Announcer 1: The views and opinions expressed in to the point are those of the host of the program and its guests.

They do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of WGTE public media.

Finding a job today can feel overwhelming.

Whether you're entering the workforce for the first time, changing careers, or rebuilding after a setback, the process has changed dramatically in recent years and knowing where to start, what resources to use, and how to present yourself can make all the difference.

On today's edition of To the Point, we're cutting through the confusion and getting practical.

We're joined by someone who works every day to help people navigate the job market and connect with real opportunities.

Our guest is Darlene White.

Program manager at Ohio Means Jobs, an organization dedicated to helping Ohio and strengthen their skills, prepare for unemployment, and find the right career path.

We'll talk about the most important steps you should take when you're looking for a job, how to avoid common pitfalls, and the free tools and support.

Ohio means Jobs offers to help you land your next role.

Stay with us.

This is a conversation you won't want to miss.

I'm Danny Miller.

Let's get to the point.

You know that you can connect with us on our social media pages.

You also know that you can email me at Doni Underscore Miller at wget.org.

And for this episode and any other additional extras, please go to wgte.org.

To the point we're talking about something today that I think is critical to talk about in our current environment.

And that's how to find a job, how to put your best foot forward, the mistakes that we make that we could avoid making, and ways to make that best impression when we're looking for work, more people than not are in the job market, right now.

And there are actually fewer jobs out there than we think.

So it's important that you make that best, put that best foot forward.

And one of the people who knows all about putting that best foot forward is our guest today, Darlene White.

Darlene is the program manager from Ohio Means Jobs right here in Toledo.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Welcome, welcome.

Let's just get right to it.

We have so much to talk about today.

What is the biggest misconception that job seekers have when they're looking in the job market?

I think not realizing that finding a job is a job.

Oh well put.

Yes, it takes time and effort.

It takes a lot of organization and planning and you kind of have to know yourself.

You know, you have to know what your work values are.

You need to identify what your interests are, how that coincides with previous job experiences and education.

And sometimes it takes the opportunity to sit down and chat with someone, maybe to get a clear picture of where you have been and where you might need to go.

You know, that's really interesting.

I've never heard anyone put it quite like that, that you need to know yourself when you are looking for a job.

How does that help in the process?

Well, the first thing that I always tell everyone is check out your attitude.

You know, where are you at in that process?

Because depending upon where you are in your job search, you know you could be just getting out of school.

So it's your first job or you could currently be working and you're not satisfied with what you're doing.

You could have been laid off due to no fault of your own right.

Or or you could be in that aging process where you need to look at other alternatives because you cannot continue to do the work you were doing.

So I think the mindset is really important of what you want because many people they'll I'll take anything really.

I mean, is that it's not possible.

And then what happens?

We have turnover problems retention poor for employers.

So it's really critical that we know who we are and what we want to do.

And that begins with our attitude.

So honing in on that I think is the first part and being able to identify where we want to go.

And sometimes if we're bitter, that's going to be an issue, especially if we lost a job due to no fault of our own.

And we thought, oh, we're going to retire from this job in a few years.

And then all of a sudden somebody is deciding to move to another country, or the children no longer want the business, the parents are going to retire.

So I think you have to really see where you're at and maybe even talk about it with someone so that we can clear the air, get on an even playing field, and then start to move forward in the process, because those things will interfere with your ability to interview, you know, look for work that, you know, you just might be accepting something just to get by, but it's not really what you want to do.

So I really think that having the conversations an important component to the whole process.

Do most people overlook that ste They do.

I mean they'll come in sometimes and they'll say I'm interested in getting training and will be saying things like okay, well we want to do some assessments and why do you need to do that?

I know what I want.

Well we have in our area we talk about in-demand occupations and there's really over 100 in-demand occupations in northwest Ohio.

But people continue to select the same 4 or 5 all the time.

And when we get some interest assessments done and we start to review them, they actually could go into other occupations that have a bright future, could maybe exponentially increase their wages a lot more than the one they selected or they thought they wanted to do.

And for that, we need to have a conversation.

We do that all the time.

We do that actually three times a week where we're having an orientation and we provide these assessments.

And so it helps give the direction, the next step, okay, to helping to plan.

So I have my attitude corrected.

Yes.

What do I do next.

Okay.

Now that we got that in check, and let's say we've done a few of these assessments to identify the path, we might sit down and start building this.

I call it a plan, a plan A Graham, let's call it a piece of paper of things that you're interested in wanting to do on the job.

The things of the job might be asking of you, and things that you still maybe need to work on, because we don't always know everything, but we could do 80% of the job.

So start making your list, and then as you're going to start looking at the different occupations, you're going to be able to see what you need to work on and what you bring to the table.

I think most people neglect thinking of their power skills.

I call them they're also referred to as soft skills, but power skills some more, you know.

So I think the important part is to really know those.

I had someone say to me the other day, you know, I have a great work ethic.

And I said, well, exactly what is that?

You know, is that about planning, organizing, analytical thinking?

I mean, like, what are those things about your work ethic that make you a great employee?

So you need to kind of narrow that down a little bit and dig down deeper so that somebody can hear what you have to offer.

Because just to say I have a great work ethic doesn't really highlight who you are.

Yeah.

So the real work starts are a great part of the real work starts before you sit down in front of that employer.

It's how do people most effectively describe what their skill set is or what those power skills are?

Well, they'll say I'm dependable or they'll say, you know, I'm reliable.

I have that great work ethic.

You know, I'm a people person.

So they're very broad categories that really have so many skills built into them.

And what we want to do is chisel at that to highlight those things.

Because when we're looking at job descriptions, an employer may have more specific types of needs that they're looking for in a person.

As a matter of fact, when we get surveys back from employers after events, you know, let's say a job fair or business of the day, they will highlight that that's a category that people need to work on.

Are these power skills?

Yes.

And I think that it's difficult for people sometimes.

And maybe they think it's bragging I don't know.

But this is certainly a time to do that.

When you're looking for a job.

Absolutely.

And especially if it's all true.

Right.

Absolutely.

So you should find a way to make yourself stand out.

Yes.

You as well.

And, broad descriptions like I'm a people person doesn't help in that regard.

You know, especially in today's market where we need so many people to have active listening and be attentive and be empathetic to other people's needs so that we can really hear what they're trying to say.

And, you know, tune in to being able to find a solution for the problem are identified.

These are things that the employer is looking for.

So we are we're, you know, trying to tell someone when we're meeting with them, look, these are all fine, but we need to drill deeper because we know that you've done this in other jobs.

You need to find a word that can pinpoint that initiative, whatever it is that we're, you know, trying to highlight.

You know, I'm, I'm I, like many others of a certain age or pretty old school when it comes to, interviews, I think there's a way you should look, that's changing these days.

It appears that that's changing these days.

What's your recommendation now on what you should how you should appear when you're going into an interview?

Well, I think you have to play the part.

Absolutely.

You need to look the part.

Right.

It's like if you were if you're going to be on a stage in the show, you need to play the part.

So I think for people, they need to investigate.

Sometimes if you have connections with people who might work somewhere or you know of that culture of that business, investigate what's an expectation of how you should come dressed because today I believe that things have gotten a little lax.

You know, we have these two slides that we show in our orientation.

One is more of a business casual, and the other one is sometimes how people just want to walk in, you know, they might have pajama bottoms on or house slippers.

And so we need to be very concise.

We would encourage people not to wear pajama bottoms in house.

Yes, yes.

So I have the do's and don'ts on these PowerPoints.

And people are pretty receptive to it.

But then if I see them at a job fair, they may have not followed through with that.

You know, exactly doing what we had talked about.

Yeah.

So I think it's really critical that people pay attention to that grooming and hygiene.

And the attire, I mean, no one has to go out to a fine department store to purchase something.

They can get some, maybe second hand things, or they could borrow something from someone they know.

Because after all, you're going to see someone maybe for an hour to a half an hour, and you want to just make a good first impression.

Yeah.

So one of sometimes one of the first things that an employer sees is a resume.

Do you help with resumes at Ohio men's jobs?

Yes.

Tell me one of the worst resumes you've ever seen.

What did it look like?

Well, actually, you know, we talk about objectives and we talk about summaries and things.

Some people like to put them on the resume at the top.

Others might neglect it because they might need more space to highlight the power skills.

Right.

But one in particular, had indicated that they had a master's degree.

Okay.

And I won't say which one it was, but I have master's degree in a discipline and then wanted to get a very minimal part time job.

Okay.

Then stated that they were out of the workforce for a while due to some physicality issues, and then also never had a W2 since 2019.

This isn't a summary, so this is where I have to have that conversation.

Yeah for sure.

And and say what's going on, what's going on?

You know, what's the need to explain all this on a document that's going to be sent to maybe 3 or 400 employers, and then you've got I or other people reviewing this document, and then all of a sudden, no one's calling.

No one's calling.

Hold that thought, though.

All right?

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To the point we are talking to Darlene White today, getting some amazing insights into the ways to make that best first impression when you're looking for a job, and also how not to be frustrated during that search and how not to sabotage yourself.

And that resume example that we left with.

We left the first segment with was an amazing example of how you can sabotage yourself before anybody even sees you.

That's correct.

And so with this in mind, in talking to this individual, I said, you know, what are you are do you really want a job?

I mean, what is what is the goal here.

Because this is that hard conversation where you don't really know me, but I'm here to help you.

So I'm going to tell you the gentlest way that I can that this is not going to cut the mustard.

We need to go back to the drawing board.

And if you had to identify what to take out of that, here's a highlighter I want you to start scratching what needs to come out based on what we've had this conversation about.

And so I guess I need to go back and redo this.

Right was the end of the conversation.

I said, yes.

So you have a master's degree, you have an undergraduate degree in the business, area.

So these are things that I would have thought you may have had some opportunity to work on and maybe showcase in the past, but clearly we need to revamp this today and, and highlight some of these experiences that you've had which are outstanding.

You just need to be able to demonstrate that, I think I think sometimes jobseekers forget that they actually are in competition because they don't see the field of resumes that are that are being presented to employers.

So they forget that every little thing that you're saying can be critical in whether their job search is successful.

Well, in to like in this instance with the resume, the next part would be if it was all tweaked and everything looked great.

What if the person got a call?

Now we have to go to the interview, right?

So depending upon what type of interview it is you know we're in person.

But if we were virtual that's one thing.

But now how to reframe the thinking of we're this I don't know if you want to call it negativity, or perhaps that attitude needed to be adjusted a little bit.

Yeah.

Now we have to work on that piece.

So we're working in steps till we get to the perfect ending with the individual.

And that is something that I have no control over, because I will not be going to the interview with them.

Let's talk about interview.

Yeah.

Let's talk about that for just a moment.

So we we understand that our attitude has to be good.

We understand what we need to look like and how we should say things.

That pulls us out of the heap of folks that are applying for the position.

What should they be certain not to do in that interview?

I think you need to be certain not to pretend you know the job that you're applying for when you really don't, right?

So I tell folks all the time you need to read these job descriptions, and if you let's say you've applied for a number of jobs and you really can't remember exactly, then ask for one when you get to the interview, right?

So you have a couple minutes to kind of go over it and be sure that you're, you know, in the right mindset with it, talking about technology, or there might be certain skills that are required, or you might want to find out a little bit more about that position, because just digging a little deeper, because now you're with the person who would be doing the hiring and they can answer those questi But going in without knowing is not really the greatest place to start the interview.

Right?

Or so many people magnify what they they exacerbate their skill set.

It's not a good idea.

No.

I think today we're seeing more employers using like behavioral types of questions where they want to then go into that power skill mode, where they want to see how you had a situation, how you dealt with it, what were some of the skills that you had to apply right now?

You're not going to exacerbate the situation.

You're going to talk about a real scenario that you dealt with, and if it's fact, you should be able to come across as very genuine and not have any challenge.

And, you know, displaying that for that particular employer.

And then in the end, how it made you feel.

And what was the outcome of that?

Because those are the things that I believe employers want to know.

They want to know.

How did you how did you resolve that?

How did you handle that conflict?

You know, how did you make that customer not go somewhere else and continue to work with you?

One of the things doing that, that's really good advice and thank you for that.

And, one of the questions that I thin often asked in an interview is why you left your last employment if they left their last employment in, an unhealthy way, or if they were unhappy with their, job, how would you suggest that they respond to that question?

Well, I think they can reset.

They could circle back and talk about what they're looking for, making it more positive.

You know?

So for me, I would be more interested in working with someone that where I can get some direct supervision or where we have open lines of communication.

And I could see them physically every day.

That's important to me in a job.

So they would be able to take it around to a more positive perspective, rather than saying what was wrong with the person that they worked with.

So give me an example.

What does that sound like?

So ask me the question.

Miss White, I noticed that you left your last job after just a few months.

Can you explain what happened?

Well, it's really important to me that I'm able to connect with people.

And technology is very critical in this type of environment that we're working with.

And I want to make sure I have the right tools to do my job.

And so I'm looking for an organization where I would be able to have those resources in order to do my job to the best of my ability.

So that's why I'm here today, to have this interview with you.

Because as a technology company, I realize that your emphasis is on doing quality work and satisfying your customer's needs.

I'm taking you to my next job interview.

That was amazing.

That was really, really very good.

Very good.

What do you say to folks who are frustrated because there are very few jobs out there right now?

It's a tight market.

And there are lots of people coming into the market, especially new graduates.

What do you say to keep them from being frustrated?

Well, what's interesting, though, is at Ohio means jobs.

We do have this labor exchange report and coincidentally, it's probably about eight pages long, two sided with jobs.

So there are jobs, but then we have to look at do we have the skills to do do the jobs, right.

So if someone's frustrated, let's say, because they say I'm under skilled in these areas, well, there could be a potential to get training.

There could also be a potential for you to get training on a job, because there might be what they call on ATS, on the job training allowances where an employer might be willing to take you in and perhaps have some of your salary reimbursed because they want to train you, because they like you, they think you have the, you know, potential.

So I think it's critical for us to look at where that person's at, because most people that come in for training, they think that that's a requirement, but it may not be.

So they have a lot of things today called micro-credentials that you can get, and there are things you can do online, perhaps spruce up your resume a little bit.

And the other thing that I think interesting and maybe you haven't heard of this, is we're already Lucas County model.

We have, work ready with act the American College of Testing.

So we do this nationally recognized credential.

It's free of charge.

The county pays for these tests.

There's three of them, but they help us to see what aptitude a person has.

Now, every job has different levels of aptitude in order to be successful on the job.

Right.

Well, they could take that test and put it on their resume, and it would show the employer that they have the aptitude to do the work.

So when they go in and apply in Ohio means jobs, they can see what the act required scores are for a particular job.

And this way that could give them a little bit more confidence to to know that, hey, I could I could actually tackle this work.

I have the potential to do this.

Oh wow.

It's really good.

It's good information to have.

I want to ask you a question about salary.

Okay.

I think that, folks, especially new graduates, aren't always given the best information about how to value their skill set going into the market, and sometimes over asking can disqualify them, as easily as under asking can frustrate them.

What's your advice?

You can do some research.

You can look at what some of the going, salaries are in our geographical area for certain occupations.

I mean, there's a program called Old Net Online that you can actually go to, and you can drill down on that application to find out for your region zip code, what employers are paying for these particular jobs, not only here, but other parts of Ohio as well as other parts of the country.

So that information's like readily available.

But I think most people, they look at the dollar amount, they don't necessarily look at the benefits, right.

And benefits have a huge cost to the company, which is part of what you're getting.

I mean, so I tell people, you know, before you leave, an interview, you may want to discuss the benefit package so that you can do a little homework with that to say, wow, that could be like an extra $10,000 a year.

You know, if I had to break that down to part of my hourly rate.

This is huge.

Huge.

Yes.

And when you when you see the size of the business or what the business does, I mean, some of those things are some have gone above and beyond to help their employees.

I tell people also, not not to be so quick to jump ship with employers as well because there is a shortage of people.

So employers are out there looking for other candidates and also offering some initial benefits that are kind of unique, like paying off college loans.

Oh yeah.

You know, or paying for your entire tuition, or maybe giving you a little bit of money towards that first time homebuyer, you know, dream that you might have.

Great.

Yeah.

But those could also steer you away to go to another company and then what?

So I think you have to do your homework on that as well to make sure that, you know, those benefits are really important.

They help keep your keep you and keep you in check.

Yeah.

Okay.

We have just a few seconds.

Your services are open to anybody.

Yes or no?

Yes.

We have a basic service program that people can walk in if they need more intensive services.

It's 200% of the household income poverty guideline.

Okay okay.

Great.

So training as well to get training dollars ready.

And they can reach you by calling.

Yes.

(419)213-5627.

Darlene, thank you so much for being here today.

Really appreciate this information and thank you for joining us.

And we'll see you next time.

Until the point.

Announcer 1: The views and opinions expressed in to the point are those of the host of the program and its guests.

They do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of WGTE public media.

Announcer 2: To the point is supported in part by viewers like you.

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