C. William King

C. William King, retired president & CEO of Essential Research, Inc. spoke to students at the January 31 Ruth A. Miller Senior Business Seminar about how to prepare for success in searching for job and career opportunities after graduation

“He had many helpful slides, especially those that involved interview questions. I plan to revisit these slides to copy down the interview questions that he recommends that people prepare answers to before entering an interview.” Madi Yurich ’24

“Bill then went into his biggest strategy for success which was networking. Networking as he states, can be done anywhere by anyone at any time, and by building up your network on LinkedIn to two hundred connections, you will have a vast network of people to put you in positions in which to succeed.” Isaac Sasala ’24

“He also pointed out that 75% of jobs are found through networking. One of the biggest points he sold is when you met someone that knows 200 people, and each of them knows 200 people, then 200 people cubed is 8 million. So, when you are looking for jobs, the more people you find the more likely you will be to find a job.” Aidan Rispoli ’24

“He focused on the importance of setting yourself apart from other applicants. He began discussing ways to ‘clean up’ the paperwork associated with the first images an employer may see including: resume, being intentional of social media pages, and the importance of LinkedIn.” Julianne Slagle ’24

“I learned many things from this presentation. One of those being the ability to market myself in a better way. I also learned what to look for in an interview as an employer. These things can help in choosing the best options for myself or the company.” Jacob Traupman ’24

“To reinforce his points, King engaged us in an exercise where we practiced our elevator speeches through two rounds, demonstrating the impact of practice. His guidance on approaching interviews included selling the benefits one would provide as opposed to the features you possess, as well as understanding the hiring manager's problems and providing an explanation of how you could solve them.” Emma Hatfield ’25

“King promoted the STAR Technique for effective communication during interviews, which involves detailing specific situations, tasks, actions taken, and results achieved.” Jackson Pletcher ’24

“One of the last things that he talked about was The Wizard of Oz keys to success. Those are you have to have courage, intelligence, a heart/passion, and you control your destiny when trying to find a job.” Nick DiLullo ’24

“He gave a lot of helpful tips and advice that we could use as we go through our lives. Using the career development center as a resource would help us find jobs and move in our career. Bill at the end told all of us that he would be willing to meet us anytime to further talk about his methods and we could reach out to him. This was a very thorough presentation, and he covered a lot of topics.” Abigail Sefton ’25

Lessons Learned

“Sell your benefits over your features, sell what you got.” Nick DiLullo ’24
“When presenting your elevator speech, be sure to add logic and emotion so that you can provide information from both sides of your brain.” Jacara Green ’25
“Have your elevator pitch memorized to the point that it is seamless. It will help with networking.” Abraham Hochstetler ’24
“Be the Tylenol to their pain.” Connor Lovic ’24
“When it comes to your career always be prepared and stay ready, you never know when things are going to change.” Taya Sykes ’24
“Believe in yourself.” Damion Grinnell ’25
“Don’t let the *%#@ wear you down.” Hailey McClain ’24
“Network, network, network.” Yeryoung Kim ’24
“Develop a professional network before you need it.” Nick DiLullo ’24
“Have a support group.” Austin Siko ’24
“Courage, heart, intelligence.” Isaac Sasala ’24
“We control our own destiny we just must believe in ourselves.” Abigail Sefton ’25
“Utilize your college and career service departments.” Madi Yurich ’24
“Use fonts that people are used to seeing for resumes.” Zach Bergstresser ’25
“Remember the Guerilla Guarantee!” Conner Lovic ’24

Dinner “Dishing”

“Overall, I was practicing the skills learned at the first dinner and perfecting my newly acquired eating craft.” Jacara Green ’25
“I enjoyed my dining group greatly as well; we talked about our future goals, and I was happy to be seated with like-minded, and ambitious individuals who I know will do great things in the future.” Austin Siko ’24
“In terms of the food, I had never had lamb before tonight’s meal, but I actually really enjoyed it. It was very tender and was cooked to perfection. I think I might have to try eating lamb more often!” Madi Yurich ’24
“Allie had chosen an amazing selection for dinner and the dessert had an amazing twist on Groundhog Day.” Zach Bergstresser ’25