2026 Level Up Luncheon October 9 - Interviewing Skills: Both Sides of the Table

Join the Joliet Area Young Professionals for an exciting new addition to the 2026 calendar: Level Up Luncheons.

Designed for emerging professionals, this series offers the opportunity to grow your network while gaining valuable insights from experienced industry leaders. Each luncheon will feature a guest speaker covering relevant topics to help you grow personally and professionally.

The October 9 Level Up Luncheon will feature guest speaker Caroline Portlock, Workforce Investment Board of Will County Director.

Topic:
Whether you are preparing to land your next opportunity or responsible for selecting the right candidate, a successful interview starts well before anyone sits down at the table. This interactive session explores interviewing and resume evaluation from both the job seekers and employer’s perspective, helping participants better understand what each side is looking for and how strong hiring decisions are made.

Participants will learn how to create and evaluate resumes for relevance, accomplishments, transferable skills, and potential; prepare for common and behavioral interview questions; communicate experience with confidence; ask meaningful questions; recognize interview strengths and red flags; and use a more consistent, objective approach when evaluating candidates.

By seeing the hiring process from both perspectives, participants will leave with practical tools they can immediately use to become a stronger candidate, a more effective interviewer, and a better evaluator of talent.