Being the best candidate
Career-minded Rebecca Wuhl ’01 knows how to make job applications stand out.
ILLUSTRATIONS BY ANTONIO PINNA
As the director of talent acquisition at Global Strategy Group (GSG), a highly regarded public relations firm that was founded in New York City, Rebecca Wuhl ’01 spends her days conducting recruitment interviews for all kinds of positions from internships to executive vice presidents.
The job, along with working in recruitment and career services for two decades, has made her an expert in how to make the right impression. “It’s really about making those connections with people,” she says.
This is where Wuhl’s Lafayette degrees in history and psychology come in handy. “I deal with people every day,” Wuhl says. “Those majors really helped me be successful in getting my master’s in psychological services and preparing for that interaction.”
Wuhl’s work also takes her into college classrooms and across campuses where she talks to upcoming and recent graduates, forging connections for her company and beyond. In this role with GSG, she has seen firsthand the impact that academic institutions have on potential job candidates.
“There’s a huge advantage at a school like Lafayette because you’re able to get really great references and hands-on experience,” Wuhl says. “We hire for communications people, we hire for political research … so the people who have actual experience, especially at a small school, are a lot of times the people we hire.”
Ready for your next role? Here are Wuhl’s tips.
LinkedIn profiles matter.
Make sure the information on your LinkedIn profile matches the experience on your resume. “A lot of employers look for detail when hiring, so to me, inconsistencies look like you didn’t even take time to proofread,” Wuhl says, explaining that you should treat your LinkedIn profile and resume like parts of a whole. “You wouldn’t turn in a final paper without references, so why apply for jobs with an incomplete LinkedIn profile?”
Take your time on cover letters.
“It’s the quality of the application versus the quantity,” she says. Search up the details of the company’s hiring team and address your cover letter, personally, to them. Ensure the skills you outline in your letter match the job description on the company’s posting. Research to understand the scope of the role—and have your cover letter reflect that. “Especially when you’re looking for an internship or an entry-level role, taking that extra time generally leads to more interviews,” she says.
Keep your personal information private.
Yes, this includes social media profiles—and definitely don’t link to your personal accounts on your resume. According to Wuhl, internet presence can be a deciding factor in competitive job searches, and making that information accessible to hiring managers is probably the biggest mistake people make on resumes. “We Google every single person before we hire,” Wuhl says. “Everyone has a right to post things, but when you’re looking for a job, keep everything private and watch where you’re commenting.”
Write a thank-you email.
If you’re wondering if post-interview thank-yous are something interviewers take into account, they absolutely are. “I would say probably half the candidates I see don’t write thank-you notes,” Wuhl says. “Google a template and put it out there. It takes 30 seconds to write it, and I guarantee other people aren’t doing it.”
