– + Learn

What You Need to Tell Employers, with Charles McGee

by

Share

Listen On:

 

What do you think an employer wants to hear from you in an interview? If you said, “My background and skills,” you aren’t wrong. But according to Find Your Dream Job guest Charles McGee, it goes much deeper than that. An employer wants quantifiable facts. How did you make a difference at your previous job that can be measured? Charles also suggests not being afraid to share your weak points, but also explain how you’ve grown and overcome them, and what you learned as a result. Lastly, keep your resume concise; less visual clutter is easier for the employer to get through. 

About Our Guest:

Charles McGee is the director of operations for Workplace Change.

Resources in This Episode:

Transcript

Find Your Dream Job, Episode 503:

What You Need to Tell Employers, with Charles McGee

Airdate: May 28, 2025

Mac Prichard:

This is Find Your Dream Job, the podcast that helps you get hired, have the career you want, and make a difference in life.

I’m your host, Mac Prichard. I’m also the founder of Mac’s List. It’s a job board in the Pacific Northwest that helps you find a fulfilling career.

Every Wednesday, I talk to a different expert about the tools you need to get the work you want.

Your qualifications alone – no matter how impressive – won’t get you your next job.

That’s because you’re competing against others with similar backgrounds.

So, how can you stand out from your competitors?

Charles McGee is here to talk about what you need to tell employers.

He’s the director of operations for Workplace Change.

It’s a human resources firm that offers culturally inclusive solutions for people and organizations.

Charles joins us from Portland, Oregon.

Well, let’s get right into it, Charles. When job seekers apply for positions, what do they think employers want to hear?

Charles McGee:

Well, when job seekers apply for positions, Mac, part of what they think employers want to hear are things that specifically relate to the role. Past experience that specifically relates to the role and that sort of help to paint a clear picture of not only what you’ve done, but what you can do.

Mac Prichard:

And is that an effective approach?

Charles McGee:

You know, I think it is. I think it is. Especially if you make it quantifiable. Especially, think about a resume. I tell people to think about resumes as a picture. And what you want to do is you want everything in the resume to sort of paint this clear picture that connects to something.

So you are not only talking about what you’ve done in the past, but you’re also talking about what you can do in the future. And so you want to ground it as much in quantifiable, specific past experiences that allow the employer to see a clear and evident picture of what you can do if employed, if hired.

Mac Prichard:

What stops the applicants from painting that picture, especially in their resume, but also in their interviews, Charles?

Charles McGee:

You know, often, Mac, I think with women and people of color, they’re afraid to oftentimes sort of flex their shoulders and talk about their good works. And they often feel like it’s braggadocious or you know, sometimes some of this stuff is highly cultural.

And not wanting to seem like you’re taking the limelight from the team. But often, I tell people that you’ve got to sort of show and paint this clear picture, or else no one’s gonna know what you’re capable of.

Mac Prichard:

And in your experience, are people’s competitors painting that complete picture? Is that what you’re competing against?

Charles McGee:

Yeah! I think some folks will come in and they will paint an absolutely clear picture of what they’ve done and how they’ve done it and what they hope to do next. And so, often, when we’re having these conversations with employees, with applicants, it’s really encouraging them to not be afraid to use the words on the paper of the resume to paint a clear enough picture of their capacity.

Mac Prichard:

A lot of applicants, when meeting with a hiring manager, will talk about their enthusiasm or their excitement for a role. Is that enough to stand out, and if so, why not?

Charles McGee:

You know, I don’t think it often is. Just to talk about your excitement, enthusiasm for the role. And that is, everyone is gonna do it, right? No one’s gonna apply for a job and talk about why they shouldn’t be hired or what’s wrong with the company.

And so really focusing on tangible, measurable, quantifiable skills and outputs that you’ve achieved in a role and painting this clear picture of what you can, using that to paint a clear picture of what you can do if hired, really excites employers because it gives them the opportunity to see you in their company.

Mac Prichard:

I want to talk more about describing your results and your accomplishments.

But before we get there, Charles, another thing that applicants often do when meeting with interviewers is they talk about what they want in their careers, and how the job might help them accomplish that, but why do employers want to hear more than that?

Charles McGee:

I think employers want to hear a lot more than what’s in it for you. They want to hear what’s in it for them, as well. How are you going to solve, what issues are you going to solve if hired? How are you going to help to inspire and be part of their teams?

Considering a conflict in the workplace now, considering, you know, the workplace is reflective of, you know, our complex modern society; employers want to know what type of employee are you going to be, what type of teammate are you gonna be?

And so, painting a picture that not only says you can achieve and accomplish the role, but also that you’re gonna be, not a team player, but a positive, contributing member of the team. That sort of helps to get the organization to a better place.

Mac Prichard:

Well, let’s talk about how to paint that picture. And one of the first steps you say job seekers need to share with employers is, and you touched on this a moment ago, is talk about what you did and the deliverables you produced in your previous positions.

Why is it so important to talk about results when you’re meeting with an employer?

Charles McGee:

You know, it’s important because at the end of the day, that’s really all we all have, is sort of the good works that we do. And so, you can paint a clear picture, a clear and salient picture, of what you’ve done and use that to give the employer and the hiring panel the opportunity to sort of see you in the job, see you delivering.

It allows for everyone to sort of be able to get excited about the opportunities that lie ahead.

Mac Prichard:

What kind of results are gonna matter most to employers when you’re in a job interview?

Charles McGee:

It’s like all of us, right? I often tell people, put yourself in the shoes of the employer. So what are you gonna want to hear? You’re gonna want to hear that the person was committed to the mission and the work of the organization, that the person was able to use their role as a sort of place to grow the organization, grow the work. That, not only did you do your job, but that also you were a good and productive team member.

And so, talking to those things, and almost using the resume and the interview process as a way to highlight and show who you are. Because again, it’s not only about what you’re gonna do or what you’ve done in the past, rather, but it’s also about what you’re gonna do in the future.

Mac Prichard:

In the end, what matters most to an interviewer when meeting with an applicant? Is it results or responsibilities of past jobs?

Charles McGee:

I think it’s a little of both. But with results taking a larger end of that.

Because again, you want to use the results to paint a clear picture of what you will do in the future.

Mac Prichard:

We’ve talked a lot about results. Say more, Charles, about the importance of explaining the difference that you’ve made in past roles.

Charles McGee:

You know, Mac, often, when workplace change is hired, because we’re a woman-owned, minority-owned firm, often people are hiring us because they want us to have an applicant process that’s welcoming to all populations.

And so, the reality that we all have and some of the reality of the moment, is that we’ve gotta talk and focus on the things that we’ve done, the things that you know on a reference check call, an employer can mention, a previous employer can mention. Because that allows for the hiring panel, the hiring manager to be able to see that you can come in and you can do the job.

The last thing you ever wanna do when you’re hiring someone is to think about how, what sort of disruptions they may cause to your workforce, what sort of issues they may cause.

So what you want to do is you want to be able to paint a clear enough picture of both, not only the sort of employee and outcomes you’re going to be able to produce, but what sort of team member, and how you’re gonna help to further the mission of the organization.

Mac Prichard:

Terrific. We’re gonna take a break. Stay with us; when we come back, Charles McGee will continue to share his advice on what you need to tell employers.

We’re back in the Mac’s List studio. I’m talking with Charles McGee.

He’s the director of operations for Workplace Change.

It’s a human resources firm that offers culturally inclusive solutions for people and organizations.

Charles joins us from Portland, Oregon.

Now, Charles, before the break, we were talking about what you need to tell employers.

You have a number of points that you look for as a recruiter when you’re talking to candidates. We talked about several of them in the first segment.

Another key point you keep an eye out for are applicants who describe what they learned in previous jobs.

Why do recruiters like you care about this?

Charles McGee:

Well, we care because it speaks to not only thoughtfulness, but it speaks to the ability to apply lessons.

You know, the workplace, yes, when you go to work, the goal is to work toward the mission or whatever the business services are. But it’s also thinking about culture – the culture of the workplace. Thinking about not only the work that you can do, but also how you do the work.

Because again, part of the beauty of hiring a firm like Workplace Change is not only do we do recruitments, but we also do technical HR work. And so, we don’t wanna encourage people to hire people that are gonna be problematic for the team or the overall health of the organization.

And so, we want people who can paint a clear picture of what they can do, the positive contributions they can make. But also the context that they do it in.

Because again, employers more and more are not just, they are not just looking for the shining star. They also want the shining star who can be a positive, contributing member of the team.

Mac Prichard:

Learning involves taking risks. And often when we take risks, we make mistakes, or perhaps things don’t work out the way we thought they might.

How do you talk about your learning experiences without making those mistakes sound like failures?

Charles McGee:

You know, it’s about being honest and about also being human. The reality is, increasingly, we live in a world where, you know, it’s sometimes tough to be the person who stands up and says, “I haven’t been perfect and here’s the mistake that I made.”

But we also know that people who are able to apply the lessons learned from often hard situations are more effective because they’re resilient. They’re we know that those other, the skills that having that level of introspection demonstrate are also skills that are extremely wonderful to have in a coworker and an employee.

Those are all things that are transferable. We want to work with people who are lifelong learners. Who likes a person, or who wants to hang out with a friend who always has sort of a down-sentiment? Few of us do.

So we encourage applicants to not only be reflective and introspective, but also be able to turn the page and talk about how those lessons make you a better employee and a better, more productive person.

Mac Prichard:

How do you do that? What have you seen work well when you’ve interviewed applicants or reviewed applications from people who have made mistakes and talked about the lessons they learned from them?

Charles McGee:

You know, it’s having the ability to not only say, sort of, here was the tough lesson, but here’s how I applied that lesson.

Being able to talk about, you know, like, I had an interview recently with someone who was applying for a pretty big job at a local governmental agency, and them being able to say “You know, when I first started as a manager, there was a budgeting process that I didn’t do well. I had all the budget advisor folks upset at me because I wasn’t communicating, and I didn’t understand this. And here’s how I applied the lesson; the next year I was able to have a much more inclusive process where I engaged people year-round and I talked to more people.”

That demonstrates not only an ability to go through sort of the tough lesson but also then to internalize it and make the change. Because we know that no one’s perfect, no one’s going to be 100% all the time.

So what we want to do is we wanna hire people, we wanna encourage applicants to be able to be introspective and reflective. But also talk about how that instance makes you a better employee. And be okay with that because everyone knows that we’re not perfect.

Mac Prichard:

Another thing you say employers want to hear from applicants is about your professional trajectory. Why does an employer care about your career journey?

Charles McGee:

Well, employers will care about your career trajectory, because again, it talks about, it speaks to the ability to grow. It paints a picture. You know, it’s almost as if I wake up one morning and I say I’m gonna go join the NBA. Highly, it’s not gonna happen. I am not gonna make the NBA, even if I tried at this point in life.

So it’s about painting a clear enough picture. But also, when we talk to leaders, particularly people who are applying for leadership roles, Mac, something we also often tell them is to be thoughtful about words like, especially for women and people of color, using words like collaborate and assist.

We don’t want to use words, and we don’t want to play into bias. And so, what we want to do is we want to say and point to things that demonstrate our ability to lead and our ability to be efficient and effective and collaborative, but also being thoughtful of pre, being thoughtful about bias and other hang-ups that we all have.

Mac Prichard:

Say more about that. What do you mean exactly? What do people need to watch out for when telling their career story, and how a job that they’re applying for fits into this, and using the language you just described?

Charles McGee:

You know, how it plays out is the reality is that we live in a society where, you know, we all come with a context, we all come with a social context.

And so, when you are writing something as a resume, you want to be thoughtful as to whatever perceptions people may have and how not to play into it. So you wanna tell your story in a way that really becomes universal. You want to tell your story in a way that is additive.

The goal is to, as you’re writing your resume and you’re preparing for the interview process, you want to make sure that you’re telling a story that is concise, that is to the point, that shows, yes, you’re able to be collaborative and thoughtful, and a positive, contributing member of the team. But that you’re an individual who’s a professional and who can get it done.

So you want to use past examples. You want to talk about how those past examples will influence how you show up in the future.

Mac Prichard:

How do you also show an employer that your career, that the job you’re applying for fits into your career story? What’s been, what have you seen be effective?

Charles McGee:

You know, Mac, what’s really effective is painting that picture, right? Talking about the passion that drove you to the career. Talking about sort of what even, you know, so we were talking with someone a couple of days ago for a fire position, and you know, in the middle of it, he said, “You know, I’m someone who’s always loved helping people.” That paints the picture about why you would want a job where you go to run in buildings and save people’s lives, cause he’s always wanted to do it.

He started talking about, you know, he even made a joke about earlier in his life being a safety, one of those crossing guards in elementary school. Paints a clear picture of this is someone who has always cared, someone who has always contributed in this fashion.

Mac Prichard:

Let’s talk about resumes. How can you use your resume to tell a story about your career?

Charles McGee:

You know, add a brief, objective summary statement that really highlights not only your interest in the position, but what brings you to this interest. Use your resume, say something about your passions in the opening statement. List your skills. Talk about not only your skills professionally but how some of those skills may even play into personal interests, right?

So, if you’re applying for a role that requires that you’re highly literate, if you love to read, talk about your love for reading. Talk about some, maybe even in an interview process, talk about some of the books you’ve read and how they inform the work that you do.

Paint a clear enough picture of not only what you’ve done but what you can do.

Mac Prichard:

What mistakes do you see applicants make with a resume that prevent them from telling a compelling story in a way that’s going to be persuasive to employers?

Charles McGee:

You know, resumes that look cluttered. Oftentimes, you see these resumes nowadays where they wanna do all the fancy backgrounds and colorful stuff. And in some ways, I love a good piece of art, but the reality is sometimes simple is best, right?

Again, you want your resume to be additive. You don’t know who’s reading it, you don’t know how busy they are. You want to think about your font, you want to think about your word spacing. You don’t want clutter. You don’t want too much going on that it distracts from the content.

Mac Prichard:

Well, it’s been a great conversation, Charles. Now tell us what’s next for you?

Charles McGee:

What’s next for us here at Workplace Change, you know, the modern workplace, like the modern world, is highly complex, and there’s a lot of tension in it right now.

We’ve got a program service area here where, it’s called Harmony Restoration, where we go into the modern workplace and we help to inspire solutions that are, that allow for higher productivity.

You know, it’s also in our recruitment work, it’s continuing to help our clients not only find candidates that are diverse but also highly qualified and highly competent.

Mac Prichard:

Well, I know listeners can learn more about you and your work and Workplace Change by visiting your website, workplacechanges.com. And you also invite listeners to connect with you on LinkedIn. And when you do reach out to Charles, I hope you’ll mention you heard him on Find Your Dream Job.

Now, Charles, given all the great advice you’ve shared today, what’s the ONE thing you want a listener to remember about what you need to tell employers?

Charles McGee:

You want to tell employers quantifiable, measurable things that you’ve done. Things that are undisputed that you can point to, that you, that were you not at said employer, it would not have happened.

Mac Prichard:

Next week, our guest will be Tanya Maldonado.

She’s a career specialist at Portland Community College.

For more than 25 years, Tanya has helped adult learners understand and map out the steps to achieve a satisfying career.

When you meet a hiring manager, you need to answer the questions you’re asked.

But if you want to get the job, you can’t let the employer run the conversation.

Join us next Wednesday when Tanya Maldonado and I talk about how to take control of your job interviews.

Until next time, thanks for letting us help you find your dream job.

This show is produced by Mac’s List.

Susan Thornton-Hough schedules our guests and writes our newsletter. Lisa Kislingbury Anderson manages our social media.

Our sound engineer and editor is Matt Fiorillo. Dawn Mole creates our transcripts. And our music is by Freddy Trujillo.

This is Mac Prichard. See you next week.