How to Best Leverage HACE’s Latino Recruitment Series

Q&A article written by: Rocio Mendez, Director of Operations at HACE

A Latino Recruitment Series is an evening open house hosted by one of Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement (HACE) partners.  HACE usually starts promoting the company, open positions and date two months in advance.  This gives job seekers enough time to pre-register and do research prior to the event.

Why is research important?
Research is important because you will have the opportunity to network with hiring managers and recruiters at the event.  You want to make sure you research the company and all of the available openings in order to ask appropriate questions the day of the event.  During the research, you will identify jobs that you might be interested in based on your skills and qualifications.

Should I apply for a job prior to the Latino Recruitment Series?
Yes, you want to apply to those openings that you are interested in.  Hiring managers and recruiters like to know that the candidate did research and took the initiative to apply to openings prior to the event.  If you receive a confirmation email after applying, make sure you print that out and take it with you to the event.  This confirmation email can help you remember what position you applied for as you are talking to the hiring managers or recruiters.  

How to dress for a Latino Recruitment Series
Dress as if you were going to a job interview.  You want to leave hiring managers and recruiters with a great first impression.

What to take to a Latino Recruitment Series
You may want to take a couple of copies of your resume along with any confirmation emails you received from the jobs you applied through your company research.  Take a pen and a piece of paper so that you can write down the names of the individuals you meet.  This will allow you to go home and add them to your LinkedIn account.  You also want to write down the names of those individuals you meet at the event and add them to your network of contacts.

If you follow these suggestions, you are bound to have a great experience at any of our Latino Recruitment Series events.  Take a look at two success stories from individuals that followed these suggestions at our 2011 Career Conferences:
http://www.haceonline.org/featured/cedric-james
http://www.haceonline.org/featured/steven-gonzales