HIRED LEARNING: Curlin Beck – The Importance of Networking

By Yolanda Serrano
After more than two years in transition, our heartiest congratulations to Curlin Beck! Now employed by Capco, a global financial consulting firm, Curlin is their newest internal software application specialist.
Prior to his landing, Beck was a very active PSGCNJ member throughout his year of membership. You may recognize him from his stint as co-chair on the Training Committee or as liaison between the Marketing Committee and Programs & Networking. Or, perhaps it was from his announcements at the Monday general meetings or, even, he may have answered a question for you in the PSG room.
When asked, “How did the PSG group help,” Curlin credits PSG with providing a great answer to “What have you been doing?” – a question often dreaded by job seekers. He added “(PSG) gave me a chance to give back and keep my spirits up.”
Curlin had been seeking an Information Technologies/Pay Roll/Human Resources position and feels glad to have landed in his area of expertise. His hiring process with Capco was over a one month period and consisted of two telephone interviews and three one-on-one’s. Talk about suspense!
According to Curlin, LinkedIn was definitely a factor in his landing. Capco’s hiring agents decided to interview him because they liked the content of his Linked-In profile.
Curlin’s suggests: “Keep your head up and go to at least a few networking groups. I suggest Careers In Transition in Short Hills -they meet the first and third Saturday of the month and The Breakfast Club -they meet on the second Saturday of the month in East Brunswick.”
Thanks Curlin for the sound advice and for all the time volunteered as a PSGCNJ member. We may not know exactly what an “internal software application specialist” does (even after it’s explained), but we certainly all wish you well. Happy days!
What you can do:

• Attend the PSGCNJ General Membership meetings at First United Methodist Church (Basement Meeting Hall), 48 West High Street, Somerville NJ 08876 on Mondays at 10:30 AM. To find the list of speakers, go to www.psgcnj.org and click the “Professional” button at the top of the page (current list of speakers included in this newsletter). Then, click the “Newsletter” button in the left column.
• Attend PSGCNJ’s “Power Networking” activity that begins at 9:00 AM, right before the 10:30 AM general meeting. This gives you a terrific opportunity to share your elevator pitch with other members, find out if they know anyone in your target company list and exchange business cards.
• Sign-up for the DoL’s job-search workshops, Career Beacons, which cover topics such as networking, resume writing and self-management skills. For more information, contact the Somerville One-Stop Center at 908-704-3000.
• Email your current resume to PSGCNJ_advresume@yahoo.com if you want your peers to offer feedback. The Career Training Committee, which meets at the DoL Building in Somerville, will schedule a one-on-one meeting to review your resume.
• Join the Transition Management Team (TMT) to support your job search. Contact Emmanuel “Manny” Inyang from the DoL for more info on this topic.