Mastering the Job Application Process: A Recruiter's Guide to Making a Memorable Impression in Tech

Welcome to the show where we tackle the tough questions submitted by installers , project managers , estimators , area managers , customers , even I see it personnel . We are connecting at the human level so that we can connect the world .

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So , as I said in the intro , one of the toughest things that installers out in the field technicians , installers , project managers we're good at pulling , terminating , testing cable .

We're not so good at trying to figure out what that technical recruiter is looking for , laying that job , and I can't tell you how many times that I've watched an experienced technician sign in on my computer typing their name with two fingers at a time . We're working in technology . You think you know the home row , but that's just the role we live in .

We're good at pulling , terminating , testing cable , computer skills , people skills Sometimes we are not quite so good at . So how can you make an impression with that technical recruiter so that way you might land that dream job ? That is the subject of today's show . Now I have a very special guest today Now .

This individual , he has over 12 years of experience in the technical recruiting world . He's held positions such as recruiting director , talent acquisition manager , senior corporate technical recruiter . He's worked for companies like T-Com , milestone technologies , accenture Interactive and many , many more . This guy , I met him at a Bixie conference .

You meet some weird people at Bixie conference and I met him there through a friend that we know together mutual friend and I reached out to him and I said , look , here's what I want to do . And he couldn't wait to get on the show fast enough because he wants to help you get better . He wants you to help me get better .

So welcome to the show , tommy Lopez . How are you doing , my friend ?

There will be no content , zero content . I may not even bring my phone with me .

What kind of skills are highly sought after by those managers ?

And it's important that you read , and hey , no one's going to meet 100% of the requirements of the job . It's impossible . I would say , hey , if you meet 70 to 75 or 80% of that job description , apply for it , go after it .

The skills they're looking for , yes , are aligning to what needs to be done from a technical standpoint , but I think a lot of those managers are also looking for the right attitude and aptitude , someone who is willing to be trainable , who is willing to be open to direct , constructed feedback at the same time where , hey , we're going to talk about your mistakes ,

we're going to talk about your failures , but not in a bad way , but in a way that helps you grow and helps you learn from your mistakes .

The number one question I hear a lot of my hiring managers and directors that I work with in their weekly meetings are hey , what are the lessons learned this week , what are the mistakes we've made that we can learn from and make ourselves even better .

If I send you my resume but then I send you a cover letter that says look , I know I haven't been , you know this XYZ position , but here's the skill sets that you listed . Here's those same skills I use in my position , would that be perfectly acceptable ?

I can understand that argument but sometimes , from a recruiting standpoint , if you go that extra step , we will , we will read that . I read every cover letter , every resume that comes through for T-Com along with our team . It's to put that human touch on it , because there's a lot of times that we reject candidates and they will email us and asking us why .

We will give them that feedback on why they were not fit . But here's what they should do and hey , go train for that and let's stay in communication and let's see where things happen in the future . Because what I've learned in the ICT industry here it's all about relationships . I never make any call .

Any meeting I have with a candidate , I never make it a transaction . I because I've hired candidates that I've known for three months , but I've also hired candidates that I've known for three years , and it's all about finding that right time and that right opportunity for them as well .

What's going to catch your eyes of technical recruiter when you're looking at that cover letter For me , for a cover letter and resume .

Do not put any information that you cannot back up . The more detail that you provide on what you are actually doing helps us out even more . A lot of people will put in information that they've been a part of a team for , and that's great . Let us know that . But we're more important of what you have done . What are you bringing on the table ?

What value do you bring ? What knowledge are you bringing to the table ? A cover letter ? I definitely keep it one page , nothing longer than that . A couple of paragraphs would do just fine From a resume standpoint . I think it's we're past the whole one page resume days where I think something acceptable is two to three pages , nothing longer than that .

I always tell people that range . Give me what you've done for the last 10 to 15 years . One of the great things about this industry is a lot of the candidates have great work histories and been with companies for a really , really long time . Let us know how you've progressed through that company and again , what you have done specifically in detail .

If you're friends with me in LinkedIn , you'll see tons of posts coming out from me all the time . But there are other people yeah , there are other people on LinkedIn that the only reason they have a LinkedIn profile is because somebody sent them a request to be a friend .

And they go oh , and they had to log on and they haven't been on LinkedIn ever since . So all you get ? You get that blank cover , you know , no profile picture , no banner at the top and maybe very basic stuff .

And so my question is how often because I tell people I preach LinkedIn , I really do how often do you look at somebody's LinkedIn profile when they're applying for a job ?

Why is that ? I will ask ? But yeah , again , linkedin is a great platform to sell who you are . You know , and recruiters like I live on LinkedIn . That's , you know , in this industry , that is where I live . And again , it's by having the right content , having the right keywords of what you're doing .

Working with the right technologies , is gonna be important because for a lot of our engineers and project managers at T-Com right now , we use a lot of Revit , we use Bluebeam , we use , you know , bim 360 , there's a lot of tools we use . So we will use those certain keywords in there . But also , I would say it's a platform to sell who you are .

There have been a number of people , like you said , that have just gone on it and they put their profile in a little bit of what they've done in their past . They don't put , hey , I'm an RCDD , I'm a PE , I'm an EET , I'm a PMP certified or CDT or CTS .

You know , it's an opportunity to show who you are because , although you might not be looking for a job right now , it's important to build that relationship for , and grow your network on , the right people that can help you land that next job when and if you're looking for it .

I've got the award to show that I've done that right . It's not bragging . If you've done it and if you're trying to get a job , you're selling yourself . You are your own brand . And if somebody goes to LinkedIn and it's very bland and unless they know you through other avenues , maybe they heard about your reputation through mutual friends or something .

You might get passed over . So invest the time and create a good LinkedIn profile . It doesn't have to be beautiful and whiz bang and just complete and good descriptions of what you've done . So I'm a big , big profile LinkedIn .

I use LinkedIn A to find people like you to come on the show , to do guests and stuff like that , but people have also used LinkedIn to find me because they wanted to get on the show . So you're selling yourself .

If you do those two things , good things will happen and hiring managers will appreciate your honesty and you being genuine and people can sense that and they will invest the resources and the training to help grow your career .

And I told my boss when he got hired , or in the hiring process , I told him look , I am super great at code standards , installation , practice , project management , estimating , copper fiber . I can do it , but it's not my forte . So I'm not a 10 in fiber . I'm hiring those other things , but not in fiber .

And he goes you have enough that we can train you to do that . A lot of people , unfortunately , they'll lie about themselves because they feel they have to to get that job . Be honest straight up , because you'll gain that respect from your hiring manager , your potential future boss and the hiring manager right , and that way you start off .

They know where you're at . They don't think you're two steps above and now , all of a sudden , you're failing and you're put on an employee review thing . So I'm a firm believer always being positive , always be positive and always be honest about what it is that you're doing . So let's talk about mistakes and pitfalls , right ?

So if somebody's applying for the job , what are some of the most common mistakes and pitfalls they got to watch out for when they're applying for that new job , or maybe even the interview process ?

Because for what T-Com does and what we look for in individuals is the attention to detail . Those small details are really important and those can really cost us down the road if we don't catch them early .

So again , going back to what we said earlier , it's about selling yourself right , but also , hey , that attention to detail , we're going to look for those items . I would say that's the biggest pitfall .

And then putting items on your resume that don't belong because you did not do them , but then also putting your experience just selling yourself better on there , and people shouldn't lie about it because it's not going to help you out and we're always going to find out one way or the other . Sooner or later it's going to happen .

And if they thought I was a fiber guru , if I said I was a fiber guru and they thought I was and hired me , they would throw me into a situation where it would become glaringly apparent that I didn't have those skills . I believe that 100% . So let's talk about culture .

Every company has a culture and when I applied for my day job , I got the opportunity to meet with I don't know six managers , seven managers , different things . I mean they talked to everybody .

Sure , and that was one of the things I really wanted to know is because my previous company that came from I was there for almost 13 , 14 years and there was a certain culture and I loved that culture and I still would have been at that company , except for they wanted me to move to a different state and I was like I'm not moving away from my kids .

It's , you know , because I was divorced at times . So my kids live with my mom , so I'm with their mom , so I wasn't leaving the state , so I had to break that relationship . So company culture is a huge thing . How do you assess if a candidate is a good fit culturally for your industry , for your company ?

If it is very quickly not a two way road , that should be your biggest red flag and you should move on looking for a different opportunity . And I mean that by you should have ample time asking all the questions that you want . You know our culture here at T comm is that we're very transparent . We will answer anything and we do .

And that should be telling , and I tell every candidate ask me literally anything you want . And if you are starting to see that there are certain subjects or topics that they're trying to stay away from , that should be a red flag . But they should give you that time .

I would recommend in an interview process that candidates have anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes to ask all the questions they would like . And it's the questions that you really ask . It's also doing the homework on the company as well . Asking them hey , what are the lessons that you've learned , or why is this position open , or what is your retention rate ?

Asking those to better understand the culture and get away from the basic , understand the things you really want to know . But it's also what does that interview process look like ?

You know , any candidate in any company can make themselves look really good for two to three hours , and that's a lot of interviews in this industry are hey , let's just meet , let's have lunch and here's an offer . What are you going to find out ? What are you going to know about what you're walking into ? You're not . So it's important to get a feel .

You know , talk to the people you're going to be reporting to , but also talk to multiple , multiple people that you're going to be working with on a daily basis as well .

That right there is going to give you a great context of , hey , what it's going to be like working there , really getting you know , drilling down on the questions they're going to drill down on you , drill down on the company , to figure out what you're going to walk into .

I went to LinkedIn and I looked them up , right , and I first I found out you know the background and stuff .

So , for example , when I was talking to one of them he's one , it was the VP of sales and although I wouldn't necessarily interact with him all the time , there would be times where we would interact and I noticed in his profile that he had had his MBA and at that time I was closing in on finishing mine . So he asked me a bunch of questions .

And then we get done . He said do you have any questions ? I said , yeah , I do . And I said I noticed that you , that you have your MBA , how has working at this company ? How does that help you here in being successful ?

And I had questions like that just from doing your homework doing your homework right , because it is a quality , because what goods are going to do if you spend all this time and energy to get a job and you hire on and you find out it's not a good fit . Mm-hmm . Yeah , what may . And you know what , if ? What ?

If the company leans too far left or too far right for what you're and , and that that's gonna cause you angst . Yeah , pay only gets you so far . Sure , they only get you so far . You have to be , you have to be happy with who , the company you work for , and they're , they're , they're , they're , sustainability , their whole .

I Don't even think of what I'm looking for , how they view the world , your manager , right , and the culture of everybody you me working with , because you don't , it won't be a good fit . Money's only gonna take you so far . I was only gonna take .

You know that is one of the biggest questions I ask him , because that's gonna give me an insight on what they want to do and if I know this position is not gonna line to what they're gonna do , I'm gonna be on . Hey , I think you're gonna be a great fit for who we are and what we do .

This is not the position for you and here's why here's the position that's gonna be good for you . Let's stay in communication . Let's wait until that opportunity opens up and let's see where things go because , again , companies are gonna put a lot of investment , a lot of training into Into every anyone they bring on .

So you know we want to make sure it's a right fit for everyone involved . And again it goes back to that interview process asking those questions and Making sure that you know you feel like you are strong in a solid culture , fit within that organization .

How does that play in the role when you're looking at candidates to if you making that decision before them or not ?

Right , and there are no college programs , there are no additional educational programs that teach what we do . So that attitude and aptitude of I am willing to go out of my comfort zone and learn something that I've never even heard about before , that's the high ICT industry .

Yeah , there's a lot of people from an electrical engineering or a project manager , mechanical engineering background , which is great , but you know , for for technicians or whoever else that might not go that route and have more field work experience , it's really having that right attitude and aptitude to Learn something new and that you know that goes .

Hey , what do you do outside of work ?

To continue to train on your tools , and that's important because it the industry changes , so it's important to stay up on those trends and that just shows , hey , they're willing to learn , they're willing to invest in themselves and if they're gonna invest in themselves , they're gonna invest in us as a , as an organization , because we're gonna continue to , they're

gonna continue to add value and we need that value within our company .

I'd probably say probably half a dozen or so , and every once in a while the subject of should I get certified or should I not get certified comes up and my , my point always is if you , if you can afford it , or if the company will send you , yes , you should always get certified . Yeah , you should always . You always should always take that class .

Right now , this will get certified . At least take that class , because it shows that you're willing to to do what needs to . But now that doesn't mean some who's an RCDD ? You've had two RCDD candidates and One is really good at memorizing information . The other actually walk the walk .

You know the with the certification and then the continued education will tell me the difference between those two individuals . Right , the person is just trying to get their RCDD because , you know , just get the money . They're not , they're gonna do the minimum amount of continuing education credits .

But the person who lives and breathes , you know RCDD they're gonna be , they are gonna be Hungry for knowledge . They're gonna consume any free class , you know , free webinars , whatever , and that's you know . That's one thing I like , if so .

But here's a tip for people , because if , especially if , you're big-sea credential , you have to submit those classes for your CEC recognition , you can always go in your profile and Pull down all of the list of all those classes you've taken back as long as you've had your certification .

And so what I would do is and you tell me how you're feeling on on this , tommy , I would say , you know , you know , maybe , maybe in the cover letter or maybe in the resume somewhere .

You know Multiple training , blah , blah , blah list available upon request that I don't necessarily want to give you four pages of classes I've taken over the last , you know yeah , just mentioned that you are staying up to date with your credentials or your CSEs .

You know that will open the door a little bit more on who they are as a company .

Because those are all factors you really know those are in .

I've been the technician , I've also been the manager and I'm gonna tell you now , we especially like , if you send somebody to Tampa , to Bixie , to get certified , yeah , okay , the class is Two to three thousand dollars , sure , then you got travel expenses , hotel , you , the books , all that stuff .

So the company is typically gonna be investing , you know , five , six grand in you . The company's a company that they're in it to make money . So they want to make sure they get Return out of their investment . So I don't know why people have . I think .

I think and this is just a personal opinion , I can't state this for fact I think people who shy away from training agreements are Probably the most likely people who would shop that certification after they've gotten it to go try to go work somewhere else . So companies gotta protect themselves . I get it , I do .

And if you can put me through a nice class like that and you want me to stick around for a year , a year and a half , whatever , as long as I'm happy with the money , as long as I'm happy with the company culture . Everything else is in your . Let's do this Cause it's gonna help you , it's gonna help me Absolutely .

So let's talk about emerging technologies . So there's lots of stuff coming out now . You know , I just did a show recently on single peri-ethanet . I didn't expect that to blow up like it did . I have people saying , well , fiber's better , fiber's good , but fiber's not the answer to every problem .

Okay , you're not gonna run a fire off the cable to that access control device on the door . It's just that just makes no sense whatsoever

. So , emerging technologies , how important is it with ? As a how should a candidate how many words is this ? How should a candidate focus on emerging technologies and how should they display that to you as a technical manager , as a technical recruiter ?

Because , as I mentioned before , the technology is always evolving , so it's just staying connected , staying up to date on any of those trends , working your network , asking questions as well . All that will come important .

I think again , when you're talking to someone like myself as a technical recruiter , and I will ask you hey , what do you do outside of work to hone in your skill sets ? And hey , I read this magazine or I watch Chuck's show . You know , every week or every month , whatever it is , I try . It goes back to that continuous learning .

How do you continue to challenge yourself ? Because all of this comes in together . All of it should be very , very consistent . And if you don't see those things consistent from a recruiting standpoint or an interview process or , more importantly , a candidate experience process , those should be telling signs .

But to go back to your question , it just show us what you're learning right . Show us , hey , I haven't had an opportunity to work with this technology , but I wanna work with this , and here's why . What you know as a company are you working with this , or how do you stay up to date with changes going on in our industry ? From a technical standpoint ?

For TCOM and us , being consultants , it's our job to understand what those changes are , but what's coming ahead as well , so that's something that we love to stay involved in .

You know , with us as a firm , we have about 30 RCDVs right now , so it's great that there's a lot of information they get and they are able to share with us as an organization as well .

So T-Con is international correct .

I've been working remotely for and at home for eight years , so when the pandemic hit , nothing changed for me . A lot of people experience loneliness a little bit right , or they just they're not able to see their team every once in a while . That's a con , but also a pro to it is it provides you flexibility .

If I need to go pick up my kids from school or I need to take them to the doctor , I can go do that . I tell candidates , with us being a remote firm , if you're an early riser , get your work done . Hey , you like to sleep in and you're a night owl , think of your work done .

But when you're doing the work for what we do , do it to the standards and the expectations that we have and it doesn't matter , right ? So there's , there are flexibilities , but for us we can work from anywhere . Hey , I'm here in Texas If I wanna go see the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and visit my family there . I can just pick up and go .

So it is like I said , there's pros and cons to everything , but I would really tell people understand what you're gonna get into in both situations , cause recently , just as this week , there's been a lot of articles on employee discontent , both from a remote standpoint but also going to the office .

So decide what's best for you and again ask those questions in an interview process of hey , if this is a remote environment , what is the workload like ? How do you work across different time zones as well ? Because that's a big factor when we wanna bring in our team in the UK , hey , there's a there's a healthy time difference from California to London .

So how do we , you know , let's do , let's be respectful not get in there at evening times .

Let's do it late afternoon , maybe at four o'clock their time , but hey , that means it might be eight o'clock for us in California , and that's okay Because we're working together , but we're also being respectful , for we don't get into personal time and have a better work-life balance as well .

You know , oh , yeah , yeah , but I gotta ask you , since you're from Texas , I probably already know the answer Be from Port Barbecue .

You know , part of my job is I look at what our competitors are doing and when they have an open job and I get those notifications and I'm seeing it a lot right now . You know , for most of our competitors , which we have a great deal of respect for , again , they're going to be looking in the big metropolitan areas .

So if you're in and around a big city , that's going to help you out . You know , if you're in the middle of nowhere , you know that's it's going to hurt you a little bit , but I'm seeing companies even in the middle of everyone's hiring .

Right now there is a demand and I , you know , I think this year has been a little wacky , a little bit with the economics . I think everyone in the industry is kind of in the same boat , but I think we're starting to see those upward trends that maybe 2024 will be a little bit different .

So you're starting to see some companies , I think , prepare for that for that upwards trend that we are hopefully starting to see .

Until next time , knowledge is power .