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The other side of a job search

Krystal Hicks, the longtime corporate recruitment manager at Lindt & Sprungli, knows the inner workings of the recruiting process better than most.  

On Wednesday night, Hicks came to the Memorial Union Building (MUB) to give students an insight on the employer’s side of the exchange. 

Hicks, a journalism major at the University of New Hampshire who graduated in 2007, currently runs her own career consulting company, JobTalkLLC. Hicks made her way into the field through connections, something that she stressed the importance of over the course of the event.  

“I sort of fell back into it; I was really lucky,” Hicks said. 

Her finding her way into a job that, at the time, had no major or any type of schooling, brought up some questions about how people would be able to find those jobs. She explained her solution to The New Hampshire shortly after the presentation ended.  

“It’s impossible for every job in every sector to have a class or a major attached to it, but I think that’s why it’s important for people to go to the info sessions and go to events like tonight, because that’s where they’re going to hear about things for the first time,” she said.  

The main method she suggested for making connections was the professional social media platform, LinkedIn, which allows students to generate and grow connections beyond the limits of face to face interactions.   

“The future of job hunting is about driving traffic to your LinkedIn,” Hicks said as she gave advice for those attempting to leverage their profile, with the underlying idea being to get as many eyes on your profile, and make sure those eyes are seeing plenty of recommendations.  

Hicks said she believes in the LinkedIn recommendations for two main reasons. Firstly, they don’t go away, removing the fear of a reference disappearing from your resume due to a simple number change.  

The other deals with the weight companies put on a good recommendation, which according to Hicks, is quite a bit.  

“I know you’re going to tell me that you’re great, but I need to hear other people tell me you’re great” she said. 

Hicks’s case also provided a valuable look into what employers look for in job candidates. One of the most important qualities to look for when finding the right fit for a position is having a personality that melds well with the company’s personlity. She explained the importance of this over the more numerical traits.  

“I have never made a final hiring decision based off GPA,” she said.  

Civil engineering major Rez Ali expressed his regret at not having this information earlier.  

“After listening to her, I wish I had come to this presentation before I started my job search process because I would have a much better understanding of what the recruiters were looking for,” he said. 

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  • AnonymousApr 19, 2019 at 10:49 pm

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