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BY Joel Junker

Study Groups & The November 2018 Career Conference Results

The 5th and Final Career Conference of 2018 is now complete! We had 42 candidates along with 12 spouses and/or support team members that conducted over 550 interviews with an average of 13.2 interviews per candidate.  The pursuit rate for the August Career Conference was ~64%, which is defined as the number of interviews in which the candidates achieved success divided by the total number of their interviews. Achieving success in an interview at the Career Conference simply means the companies expressed interest in moving forward in the interview process with the candidate. So, for this Conference, the candidates converted 8.4 of those 13.2 interviews into a successful interview.

When my colleagues and I discussed what made this Conference successful, we collectively came up with a few different thoughts but one key thought above the others – study groups! The majority of the candidates who attended the November Conference had been involved in study groups at their respective bases/posts with other Cameron-Brooks candidates prior to attending the Conference and had already begun to develop relationships.  In fact, two candidates that weren’t even stationed together were conducting weekly study groups via phone, Skype, etc.  Between the two of them, they had 28 interviews and converted 26 of them into a yes!    While Cameron-Brooks regularly travels and conducts onsite interview preparation workshops at bases and posts, virtual workshops, and phone mock interviews,  we cannot be everywhere at once.  The work in study groups can be a great tool to take what you’ve learned from the C-B mock interview and workshops to help enhance your interviewing skills and develop answers to be more conversant and fluid.  You must practice your answers, and a study group is a great way to do this.  When the candidates are working together and helping each other in their preparation for interviews, the group as a whole tends to have a better Conference and the results of the November Conference clearly demonstrated this.

There were 39 distinct companies that attended but many companies had multiple divisions attend.  Additionally, there were 36 Cameron-Brooks alumni in attendance recruiting on behalf of their companies with the vast majority of the recruiters being hiring managers. As I type this blog post, we already have candidates traveling today to conduct follow-up interviews across the country!

Some of the client companies represented at the November Career Conference included the following:

• An international company operating in 7 countries and nearly 60 facilities worldwide supplying advanced packaging solutions for more than 1,600 customers in the foodservice, food packaging, supermarket, and various other packaging markets in virtually every corner of the world.  They drive growth through new products and product line extensions and 80% of the company’s revenues come from market sectors where it holds the #1 or #2 positions, reflecting its brand strength and breadth of product lines.  They have been recruiting for development positions from Cameron-Brooks for near 40 years and the CEO of the company is a Cameron-Brooks alumnus.  They attended the November Conference recruiting for team leadership positions.
• The largest publicly traded international oil and gas company using technology and innovation to help meet the world’s growing energy needs.  They hold an industry-leading inventory of resources and are one of the world’s largest integrated refiners, marketers of petroleum products and chemical manufacturers.  They are the industry leader in each of their core businesses with an unmatched portfolio of proprietary technologies aimed at world-class scale and efficiency.  The company conducts business in almost 200 countries and territories around the globe and has a resource base of more than 91 billion oil-equivalent barrels.  They attended the Conference recruiting for engineering project management roles.
• With 2018 annual revenues in excess of $34.8 billion, this consulting firm is a global leader in the professional services industry.  The company helps companies in businesses across all industries – from emerging growth companies to global powerhouses – identify and capitalize on business opportunities.  Their more than 261,000 people in 150 countries worldwide can implement a broad array of solutions in audit, tax, transactions, IT security, enterprise risk management, valuation, and other critical business-performance issues.  In 2018, they hired more than 20,000 around the world and invested $500 million in training and development of its people.  They attended the Career Conference recruiting for Senior Consultant positions.
• Established in 1933 in Modesto, CA, this company has become the world’s largest family-owned winery and the foremost winery in the art of grape growing, winemaking, distribution and marketing of wines.  With 15 wineries strategically located in wine regions in both California and Washington and access to grapes from vineyards in all of the premier grape-growing areas of both states, the company produces wines in every category, to suit every taste.  They offer a broad array of products that total over 100 brands and include table and sparkling wines, beverage products, dessert wines and distilled spirits, and imports wines from eight of the major wine growing countries in the world including Argentina, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, and Spain.  They attended the Career Conference recruiting for team leadership positions.
• This company is one of the nation’s largest bank-based financial services companies with assets of approximately $90 billion.  Their companies provide investment management, retail and commercial banking, consumer finance, and investment banking products and services to individuals and companies throughout the United States and, for certain businesses, internationally.  Their Capital Markets group, the investment banking arm of the company, attended the Conference.  They deliver innovative business solutions and fresh ideas to their clients in mergers & acquisitions (M&A) and financial advisory, syndicated finance, debt and equity capital markets, and corporate banking services in offices across the country.  They attended to recruit for business analyst positions.
• A leading musculoskeletal implant manufacturer and is driving technological advancements across a complete suite of spinal products, surgical Robotics and, recently, trauma products.  Founded in 2003, their concentrated focus on advancing spinal surgery has made it the fastest growing company in the history of orthopedics.  The company is driven to utilize superior engineering and technology to achieve pain free, active lives for all patients with spinal disorders. They has created a “Spine Innovation Engine” that yields better and more refined products so patients can resume their lives as soon as possible.   They attended the Career Conference recruiting for sales leading to management positions.
• And many more……….

If you are interested in exploring your options and seeing how Cameron-Brooks could assist you in your career search just like our November Career Conference candidates, check out the link below for our upcoming base visits in your area:

https://www.cameron-brooks.com/jmo/the-process/jmo-base-visits/

Rob Davis