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All right, so we have started recording, so let me share my screen with all of you so you can see all of our fabulous speakers today. So again, thank you everyone for joining us. We have a great list of speakers that really is, I know all of them and so it's just so much fun to be able to see all of them again and really be able to hear how they're doing and what's been going on with them. So first up, I'll just start over here on the left, since that's what I see over here as well. So we're going to start with Joel. And Joel just graduated not too long ago in May 2020 with his degree in Communication with a concentration in Multimedia Journalism and a minor in Spanish. And right now, for the moment, he is a human resources and employee relations and communications specialist at the Atlantic Girls School. And he is responsible for driving the day-to-day execution of the HR department while setting enterprise wide HR strategies. Along with developing a brand voice and maintaining brand integrity across social media platforms for the Atlantic Girls School. So thank you Joel for joining, joining us so excited to see you again.

And then next up right over to the side is just that Justin DiBella. He graduated in 2019 with a degree in Psychology and with a minor in business, which he was really interested in learning about leadership styles and what really motivates people. And of course, you can use psychology a lot in business. So I think it's great how he's been able to use that. Right now. He's a management consultant at the Brevet Group, which is a leading sales consulting firm based in Atlanta. In this role, he partners with organizations to find ways to improve productivity and grow revenue. So thank you Justin also for joining us today. So now we'll go down to Sarah Underwood. And Sarah also graduated in May 2020, also with a degree in Communication with a focus on Multimedia Journalism. And while she was a student at ǧÃŬAV, she worked on the newspaper as a photographer and produce ǧÃŬAV's basketball and baseball programming. After graduation, she had a little bit of struggle with her job search, but eventually, she found a great home at Total Quality Logistics and she'll be able to tell you more about that journey in just a little bit. She's down in Savannah and her office is growing rapidly.

One thing that she really wants students to understand and to know is that, you know, graduating during a pandemic was definitely very stressful, but stay persistent and don't worry too much about the things you can't control so I'm sure I'm sure she'll go into more of that in just a little bit. And then last but not least, is Lauren Hunter graduated in 2019 with a Communication degree. And Lauren is an award winning journalist who currently works as a multimedia reporter for Jacobs media in Gainesville. In 2021, she was honored with the Award for Best reporter in a small to medium market radio, Georgia Association of Broadcasters. She really enjoys her role as a multimedia reporter because it gives her the opportunity to interact with her community on a daily basis. And Lauren as a proud dog mom of two fur babies. So for those of you that like dogs, Lauren's got a couple of those that I'm sure she enjoys really talking about as well. So I will turn it over. And first, I will go to Sarah. And Sarah, if you could tell us a little bit more about your time at ǧÃŬAV and how that helped prepare you for the job search and for your role today? Yeah, definitely. So hey guys. Welcome. Happy Tuesday.

So I was at North Georgia for a little longer than I think most, but I found communications and really had a really awesome experience, had super involved professors and also Lori, I was in her office all the time and she really helped me do mostly resume stuff. I felt pretty confident in interviewing. But I have to thank my professors.

They would do like mock interviews, which was super, super helpful. We did that in our senior capstone class. And we had to apply to like five job applications. And then we had to pick our top one. So whichever was the top one, our professor would pretend to be like the hiring manager. And he would do his own research. And he would like, make us dress up for that day. And everyone else in the class, like kinda sat on the side. You walked in, you were walking in for your interview. Super stressful, entering my senior year. But really, really helpful like in retrospect now. I've gone through several interviews and I will say like the interview process here at TQL is a little bit more lengthy. And I think if I wouldn't have had that type of help in preparing for those types of interviews. It would have been a lot more stressful. But now working as a recruiter, I can tell you like, please don't be stressed during these job interviews. We want you to be yourself. We want you to lead with like just blind confidence. Kind of fake it till you make it if you will. Which I know sounds a little crazy, but we always want people who are going to be excitable. And I think any company is looking for that regardless of what kind of position it is.

And just knowing like the basics of how to interview and how to write a resume, which is crazy now, working in recruiting, I get to see all sorts of resumes from really all over the country. I could get talk to people all over the country as well. And it made me realize like, wow, I was very lucky to have North Georgia in my back pocket preparing me for those sorts of things. So if you're not talking with your professors, advisors like Lori, you're really doing an injustice to yourself. You guys are paying for that. And they are more than welcome to or more than happy to help you, I'm sure. And even asking for like roles because or positions you know that other companies are hiring for your professors, they've worked in these fields for, you know, maybe decades. So they have really good networking. And I would use that North Georgia and college in general, it's just a good place to start networking. See what's available, see what's happening. Because I think more now than ever, it's kinda who you know, not what you know necessarily what stinks. But you gotta put yourself out there, lead with that blind confidence and just ask for help people are are so willing to help you if you just ask. So North Georgia was really great and preparing me for job interviews for sure, resumes LinkedIn, all of that jazz so. I really felt pretty well prepared going into that aspect once I graduated college.

Fantastic. Thank you, Sarah and Lauren, and it's so good to see you. I'm glad you're able to to make it because I know you're super, super busy person. I'm Justin I'm going to go to you next. And, and, you know, similar question. What do you feel during your time here at ǧÃŬAV helped prepare you or do you think that you landed so far in the role that you were thinking that you would be in when you were in college or have things changed since then? Yeah, Absolutely. And thank you to Lori and career services for putting this together super excited to be here and talking with students and fellow alumni. My experience at ǧÃŬAV was really enriching, really excellent and really helpful in preparing me for for my career and where I am now. I actually went into freshman year as a computer science major. I remember walking into my first class. It was an eight AM on Tuesday, walked in and maybe 20 minutes into it. I was like, this isn't for me. And pretty much immediately withdrew from that class and went to career services. Think I was talking to Dr. Lai. He helped me go through personality assessment to figure out what else was out there. From that kinda converted to business because I feel like that's what everybody else is doing. Did that and took an intro to psych course either. I think it was sophomore year and fell in love with psychology.

The super interesting super interested in learning about myself and the people around me. Why do, why do people make the decisions that they do? And taking that with this bend with business and figuring out how those theories in psychology applied to the world of business. We have a lot of people working together. How did they collaborate? How does one person lead a group of people? And seeing how all those dynamics come to play in the real world. It was really interesting to me. So I was really fortunate to have a lot of professors like Sarah just mentioned, that we're very willing to help. I would sit down with professors either in my business classes or my psychology classes. Just trying to figure out what is out there. What can you do? So I had some psychology professors that were in industry as clinicians and they would share those experiences of the emotional challenges that come with that, but also the fulfilling side of it. Really, with two of my business professors who are actually consultants as their day job, that was their full-time job. And they were professors on the side.

They shared to how interesting and enriching being in consulting is. Being able to see so many different industries in so many different functions. And that really inspired me to start looking at consulting. And that's where I found myself in kinda my first adult job out of college. And a two and half, three years later now, I'm looking back over my experiences and seeing what I've enjoyed the most. Reflecting on a lot of the challenges that I face. And that's now the point where I'm at, where it's a decision point that occurs throughout your career. It's not, you just make this one decision and you're stuck with it. But it's a stepping stone to your next decision. And that's kind of the point that I'm at now. Fantastic. And then also, if for those of us, for those of you who are joining us, go ahead and put in the chat what your major is and your expected graduation. So our alumni can kinda see who they're talking to. And that will help also with some of the information that they provide as well. And so Joel, I'm gonna go to you next. And of course, just like with Sarah, you graduated right at the start of that pandemic. And could you tell us a little bit more about how that affected your job search and how you got to where you are right now? Yeah. Sarah can attest, you know, it was I remember it just like yesterday was a Wednesday and they said, Hey guys, there's going to be no more class. I'll virtual. So that was it, right?

The, the thing that really helped me was that my senior capstone class and all of us, we create a group chat. So we just kept updating each other, kept giving words of encouragement because it was so easy just to be depressed all the time only because people were getting laid off. People were going in early retirement and there was a lot of doors that were being closed. So I'm going to be honest. I mean, it was like six months me being unemployed. And then what happened was my major was communication. So I know how to do, you know, create digital content and use some cameras, uh, of, of, of some sorts and stuff. But, uh, one company was a third-party HR firm, said, hey, you know, we could offer you this entry-level position if you want to learn, you know, HR and say, oh yeah. So I'm going to be honest. I mean, I was making about 32 thousand a year. But that's what happens when you do an entry level. I mean, the salary that annual salary will be low. But the payoff is the experience. So I took it and I learned everything that I, I could even use some of my academic experience to create, you know, social media stuff for them. And then I was with them about a year. And then I came to where I am now, Atlanta Girls School. They were looking for an HR coordinator and I applied and the position was only part time. So I wanted to just try it. I went to the interview and I was transparent and honest. I said well I do have HR experience, but I also have this experience. And I think one thing that really did help is I knew I needed to gain more experience while I was still actively looking. So what I did is I called I emailed called non-profits.

And I said, Hey, do you need any any volunteers for your social media, you know, department. Do you need anything in the end one of them did. And so I was just doing free volunteer work and that the Atlanta Girls School seeing that on my resume really did impress them. And I just had more experience on my resume while still working on the HR firm. And then they actually, Atlanta Girls School actually created a role for me using my experience and my volunteer work and my academic experience into what I'm doing now. And so you just still a learning curve, you know, but I'm I'm happy to do it. Fantastic! Thank you so much. And so Lauren, of course, we will now get to you. And Lauren, you know, when you first started at Jacobs Media, then you got kinda thrown into the fire storm of 2020. And could you tell us a little bit more about that experience and how were you able to prepare yourself, whether it's through school or previous work experience, to really be able to adapt and it honestly excel. You. You're now an award winning journalist. You can honestly say that. You know how to, how do you feel that all those experiences helped you be able to deal with everything that you did in your first year of working as a journalist. Thank you, Lori. Can you all hear me by the way? Okay. Perfect.

I'm using a different computer, so I wanted to make sure they go hear me and let me just say, I'm glad to be here. I'm excited to be here, but I see all these comments, people graduating and like 2025, 2023, and it makes me feel a little bit old. I had to say that real quick. So I guess the best way I can answer that as really that there was nothing that could compare could prepare me for what I experienced that first year, as Lori may have told you all before I was able to hop on, I started with Jacobs Media company. We are a radio station and news website. And I started here in December of 2019. So just before the world shut down because of COVID-19 and also, I'm sure you all remember 2020 was an election year. So it was sort of the dual like balancing COVID and the election year. Really the best advice I can give, I guess, is to be enthusiastic and to show your employers that you're willing to jump in and learn it all. Basically, when I started with JMC, I had just come out of a sports reporter job and learned that sports reporting was not really where I wanted to be. And I wanted to be a little bit closer to home because I was commuting pretty far, pretty frequently. And as a matter of fact, right after I applied at WDUN I didn't get the job, I was passed over for someone else. And then about two or three months later, the young woman who was in my position before me left for a different organization. And my now boss is still had my resume. And he reached out to me and said, Hey, we had this position open up and we still have your resume. Are you interested? And so that was what got my foot in the door, so to speak. But I think what my employer my current employers appreciated from me coming in was that I knew a little bit of everything. I could shoot video, I can edit video, I could write news stories, I could anchor.

I was a one woman band, but at the same time, I knew that I didn't know at all, so I was willing to learn. And that has shaped me into the reporter that I am today. And so unfortunately, I can only say that really nothing could prepare me for 2020. But then again, what could have prepared any of us for the year 2020 was. So with that said the best thing, the best advice I really can offer is to be enthusiastic and learn as much as you can about the position. But also come in with a willing attitude and a willingness to learn. And I hope that answers your question, Lori. Oh, definitely. Definitely. And Sarah, I know you had mentioned that again, since you graduated in 2020, how it was a struggle with your job search and how you had to figure out other avenues. And could you tell us a little bit more about what you had aspired to be when you graduated and then how things have actually transpired in the real-world? Yeah, definitely. So I think it was a really interesting transition, I think for all of us who graduated in that pandemic era, just kinda just thrown into it. So I had to grow up a little quicker, I guess once you we graduated.

So I was communications Lauren and I and Joel all had classes together. And I really wanted to work behind the scenes. I wanted to be a producer for news. I still really enjoy it. And I do photography outside of work. So that is my little small business that it's my creative outlet. I still enjoy doing it. But I had moved down to Savannah towards the end of the summer after I graduated in August of 2020, in hopes that I could find a job down here in a smaller market because I was applying for endless positions and the Atlanta metro area wasn't hearing a thing that things that were interviewing for where marketing jobs that were actually sales positions. I'm sure all of us have had at least one interview like that. I walked out of two. And the reason is I'm not going to waste my time and I tell them, you know, you are false advertising what this job is, not telling me the accurate job description. And it's kind of a pyramid scheme because you're hiring people underneath of you to manage and they disguise it very differently. So I was seeing things like that and other things that looks kinda sketch at that moment as well. So I moved down to Savannah in hopes I can get into news on a smaller market. What the hope, of focusing more on environmental news stories because that's kind of where my passion has lied. And I had actually networked with the girl I met on tiktok. She was making paranormal and like historic videos about Savannah and obviously living like in a haunted city like Savannah. I came across her page and it was beautifully produced.

I reached out to her and I was like, hey, I like the way you do your videos ended up producing news for WTOC down here, which is a CBS affiliate. And we started going on Sunday walks with our dogs. Kinda just built a friendship out of that. And she gave me the information for the recruiter at WTOC emailed, called nothing. Absolutely nothing. I felt like all of my resumes, we're going into an endless abyss and that they were never going to be found and no one was going to call me. And I thought I had a very good resume. I had a lot of experience. So I was really starting to get bummed out. So I started looking at a few other areas outside of what was known as my comfort zone or my education or degree. And I really feel now that branching yourself out of that comfort zone. So if this circle's your comfort zone, you're not going to learn in that circle, you got to branch out of that. To really move forward and evolve in your skills, whatever that will be. If it scares you, that's good. It's going to be a little scary and kind of what Lauren said, Be enthusiastic, just dive right on in. A huge thing of me being a recruiter is looking how excitable you are and how easy or difficult it is going to be to coach you or, train you. We want you to be a sponge. Just jump in if you don't know, ask. Again, everyone's going to be more than happy to answer those questions for you. So I applied for a few different positions down here and then ended up applying for TQL where I work now. So Total Quality Logistics, third party logistics company, our freight brokerage had an idea of what that was because someone I graduated with at ǧÃŬAV in 2018, she was working at a freight brokerage.

So I understood what it was. Jumped the gun, went into sales, you know, training fully by was pretty successful in sales. You made some good money. Really learned a lot. An opening for recruiting opened up. I'm not someone to say no to an opportunity. So moved into recruiting in November of 2021, been with TQL now for a little over a year. And it took me about six months as well to find a job. I moved to a whole new city. Really just knowing three people with the hopes of photography was going to keep me going, which it did. Within four months, I was booking weekly sessions, which was amazing. And again, passions follow that, whatever that is. If your passion isn't necessarily what your degree is, do it as a side hustle. As a recruiter, seeing that on a resume shows that you are self-motivated. You got drive. And you have really good time management skills, and you have a little bit of sales skills because you're running your own business. So there's a lot of good aspects that can come into that.

So that's kind of what my journey looks like. Really not normal  coming out the gates. And when I interview people, I'm like, I'm a broadcasting communications major. I did not go to school for sales, business, marketing, anything like that. And it's just a testament to see like how much you can really grow when you push yourself outside of your comfort zone. But it's something that you're interested in. So, that's how I got here.  Well, that's fantastic and I think it's great to see that all of you have had some other occupations. You're going to of course, continue to grow and have other things. You're not going to be just in one job for the rest of your life. And, so Freddie had put in the chat or actually a really great question. It's not cliche at all, it's all good stuff.

So Justin, I'm going to throw this one to you and then if anyone else wants to hop on this as well. But Justin, I'll start with you. Were there any mistakes that you made while you're in college? What did you learn from them? I think that's a great question. I think mistake is a red word where you feel some type of way about it, about the word mistake. But there are decisions that we make at different points. And when I think about my experience at ǧÃŬAV there, There's two things that come to mind. One is where I was focusing my time. I really enjoyed my studies. But I focused my time, I would say splitting my time between school and work. And I didn't focus any of my time on going to events, joining clubs and doing any extra curriculars. And I think there's there was so much of an opportunity to do things like that. And that does sound like a cliche answer to it. But I think it's really important. One in the relationships that you build long-term, where over time you never know when you're going to cross paths again. Lauren and I, we actually went to high school together. Didn't really see each other much throughout college. And now here we are together on this call. So being able to be involved in some of those experiences, you never know what the benefit is later on. And if you could get involved in some kind of leadership position inside of those clubs. I think that's a really great opportunity. I did learn from that kind of late my last semester, senior year, where I had an opportunity to work with two professors on a research project. And that was something that I wish I would have done earlier because I caught it right at the back end where I  didn't have time to really focus on that.

And then all of a sudden here was graduating, starting a job and I couldn't complete that project. So lessons learned there even now is when you're in your career, that's going to suck a lot of time from your life. I talk to my boss way more than I talk to my friends everyday, way more than I talk to my family. And my colleagues are, those are the people that you see day in and day out. Even when you're in classes, you're not necessarily with the same students in every class. So you're constantly cycling through people and perspectives and personalities where you kind of siloed in that when if you're working on a small team, which my team is pretty small. So the lesson there is, go broad, as broad as you can, whether that's in your first career. Consulting has given me that broad experience across industries and projects and people and being able to do that in any aspects, whether that's volunteering like Joel said, or trying out different things and getting as much experience as you can. Thank you so much. Joel. Let me ask you that same question. Was there anything that, you know, if you know what you know what you know now, is there anything that maybe you would've changed during your time at ǧÃŬAV and what you've been able to learn from that experience? Yeah. I was really thinking about that question because it's a really good question in the sense of I did make a lot of mistakes. And I think even when I did graduate, I did not take advantage of the career center. As I should have. Like a quick story.

I paid $300 for someone to, for an organization to write my essay, I mean, my resume. And it was horrible. Like I could, they did it in Word. Like I was expecting something amazing and it was very, it was not worth $300. And I paid them to revamp my LinkedIn account. I paid them to do a cover letter. I, you know, I spent like $700 right. When I could've just went to the career center for them to help me. That's that. I still think about it to this day. So I do not recommend top resume.com. $700 mistake. That is definitely a mistake. And just so everyone on the call knows career services is here for you even after you graduate. So little little plug there. But Lauren, you had mentioned because I remember when when we had met it was about going into sports and working in that particular industry and that's a lot of what we had talked about. So you and you had mentioned about how you realized that wasn't for you besides the commute, what was it that changed your mind? And how did you come across Jacobs media as it's still journalism, but definitely a different focus.

And so how did you realize that change there? That's a really great question. And a lot of it was the company that I worked for when I was a sports reporter. Now, not to throw anybody under the bus. But if you want to know who it was, private message me and I will tell you the real, real. So it was a lot of it had to do. It was a again, not throw anybody under the bus, but it was a toxic work environment. And I did a lot of research into that because I don't want to throw accusations around lightly. So I did some research like what are some signs of a toxic work environment and it checked off every single box. So that was only about four or five months into me working there, which was really unfortunate. And so it wasn't long after I had started that I was ready to find another job. And I had always known what Jacobs Media was had always known who they were. Knew they had a really great reputation in the community. I think Sarah, I think you may have it with me when we came on the tour. Here together, we were, who were in college. Shelia Contes used to bring this over here once a semester. And of course, being from, I grew up in Gwinnett County, but my family's from Gainesville.

So being from the area, I knew who they were. And so when I saw the position come up for a reporter here, it just felt like a natural fit. And so that's when I applied. But as far as aside from the company, it wasn't that I disliked sports. Sports is a very you have to know your stuff and you have to live and breathe sports, which I did as a sports reporter. But it was like that, just that feeling that something was missing and that I felt like I could do more. And so I'll be honest, when I got the offer from WDUN I was a little bit nervous because I thought, well, I've always wanted to do sports and I enjoy sports. But what I have found is since I have come on board at WDUN I have actually gotten the opportunities to work with sports. So our sports department has asked me to help out with filming football games and I've been asked to write a couple of sports articles which I haven't done yet, but I had been offered the opportunity to do so. So the takeaway, I would say from my experience is, keep in mind that just because you may be transitioning from one job to another and you're not really quite sure about it, doesn't mean that you're going to have more opportunity is with the new job that may be offered. And what I found was really helpful to me as far as making a job change was to make a pro and con chart. So to list out all the pros in my current company list out all the cons of my current company and same with the new company. And then kinda decide, okay, which one weighs the most in pros, most in cons.

And when I did that two years ago, I found that moving to WDUN was by far the more advantageous choice. And the rest is history. It's so funny because a lot of times I do tell people I know it's simple but do a pros and cons lists. Sometimes you just got to visually see what you like and don't like.

And just so everyone knows on the call, I had no idea how connected these alumni were. I just said, Who am I connected to? And let's see who responds. And luckily, they all responded because they're awesome people. So it was just then when we got on a chat last week and they said, well, I know this person and I know that person. We went through that. Oh, wow. Those total coincidence. So yeah, you're right. Justin you never know who you're going to end up running into again sometime in the future. And so Justin, I wonder if you tell a little bit more about your job search. Because a lot of times when I meet with students, the hardest part is finding the job Who's Hiring? What's the company name, What's even out there. So how did you come across where you are now and what were some of the strategies that worked best for you? Yeah. Great question. And I'll try to come to that with two different ways. I've had the opportunity to also be on the interviewing side of  recruiting and selecting onboarding people onto the team thought I'd bring both of those perspectives in as a candidate, as a, as a recruiter. And let me also just make a quick plug to Handshake. I found both an internship during my junior summer semester and my current job now, both through Handshake. So if you haven't applied or looked at Handshake, setup an account, go and do that. If you make a comparison between that and LinkedIn, we've posted jobs on LinkedIn within two or three days, we'll have a 1000 resumes come in.

It's so incredibly difficult to sift through those. And also as a candidate to make yourself stand out from other resumes that may have a lot of the same qualifications. On Handshake. It's well, we've also posted jobs on Handshake. We may get 30 to 60 in two weeks. That's much more manageable for a recruiter to look through, see what stands out. And you know, just by looking at statistics, you're more likely to get a call back if you're one out of 60 versus one out of 1000. So that's one thing to keep in mind. Handshake is awesome. As a candidate. It's very difficult going through the interview process. And a lot of times in my current role, I think back to when I was interviewing for this position and in a couple of others, I gained traction with this company very quickly. And that process starts to move pretty quick. Once you get to the second, third interview, I think my interview process was like five-weeks. I had to do like a case study, it was pretty involved. But just because you get an offer doesn't mean you have to take it. There's a lot of things that you need to look at. There's a lot of red flags like Lauren mentioned. You can tell the culture before you join it. So be strategic in the questions you ask, if you I was actually on an interview about a week ago and I asked the question was, what's the general culture, what's the work-life balance? And the answer that I got back was, Well, we don't really think about work as a 40 hour work week. I don't care when you work. I don't care if you work 25 hours or 70 hours. Boom, red flag. Because that means they want you to work 70 hours.

They, it's not acceptable for you to work less. So little things like that. The more you can ask get a feel for your manager, too. A lot of times in our organization we'll set up a call with the candidate and kind of their counterpart, someone who would be a colleague versus a manager. If you're ever given that opportunity. Ask with the manager's leadership style is, think about how does that work with your personality? If you know, someone that's a micromanager is not something you want to be dealing with, then you know that that's something to keep into consideration. So definitely, the more questions you can ask, don't be afraid to ask those questions and be honest about what you want because you can be selective in that process. Great. Thank you so much. And you Sarah, Lauren, did you have something? Yes, I did. I'm sorry I didn't want to interrupt Justin I was trying to like put it in the chat, but I'm too slow.

So along with those like red flags, definitely ask someone, especially if it's important to you like the work culture at the office. And if they have an answer like what Justin just described, that's a red flag. They should be able to tell you something about their company and something about their work culture that's not related to hours. If they're just focused on hours to me that says that's all they care about. They just care about the time sheet and they don't really care about you and what you could possibly get out of the experience. Also, this should've been a red flag to me when I went and interviewed at my first job and it was, but at the same time I ignored it. So if you pull up and their location is in like a dilapidated, abandoned looking shopping strip and they don't have any signage on it. And then you go in and the office is a wreck. That's a good that's a red flag. Also, there was one more and it just totally escaped me, so yeah, oh well, story of my life. That's like it's like just like one quick like that, that's definitely, oh I remember what it was now, that always comes to me. So also, I have done this when I've interviewed for other jobs as people in the community. What that company is like. If you know, it's a company that's pretty well-known ask people, other people, what they think about it.

Because they should be able to tell you, Oh, I've heard good things or I haven't heard good things. And some that's a lot of times in my opinion, better than trying to look like dig through Indeed and see if they have any job reviews or something like that more trustworthy to go ahead, Joel. I just wanted to say, you know what That being said, you know, with my with my organization now, you know, they both prior to me starting in September, the whole leadership team was new. Everyone I'm talking about from the, from the head of school down, they got every new leadership. And so when I was doing my interview, they said, we're going to be honest. This school was it was not managed as it was supposed to. We're starting from ground zero where and they were completed honest and said We need someone in the weeds. Are you willing to do that? And so I did the pros and cons lists as well. And I said, You know, what? I personally said, this this is I'm I am willing to be in the weeds. I am willing to work hard, even harder than I'm supposed to. And to me personally, I made the conscious decision to say, You know what, I'm gonna do this. And then when I accomplish this, my next step, if I tried to transition to somewhere else, I can use that as a reference point to say, Hey, I turned this office around.

This is what I implemented, this is what I facilitated, this is what I developed it, but you have to be that person to want to do that. So once again, if the, if the organization is honest like that, then they're giving it they're giving you the option. I like Justin said, it's your decision to decline or to accept. That's great. That's great. Thank you. Sarah. I mean, Freddie  had a really good follow-up question as well to that and then I want to tag that along with I can't believe it's already getting to almost the end of the hour. I mean, we really could probably talk for a very long time because you guys have so much great information and ya'll are  just fascinating. So if Freddie's question was, what are some of the qualities that you look for. Of course, you work for a company that has a very established mission and values and culture. And of course, as a recruiter, you know what you're looking for when you're trying to find people that would go well with your company. So thinking about what are some of the things that attracted you, where you are right now? And also thinking about, if you can let the students know, what are some of the strategies they can implement when they are in their job search that can be effective. And of course, you know, when speaking to someone like your recruiter or in HR, what are some of the best ways that they can come across to get those opportunities. Yeah, definitely.

So to kinda go backwards from forwards, when you're talking with a company and you are wanting to get noticed. Linkedin is always going to be a great asset to have. You can reach out to people within that company, figure out who the recruiter is, message the recruiter. And then when you come to the interview side of things, do your homework. I was speaking at Georgia Southern like a few weeks ago, doing a career fair. And ya'll would be so surprised with how many people I talk to you on a daily basis who have applied to this job. I work for TQL, we're the second largest brokerage, anyone in freight knows who we are, knows what we do. So if you don't work  in freight, obviously but like don't walk into an interview with I don't know anything because that just tells me you're lazy and you didn't even take like 30 seconds took just to find out what we do or even like our tagline or something, like just give me something that I can build off of. And I always tell them like, hey, tell me what you know about TQL and the role that you're interviewing for. And I'll kind of fill in the rest hoping that they're going to give me a good answer. Most of them like, I don't know anything.

And like that's such a huge bummer and that makes my job super boring. I'm very animated. I like to be animated over the phone with people when I'm phone interview, I'm literally talking with my hands. I do all the time. And another questions they always ask me is, what's the culture like? That's really important because work sometimes can be stressful. There's going to be days that we really don't want to go to work or do whatever it is. And so that culture, you know, you kind of need to rely on for days like that. And just as a whole, you want to be comfortable where you're working and you want to grow there. So what I like to tell my candidates, freight brokering is a different world. It is not corporate America it is very like y'all were saying earlier, like I looked very busy. My friends were coming in and like shooting Nerf Darts, like they are running around. Yes, we are working really hard. Logistics is a very difficult and stressful job. These trucks need a lot of maintenance, boats, ships, rail, you name it. There's always going to be an issue, so we know that. So we're trying to make our work environment not that we celebrate those big and small milestones. When someone gets a large margin on a load, they get to ring a air siren where it and then they get to like do the wave and the whole office goes nuts just for, you know, a margin, large margin, or if they get a customer close, they get to ring a gong.

And we have banners and all sorts of stuff. We do happy hours outside of work, we actually do beer shops, which is like when we break a record, you know, we are celebrated and we get to we get to drink at work. Which is not normal for most places. But I feel like with young people coming into the workforce and kinda taking over past generations that are going into retirement. We're bringing those sorts of things to the forefront of what's most important to us, which is a healthy work environment, toxic job from the normal grind. Yeah, that's a good question and kind of to play off what Justin said or Joel, you guys were talking about, if you have the opportunity to speak to a colleague, that would be equal to you. That's something that I loved during my interview process here, we actually got to do a shadow. So we got to see what the office environment was like, what a typical day was going to be like. So it gave me a good idea of what I was really walking into before a 100 percent committed to it. And I did ask that question and he was someone in leadership and like looking back at it, I was like, ooh, that was a little dicey, but I'm glad I did because it set up expectations for me. And you want your recruiter to be truthful with you. That's something I do like. It's just easier to tell the truth because I don't want to get them through the entire process and then quit and be like you lied to me.

No, I told you exactly what it is because this is a lot of work. It is a lot of hours that you have to work in order to work in sales. So I always try to lead with forefront. If work-life balance is a issue for you that could be toxic if management or other people in your office aren't open, openly communicating, that is an issue. You need to be able to openly communicate with everyone on your floor, on your team to get the job done. Those are just some I can think off the top of my head. On terms of culture. I mean, we really do it all. I'm a charity captain here as well. So we do things for our community this month. We're actually doing a beach clean-up since I live in Savannah. And last month we did American Heart Association. So we did like a company wide trivia. For Christmas. We picked 15 children and aging from two months to, 17 years old, and sponsored them, bought them like hoverboards, tablets, Air Force Ones. A bunch of great stuff that we give to the Savannah community because that was something very important to me. I was in Relay For Life while I was in Forsyth County, my senior year, I was coming back of chemo and radiation, so cancer survivor as well. And just, you know, pushing through no matter what it is, just like looking on the bright side and finding those things that are important to me that I can build off of. And I feel like I really found that here and it's rare. It will take some time. But be picky.

You guys literally have the pick of the litter and we have graduation dates like this year, next year, 2025. So who knows what that job market's going to look like because it's ever evolving and even week-to-week here, I notice a difference, so I hope that helps. That's a lot of information I know. If I could add to Sarah. Is true. You never know who, who wants you on the organization, right? And I think in my case, they were willing to give me a chance and even want to meet up to this point. This is my grad school. I'm learning so much while on the job. And if you have the opportunity for them to develop you further, to teach you things that they know. Go for it. I'm always the person who wants to learn. And I've learned so much about this industry that I'm in, which is independent schools. And I'm learning every day and they're more than happy to teach me. So if you could find someone in that organization to teach you, to take you into their wings. Like a mentor. That's, that's so valuable. You have no idea how valuable that is in any industry. If you could find someone to mentor you to take the time to teach you. It's, it's, it's, so it's, it's priceless. Thank you so much. So that is all really great information. I can't believe we're down to the last final seconds here almost. So Lauren, just really quick, since Jennifer had a really good question about what are some of those signs to look out for if it's a toxic environment and at least some things to know, Hey, this is what I should avoid, right? And I don't want to end on a negative note. So I do want to to point out to everyone that first of all, if you want to reach out to me directly, you're more than welcome to. I'm happy to help anyone has any more questions specifically about the news industry, but just about anything in general. And you can ask Lori for my contact info. But I would just say you'll know it when it happens. You'll know, now a lot of my experience had to do with the company owner and it was a very small kinda call it. I usually when I describe it to people, I call it a media startup.

And he would talk down to me. He would regularly yell at me he would cuss at me when I he would get on to me for things that I didn't know I wasn't supposed to do. So it's behavior like that. I mean, if you just feel like you're being treated like trash, That's a really good sign that it's a toxic work environment. But it doesn't always happen based on the research that I've done. It doesn't always happen with the person in charge. It can happen with your coworkers too and here's one thing I want you all and Lori you may have a different opinion on this, but I want you all to remember your worth not that Lori would have a different opinion on that. I'm getting I'm getting to that part.

I was always told growing up that you never quit a job until you have another one lined up? Well, fortunately, I worked out for me where I was able to transition immediately from my old job to WDUN. But I want you all to keep in mind that mental health is important. And if you get to a point in a job, where to your mental health is just in shambles. That job is not worth it and that paycheck is not worth it. And odds are if your mental health is suffering, then that paycheck is not great anyway. And you can go somewhere else that will pay you more and that will treat you better, especially in today's job market. And Sarah was saying, you know, some of you are graduating in two, even three years. Keep in mind that right now people are literally begging for employees. So if you're looking for anything right now, don't be afraid to put yourself out because overall, I would say the number one thing I've learned both from ǧÃŬAV and in life, is that you'll miss every opportunity that you don't take. So to end it on a positive note, I would say definitely take every opportunity you can try not to overload yourself. But you never know where something is going to lead, whether it's good or bad, you'll learn something from it. So that's what I'll leave you with. Just take every opportunity.

Now, Lauren, I agree with you 100%. You know what you're talking about. It. So yes, since we're down to just the last couple of minutes, Justin, I'll throw this to you. Any last bit of advice? Anything you wish you had known when you were in college that you learned afterwards that you went, gee golly I wish I knew this couple years ago. And I'll, I'll I'll call on each one of the after, but that's pretty much how I want to end it, is you know, what are some of the things you wish you had known and any last bit of advice you would like to impart on our our our students here today. Yeah, absolutely. I'll be quick, but I have two things. One is to develop a, a bit of a mentor committee. It's kind of a term that a colleague of mine came up with. But it's a group of people that whenever you're ready to make a decision, you're just thinking about things. It could be a group of people that you send your resume to, to peer review, mark it up and send it back to you. And that should be a group of people. It could be your peers, could be friends. But get someone who is a little bit more objective. Could be a former professor, could be a former colleague, just get people in your court that are going to tell it to you straight of an objective opinion as you look into those decisions. The other thing is, your reputation is super important. Think about when you're starting with a new team or who you're surrounding yourself with is, what do you want them to think of you? You don't have to be the smartest person in the room, you don't have to be the funniest but if you're the hardest working or, or something that they can, whenever they think about something they think of you, that's super important. I've had clients and former colleagues that have moved to different organizations that say, Hey, whenever you're ready, let me know and I'll take you to my team so that the reputation that things that you do, how you act is really important and that sticks with you.

Excellent. And Joel, how about you? The advice I would give to the people on this call is be dedicated. You're going to hear a lot of no's. You're going to be ghosted from companies, right? They're not going to respond sometimes. But it's okay. At the end of the day, there's going to be an organization out there that's going to want you, and you never know who's going to want you. For example, I'm doing some recruiting for some positions. The ones that say ǧÃŬAV on them, they're on top of the list. Because I went to ǧÃŬAV. So I want to give them the opportunity, right? So you just, just keep, keep, keep making connections on LinkedIn, keep applying to things. Even if you might not have all the qualifications, you never know. Because I was on the bottom of the list. Until I started interviewing and they said We want you. Because just like Sarah said, they saw me fit in the organization. Right?

They they they knew that they knew that I could work easy with everyone here. So you just never know. So be be determined. Fantastic. And Sarah, how about you? Some last parting words? Okay, I got you guys unmuted. So last parting words is lead with passion in whatever you do and kinda summarize it, even if you don't have those qualifications. Just lead with that. Because sometimes I'm just looking for people with energy who are excited, who are eager, who are ready to go. And you know, there's going to be things that don't work out. You're going to hear a 100 no's before you  hear that yes, I hate saying that. I say it in my interviews all the time dealing with salespeople because it's a sales trope. I hate saying that, but it's so true. And as long as you're staying with that and you're consistent and just putting yourself out there. Don't say no to any opportunities exactly what Lauren said and what Justin said as well, your reputation does follow you. I have had a very lucky, lucky, lucky job history. All of my bosses had been fantastic. I've learned a lot from them. Sure. There's going to be days that like I want to bring their neck, but like overall, they've taught me something so extremely valuable, whatever it was. And then Freddie had kinda said if there's someone at your job that you don't really particularly want to talk to. There's always going to be that person in school and work in life.

There's always going to be that person. If you just kinda like lead with kindness and just, you know, make yourself the obvious choice. I think that's the best piece of advice I could possibly give you. When looking for a job, when you're at a job, if you want another promotion or you're looking for other opportunities, make yourself the obvious choice by doing what leadership's already doing and just asking them to mentor you. Hanging out with people who have similar goals as you, whether it is a different field or not. You want to hang out with successful people so you can surround yourself around that so you can eventually get yourself there. Because it's always going to circle back into your life in one way or another. So that's what I would have to say. Fantastic. Lauren, I will end it with you. I know we're going over just a smidgen, but like you said, we definitely want a positive note. I love your attitude on that because yeah, it can be a challenging time with the job search and figuring out what you want to do and something, sometimes things don't work out, but like you said, a lot of times it's a great learning experience. So Lauren, what are your last parting thoughts for the day? I think I pretty much said everything I really wanted to say in my last few remarks. But again, I can't stress enough like it. You guys really have those of you that are watching that are students or alumni. I don't care.

If you guys have any questions. Feel free to reach out to me, add me on LinkedIn. I will be happy to help you because I know what it feels like to be told. Oh yeah, I'm happy to help and then reach out and hear nothing. I know how that feels too. So I don't want to be that person. I want to help everybody in their career so you can get my contact information for Lori and yeah, good luck, everybody. Yeah, definitely. They're all on LinkedIn that like I said, that's how I was able to find that all of them and be able to bring them on board today. So thank you everyone for joining us today. I apologize for going over just a little bit, but aren't they just so much fun to talk to you? We could just do this all day. But, you know, they kind of have jobs and have things to do. And I know everyone else has things to do as well. But again, thank you, Sarah, Lauren, Joel, and Justin. Thank you so much for being here and taking time out of your day. And again, folks, these are super nice alumni. I've already referred some students over to Justin already and over to Sarah, and even I move over to Lauren.

I think I don't know if they ever contacted you, but I did give them your information. So they they definitely, you know, they mean what they say when they say they would like to help students as well because they were in the same boat just a couple of years ago. And and so they knew exactly the struggles that all of this entails. So again, everyone, thank you so much for your time. I wish you all the best and have a great day. Thank you.

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