Advice

Career Advice from Campus Recruiter Grace Blankenship

June 9, 2017

Campus recruiter, Grace Blankenship, alumna of the University of Florida, recently sat down with the UF Warrington College of Business to offer some career advice to students.

See a few questions from the interview below, and click here to view the full article.

Q: As a recruiter, what would you say is the most important thing you’re looking for when you first get in contact with a candidate?

Blankenship: “Passion is the biggest thing that I’m looking for. It’s something I did a good job of showing in my interviews and still do my best to display. I want someone to show a passion for something, whatever it may be. It can be on-campus or off-campus involvement, any type of achievement, sports or the like. Passion is transferrable and shows that you’re driven to succeed. I like to see that, even if you’re showing passion about something as simple as the current conversation you’re having with a recruiter or about a certain role you’re interested in. I also want to see someone who is an initiative taker and a leader, whether in a formal leadership role or not.”

Q: How important is a candidate’s resume to their chances at a job, and are there any specific tips you have when it comes to building their resume through the lens of a recruiter?

Blankenship: “It’s very important. We like to say it’s your ticket to party. It’s your first impression on paper to make sure you get a shot at the job. You have to get your resume on point, reviewed and critiqued, but also make sure not too much to get contradictory information.

“The main “do” with your resume is to be clear when you list your positions and duties. Don’t list something as simple as “pulled reports” or “answered phones” as your duties. Those are mundane. Add the value that you’ve provided. Tell me about how you pulled reports and generated data around sales revenue, you found inefficiencies and improved the process by a certain percentage. That sounds much better than something as simple as “pulled reports.””