The Final Round

Today is a bitter sweet episode since it is our final, final episode of Season 1. And we are going to switch things up with a special episode to thank YOU, our audience, for your unwavering support since day 1. We will be sharing some of our season 1 highlights, hearing from our team that helps produce the show, and featuring some highlight knockout stories aka success stories from our audience.

Some season highlights:

• We have now published 30 episodes with Recruiters from companies such as Netflix, Boston Consulting Group, Goldman Sachs, Spotify, Google, LinkedIn and more
• We have covered industries such as Consulting, Banking and finance, tech, music, venture capital, gaming, and more.
• We were named a top 1% show out of 2 million shows globally, according to Listen Score.
• We received over 160 5-star Apple Podcast Reviews
• And our audience submitted over 110 Knockout Stories

If you want to stay up to date with The Final Round and future seasons, subscribe for free to the Knockout Newsletter at knockoutnewsletter.com and follow us on social media. Until next time, keep fighting and I will see you in the ring for Season 2.

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To celebrate the end of Season 1, I spent 30+ hours interviewing Recruiters and compiled the BEST pieces of career advice from each Recruiter to help you land jobs! Companies include Google, Boston Consulting Group, LinkedIn, Facebook/Meta, Netflix, Microsoft, Snapchat, Spotify, Nike, Goldman Sachs, Amazon, Tesla, and more...

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Joel Lalgee has a 6-year background in agency recruiting and currently works at Hirewell. He is a massive content creator that has generated 77 million impressions in the last year and has 140,000 followers on LinkedIn. Joel is not afraid to tell it how it is and provides real and authentic career insight from the lens of a recruiter. 

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Here are some questions we will be answering:

- Why is it challenging for companies to hire well?

- Difference between Internal vs. Agency Recruiters?

- How do Recruiters get paid and what are their incentives?

- Are Recruiters out to truly help candidates get the best offer?

- Why is recruiting a hard job?

- Is job-searching 90% timing?

- Why are Agency Recruiters in a battle with CEOs?

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Our bonus episode today features Dr. Eli Joseph, an author, educator, TEDx speaker, faculty member at Columbia University and Queens College, and a partner and medical examiner at ExamOne. His new book, "The Perfect Rejection Resume: A Reader’s Guide to Building a Career Through Failure", compiles lessons about failure from his own life experiences and those of influential thought leaders. Get ready to have a deep conversation about overcoming rejection and failure. 

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Here are some questions we will be answering:

- What's a rejection resume?

- How did you use rejection to fuel your professional achievements?

- Are there any ways to bend the rules in your favor?

- What are some reasons why your dream job may be out of reach?

- What's going on with the Great Resignation?

- What are the takeaways from your book, "The Perfect Rejection Resume"

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Ever heard of Snapchat? We chatted with not 1 but 2 Recruiters from Snap Inc.! Alex Bader and Lauren Turrisi are Lead Business Recruiters at Snap having worked there for a combined 4+ years. Previously, Alex spent 8 years as a Talent Acquisition Manager at Hulu and Lauren spent 3 years as a Talent Acquisition Senior Manager at Ketchum, a PR agency. This episode is one of our favorite (Snapchat) memories, and we bet it will be one of yours as well…

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Here are some questions we will be answering:

- What is your experience working at Snap and what has surprised you the most?

- How does Snap approach the social media battle (e.g. Instagram and TikTok)  from a recruiting perspective?

- What are your Snapchat scores?

- How has the Snap recruiting team thought about XR (extended reality)?

- What are some best practices with Recruiter phone screens? What should candidates NOT say?

- What is a conventional thought in recruiting that you think should be challenged? 

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Our bonus episode features Raj Subrameyer, a tech career strategist and author of the book “Skyrocket Your Career” which hit #5 on the best-seller list. Throughout his entire life, Raj was told he was not good enough, and suffered from severe anxiety, fear of rejection, and low self-esteem. After 20 years of false identity, Raj decided to take control of his life, and has helped thousands of people discover their zone of genius, find their dream job, launch their businesses and become successful leaders. Buckle up your seatbelts and be ready to get inspired.

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Here are some questions we will be answering:

- Can you walk us through your hardships earlier in your life?

- What was the turning point that led you to take control of your life?

- How do you define "success"?

- How did you stay motivated to keep applying to jobs while receiving tons of rejections?

- How did you define your vision and plan out the steps to get to where you wanted to be? 

- How can our audience become rockstars?

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Linda Schubert is a Principal Recruiter at Coinbase, the largest Cryptocurrency exchange in the United States. She previously worked in recruiting and talent acquisition at Glassdoor, Slack, and Thrive Global. In her free time, she is a career mentor for candidates through Career Contessa. Get ready for an electric conversation around the world of recruiting in Crypto, NFTs, Web 3.0, and more.

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Here are some questions we will be answering:

- What has the rollercoaster been like working at Coinbase?

- How do you break into Crypto?

- How to avoid burnout in the job search?

- What would you say the companies did with the most positive employee reviews on Glassdoor? How about negative reviews?

- How is talent shifting from tech to Crypto?

- How can you learn more about Crypto and open jobs?

- Do you own any crypto or NFTs?

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Annie Hopkins is the Head of Americas Graduate Recruitment at Deutsche Bank (DB) meaning she manages all of DB’s campus recruiting for internships and jobs for the US. She is also the former Vice President of Diversity Recruiting and Campus Recruiting at Goldman Sachs. 

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Here are some questions we will be answering:

- What are the essentials of the banking/finance industry?

- What types of entry-level roles exist at an investment bank?

- What might differentiate one investment bank from another?

- Answering the interview question: "Why x bank?"

- How do you break in with a non-traditional background, for example, coming from a non-target school?

- What advice would you give candidates who are prepping for finance/ banking interviews?

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Marie Ablaza (AKA "Fairy Job Mother") is a Talent Recruiter at Netflix Games Studio. She was previously a recruiter at Ubisoft, Lucasfilm, and Dolby Laboratories, and has worked in industries such as tech, entertainment, media, and video games. She was also recognized for the 2021 San Francisco Top Recruiter of the Year Award. Trust me, “You are going to BINGE this episode like you binge Netflix shows.”

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Here are some questions we will be answering:

- Deep dive into Netflix Games Studio?

- New Netflix Series on biggest candidate mistakes?

- Favorite Netflix shows?

- What do people NOT know about working in tech, media, entertainment, and video gaming?

- Should you document your life/career?

- Best practices for transferring from a community college?

- Is success a group effort?

- Why is staying involved important if your "cup" is already full?

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Hannah Wolf is a Senior Campus Recruiter and Global Early Career Pipeline Program Manager at Spotify, the very platform you might be listening on. Prior to Spotify, Hannah worked in Recruiting and HR at Yahoo, Bloomberg, Tiffany & Co., and more. We also brought a special co-host to this episode (Sam Kao). Let's dive into the ring...

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Here are some questions we will be answering:

- How to answer the question, "Why Spotify?"

- Do employees at Spotify play/love music?

- What are some ways candidates can put themselves in a position to be connected to career opportunities?

- What are the various programs at Spotify?

- How is an HR role different than a Recruiter role?

- Should your resume have unique design/format/color?

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Elizabeth Morgan is a former Recruiter and Rejection Manager at Google and current Senior Social Media Program Manager at iCIMS. Elizabeth has built up an audience of over 70,000 LinkedIn followers and has generated 9 million views in 2021 with her weekly career content. This will be a fun episode since we will talk more than just recruiting, for instance, how Elizabeth founded her side hustle Etsy shop called Lively Liz Creations. Let’s dive in!

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Here are some questions we will be answering:

- How do you find the right balance between being too personal vs. too professional online?

- How do job descriptions get made?

- Google looks for "Googliness" - how do you answer the "Googliness" question? 

- What are the main reasons candidates get rejected? 

- Do you recommend others to have side gigs and side hustles?

- Is GPA important in the recruitment process?

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Farah Sharghi is the first guest to be invited back on The Final Round by popular demand. We interviewed Farah on Episode 5 when she worked as a Global Talent Acquisition Partner at TikTok. This was a unique episode where we debunked TikTok career myths so be sure to check that out if you haven't listened to it already. 

This upcoming episode is so unique that it might even make a headline on the NYT since Farah is now the Lead Technical Recruiter at the NYT.

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Here are some questions we will be answering:

- How to lead teams that change the world?

- How to pivot careers (finance to tech)?

- Overview of NYT, business groups, etc.?

- What is the recruitment process like at NYT?

- Similarities and differences between startup vs. corporate recruiting?

- Uber and Lyft recruiting and hiring practices?

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Daniel Botero is a former Lead Campus Recruiter for PepsiCo, one of the world's largest consumer packaged goods companies. He is currently the founder of Mastering College to Career Academy, a best-selling author, international keynote speaker, and a top-rated podcaster. 

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Here are some questions we will be answering:

- Most common mistakes job-seekers make?

- What is it like working for PepsiCo in the consumer packaged goods industry?

- How can a focus on self-improvement help you land jobs?

- What lessons have you learned from over 6-years in sales?

- How do you sell yourself in interviews?

- How can you excel at a campus career fair?

- Why is having a mentor important and how can you get one?

- I don't want to network because I have nothing to give - can you help?

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Links:

Benjy Spiro is a seasoned recruiter who is currently an MBA Campus Recruiting Manager at Walmart and has previously worked in recruiting and Talent Acquisition at OVER 10 COMPANIES including Goldman Sachs, The Walt Disney Company, Accenture, Pfizer, Bloomberg, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, RBC Capital Markets, Christies, Barclays Corporate and Investment Bank, and more.

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Here are some questions we will be answering:

- What have you learned after being a recruiter for 10+ companies?

- How have you been able to recruit across multiple industries (Consulting, Banking, Media & Entertainment, and more)?

- Importance of Gen Z on the job market?

- Why is helping candidates your passion?

- Are there certain qualities you look for in candidates? 

- What would you say to people who are afraid to network because they feel as if they have nothing to give?

- Are candidates too casual with recruiters?

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Leah Frank is a former consulting recruiter for over 5 years at Bain & Company and McKinsey & Company. Leah managed full-cycle hiring for full-time and intern candidates including candidate pipeline management, application screening, training/onboarding, and more. She now works as the GM of an organization called "MyConsultingOffer" to help more candidates land top consulting offers.

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Here are some questions we will be answering:

- What was the expectation vs. reality of being a recruiter at McKinsey and Bain?

- How should a candidate deal with an exploding offer if they are trying to continue interviewing at another firm?

- What are company “Sell Weekends”?

- What advice do you have for candidates to help their resumes and cover letters shine in the application process?

- What does networking look like on the company side?

- Do you have any office preference tips given that you recruited for offices around the country such as Denver and SF?

- Why did you leave recruiting and what are you up to now?

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Erika Love is a Lead Recruiter at McKinsey & Company where she leads undergraduate recruiting for the McKinsey Black Network and the Hispanic & Latino Network. In her role, she focuses on creating high-impact programs to educate, support and prepare students for roles in consulting. She has led a significant effort in doubling Black hires at McKinsey, growing relationships with HBCUs, and expanding opportunities for first-year and second-year undergraduates through internships and programs. 

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Here are some questions we will be answering:

- What is one thing that makes a candidate stand out in the Performance Experience Interview (PEI)?

- How can our listeners prepare for the PEI?

- What exactly is Diversity Recruiting? 

- What do you look for in young students like Freshmen?

- Are certain office locations tougher to get offers in than others?

- When you are between a few final candidates, how do you decide who receives the offer?

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Our guest today is Sarena Tseng, a University Relations Recruiter at Cox Communications. On top of her day job as a recruiter, she is a career coach for students, a LinkedIn expert for young professionals, and a guide for aspiring content creators on LinkedIn.

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Here are some questions we will be answering:

- Difference between recruiters and hiring managers?

- Why and how to build a personal brand?

- How to grow your audience on LinkedIn?

- How to position yourself as a candidate?

- What to post on LinkedIn?

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Chris Garinger is the #1 recommended recruiter on LinkedIn and has recruited for 9 leading companies including Apple, Tesla, Salesforce, and Binti, to name a few.

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Here are some questions we will be answering:

- What is the process of how recruiters and hiring managers decide on candidates?

- Is it easier to get a job in a less-popular company location?

- Do online skill courses matter for recruiting?

- Biggest takeaway after recruiting for over 9 companies?

- How to reinvent yourself in a virtual environment?

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Megan O'Meara is a Recruiter at LinkedIn and was previously a Recruiter and Hiring Manager at Apple. She is also a Rock Your LinkedIn Profile Ambassador which is a certification for LinkedIn Recruiters that involves extensive training. In this action-packed live event, we added time for audience members to get their LinkedIn profiles reviewed by Megan in real-time. Be sure to follow me our host on LinkedIn @AJ Eckstein to tune into the next live podcast event.

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Here are some questions we will be answering:

- Experience working at LinkedIn and Apple?

- Role difference between working as a Recruiter and a Hiring Manager?

- What do recruiters really look for when reviewing a candidate’s LinkedIn profile?

- What are the biggest mistakes candidates make on their LinkedIn profiles?

- Does posting content on LinkedIn help with recruitment?

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For our first Bonus episode of Season 1, we will be interviewing the “godfather of case interviews”. Marc Cosentino, CEO of Casequestions.com and author of Case in Point, is the foremost speaker & trainer on case interviews for undergrads, MBAs & industry hires.

Marc is a former Associate Director of Career Services at Harvard for 18 years and a graduate of Harvard. He has 25 years of experience with case questions, has trained over 100,000 people to find their perfect job fit, written over 100 cases, published 4 bestselling books, and delivered workshops to almost every single top 50 MBA program and college. And to top it off, he consults top companies on how to use case interviews and case competitions to their greatest advantage.

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Here are some questions we will be answering:

- Story behind writing Case in Point? 

- Everything there is to know about a case interview (what it is, types, purpose, preparation, math questions, etc.) 

- What do companies look for in candidates during a case interview? 

- What are some key qualities that make a candidate a top-performer versus a candidate that gets rejected? 

- How to ace the behavioral interview?

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Madeline Mann is an HR & recruiting leader who has built an audience of over half a million people and is known for her award-winning job search YouTube Channel, Self Made Millennial. Her career content has led to thousands of success stories, and her work has been featured in Forbes, Bloomberg, Harvard Business Review,  New York Times, and more. She previously led Talent Development at Inspire, an LA-based clean energy company, as well as worked in HR at Scopely and Gem.

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Here are some questions we will be answering:

- What does the recruitment process look like on a recruiter’s side?

- Why do certain candidates stand out and why do others blend in?

- Why do some recruiters ghost candidates and what do we not know about what happens behind the scenes?

- How can candidates best prepare for interview questions?

- How to master LinkedIn and beat the algorithm when posting content?

- How to build a personal brand?

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Son Nguyen is a Global Campus Recruiting Manager at LinkedIn and is responsible for hiring and coaching entry-level talent for 300+ business and technical roles around the world. Prior to joining the talent acquisition team at LinkedIn, he worked in recruiting for Target Headquarters as well as college admissions at Notre Dame, Columbia, and Michigan.

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Here are some questions we will be answering:

- What makes a good and bad LinkedIn profile?

- How to get recruiters to respond to your LinkedIn messages?

- Is a LinkedIn profile more important than a resume?

- How can posting content on LinkedIn help you in the recruitment process?

- How can being an underdog (first-gen, transfer, etc.) actually be an advantage?

- What do college admission directors and company recruiters look for in candidates?

- Should you submit a cover letter in a job application?

- How to address a gap in your resume?

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Niki Woodall is a Product Leadership Recruiter at Facebook, the most popular social media platform in the world. Niki Woodall has spent 10+ years recruiting for all types of companies, including startups, nonprofits, and tech companies. She is also a mindset and career coach where she helps individuals tap into their limitless potential. So stop scrolling through your Facebook feed because you are going to "like" our next episode...

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Here are some questions we will be answering:

- Biggest surprise working at Facebook?

- How to be a top applicant for Facebook roles?

- How to reset your mind for recruitment success?

- How to utilize the law of attraction for recruitment?

- How to sell yourself to recruiters and hiring managers?

- Relationship between the recruiter and hiring manager?

- How dating is similar to recruiting?

- Stories of memorable candidates who landed jobs at Facebook?

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Have you heard of Masterclass, Coursera, Turnitin, Coursehero, and Handshake? Our guest today is the Head of Talent at GSV Ventures, an early-stage investment fund that has invested in all of these companies and manages over $270M in assets. We are lucky to have Amanda Porter who supports talent acquisition and performance management across GSV Ventures and its portfolio companies.

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Here are some questions we will be answering:

- How to know if VC is right for you?

- How do you break into VC?

- What are the personality traits of an ideal professional in VC?

- How sports can translate to real-world job skills?

- Is working for a startup beneficial prior to joining a VC?

- What to research about the VC firm prior to a coffee chat or interview?

- What questions are asked in VC interviews?

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Lizzie Ann Jones has been a recruiter at Amazon and Expedia for over 4 years including MBA recruiting and global talent acquisition. She is a recruiting thought leader on LinkedIn where she has gained over 8M+ annual views on her career content. Lizzie is currently completing her MBA and is an incoming Product Marketing Manager MBA Intern at Microsoft.

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Here are some questions we will be answering:

- How to win as an underdog?

- What is it like to work at Amazon?

- The key trait to breaking into competitive development/rotational programs?

- What should your mindset be when recruiting for jobs?

- How to master networking calls and coffee chats?

- How to identify your strengths and weaknesses?

- How to overcome challenges in your life?

- How can being an introvert actually be a strength?

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Farah Sharghi-Dolatabadi is currently a Global Talent Acquisition Partner at TikTok and has previously been a recruiter at 5 other companies such as Google, Uber, and Lyft. She has a Computer Science degree and worked in finance before pivoting to talent acquisition. 

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In this unique episode, we will be debunking common career myths on TikTok: 

- Applying on a company’s careers page is a black hole

- You should apply to as many companies as you can

- It is a bad idea to apply to multiple roles within the same company

- You need to have a ton of work experience to land most jobs

- I should not apply to a job if I do not check off every box in the job description

- You should include an objective section on the top of your resume

- 1 typo on your resume is fine if the resume is overall good

**Want to find out if these myths are true or false? Listen to the episode to find out!**

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Greg Share has 12 years of university recruitment experience sourcing top-candidates, and 5 of which have been as a campus recruiter for Ernst & Young (EY). 

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Here are some questions we will be answering:

- How do navigate virtual career fairs with big firms like EY?

- Who should you speak with, what do you say, how do you differentiate yourself?

- Should the conversation you have with a recruiter be different than speaking with a professional from that company?

- How do you have an organic conversation when networking?

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Marisa Jones is an established technical recruiter having worked at multiple tech companies in the Bay Area. She was previously a recruiting coordinator, talent sourcer, and technical recruiter for 4 years at Salesforce, and for the last 3 years has worked as a senior technical recruiter at Airbnb.  

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Here are some questions we will be answering:

- Difference between tech and general recruiters?

- How to network specifically with tech recruiters and what questions to ask?

- How to ask for referrals in the tech industry?

- Is LinkedIn that important when applying to jobs?

- How to optimize your resume with keywords?

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As the first guest from the commercial real estate industry, Garland Fuller has over 15 years of experience in talent acquisition. Previously, she was a regional recruiter for JLL. Currently, she is the Sr. Diversity Recruiting Business Partner at CBRE which is the largest commercial real estate services and investment firm in the world. The firm’s assets under management exceed $104 billion and have over 100,000 professionals worldwide.

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Here are some questions we will be answering:

- How to break into commercial real estate?

- Who are some of the top CRE firms and how do they differ?

- What to say when asked, "Why real estate?"

- The difference between residential and commercial real estate? 

- How to network from a non-target school?

- Why are diversity, equity, and inclusion important in the workplace?

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With the first episode of The Final Round Podcast, we sit down with Bruce Smolen, a Talent Acquisition Senior Specialist at the Boston Consulting Group (or BCG for short). He has recruited for the BCG Los Angeles office for over 15 years. During that time he has reviewed thousands of applications and helped recruit hundreds of consultants into BCG offices all over North America. 

This is an insightful conversation whether you are searching for general career advice, are new to consulting, or have prepared case interviews and have an upcoming final round interview in consulting. ⁣

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Here are some questions we will be answering:

- How to break into consulting (especially with a non-linear career path)?

- How to get referrals?

- Are cover letters important?

- What should you ask a recruiter at a company event?

- How to best navigate virtual recruiting events?

- How to properly network (especially for introverts)? 

- How often and when should you follow up when networking?

- Should you ask for feedback if you get rejected?

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Welcome to The Final Round Podcast. 

Join us in the ring as our host, A.J. Eckstein, speaks with RECRUITERS at top companies in multiple industries to learn the secrets why certain applicants get knocked-out and others are still standing after the final round.