Transcription:
Opportunity Flows at Riverside: Landing the Job

Tim Weston:  Hello, listeners. And thanks for tuning into Well Within Reach podcast, brought to you by Riverside Healthcare. I'm your host, Liz Healy. And joining me today is Tim Weston, who is Riverside's Manager of Employment and Workforce Planning. Thanks for joining us today, Tim.

Thanks, Liz.

Liz Healy: So we're here to kind of talk about something that you obviously are very familiar with, workforce planning is part of your title, and that's landing a job at Riverside. But before we get into that, can we talk a little bit about how you landed here at Riverside?

Tim Weston: Yeah. So, I've been with Riverside a little over four years now. I have over 10 years of HR experience within the healthcare industry. Most of that was in behavioral health before I started with Riverside.

Liz Healy: Okay. So what makes Riverside different than other places that you've worked?

Tim Weston: I really think it's the community. The people that you work with are the same people that you do life with, the people you see at the grocery store, see at your kid's baseball games and their dance recitals.

Liz Healy: Okay. So I think that sense of community is something that I've definitely felt as well. It's one of the things that keeps me, makes me want to stay at Riverside and continue my career. Is there something that we haven't mentioned that keeps you at Riverside?

Tim Weston: I really think that it has to do with the commitment to excellence and patient outcomes here. You know, everything focuses back on our patients here. We're always innovating when it comes to the best and most efficient ways to care for our patients. And really that just trickles down to the way that everyone does their jobs, including our talent acquisition team.

Liz Healy: Okay. So, your team of recruiters, you obviously see a lot of resumes every day when you're going through all of the various jobs and levels of positions that we have open here at Riverside. Are there some things that stand out to you right away on a resume?

Tim Weston: Yeah. Really the first thing I noticed is just how easy it is to digest all the information there. Sometimes less is more as it relates to just formatting and content on a resume. It's pretty easy to go overboard with a little bit too much information or just too much in terms of different just templates for a resume, focusing more on maybe what it looks like versus what's actually there.

Liz Healy: Oh, I could definitely see that. I know when I graduated college, I had 20 different versions of my resume. So I definitely feel that. Are there specific things that you look for on a resume, like the very first thing you look for?

Tim Weston: Really, I think the main thing is their demonstrated ability just to get the job done, whatever that previous job was. So it's pretty easy to identify someone who just copied their job description maybe from their last job and pasted it onto their resume. So, I'd much rather see the types of projects that were completed, measurable successes and just proven people skills as well.

Liz Healy: Okay. So that might be considered a common mistake that people make, is copying and pasting. Are there any other common mistakes that you see?

Tim Weston: Oh, typos. Spellcheck is definitely your friend. Always have another person put a set of eyes onto your resume before you start sending it out. We talked a little bit about maybe some templates that folks are using for resumes. Those are great. I'm a big fan of those. It's pretty easy to kind of plug and play so to speak if you don't know where to start, if it's your first resume. But any unfilled or incomplete templates, obviously that's a little bit of a red flag just on your attention to detail or even, you know, if you're writing a cover letter or an objective at the top of your resume having the wrong company listed is also one of those examples too.

Liz Healy: Yeah. I could definitely see that's something that throws a red flag right away. If you're not paying attention, how detail-oriented are you in your work?

Tim Weston: Exactly. Yeah.

Liz Healy: So at job fairs or you might run into a recruiter just out in public, they could do kind of an on-the-spot interview. Are there some tips that you could have that you have for us that allow us to make the most of that short amount of time that we have?

Tim Weston: Right. In particular with those on-the-spot interviews, having that updated resume that really captures all of your work experience, that's tip number one for sure. But also, you know, I know what we look for is really that your personality shines through. So, in light of COVID, we can't necessarily give that firm handshake that I know everyone focuses on when it comes to just good interviewing, etiquette, but something like eye contact and just your energy are great ways to put your best foot forward.

Liz Healy: Okay. If there's a question that you might not have the answer to in one of those on-the-spot interviews, what's a good way to kind of answer that?

Tim Weston: Yeah. I think being honest. I'd rather have someone tell me that they don't know the answer to a question versus trying to make something up on the spot that's pretty easily identifiable as just them maybe not knowing the correct answer to a question. And a lot of the questions that we are asking during an interview aren't necessarily there's a correct answer and an incorrect answer. Again, we're looking for specific examples. You just being able to recall a certain example from your work as to how you work through a certain situation.

Liz Healy: Okay. So something that I know that could deter someone from working in healthcare, especially after COVID and all the restrictions and regulations that are put on a healthcare industry now just to keep patients safe, to keep our staff safe, if I don't have healthcare experience, should I still apply for a healthcare role?

Tim Weston: Yeah, absolutely. Many, if not most of our entry-level positions, they don't require any sort of healthcare background. So, if you have a good work ethic, customer service experience and a positive attitude, we can teach you just about anything.

Liz Healy: Okay. So if someone was concerned about coming to work in the hospital post-COVID, obviously COVID is still going to be around for a little while, what is something reassuring that you would say to them to encourage that it's a safe environment?

Tim Weston: No, that's a great question. I'd probably just say, "Hey there's no better place to work than a hospital right now." Again, it is our job literally to make people as safe as possible while they're there as a patient and same goes for our employees as well.

Liz Healy: Okay. So what is the best piece of advice you could give someone who's looking for a job here at Riverside?

Tim Weston: Well, I think probably just boils down to the fact that Riverside loves hiring people who care about people. So just tell us why you are passionate about caring for others.

Liz Healy: So someone is going to take your advice, they're passionate about caring for others, how would someone go about applying to a job at Riverside or seeing our job postings?

Tim Weston: So all of our jobs are listed online on our website, RiversideHealthcare.org, and there's a tab right there in the upper right-hand corner called Careers. So all the jobs are listed there. But we also have them cross posted to a number of different job boards, like your Indeed, LinkedIn, CareerBuilder and so on.

Liz Healy: Okay. Is there anything else? I feel like you've given us a lot of really good tips and information here. Is there anything else that you'd like to add today?

Tim Weston: So I would just say keep an eye out on our job board. If you were looking for a specific job and don't see it posted, check back because we always do have new openings that are posted there on a daily basis. And then just keep an eye out as well for any other career fairs or career events that we have coming up in the near future.

Liz Healy: Okay. Perfect. And thanks for joining us today, Tim. And thank you for tuning into the Well Within Reach podcast with Tim Weston, who is Riverside's Manager of Employment and Workforce Planning and your host, Liz Healy. To learn more about careers at Riverside, visit RiversideHealthcare.org/careers.