For Westchester families, making sure young adults find a rewarding career is paramount — and CompleteCandidate knows it. Founded by recruiting gurus Nadine Varca Bilotta and Nancy Thomas, the service provides college grads several sessions to hone their resumes, prep for the next interview, and land the perfect job. Since 914INComing profiled the fledgling company last year, CompleteCandidate has only been growing in strength.
Based out of Serendipity Labs in Rye, CompleteCandidate now has three years under its belt as well as hundreds of clients stretching across the country and a 98% success rate. According to Thomas, to achieve this CompleteCandidate began to evolve immediately after it was founded in 2015.
“We thought originally this was going to be a seminar-based program, but by fall parents were asking us if we could do one-on-one sessions with their kids,” she says. “So, over time, we morphed CompleteCandidate into more of a one-on-one program where we could meet the candidates wherever they are and, we’ve really been able to hone in on what was missing from their applications.”
Over the course of these training lessons, Bilotta and Thomas slowly developed a textbook that encompassed all their teachings. “We upgraded the book to 80 pages and, this past summer, we’ve brought it up to 100 pages,” says Bilotta. “We wanted to make sure that we hadn’t left anything out and that the book could really stand on its own if the person didn’t have me or Nancy to walk them through the program.“ According to Bilotta, the book now covers every detail candidates might require when positioning themselves for employment.
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So, what is their plan for this employment manual? “Our mindset is not to go and put that book to market, but to work with colleges and universities that will then use the book to administer their own program,” explains Thomas, adding that she and Bilotta will offer consulting services to school administrators and lecture at the schools, if asked. “We envision being able to make colleges and universities a little more responsible for students post-graduation,” Thomas says.
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“Nancy now lives in South Carolina, and we help people all over this country in every single industry,” says Bilotta, who lives in Mamaroneck. They do so through honing applicants’ resumes, showing them how maximize the use of LinkedIn, helping them define their interests, network, and optimize job search tools. At any given time the duo is aiding dozens of applicants.
“We create a marketing campaign around their candidacy and help them with that competitive edge through developing interpersonal skills, preparing and doing research,” Bilotta adds.
“This is the most rewarding work we have ever done, and there is a huge need not only Westchester but everywhere in the country,” says Thomas. “It’s going to be hard to scale Nadine and me, and that is why we made the book able to stand on its own. Our next step is launching the college and university program, allowing them to help their students at any stage of the job search.”
