A Successful Week of Public Speaking, Resume Coaching and LinkedIn Coaching

On Wednesday and Thursday of this week, I was busy fulfilling commitments to ClearedJobs.net, the Colorado Springs ISSA and to MBA Research, a company that contacted me to have me sit on a panel related to the future of education here in Colorado.

On Wednesday, on behalf of ClearedJobs.net, I gave resume reviews to groups of primarily Cybersecurity professionals in Colorado Springs.  I did my best in a very short time to teach each group how to create a clean, clear, logical resume that would speak effectively to the resume's audience.  This was fun!

Yesterday morning, I was privileged to work with a group of entrepreneurs and business leaders in Denver.  We were assembled in order to provide information that will ultimately end up in the hands of the Colorado Board of Education with regards to curriculum adjustments that should be made in Middle School, High School and Colleges and Universities in Colorado.  This was fun!

Yesterday afternoon, I was privileged to have been invited back to the Colorado Springs ISSA for second year in a row.  I was asked to speak on the topic of LinkedIn.  It was a relatively full room and I know I had fun delivering what I could deliver in less than an hour to get a highly diverse group of technology and cybersecurity professionals up to speed on the topic of building a personal LinkedIn strategy.

"JEFF, WE MET TODAY AT THE ISSA CONFERENCE. THANK YOU FOR A FANTASTIC TALK ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF LINKEDIN, YOUR TALK WAS VERY INFORMATIVE AND I APPRECIATE THE WORK YOU DO TO HELP OTHERS IN MARKETING, MYSELF INCLUDED."

Now I'm back at my desk where I'm providing Coaching Services, Recruiting Services for Security, Risk Compliance and Privacy skills and I'm about to write up several new brand new IT Risks Management and Security Strategist positions.

Jeff Snyder's Jeff Snyder Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810

No Personal Clarity + No Personal Confidence = No Job Offer

If you’re great at interviewing, you either have a natural gift or maybe you’ve interviewed too often and you have too much experience.  You’re not supposed to be an expert when it comes to interviewing.  In fact, I know many people who never face an actual interview until they are in their 40s or 50s.

Some people are just flat out lucky.  They move from one job to another based on someone pulling them from one job to another.  In this case, they are already know to the person who is inviting them to the next company and they never really have to interview to get their next job.

Not everybody is this lucky.  Whenever possible, I write about real live factual situations rather than theory or my own opinions.  This morning, an email came to me from one of my resume coaching clients.  The resume I taught this client how to build performed precisely the way it was built to perform.  The result of this client’s investment in my 1 Hour Resume Coaching was an interview within a week after building her new resume.

She just figured out that while a clean, clear, logical resume will open interview doors, the resume itself will not land anyone a job.  She was lucky to get this feedback from the employer that just rejected her as a candidate.

"You need to relax and trust in yourself more.  They sensed your tension at the front of the interview, and that will always be interpreted as a lack of confidence.  So my advice is to trust in the value that you bring, relax and enjoy the experience of an interview.  Think of it as a chat, and all will be well."

The good news here is that my client’s resume performed in the marketplace.  The resume opened interview doors.  The bad news is that my client is no as ready as she thought she was for the actual interview experience.  More good news is that she received very clear and direct feedback from her interviewer and she can now decide whether or not to take action on the advice she received.

If my client decides to take the next career coaching step to learn about her natural strengths and she embraces the natural strengths that are part of her DNA, she’ll behave differently in her next interview.  The clarity she’ll gain from understanding her talents and strengths will translate into confidence. 

When she finds clarity and her clarity turns into confidence, the perceived or real tension she brought to her last interview will disappear.  She’ll be able to enjoy the interview experience just like the interviewer told her to do in the feedback paragraph above.

My client does have a problem.  The good news is that this problem can be solved if my clients takes action.

Jeff Snyder’s Coaching Blog found at JeffSnyderCoaching.com, 719.686.8810

Gratitude Suggestion

Jeff Snyder's Coaching Blog at JeffSnyderCoaching.com, 719.686.8810

Sometimes an Attitude Adjustment is in Order

Photo by Jeff Snyder

Jeff Snyder's Coaching Blog found at JeffSnyderCoaching.com, 719.686.8810

Do Your Homework before Saying “Yes” to a New Employer

One question a job seeker should always do homework on is the question or group of questions that uncover the reason a position is open.  In the realm of Information Security or Cyber Security, many Cyber Security jobs are new positions that have never existed before.  If you’re interviewing for one of these positions, find out what business drivers are sitting behind the new position in order to determine what kind of business support is being given to Cyber Security in that particular company.  This might turn out to be a great career move.

If you find yourself interviewing for a position where someone has moved on, this can be a more complicated situation.  Sometimes this is a good situation and sometimes it can lead to a career train wreck for the next employee.

Some people move on because they have truly found a growth opportunity that surpasses the growth possible in their current role. Other people move on and leave positions open because they desire to end a relationship with a questionable boss.

If you find out that someone left a position for anything other than better opportunity, do your homework and proceed cautiously. If a position is open because the hiring authority trying to fill the position is not a particularly good boss, be cautious. 

Unless the previously questionable boss saw the light when he or she lost staff and took action to improve the personal behavior that caused the previous employee or employees to leave, odds are very high that nothing will change with the questionable boss when you take the job.  The questionable boss will continue to be a questionable boss.

Behavioral change is one of the most difficult efforts for a human being to undertake.  It takes courage and commitment to address behavioral change.  If you determine that someone left a position recently because they faced challenges with a questionable boss, the questionable boss will not be any different in the weeks to come when a new employee takes on the open position.

On the outside, the questionable boss might appear to be less stressed for a time when their open positions have been filled but they're the same person on the inside. It will only be a matter of time before the questionable boss begins to behave from their default mode that was briefly masked upon the arrival of the new employees.

Human beings can always improve but it takes significant effort, commitment and courage to improve one’s behavior.  If you find a prospective boss who is investing in their future to become a better boss, this is the kind of person whose team you might want to join.

Do your homework and don’t become a victim of a questionable boss.

Jeff Snyder’s Coaching Blog, JeffSnyderCoaching.com, 719.686.8810

Set Achievable and Measurable Goals…Put Blinders On…Do It

In mid-April of 2014, I was informed by the heart surgeon that a genetic problem in my heart that he’d been monitoring for the previous 4 years had gotten worse.  It was time for me to have open heart surgery.  I was physically ready for this event. While the surgeon was monitoring my heart for 4 years, I had skated over 200 hockey games, I’d ridden more miles than I can remember on my bikes and I had skied hundreds of thousands of vertical feet over 4 ski seasons.  I was ready or so I thought.

I asked the surgeon when he thought I should go through the surgery.  His response offered a time “next week” or “two weeks from now”.  The idea of open heart surgery didn’t scare me as much as the reality of “next week” or “two weeks from now”. It was at that moment that I realized that recovering from open heart surgery would require more than just physical fitness.  This would be a mental and emotional battle that I did not yet understand.

I reluctantly agreed on a date “two weeks from now”.  I proceeded to ask the surgeon questions to give me an idea of how long it would be before I could live my life again.  For me, living life means doing a lot of physically demanding things.  I didn’t care much for the surgeon’s answers.  I call these types of answers good to know and bad to hear.  You need to know but you sure won’t like the way you feel once you know the truth.

What I did learn however was that the surgeon was all for me getting back on my feet as quickly as possible.  Like me, the surgeon was a mountain biker.  He was even more enthusiastic than I anticipated he would be about seeing me back on my bike and back on my skates to play hockey.

When I got home, I wrote everything the surgeon just said on my white board.  On my white board I established specific dates throughout the summer of 2014 when I would return to skates, when I would hike, when I would play hockey, when I would get back on the mountain bike and more.

The hockey stick pictured above played a part in my goal setting.  I bought the stick a week before my surgery date.  Hockey sticks are not inexpensive.  Conventional thinking would have suggested that I wait to buy the stick until I could actually use the stick.  I bought this stick just before my surgery as a way of forcing myself to stay focused on the written goal of getting back on the ice.  I knew how my wife would react if I spent money on the stick but never used it! I had no choice but to get back on the ice.

Because my goals for heart surgery recovery were written and known to a few people whom I knew would help me to stay accountable, I reached and crushed every goal I set related to my heart surgery recovery.  Nothing about this recovery was easy.  Nobody could have told me about all the unforeseen circumstances I would face during my recovery.  I put blinders on and stayed focused on the goals that were written on my white board.

Goals can be wrapped around just about anything.  They need to be realistically achievable and measurable.  You can keep your goals to yourself but you’ll be far more likely to achieve your goals if you share them with a few people who can keep you accountable and maybe even help you when you run into unforeseen obstacles. 

Create achievable and measurable goals.  Surround yourself with people who want to see you succeed.  Put blinders on and DO IT!

Jeff Snyder’s Coaching Blog, at JeffSnyderCoaching.com, 719.686.8810

The Little Things Matter

Jeff Snyder Coaching, 719.686.8810

Know This before Your Next Interview

Your Next Interview

The best trick, gimmick or tactic to get your next job is to have no trick, gimmick or tactic at all in mind when you interview.

The best person to take to your next interview is the real authentic you and not a made up fictitious you.  If you get a job based on presenting a false you, how long do you think you’ll be able to live up to the false image you created during your interview process once you start working?

Instead, know yourself inside and out.  Know what is great about you and know what is not so great about you.  Know what you’re great at and know how to articulate that message clearly.  Know what you are not great at and what you’ll never be great at.  Have a strategy in place to articulate this message clearly too.

Learn how to ask questions of your prospective employer to get them to ask you to talk about your strengths.  This is not a slick, fancy gimmicky move.  This is a well-planned interview strategy that will put you in a natural position to deliver the authentic you.

Jeff Snyder’s Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810

I Love It When My Clients Decide To Choose Great!

As a coach, my job is to guide, to inspire and to help my clients see what they sometimes can't see.  There is nothing better for me as a coach than to receive this kind of feedback from one of my clients.

"I believe you are training me to be great - I like it a lot!"

Enough said.

Jeff Snyder Coaching, 719.686.8810

When Coaching Adds Value...

“Thank you for the call yesterday. The session was very helpful. I visited your site again and am interested in a few of your services.”

Jeff Snyder Coaching, 719.686.8810

ISSA Colorado Springs, August 19 and 20, Jeff Snyder Public Speaking

If you're in Colorado on August 20, and you'd like to learn more about LinkedIn as a business and professional networking platform, come on out.  I'll do the best I can to tell you what you need to know.  I've been invited back to speak to this group for a second time.  

On August 20, I'll be speaking on a topic entitled:

LinkedIn Is Here To Stay…What’s Your Personal Strategy?

On August 19, I'll be at the job fair connected to the Cyber Security Training and Technology Forum to provide resume reviews provided by ClearedJobs.net.

Jeff Snyder's Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810

How do People Feel When They're on the Other Side of You?

What's it like to be on the other side of you?

• When you enter the room, are your peers, colleagues and subordinates excited and relieved that you have arrived?  The last time you were with this group of people, did you inspire them to stretch, to grow and to innovate?
• Is your phone ringing with colleagues on the other end who want your company at the lunch table?
• Are you letting other people be the smartest people in the room even though you might actually be the smartest person in the room?
• Have you developed a habit of saying “Thank You” to everyone who crosses your path and adds value to your day?  
• Do you show gratitude where gratitude is deserved?
• Do you know your natural strengths?  Have you aligned your natural strengths with your chosen work in order to deliver your best self?
• Do you know how important it is to take responsibility when things go wrong and to not just take credit when things go right?
• Do you share credit in times of victory and acknowledge mistakes in times of defeat?
• Do you listen more than you speak in order to learn from the intelligent people around you?
• Are you fair and consistent?  People around you may not always agree with you but if you’re known to be consistent and fair, you’ll be respected more often than not.

Do you inspire those around you to reach greater heights?

Jeff Snyder is a globally sought after talent expert, public speaker, business coach and career coach.  Jeff is well-known for his Futuristic, Strategic, Activator, Maximizer and Command strengths that enable him to guide his clients in moving from “Good to Great”; leaving mediocrity in the rear view mirror.

How to Test Your Resume’s Effectiveness

Put your resume in front of a few people who don’t know what you do. 

Tell the reviewer they have 10-15 seconds to review your resume.

This test is most effective if the reviewer does not understand what you do for a living.  

Your resume should be so clean, clear, logical that the reviewer does not need to interpret anything in order to capture a basic understanding of what you do.

After 10-15 seconds, your resume reviewers should be able to tell you:

• What you do
• What you’re great at delivering
• What you’re passionate about
• What you want to do more of moving forward in your career
• How you’re educated and credentialed
• What you’re doing today

In this test, if your resume reviewers can’t answer address the topics listed above, chances are very high that a busy, data-overwhelmed gatekeeper who receives your resume won’t be able to gather the information they need to make a decision regarding your candidacy in the time they have allotted to review a resume.

If your resume happens to get to the hiring decision maker, it’s safe for you to assume that they are data-overwhelmed and too busy to give your resume the kind of attention you want them to devote to your resume.  If the first impression your resume makes isn't the right impression and that impression isn't made in a matter of seconds, your participation in the job seeker game is frequently over.

The results listed above are achievable.

Jeff Snyder Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810

What Is Emotional Intelligence and Why Does It Matter?

Emotional Intelligence is how we see ourselves and how we come across to others.  That's the simple Jeff Snyder paraphrased definition of Emotional Intelligence. 

While sharing a conversation with a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) yesterday, a statement was made while the CISO was telling me a story.  This statement quickly caught my attention. 

The statement went like this:

“You’d be more effective to me if you didn’t piss off everyone in the room”

The CISO made this statement to the smartest person in the room.  The smartest person in the room in this case was a Security Architect who reported to the CISO.

The Security Architect’s response to the CISO’s statement was one of confusion and disbelief.  What the CISO was trying to tell his Architect was that it was okay to be the smartest person in the room but it wasn’t okay to always have to let everyone in the room know how smart he is. Doing so was making everyone in the room uncomfortable.

As the CISO continued telling me his story, he emphasized that after trying to explain his position to the Architect from several different angles, the Architect still didn’t get it. 

A while back, I tried to capture this type of situation in an article I wrote called The “Smartest Person in the Room Syndrome”.  As a Security Recruiter, I find myself working with the smartest people on the plant quite often.  These are the people who are frequently attracted to Cyber Security Careers.

The most successful of these people are the ones who invest the time to develop the side of their brain that hasn’t been developed by focusing solely on IQ development.

The other side of the brain in this case is the side that drives one’s Emotional Intelligence.  Emotional Intelligence often comes out in one’s behavior.  If someone is pissing off everyone in the room as the CISO stated, they very likely are not aware of how their behavior is coming across to others. 

This is why having a clear understanding of one’s unique level of Emotional Intelligence matters and why everyone should at least consider Emotional Intelligence Coaching.   This type of coaching is often an eye opening and paradigm shifting experience for those who engage in the coaching.

Jeff Snyder Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810

Interviewing With Confidence Produces Desired Results

This email arrived over the weekend. It came to me from a CISO candidate I’ve been fortunate to work with as a career coaching client.  While I don’t have any latest tricks or gimmicks to share, what I can tell you for sure is that this candidate for CISO Jobs is interviewing with confidence that comes from the clarity he gained by learning about his personal strengths through strengths coaching. 

“Great news - interview went very well… Talking to the VP of HR I used a nugget from our Strengths coaching session… I was a good fit for the CIO's extrovert personality and was very good in crisis situations…anyway it looks like we are moving forward with offer discussions.  With that - if you can squeeze a coaching session in tomorrow I would love to get your thoughts / direction on salary, the company, the people and other items.”

He’s on to the offer stage.  Isn’t that what everybody wants when they put their resume in the hat for consideration?  Knowing how to interview a prospective employer is just as important as knowing how to handle interview questions.  While interviews generally start out as what feels like an interrogation, at some point in the interview, the tone should change and the interview should become a two-way dialogue.  

At this point, the interrogation generally stops and a relaxed, comfortable, balanced two-way conversation takes over.  At this point, a job candidate who is prepared can ask very unique questions that ultimately generate an invitation for the job candidate to talk about their personal strengths.

A person who intimately knows their strengths is the best qualified person in the world to talk about their strengths.  The purpose of learning about one's strengths is to find professional work that aligns as closely as possible with those strengths.

The more closely aligned one's strengths are to their work, the more likely they'll be engaged in their work, passionate about their work, producing exceptional results and getting paid well.

Jeff Snyder's Coaching Blog

Is Leadership In Your Future? This Is What Your Followers Want From You

Confidence comes with Clarity

 

“Great coaching session the other day. I feel more prepared and confident to interview than I have in a LONG time”

Who Enjoys Negotiating?

It was a normal Thursday in my office by all accounts.  There were calls to be made, calls to be returned, talent to recruit, emails to be written and emails to be returned, job descriptions to be written and more.

One special event on this particular Thursday was a scheduled call with a large company’s in-house counsel.  Lawyers are all bad aren’t they?  Well, I’ve run into my share of not-so-good lawyers but on this particular Thursday, I had a contract negotiation experience with a lawyer that I just have to share with you.  She was outstanding!

I’ll call the lawyer Sue. Sue called at our agreed-upon time and the call was in motion.  She asked me to talk to her about the issues I had with the contract she’d sent over.  I started at the top and quickly got to a place in the contract where she was asking for 6 months and I offered 1 year.  This move on my part threw Sue for a loop. 

In her mind, I knew I’d just confused here logical thinking process.  I offered something in a negotiation where I’m pretty sure Sue’s brain was ready to play defense.  Instead, she got to say “Yes” and accept a concession she wasn’t expecting.

The next issue we got to was an issue where she was asking for $3,000,000 in coverage and I only had $1,000,000 to offer.  We got through this part of our discussion in 5 minutes and the final number was $1,000,000. 

Then we moved on to a “Guarantee” topic.  Sue argued that my competitors were offering much more than I was willing to give.  I suggested that her competitors (other companies in need of Cybersecurity talent) were offering much better terms than she was willing to give.  This topic took a little bit more discussion than the previous topics but at the end of the discussion, we agree to terms and minutes later, a revised contract landed in my Inbox.

Did I “Win” this negotiation?  Yes I did.  Did Sue get to “Win” this negotiation?  Yes she did.  We both approached the negotiation with the mindset that a fair and balanced contract was our goal.  This negotiation energized me for Thursday and I got to carry the energy into Friday. 

Negotiation can be fun and energizing if you learn to approach the experience with the right mindset.  Negotiating so that one party wins and the other party loses generally is not the best choice.

One more thing I’d like to share about my experience with Sue.  An hour or so after our negotiation, I was surprised when Sue sent an invitation to me for us to connect on LinkedIn.  I think the negotiation went well.

I love to negotiate!

Jeff Snyder’s, Jeff Snyder Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810

" Jeff Taught Me How To Strategically Write My Resume"

My 1 Hour Resume Coaching service allows my clients to walk away with a new skill.  As this testimonial states, I "teach" my clients how to build a resume that is both strategically written and written with the resume's audience in mind.

"I recently found myself dusting off my resume after eight years as I was looking for new employment and not knowing where to begin in this new job market.  Colleagues and friends recommended for me to reach out to Jeff Snyder.  Jeff's aim is to teach you "how to fish" versus doing the fishing for you.  Jeff taught me how to strategically write my resume and also took the time to make sure I understood it.  I am thankful to have been introduced to Jeff and I would highly recommend Jeff to anybody seeking to get their resume at a world class level for an executive job."   IT Security, Privacy Manager

Jeff Snyder's, Jeff Snyder Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810

Resume Coaching Testimonial

"Jeff, heartfelt thanks to you for reviewing what I thought was a good resume and then giving me the brutal truth. Here is my Michelangelo for you to disseminate if the need arises. That said, you will be getting a lot of cops calling using my name."