve that problem for them? This is going to make a huge difference in your job search overall. But maybe 10 or we should take a look at how one builds one's personal brand to sounds like shameless self promotion. I don't know maybe a little uncomfortable with that. Totally.
It's totally self shameless and I mean, you know, for people that aren't interested in flashy, you know, all this other stuff, I'm not into that either, right? Like when I did my little introduction, I got as quickly through that as possible. I'm not interested in sharing all of my background, this that. And the other thing, my accolades, my achievements, and I'm very proud of what I've done across my life. But that doesn't matter, right? That doesn't matter to a business, that doesn't matter to you. What matters is is what can you do? And so when you when you're talking about this, we're talking about your digital brand, and your business card, you only get a couple seconds to make that great impression. So you've got to do that. And then once you do, once you've earned that attention, you've got to keep earning it right. So let's cover the ways that you're going to do that. Marianne. Do. And Jamie, do we get anybody has profile in the chat?
Oh, just got one now. Thank you, Robert.
So can I stop sharing? And do you will? Can you link to that? Oh, shoot. Yeah.
Let's see. Uh, yeah. Janey, can you send that to me via email? Please?
Wait, maybe I can see it from here. You got it.
Thank you. One moment, please. This is the high tech quality stuff that you can expect. Right? wrist. So at the reason why I need the actual link instead of Marianne pulling it up is because I'm you know, like I said, I'm totally blind. So I can't actually see that. I can't see it. When it's presented on the screen. My screen reader doesn't read it and I'm not did you send it on WhatsApp? Or is it email? That's using our Alex I got a high tech quality stuff. Alright, here we go set up
actually, it's not accessible with links, sadly. Hopefully, they will take that feedback from us. Okay,
I'm gonna share my screen all right, Robert, was get over to your profile. All right. So I just pulled this up. I switched over with my screen reader. I'm going to skip to the main content here. Alright, you got your verifications. Great. Cisco Networking Academy awesome. You're in Michigan for connections, Oh, no. Four connections to me immediately. Like, I know that you're a real person, right? You're interacting with me on this webinar immediately? Like, is this a real person for connections? And let's go down to the act. So know about section which is fine. Sometimes it's right to not have an about section, especially if what you're doing your activity, your featured section, which would be right here is is more important, right? Like who you are. So five followers got it? All right. All right. So there you go. You're sharing stuff that's good that you got activity, no experience listed.
And no skills listed either. So Robert, we've got significant opportunities here for your profile, the way that recruiters right are using LinkedIn to search for people is that they're not like, you know, they're not like using the search like you were I would, right. And they're not even using advanced filters, which is how I would search, right, they're using specific tools built for recruiters on the LinkedIn platform that allows them to look for people with specific experience keywords in their headline, education experience, skills in their, in their listed in their profile, all these kinds of things. And, and, and we've got significant gaps here. Not only that, when I come to your profile, so bare minimum that I'm even concerned like, Is this a real person? Right, I do see that you've shared some activities. So that's given me a little bit, but I'm not sure I'm even going to get that far. Because as soon as I see that, there's not really much going on here, especially with the experience. I'm going to be moving on. Thank you, Robert, so much for allowing me to do that. I hope that wasn't too too painful. So I'm gonna stop my screenshare.
Well, I'll have you know, that Robert doesn't own entity to me. And he is brand new to LinkedIn. So this is like the effort of a first week, which is brilliant, in my opinion, right? You got to start somewhere and now he's putting himself out there for for feedback, and we're gonna get him exactly where he needs to be because of his talents. He deserves to find his dream job. All right. It
is so excited. I just want to call back, right like one of our first students in the Getting Hired playbook over a year ago, right in two weeks went from zero to an interview in two weeks. Right. So, Robert, kudos to you man for putting yourself out there. I actually love you leaning into that. At work, I want to help you out significantly, especially since you know, Marianne, and I apologize for that. But I'll try to I'll try, I'll do my best to, like, help out the way that I can.
Thank you. No, I love this. I mean, this is this is this is a great way to get started. It's a beautiful example. Right? Have you got to start somewhere? And then we'll build on this and make it exactly where it needs to be. So Tanner, what will be your four preferred strategies for building a powerful network? Since this is exactly what Robert could use right now? Yeah,
I mean, we got to think like over 50% of jobs are filled without ever being posted. Right. So what's the strategy for building a strategic network? You want the strategic network strategic meaning who's in your network that can help you do the things that you're trying to do right now? Right? And then what are the tactics around for how you're going to execute on that? So here's four strategies for building a powerful network, right? So one is connection request with industry professionals. This sounds like a no brainer. But so many people maybe just be accepting or sending connection requests to whoever LinkedIn recommends, right? What about the people that you want to go out and find right? Meaning, what employers do you want to work for and who's got jobs at those employers that you maybe you want to have? Sending connection requests to those people would be a great opportunity for strategic network, engaging with content, right, there's going to be creators, leaders, HR professionals, recruiters who are going to be publishing content, or they're going to be they're going to be doing something and you want to be engaging with that you want to show up in their notifications, liking comments, and reposting thought leadership, right? You should be publishing content. Because when people come to your profile, they want to see what you're doing what you're about, what do you know, like? Are you an expert in your craft? Or at least does it seem so? Are you worth interviewing? direct messaging, right? This is one of the hugest ways that you can stand out and really build a strategic network, show someone you care, no one, not no one, but very few people. There's a small, small percentage that will send a direct message, make a thoughtful make account, and you will see a huge advancement in your strategic network development. Yeah, this
is actually really important point. And we've had participants in previous webinars pointed out and say, Yeah, you know, it's another social media platform where where you get fished and hacked and all kinds of nasty stuff. And so what what Tanner did in his assessment of Roberts profile is exactly what you need to do every time you get a connection request, take a look and say, Is this person actually real? And why would they want to connect with me? So what I do typically is I said, before I accept their invitation, I send them a message and say, hey, I'm interested in finding more about the reasons why you want to connect with me. Any any, any reasons you can give me, and nine times out of 10. If it's a phishing attempt, I'll get nothing back. Right? But this is important. And direct messaging is incredibly important, because it takes it from that impersonal. Let me just grow my network to No, this is actually intentional and strategic.
And so I personally use a completely different strategy. And I share why I use that strategy and what I'm trying to learn from it in the Getting Hired playbook training. And you know, what, if I'm getting messages I don't want, I just move them to other. And if you don't know how to do that, you probably register for the beginning of your playbook training. Yeah, so what so? Go ahead, go ahead,
man. Yeah, we were talking about how to execute the tactics, and then measure the results. And the title in and of itself tells you what is required for success. And I have a little side note for you, this is true for no matter what you do, you got to plan your work, and then work the plan, right. So the first one is you start you need to dedicate time to the plan, schedule it, put it on your calendar, say every morning from eight to 10, or whatever works for you. I'm going to spend time working on LinkedIn and doing what I need to do. Right. So you need to develop a plan first. That doesn't include your scheduling, but also how do you go? Which industries are you interested in? And you prepare for the execution of your tactics by doing some research, gaining industry knowledge? Be aware of what's going on? What are the trends that are happening right now? And then also see if you, if you identify skills gaps, what can you do to upskill, and maybe obtain certifications so that you're ready to compete within that industry. And just as another side, there's exactly what Roberts doing right now, doing all the right things. And then we move to the tactical execution of the plan. And this is a daily thing. You set a goal, I'm going to send out 15 connection requests today. I'm going to engage with five posts today. I'm going to create some content or repost things with my thoughts, showing that I'm actually thinking about things engaging in thought leadership and then again, that whole messaging, making sure that your messaging is on point and powerful. That is how you dedicate work, dedicate time to the plan. And then as you're working against that plan, you got to measure results. Right, Tanner? That's
right. That's right. You gotta measure results. How many new connections? How many direct messages? How many requests for an interview? Did you get how many first interviews? Did you complete? How well did you move through that process? Meaning, did you get an offer extension? Did you move to the next stage in the interview? Now, this is like, this is so critical. I mean, in within the cat model, right, certify apprentice transition, the Getting Hired playbook represents that transitionary process where we're at a macro level, helping you like, you know, if they've if a person with a significant disability is certified, right, they've got the hard skills, right. And then you they've gotten the soft skills, they understand professionalism, etiquette, and everything that they need to do on the soft side of things. They also need to understand their macro place in the industry, how they're going to fit into that how to solve problems, these very, like the micro getting ready for the job. And then the macro, how we're going to fit into the industry is so critical. And understanding this, like developing this business acumen is how we help people with significant disabilities retain competitive integrated employment long term, right? Great that they've can get a job. How do they keep it?
Yeah, love that. And I think there's a couple of things you need to still think about. Remember when I said it's not about you, that sounds counterintuitive, because you're the one who wants the job. But it really is not about you. So make things really easy as part of the plan, right? Come up with an email address that tells anybody interacting with you who you actually are. If you have a cool little what do we call it hot stuff@yahoo.com. That's awesome.
Right, because that's my email I told you. So you wouldn't give that I'm
sorry, Tanner. So it's perfectly fine to have a separate email, create a Gmail account, just for soft job searching or professional interactions, you know, get one that has your name in it that's recognizable, do the same when you develop your resume, name that document with something that makes it clear that it's my resume, M Hegley, resume 2024. Right that I can share. And it will make it easier for the recruiters to place everything together that they need. Same with your LinkedIn profile URL, you can actually change that the first time you create a URL, LinkedIn will plop several numbers behind your name. Get rid of those, you don't need them. Make it so it's clear who you are, and make it easy for everybody who wants to interact with you. And before I get too far afield, I think it's high time Tanner for you to share that number one getting hired playbook pro tactic.
Well, thank you. I mean, you set me up so well with all these actionable tactics that people should be implementing right away if you haven't already. And if you have questions about the content that we've, we've delivered today, if you have any other thoughts, please drop in the comments with the q&a, we're going to move into that right after this. And the absolute number one tactics are getting a recruiter or hiring managers attention is the following, right? Visit their profile, send a connection request, and then message them to let them know about you in a very specific way. Right? There's different ways to maximize the effectiveness of this outreach. But here's what you want to know and be prepared to make that happen. Right? So one is that you got to start intelligent and informed conversations with these people, right? Meaning you have to know about their business and industry, right? You have to know about their company who works there and the challenges that they're facing. You have to disrupt their normal patterns and at the same time, show why you're valuable. Why are you different? Ask for the interview. Okay, so those are the five things right those are that's what you're those are table stakes, right like you want to get this interview like this is how you do it right example Hey name wanted to reach out and say hi, I have several connections that work for you already and I'm aware of some of those challenges that you're facing I would love to schedule time with you and an interview with you and share with you why I might I might be probably your best choice for this role. I chop that up a little bit but that is the drip Now if somebody sent me this right now on on LinkedIn saying hey, like I see that you're looking for a sale I know that you're looking for a salesperson. I already know that you're facing these challenges. Yada you know I would love to share with you why my my sales motion my go to market strategy for you is going to be the right fit like If someone did that to me right now, I probably wouldn't even need the interview, I probably just like you're hired, right? Because that's the kind of, that's how that's how disruptive this motion is seemingly simple it is. That's how disruptive this can be. So think
think about this. Also, if I'm looking for somebody, and I'm putting out an open position, I'm gonna get flooded with applicants. Do you really think I would prefer to weed through 200 applications 80% of which are not even qualified for the job, because they're just applying to everything under the sun, which we just hopefully convincingly told you not to do? Or do you think I would go with a direct message by somebody who, in five sentences showed me that they have done their research, they already know what I'm looking for and who I am. And, and just connect with that person and have that first interview with them? I don't think I need to even explain what this what the answer to that question, right. I'll go with the one who is showing the initiative. And in that case, that would be you. Yeah,
I I've got to share this too. Because I mean, I was just on a call. I was on the meeting. I was overseeing some stuff. Yesterday with one of one of the hires that I made last year, front end engineer accessibility engineers and is Bruce blazer, he's a stud. He's absolutely a stud. And he did this to me, he reached I was I had put out a job at a job description. I was applying for a job solicitation, whatever, whatever it's called. And I posted the job. And I had ridiculous amount of people apply. Most weren't qualified. Bruce was one of like, a couple people that reached out to me. We had an interview at a long talk. We had multiple long talks, probably like five talks all together. But he was he was the right fit. I hired him. And yesterday, yesterday, on this call, I was just so proud of him demonstrating the passion, the purpose, and what it means to be an accessibility professional, and really changing the landscape and how a company thinks about accessibility. Bruce Blaser, truly, truly one of the greats, and he was one that implemented this strategy. So thanks, Bruce, for for your all your partnership and loyalty, my friend. I'm so glad you're on the team. Yeah.
Beautiful example. Well, Taylor, we can move to the q&a. I think this is an endless weird link here. But I don't know, Jamie, if you have the technology to drop the Getting Hired playbook. program registration link into the chat. That will be great. We'll, we will start another cohort, hopefully, in the near future. So please register now and we can make sure that you get enrolled.
Can you pull up that page? Marianne, do you have the link readily available?
I do. I'm going to stop sharing for a second. So I can cruise around a bit. Yes, I do. Hang on.
And while Marion's doing that. I don't know if we had any live questions come in from the audience. We did
get a comment from Robert ENSCO. He says thank you and appreciate the feedback that we had on his LinkedIn page. He's still a very real person.
So when you do click on that link, and I'll post it in the chat in just a second, you get to the Getting Hired playbook enrollment page and is really easy stuff. We need your first name, last name, your email, your phone number, your VR counselor name and contact information if you have one, and hopefully your LinkedIn URL link. And then we ask you a couple of technology questions. Do you have a desktop or a laptop? Do you have Zoom account? That's all we want. It's short and sweet. But it'll help us figure out you know how to move on from here. And I'm just going to put that link in the chat in just a second.
Christine asked, What's the what's the success rate for students placing students who are in the program? Well, right now, we've got in this active cohort that we have right now. We had five participants in the program is still ongoing. We're in week nine, I believe, nine of 12 and or excuse me, week eight of 12. And we have one student already who is an entertaining the, the interview process and going through that
and we are not yet at the point at which we're we're implementing this. This number one ghp pro tactic. We're still setting up the the strategies the tag picks and the brand and everything else. But in the next three weeks, we will begin implementing that and
and we'll have some better data on that. So this is the actual This is the first cohort for this year. In the past, when we've ran, the Getting Hired playbook we've had success vary, I don't know what the what the numbers are off the top of my head, some people, you know, as, as we know, in vocational rehabilitation, like some people don't do the work, and some people do do the work. And we've seen really strong success by the people that do do the work.
It's pretty phenomenal. It's amazing. I mean, you should see the change on these nurses, the profiles themselves, but then also the activity. It's absolutely amazing. And I would recommend that every single one on this call should should connect with me and Tanner, at the very least, hopefully Janey as well. And then start looking in on this at the second level connections that you will find because we have fairly large networks and see who among those the second connections may actually be worth your outreach with a short message and see if you can begin they can become a first connection.
I would love to demonstrate some of that, you know, pull up Jeff Humphries profile or Justin hers profile, or Pauline's profile, one of our students in the course, so you can kind of see the transformation. That happens, I think, you know, many people, you know, who come into the program, either, you know, some don't have a LinkedIn profile yet and others have a profile that's probably more representative, or similar to Roberts profile. Right, just getting started low connections, low, low everything and then and then we can really get started. Do we do we have a profile up? Marinne do we have?
I'm almost a little scared to do that without asking first.
Okay.
We actually Do have one from Larry Brecht attached in the comments? He did submit a new one. I had emailed it to you in another thread-
Oh he had it in the chat! Should we try to pull it up?
Sure, yeah, we could pull it up.
You know, I had emailed it to Tanner.
Ah yeah, Go ahead. Yeah, go ahead and pull it up, Marianne.
Okay. Let's see. I have it here. Yes. Thing of beauty. Hang on one second. Let me share again,
Christina. That's a very valid and fun question to answer.
Yeah: Christine was asking the question about entry level pay rates for digital accessibility field,
then you can you confirm that we're on the right page. Here.
We are on we should be on the right page. Yes,
Yeah, you're sharing your screen.
Awesome! Larry Brecht, visionary, professional. I like that already. And his background picture says I am for equity, because equity starts with everyone.
Oh, love that. That's awesome.
Love that, too. Larry is a rock star here. He has a really good about section I think he says a astute and exceptionally dedicated professional with over 29 years of experience in business operations, human resources and people management. And we can probably tighten that up a little more or make it a little more punchy. But it's a really good start.
Yeah, my my feedback would be is like make it less about the resume and make it more about you or the things that you create. Right. So like, you know, because your experience section, that's where we can put in those additional details, you know, that more resume stuff, but sometimes it's not, it's not critical to have an about section if if there's not that content that really like remember, we got to re earn attention. And that about section is going to be the first opportunity to re earn attention after your headline. So when you've got such a bad ass background picture and headline, right, and then they come to an about section, it's more resume ish, they're gonna pull back a little bit, right, I might look to a featured section here. Showing some of your best like successes or accolades. And then and then when they come into your activity, that's going to be a much stronger representation of who you are in the value bring.
Love that also very visionary, professional love that. But maybe you can make that first tagline that headline, a little longer with some of the powerful stuff. I think I think you have some chief innovation officer in your background. You know, maybe you can find something really punchy to even extend that a little bit visionary professionals almost like a title and it's great. And I know Tanner may disagree with me, but maybe there could be a little more there.
No, I agree with you, you know, definitely that headline is that prime real estate right where we were of that 7.4 seconds, we're going to try to use five, right, like right there. So yeah, definitely use that. Character availability. There is there is something to be said about short and snappy, but I think that you could definitely beef that up a little bit.
Yeah. And then on the contributions, Larry has contributed a piece on your preparing for a situational interview. How can you show off your creativity?
So, yeah, go ahead.
Yeah, no, please.
He says what else? He says begin the interview with your why? Meaning how does this opportunity speak to the core of who you are as a person, Be your authentic self and your talent and skills will shine through?
Totally.
Some more about Larry than his about statement: I think your about statement is very generic. And it doesn't say a lot about you. Like, I think it's great that you're managing product from the requirement gathering and everything. I'm just like, that's, that's a lot of words to me. It doesn't Say anything about you. You, it doesn't give me it doesn't give me your results. It doesn't give me how you like how you contributed the product. It doesn't give me a lot about you, but your contributions does. And that's something that Does impress me. ...If I may add!
Very cool. Yeah, I think it's just what Tanner said earlier. Right. The about should probably go further down into a different section and or at least restructured you about a little little that. So it sounds less like a resume. Very nice, though, I think!
we are a couple minutes over time. I want to thank everybody for showing up Christine to answer your questions really be briefly about $50,000 $25 An hour 50,000 For a full time role for digital accessibility entry level position goes up from there mid range or you know about three years experience you're looking at 75 80k plus. And I will follow up with you with regards to send numbers. I really appreciate the support with your with your leadership and your agency. So thank you guys so much for joining us today on the Getting Hired playbook. I am 200 years Captain mistake. Fail Forward show up anyway. Thank you guys for being I'm saying thanks for being patient with me while Marianne and Janey were like, where the heck's Tanner? Why is this not going on? Thank you all so much for everything. Marianne, thank you so much for bringing your awesome insight, wisdom and expertise. Please vocational rehabilitation counselors, clients with open VR cases. Follow Marianne, she is an advocate you need in your corner. She is an absolute Rockstar and Janey Gemmell. Thank you so much. Janey is a lynchpin over here at Accessibility Officer, a lot of stuff would not happen without her journey. Thank you so much.
Thank you all. We hope to see you again soon. Thanks again.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai