Kean University alumnus returns to host two events in the Miron Student Center

By Adrianna Ruffo | Published March 4, 2017  

On March 30 and April 3, Kean University will be hosting two events that focus on acing interviews in 2017 and educating millennials on how to be successful in the workforce.

Antonio Parrales, an alumnus who now runs his own business, will be hosting both of these events in the Miron Student Center. Parrales founded Parrales Consulting LLC in 2009 and has been conducting seminars to many Universities across the nation ever since.

The first seminar, which is titled “Acing Interviews in 2017,” is being sponsored by Kean University’s student government, as part of a new series of workshops titled “Life Skills,” designed to educate students on skills they might not learn in a traditional classroom setting such as interviewing, networking, financial planning and much more.

Parrales and his staff are currently looking for ten students to participate in a series of different types of interviews such as a phone and Facetime or Skype interview and then will receive tailored feedback on their performances, on what they can improve and what areas they did well on. Students will have their resume critiqued, then do a 30 minute interview on the phone and then a 30 minute Facetime or Skype interview. Students who participate in these mock interviews are also asked to attend the workshop as the last part of the interviewing series. If any student is interested in being an interviewee, they can contact Parrales at AP@AntonioParrales.com.

For the first seminar, the videos and audios of each student’s interviews will be used as examples during the workshop to help other students learn how to successfully get through all of the different stages of the interview process. The seminar will last approximately two hours and will take place in the Miron Student Center in room 228 from 5:30p.m. to 7:30p.m on Thursday, March 30th. Doors open at 5 p.m. and dinner will be served. All are welcome to attend.

“Most students aren’t aware of the different stages of interviews that you go through in order to be placed in an organization,” said Parrales.

Successfully passing through each stage of the interviewing process is significantly difficult than it ever was before. Not even 10 years ago, applicants could simply submit their resume and somebody would call them back and you got an interview, if the interviewer liked you, you got the position. Not in 2017.

During the seminar, Parrales will be educating students on the process [Human Resources and corporations] go through to interview a potential candidate.

“It’s not just that we pull a resume, call you and interview you,” said Parrales. “It’s going through an applicant tracking system.”

Once a candidate is chosen from the applicant tracking system, then they are called for a phone interview. If the candidate has what [potential employers] are looking for, they then receive a Facetime interview, where [potential employers] look for certain attributes from any possible candidate.

“I want to educate [students] on the different stages of the interviewing process, what they need to be aware of,” said Parrales. “So, they can be successful in each stage as it progresses in the interviewing process.”

The next seminar, called “Millennials in the Workforce,” aims to educate millennials on how to be effective in the workplace. Parrales will educate students on the different generations that are in the workforce and the way that they work, as well as some of the adversities millennials might face as a result of the different values older generations may uphold in the workforce. This seminar will last approximately 3 hours, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Miron Student Center, room 228 on Monday, April 3rd. Doors open at 4:30 and dinner will be served. Only undergraduates are welcome to attend.

“A lot of companies hire me for [educating millennials] specifically because millennials have a distorted view of what the workforce looks like,” shared Parrales. “[Millennials] have this view that they are going to change the world within a month, they are going to be managers within a few months or that they are going to be vice presidents.”

While Parrales thinks those things can be achieved, it may take more time then millennials anticipate. Parrales stresses that, in order to achieve, you need to have people on your side.

“A lot of millennials enter the workforce not realizing that the people in the workforce are the ones that are going to be the advocates to push you forward and recommend you for advances and opportunities,” said Parrales. “Millennials come into the workforce assuming that in two years they are going to be a manager, not realizing how to manage the relationships around them.”

Parrales will also inform the students at the seminar of how to work with the older generations that are in the workforce, how [older generations] view the workforce, how [older generations] were brought up and how that impacts the way that [older generations] do business. This information is crucial, as millennials can learn to understand if they learn how to do business that way, they will learn how to work with the older generations and form strong relationships that can help them progress.

“We are utilizing the millennials in the workforce seminar for students at the University to educate them on some of the challenges that they are going to be facing once they enter the workforce, with the different generations that are there,” said Parrales, whose own company specializes in educating managers on how to successfully engage and retain millennials in the workforce.

“[These seminars] are educating students on things they need to know to be successful in the workforce, that they really can’t get in the classroom per say,” shared Parrales. “In the classroom, you learn about business but it doesn’t teach you about interpersonal relationships, it doesn’t teach you about interviewing skills and those kind of things, this is taking what students have learned and then showing them the skills they’ll need to be effective at work.”

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