In this highly interactive session, Terry will show you the way to become an organized and proactive job seeker or career changer.
Don’t miss an event where you can expand your network, make new friends, share knowledge with your peers, and hear highly relevant and beneficial insights and perspectives from experts in the marketplace.
Please feel free to forward this note to anyone that you think would benefit from joining us. Or, better yet, just bring them with you
About the speaker: Terrence “Terry” Seamon is an executive career transition consultant with The Ayers Group where he coaches executives and professionals that are in career transitions. He previously had a long career in the corporate world as an HR training manager in such industries as energy, telecom, and pharma-chem. The author of three books, Terry is also active as a leadership development consultant. Terry also moderates the St. Matthias Employment Ministry, founded in 2007
About the Meeting:
November 11, 2023, 8:00 – 10:00 AM (America/New_York)
Please join our meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.
Presentation:The job market of the future will look nothing like the job market of the past several decades. Gone will be the traditional nine-to-five work hours, commuting five days a week to an office building and a reliance on old school tools to communicate and collaborate. The new job market will feature more remote job opportunities than ever before. Work from anywhere (WFA) and a four-day work week will become a more common part of the workplace lexicon. The new workday may be longer than the standard eight-hour shift, but individuals will have greater freedom to manage their work on a schedule that is most conducive for them. Additionally, technology in the workplace and collaborating with multiple generations will become more prominent.
About the Speakers:
Frank Kovacs has been a technology business executive for more than 30 years leading and directing large, complex, global operations and transformations for some of the largest Fortune 100 firms as well as NASA.
Frank has been recognized as recipient of the Gartner CIO Choice Award, Visionary Award from Business Finance Magazine & Internet World, and the Ovation Award at Comnet. Frank was named a visionary for his 12 years of work at AT&T Bell Labs and has a patent for Smart Card Technology.
Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, Frank wanted to help those who lost their jobs due to the tragedy and formed a group, The Breakfast Club NJ (TBCNJ). More than 18 years later, TBCNJ has grown to more than 6,000 members and is the premier job search and career networking group in the New York/New Jersey region. As TBCNJ extensively leverages social media, many of the job posts and career transition advice routinely go viral and TBCNJ has helped more than 9,000 individuals secure jobs all with a “pay-it-forward” volunteer approach.
Frank is very proud to capture many of the learnings from 18 years of TBCNJ and share them through this book in hopes that even more people will be helped with their respective job search as we all work through the challenges of today’s digital disruption and reskilling.
For more than 25 years, Mark Beal served as a public relations practitioner and marketer for one of the nation’s leading consumer public relations agencies developing and executing marketing and public relations campaigns for leading companies and brands around such major sports and entertainment properties as the Olympic Games, Super Bowl, World Series, US Open Tennis and The Rolling Stones. Today, he collaborates with Gen Z as a full-time professor of practice, communication in the Rutgers University School of Communication and Information. Mark’s ongoing primary research of Gen Z has led to keynote speeches to the American Marketing Association, Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). It was Mark’s Rutgers students who inspired him to author his first book in 2017, 101 Lessons They Never Taught You In College, which provides tips to college students preparing for their transition to a career. Media and readers nationwide responded so positively to the book that Mark authored 101 Lessons They Never Taught You In High School About Going To College which was published in 2018.Mark’s book, Decoding Gen Z: 101 Lessons Generation Z Will Teach Corporate America, Marketers & Media, was published in 2018 and captured the attention of media, marketers and employers nationwide as Gen Zers were starting to become a focus of corporations and brands. In 2020, Mark co-authored Engaging Gen Z with Harvard University student Michael Pankowski. In 2022, Mark authored Gen Z Graduates To Adulthood. Mark’s latest book, ZEO, was published in 2023 as more Gen Zers transitioned from college to their career. The Gen Z books have led to invitations from conferences, corporations, brands, agencies, universities, industry associations and pro sports leagues and teams for Mark to deliver keynote speeches featuring his Gen Z research and insights. Mark co-authored Career In Transition with Frank Kovacs and is currently collaborating with Frank on their next book scheduled for publication in spring 2024 titled, Win The Job & Thrive In A Multigenerational Workplace.
About the Meeting:
October 14, 2023, 8:00 – 10:00 AM (America/New_York)
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Presentation:LinkedIn is constantly changing, and you should too. Its focus has gone from being a digital rolodex to a searchable networking database used for research, content and engagement. Most recently, LinkedIn (through Microsoft) is using AI to build content, suggest profile changes and help recruiters with their job specs. The basics remain the same, but differentiation is even more important. I’ll share best practices from my recent visit to LinkedIn HQ where certain things were shared with us.
About the speaker: Kenneth Lang is the co-founder of My Networking Central, a searchable database for networking events and speakers. He facilitates an online weekly LinkedIn Live on Tuesday afternoons with guests where LinkedIn best practices are discussed. Kenneth also serves as a brand specialist for Lee Hecht Harrison, an outplacement service.
About the Meeting:
September 9, 2023, 8:00 – 10:00 AM (America/New_York)
Please join our meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.
Have some job search strategies, tactics, and career resources, including one to tap into the hidden job market
Know how to research your best keywords for both your resume and LinkedIn
Know how to take your base resume and customize it to match keywords in a job description before applying through the ATS
Be able to prepare a portfolio presentation to differentiate yourself from others at a job interview
About the speaker: Lynne Williams, Ed.D. Candidate, is the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Area Great Careers Group, which provides online career education and networking for career transition (job seekers) and career management (employed and self-employed). She also writes resumes, LinkedIn profiles, and LinkedIn company pages, and focuses on keywords. She is working on her doctoral dissertation on the topic of LinkedIn. Connect on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/lynnewilliams and visit https://linktr.ee/lynnewilliams to learn more.
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About the Meeting:
August 12, 2023, 8:00 – 10:00 AM (America/New_York)
Presentation:It takes work to optimize your career and that includes conducting an effective job search whether you are working or unemployed. Learn the early-stage triggers of when to optimize your career and if your strategy is pro-active or reactive. Learn why taking your time can pay off in assessing your career and deciding on staying the course or making a career pivot to bring you to that better place. Career pivots can be easy to extremely hard and there are specific steps that can help the cause. If you have 30+ years of experience, agism is a challenge by itself. If you are launching your career right out college and have limited work experience or aspire to earn a solid compensation in your first job, then there are imperatives to adhere to.
Learn ways to balance an internal or external job search and it begins with the fundamentals. Having a rock star resume and LinkedIn profile can make all the difference as a starting point. But without a solid and strategic network, it falls flat and puts you at a disadvantage. Learn what the biggest dos and don’ts are when it comes to a great resume versus one that is so and looks like all the others. Are you ready to launch a targeted job search or are you only relying on the job boards or your recruiter buds? Where do your values play a role in your job search? Are you prepared to interview like a lion and articulate your value or are you not sure what to do or what to say? Are you prepared to talk about the strengths of your personality? Are you ready to attack the hidden job market and put the effort in?
Learn why picking up the phone and engaging people that you do not know may be the deciding factor on why you land the best job versus a job. Have you worked with 3rd party recruiters in the past? Learn the traits of a great 3rd part recruiter. Learn how you can get promoted in your existing firm or organization by applying these same dos and don’ts internally. Do you know how to negotiate a job offer and the big mistakes that are made without you even knowing it? Do you know what to do before you decide to quit or resign from your job? Do you have an overarching strategy for your job search and career? Do you have a coach to help you? Where does faith play a role in optimizing your job?
Takeaways:
-Lean the big triggers that start a job search in earnest at all stages of your career
-Assess you career and determine if you are ready to pivot to that better place
-Learn why putting all your effort into only 1-3 areas of a job search can hurt you
-Learn how to attack the hidden job market and why a cold call is not always a bad play
-Gain an understanding of biggest mistakes made on Resumes and LinkedIn Profiles
-Learn how to get promoted and stay with your existing firm
About the speaker:
Ed Samuel is a Career, Life and Executive Coach, Public Speaker, Author, certified Career Assessment and DiSC Team Leader and has a non-profit stewardship ministry and founder of SamNova, Inc. (www.samnovain.com). His team provides career assessments, resume writing (written 1500+), and one-on-one career transition support with emphasis on mid to senior level clients across multiple functional roles and industries. He specializes in growing and leveraging formal networks, LinkedIn profiles, targeted job searches, attacking the hidden job market, landing a job after the age of 55+ and those looking to make career pivots. Ed leads a team of 25+ career assessment consultants across the US. His team has helped 900+ to date. He has more than 500 documented client testimonials of which 176 are on his LinkedIn profile alone and 100+ more on his website. His firm supports clients across the USA who are working or in job or life transition. Ed is also a career and small business coach, mentor, and consultant for Penn State University. His consulting team also actively supports the underserved community in the greater Philadelphia area.
Ed leads Career Professionals Executive Networking Forum (CPENG) in Wilmington, DE, Believers in Business (BIB) small business forum for greater Kennett Square, PA, hosts “Optimize Your Career” program on Philly radio, 1180 am WFYL every Saturday morning, and co-hosts a weekly faith and career forum on Tuesdays at 11 am EST under Thought Leadership Branding (TLB) house on Clubhouse. He is a frequent speaker at: Philadelphia Area Great Careers Group, ExecuNet, TPNG, Chem/Pharma, Joseph’s People, Lehigh Valley Professionals (LVP), FENG, CPENG, Newtown Networking Forum, Career Rebound – FL, Montgomery County Networking Group, PSG of Mercer County – NJ, PSG of Morris County – NJ, CIT – Short Hills, NJ, Innovative Networking Professionals (INP), Association of Finance Professionals (AFP), Philadelphia Diversity Job Fairs, and regional Chamber of Commerce forums. Ed has been a keynote speaker at Wharton University’s annual Alumni forum, Penn State Alumni, University of Penn Alumni, University of DE, PACD, VOCA Center in NYC, writes for national career blogs and a frequent guest on regional and national basis on both radio, podcasts, and cable TV.
Ed has 30 years of experience working at multi-billion-dollar global firms to leading edge technology start-ups and founded multiple small businesses. He has led recruiting at a multi-billion-dollar firm and has been an independent 3rd party recruiter. Ed has also held no less than 38 unique paid positions in his career: https://samnovainc.com/fun-fact.
Presentation:Can you Influence the Interviewer? Here are 6 ways you can.
Many psychological factors underlie whether an interviewer chooses one candidate over another. Although there are some aspects of the interview process that you can’t change, like your height or whether an interviewer has certain preferences, by uncovering the six underlying mechanisms of influence, you can subtly tip the scales in your favor.
Interviewing is a competition, and this presentation will help give you the edge so you can be slightly better than the previous or next candidate. And sometimes that’s all it takes. This presentation builds on psychological concepts formulated into practical, expert tips that you can use right away, like how to structure your speaking style to appear more credible. You’ll learn how influencers use such factors as reciprocity, how herd behavior can work in your favor, and how using the concepts of familiarity, authority, and scarcity can help land your next offer.
About the speaker:
Known as “The Landing Expert,” Alex Freund helps his clients improve their interview performance by removing the fear so they can feel confident during the process. For the last 16 years, Alex has helped more than 1300 clients ranging from managers to CEOs in a variety of industries.
Alex is volunteering and active in several job-search networking groups where he is an occasional presenter. He teaches via his workshops on interviewing, resumes, LinkedIn, Value Proposition, Personal Branding and Personal Marketing.
Presentation: “To Survive and Thrive After a Job Loss”
You have a good job that you enjoyand you’re feeling pretty good about the direction your career has gone. Then you get an unexpected call to your supervisor’s office. Sitting and waiting for you is the HR director. Suddenly, after years of loyal service, you find yourself unceremoniously let go by your company.
What do you do now? It’s not easy, but you can survive and thrive!
The reality is that separations from companies happen, but you can navigate through this stressful time and get to where you truly want to be.
This presentation will cover:
– The harsh reality of a mid-life job loss
– Restarting your career
– Finding your way to a better life, both professionally and personally
It is never easy to lose your job and to be unemployed. But it is also true that often being let go leads to something bigger and better. This talk will help you get there.
About the speaker:
Ken Sher is an Executive Coach and Career Coach with 30 years of experience at Johnson & Johnson and Bristol-Myers Squibb. He also served as Vice President, Coaching Services at the Velocity Advisory Group coaching clients in positions ranging from first-line Manager to CEO. He has had his own Executive Coaching and Career Coaching practice since 2015.
During his 25-years at Johnson & Johnson, Ken served in various leadership roles in sales, marketing, sales training, leadership development, and he led the Sales Recruiting department for the United States where he learned valuable keys to the job search process.
He has experienced the highs and lows many of us have during our careers. He was laid off at 52-years old, struggled to recover from that blow, and then landed 3-new jobs while still in his fifties.
He now shares his career learning through his TRUST Success Model® which, when applied to professional relationships, networking, and job searches, leads to transformational results.
Ken holds a BA in English Literature and Business Communication from the State University of New York at Oneonta. He enjoys giving back to the community. He is a Board Member for the Beacon Networking Group and he serves as a mentor for two first-generation college students through the Philadelphia Futures non-profit which provides great educational opportunities for under served youth.
Presentation: “A Conversation About Current Trends and Technology Impacting Hiring”
Gerry will be addressing current, critical issues impacting how employers are transforming their hiring practices- automation/AI, pay transparency, gig work, candidate experience and more. Whatever is keeping you up at night is fair game. No deck. No slides. Just come and expect to participate in the conversation.
About the speaker:
Gerry describes himself as a life-long student. He stays grounded by engaging a community of friends & colleagues every day- actively promoting the notion that Talent Acquisition (TA) is the ‘point of the spear’ of HR. Every stakeholder in the hiring process, especially candidates, must have their basic needs addressed. Gerry founded CareerXroads in 1996 to encourage the transformation of hiring into the 21st century.
Today, with his business partner, Chris Hoyt, CareerXroads is in its second decade as a member-driven community of Talent leadership teams from 100+ mostly multi-national employers who are devoted to learning from and helping one another improve and succeed.
In 2010, Gerry co-founded a non-profit, Talentboard, with Elaine Orler and Ed Newman, to better define and research the Candidate Experience, a subject he has been passionate about for more than 30 years. Today the ‘CandEs’ has firmly established itself around the world and conducts annual benchmarks for employers in North America, Europe, Asia and South America by sharing their Candidate Experience data and competitive practices (based on more than a quarter million candidate surveys each year from 300-500 participating employers.)
In 2017, the Association for Talent Acquisition Professionals was launched after years of discussion with practitioners, consultants and service providers. Approaching 1000 members in 2021, ATAP’s Board of Directors is building a body of work to truly support recruiting as a profession. This milestone completed another bucket list item Gerry was intent on seeing through.
Gerry co-authored eight books on the evolution of staffing, and has written 100s of articles and whitepapers on similar topics. His career spans 50 years and includes Consulting, Recruitment Marketing, HR leadership positions with Fortune 100 employers, Executive Search and Career Services at the University where he graduated with his BE in Engineering as well as IO/Psychology degrees.
Gerry’s student persona is kept fresh by leading global delegations of CHROs and TA leaders with China Gorman each year to interview government officials, employers, professors and students about work and hiring practices somewhere in the world. Recent countries include Singapore (2019) Eastern Europe (2018), Japan (2017), Cuba (2015). Join us in Israel May 2023
About the Meeting:
The Breakfast Club of NJ 04/08/2023
Apr 8, 2023, 8:00 – 10:00 AM (America/New_York)
Please join my meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.
A lot has changed but a lot hasn’t. We’re going to explore the constants and the updates to ensure you are making optimal use of LinkedIn. Join us as Ed Han, LinkedIn trainer, recruiter, and job seeker ally, returns to the Breakfast Club to break it all down!
About the speaker:
Ed Han is a LinkedIn trainer, recruiter and job seeker ally with a passion for networking and helping professionals return to the workforce. As a veteran of several industries, including publishing, financial services and software, Ed has a keen understanding of– and appreciation for–the skills and traits valued in a wide range of environments, regulated and otherwise. Although he came to recruiting in December 2012, Ed finds fulfillment professionally as a recruiter, and that the diversity of his prior work experience is a great boon in connecting with people from all industries and experience. Active in his community, Ed helps facilitate the job search group NJ JobSeekers in Princeton NJ and has previously served as the Executive Chair of the PSG of Mercer County and online community manager for the HR networking group Whine & Dine. Ed has been a corporate recruiter at Cenlar FSB since December 2019. Lastly, he has been a LinkedIn user since 2008 and a LinkedIn trainer for a dozen years. The holder of a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from Albright College (Reading, PA) awarded in 1993, Ed is an avid social media fiend and job seeker ally.
About the Meeting:
The Breakfast Club of NJ 03/11/2023
Mar 11, 2023, 8:00 – 10:30 AM (America/New_York)
Please join my meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.
Presentation:“Networking Circles: How to Cultivate Meaningful Relationships That Drive Results Together”
In 2017, Andy O’Hearn’s employer, Bayer, created a community to help more people learn how to accomplish goals through small groups (e.g., 3-5 colleagues). Loosely based originally on a concept entitled “Working Out Loud” by John Stepper, Bayer morphed this into #WOW (Ways of Working) True North, a.k.a. Virtual Transformation Experience.
In this presentation, Andy O’Hearn seeks to help The Breakfast Club members not only answer the question “What if The Breakfast Club members knew (collectively), what The Breakfast Club members know” (individually), but also to outline suggested best practices for creating meaningful relationships and networks (i.e., cohorts) that jointly drive performance together–via control, competence, and connection–toward lasting results.
About the speaker:
In the central/northern New Jersey corporate communications world, Andy O’Hearn is one of the most highly connected *practice* leaders (as distinguished from *thought* leaders) you will ever meet.
Over the span of nearly four decades, Andy has immersed himself in a “firehose” of networking channels and communities, distilling and curating the most effective resources and approaches toward the cause of servant leadership and “mega-mentoring.”
Building on a three-legged stool of concise and clear writing, exceptional editing, and replicable research, Andy wants to help you navigate through the morass of conflicting and often outdated or inaccurate online information to “connect the dots” (i.e., pockets of genius), and in so doing, simplify inherent complexity through operationally efficient communications.
About the Meeting:
Here is the GoToMeeting connection info for TBCNJ meeting on February 11th:
The Breakfast Club of NJ 02/11/2023
Please join my meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.
