Meet Elle Overholt - the Baton Rouge career strategist who’s helping college students and young professionals land their dream careers.
“I started with college students, but I’ve done quite a bit of work with people looking to pivot now too,” she said. “Maybe they lost their job and need a resume refresh.”
FROM ATLANTA TO BATON ROUGE
Elle moved to Baton Rouge from Atlanta about 4 years ago — the week of the 2016 Great Flood.
Her husband had gotten a new job here in the medical device industry, but she was still commuting back and forth to her job at a consulting firm in Georgia.
She spent her days doing a lot of analytics and computer spreadsheets…. and didn’t really love it.
But she did find her passion with working with new hires.
She decided to run their on-boarding program and teach new employees how to use Excel, how to write professional emails and more.
She loved it!
She continued to commute back and forth from Baton Rouge to Atlanta for TWO years.
Then in 2018, she jumped into the deep end and ventured out on her own here in Louisiana.
FORTH’S EXPANSION
She started by going to LSU and talking to students and organizations about their job search and resumes. She spent the early days studying and learning as much as she could.
For the first year, she consulted 1:1 with students, but she knew she wanted to reach more students at a cost that made sense for their budgets.
Fast forward to 2020, and she’s expanded Forth into a podcast, blog, online resource and online course.
At the end of the program, the students gain access to the Forth Alumni group, where they’re able to network and make career connections.
“It’s a lot of professional development, so they’re ready to jet set in their career,” she said. “They feel more confident in their job search.”
THE 2020 PANDEMIC JOB MARKET
Once Covid-19 hit, it brought so much fear around jobs and hiring freezes. Elle said people needed to set themselves apart now more than ever.
She said her students have seen incredible success even during this uncertain time.
“They were willing to invest in something to help them get a job,” she said. “It’s all about how they can make themselves more valuable for those companies who are hiring right now.”
HOW TO FIND A JOB NOW
Elle said the first step to securing a new job is by searching online.
She recommends LinkedIn over other online portals because it allows you to still use the traditional method of “it’s who you know.”
“The problem with online portals is it’s extremely difficult to make that connection,” she said. “They may not even get to your resume.”
Forth focuses on utilizing the network you already have. Elle suggests searching for companies you admire on LinkedIn, then try to find any and all connections.
She also said to use your offline community of friends and family.
“The problem is people don’t see their network as their friend group, ” Elle said. “A lot of times it’s your Aunt Cindy’s best friend who would love to help you find a job.”
Elle said to think about every person who knows and loves you. Who would want to talk to you about what they do? How could you be of value to them?
RESUME MISTAKES
Once you make the connections or decide to apply for a job, a big part of getting hired is standing out on your resume.
“Think about a way to make yourself memorable even if it doesn’t have to do with work,” Elle suggested. “We hire people based on remember them. Stand outside of the box.”
Elle teaches to include an “interest line” at the bottom of your resume.
You can put a fun fact in a memorable way. For example, on Elle’s resume it mentions her love for coffee shops, Wheel of Fortune and college football.
It’s also not a myth that your resume should be one page.
The problem with two-page resumes is the second page might not get seen at all.
“There are too many resumes in the stack,” Elle said. “They’re not going to look at the second sheet.”
For more resume tricks and hiring tools, visit Forth online here.
You can also follow along on Instagram or tune into the weekly podcast here.
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