Time to Pay Homage to My Guest Speakers: Part 2

This week I'm as excited to pay homage to my guest speakers as I was last week, when I mentioned 22 awesome career strategists, recruiters, hiring managers, and former clients. This week I have more of the same.

I mentioned that all of my guest speakers are my LinkedIn connections, which is a testament to the power of relationship building through LinkedIn. When I asked my guest speakers to volunteer their time, I was blown away by the number of them who stepped forward.

Without Further Adieu, here are the second group of people I will pay homage to.

Tejal Rives is a recruiter for Amazon (you know that company) and a wise content creator, so she naturally offered great advice on how job seekers should conduct their job search, from writing resumes to interviewing.

Maureen McCann 's title for her guest speaker appearance was: "The Not So Sexy Part of the Job Search that Makes a Difference." She chose it, not me. Maureen provided sage advice for job-search challenges from combating ageism to creating a job-search strategy.

Kenneth Lang spoke twice to my audience, the first time about networking and the second about ChatGPT. During both events, he demonstrated his advanced, diverse knowledge. Ken is a Giants' fan and didn't have a great time watching them at Giants Stadium this past year. I was no luckier; I'm a Pats fan.

Marisol Maloney is a two-time speaker, as well. Her enthusiasm for helping job seekers succeed was evident from her first event "How to Succeed in the Job-Search" and second "Writing a Resume that Recruiters Demand." She's welcome back anytime.

Lisa Rangel shoots from the hip and is extremely accurate when talking about the job search. She's an executive resume writer but gladly took on the challenge of delivering "How the Job Search Changes after 40."

Edythe Richards deserves another round of applause as she again spoke about EQ. This was her 3rd appearance. Later in the next year she educated my audience on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment. What I love about Edythe is her enthusiasm for helping job seekers and all for $0.00.

Carolyn Raitt - PCC, ELI-MP, LMT is a mind-set coach, so wellness seemed like a great topic for Oct. 2022. Carolyn isn't a frequent LinkedIn user, but sometimes they're the best ones to have as a guest speaker. Great job, Carolyn.

Erica Reckamp was given a difficult assignment, "Job Searching During the Holidays." But she handled it splendidly. There was some technical difficulty, however, which turned into a great presentation and set the stage for deck-less PowerPoint presentations to come.

Virginia Franco returned for a second time to talk about writing resumes, but this time around she also debunked the ATS myths and emphasized writing resumes that, foremost, get the attention of hiring authorities. A+ Virginia.

Marti Konstant, MBA opened 2023 by expertly presenting "Create Your Experience Advantage During the Job Search," where she addressed the "White Elephant in the Room." That's right, ageism. The audience, whom are mostly older workers, loved her.

Paula Christensen hails from Wisconsin and is a Packers fan, but I won't hold that against her. All kidding aside, Paula knows all about interviewing, but she focused on asynchronous interviewing. It was great having you speak, Paula.

Tad Mayer knows salary negotiation. For an hour, he captivated the audience talking about the necessity of negotiating salary. Those who were hesitant to negotiate, were put at ease by Tad's persuasive reasoning and his calm voice.

Kevin D. Turner graced us again to talk about the importance of branding in one's job search. One of the many points he made was that commenting on what others post can enhance your brand, as long as it adds value.

Kelli Hrivnak was a first-time speaker, and she definitely has a knack for sharing valuable information. Kelli has read more than 40,000 resumes (maybe more) so she knows a thing or two about them. She loves her job, and this apparent by the way she talks about resumes.

Brian O'Keefe is a hiring manager at Oracle. He talked about what he expects from job candidates. The audience loved his direct, yet compassionate way of addressing this topic. When I told Brian this after the event, he was surprised. I wasn't.

Teegan A. Bartos had the task of explaining "What Will 2024 Look for Job Seekers," and she crushed it. She dove into what's creating a flat labor market, the trend of major layoffs, the automation of recruiting, and ended with how to better brand yourself with dynamic marketing material. A special round of applause for Teegan; she had bronchitis at the time of her appearance.

This homage to my guest speakers has been way overdue. I can say without a doubt that they aided my audience in the job search. Thanks, guys!