In Job Search Mode? You Should Do This

 

LinkedIn's New Feature

First, understand that your Resume and your LinkedIn profile both make first impressions in a matter of seconds.

Second, explore LinkedIn’s new feature that lets you tell visitors to your profile that you might consider a career move.

Third, don’t turn on the new LinkedIn feature unless you have strategically optimized your LinkedIn profile to show the best version of you. You are making a first impression when someone visits you on LinkedIn.

Fourth, don't turn on the new LinkedIn feature unless you have a stellar resume that can be visually scanned in a matter of seconds.  You are making a first impression when you send a resume.

Here’s How to Unlock the New LinkedIn Feature

• Go to the top of your LinkedIn Profile and click on JOBS
• Click on PREFERENCES
• Set yourself up to be contacted for opportunities based on your parameters.

Jeff Snyder Coaching, LinkedIn Profile Optimization, Resume Writing, 719.686.8810

“I’m an Alpha Male” he told me

That’s what my caller told me during our conversation.  I’m not sure how you define “Alpha Male” so here's what came to my mind. 

I interpreted the comment in context of this conversation to mean that the person on the other end of my phone had a need to tell me he was a “Big Dog” and he was used to being in charge. 

The Alpha Males and Alpha Females I know who are impressive leaders may feel the need to tell others they are “Alpha” but they turn on their Impulse Control and they don't say what might be on their minds.

The "Alpha" leaders I know through my leadership coaching work more often than not possess the Command strength near the top of their StrengthsFinder report.  

Command as defined by the Clifton Strengthsfinder:  People exceptionally talented in the Command theme have presence.  They can take control of a situation and make decisions.  

Only 5% of the +-15 Million people who have taken a Clifton StrengthsFinder have the Command trait showing up in their top 5 traits.  Out of 34 traits that show up on the StrengthsFinder report, Command comes in 34th in terms of frequency. Command is rare.

Successful "Alpha" people tend to operate with these characteristics:

• They inspire trust by being honest and by demonstrating high integrity
• They are decisive
• They have vision and they are able to clearly communiate their vision
• They are people whose words you might not like but you always know where they stand
• They are humble
• They’re leaders

Leaders don’t need to tell others that they’re leaders.  They simply do what leaders do.

Jeff Snyder Coaching, Leadership Coach, 719.686.8810

Personal Coaching for Rising Millennial Leaders

Are you an aspiring leader?  Have you ever wondered where you could get coaching and training to understand how to present the best version of yourself?  Do you have a game plan that will get you from where you are to where you want to go?  Are you ready to be in charge and to lead?  I can help you to discover and to develop what's in you that would translate into you becoming a leader that others want to follow.

Jeff Snyder Coaching, Millennial Leadership Coaching, 719.686.8810

Strengths Coaching with Jeff Snyder

When you're ready to figure out the difference between what you "Can" do and what you "Should" do with your life, give me a call.  I help my clients to find Clarity.  Clarity leads to personal Confidence.  Clarity also makes Direction clear.

Jeff Snyder Coaching, 719.686.8810

Get a New Resume…Get Job Offers…Right?

Get a new resume and get interviews.  Is that all there is to it?

Having a clean, clear, logical resume that can be scanned by a human being in a matter seconds is absolutely a requirement in in the world today where attention spans are short. 

But is a great resume alone a strategy?  Not so much. It’s only part of a well-thought-out job search strategy.

Recently, I saw something on one of my client’s on-line applications that you should know about.  Next to the place on their application where a candidate could upload a resume, the on-line form asked for a candidate’s LinkedIn URL. 

This was a new request that I hadn’t seen before. I knew that companies were looking candidates up on LinkedIn but I’d never seen a company directly ask for a candidate’s LinkedIn URL.

What’s The Big Deal?

Employers are looking at job candidates on LinkedIn.  When your LinkedIn profile is reviewed by anybody, you’re making a first impression in a matter of seconds.  I don’t know exactly how many seconds it takes to form a LinkedIn first impression but I can tell you from my own experience in searching for talent on LinkedIn that most of my LinkedIn visits aren’t long visits.

• If you’re not currently leveraging what I call the header portion of your LinkedIn profile, the space above your name and your photo, consider doing so.  Here’s what leveraging the header looks like.  This move alone will differentiate you from the crowd.

If you decided to build a header similar to this one for your own LinkedIn profile, be aware of the pop-ups LinkedIn occasionally places over your headers pace and avoid putting an image or text in these areas.

Tips For Building a Great LinkedIn Profile

• LinkedIn is a business platform. For best results, your LinkedIn photo should be a business photo that presents the best version of you.
• If your LinkedIn profile can’t be visually scanned (not fully read) in a matter of seconds in order for the visitor to your profile to determine who you are, where you are, what you’re great at, what kinds of problems you solve, what kinds of opportunities you create and what kind of value you create for employers or clients, it should be built to do so.
• If the message on your LinkedIn profile isn’t strategically built to align with the message carried in your resume and the message you’ll share when you interview, it should be aligned.
• Just like writing a great resume, writing an effective LinkedIn profile requires a blend of business writing, technical writing and creative writing combined with strategy.  If writing in this manner is not your gift, consider asking for help from someone who does LinkedIn Profile Optimization Coaching.  Be sure that this person actually knows what a recruiter looks for when they visit a LinkedIn Profile.

What Else is Part of a Job Search Strategy?

If your resume or your LinkedIn profile grab someone’s attention and you’re invited to a telephone interview or a face-to-face interview, be sure that the message you’ll share when you interview aligns with your resume’s message and your LinkedIn Profile’s message.

For over 26 years working as a recruiter, it is common that the verbal message a job candidate shares with me tells one story and the story I read on their resume is another story. 

Today, LinkedIn plays a part in a person’s messaging.  More often than not, I see a gap between a job seeker’s resume and their LinkedIn messaging and I hear another disconnect when they pick up the phone to call me.

This alignment I’m referring can and should be addressed.

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

What Is Strengths Coaching?

What Is Strengths Coaching?

The Strengths Coaching I’ll refer to here is what happens after a person takes a Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment.  The report that comes from taking a Clifton StrengthsFinder shows a person’s totally unique human makeup or wiring as I like to call it, based on how their 34 traits line up.

The results of this assessment don’t throw a person into a box or category that someone else created.  This assessment brilliantly shows a person how entirely unique they are.  As a Strengths Coach, I get to show my clients what to do with their uniqueness.  I’m passionate about this work. 

“Millennials love not being put into a box by the way”

Traits / Strengths

The traits at or near the top of someone’s Clifton StrengthsFinder report are generally thought to be someone’s Strengths.  This is true if a person is aware of their dominant traits and if they’re actively working to leverage their dominate traits to create the best possible version of themselves.

I spoke in front of an audience of approximately 75 people.  I asked the audience to raise their hand of they had ever taken a Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment.  My best guess is that as many as 60 out of 75 hands went up.

I then asked those who had raised their hand to keep their hand up if they had done anything with their StrengthsFinder assessment results.  Again, my best guess suggests that approximately 10 hands remained raised and as many as 50 hands went down.

Eye Opener

This was an eye opening experience for me. At that moment, I began to understand why so many people I encounter think they know their strengths.  In reality, these people might know the words that sit on an assessment report but if they’ve never gone beyond the word descriptions on the assessment report, they likely don’t know their unique personal strengths and more importantly, how those strengths operate.

My Strengths Coaching Process

• Begins with my client taking a Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment.

• What: In our first session together, I help my client to understand what their report says, how to read and interpret their report and we set the ground work for our second meeting.

• Why: In our second session together, my focus is on interactively taking my client on a deep dive into their unique top traits.  My goal here is to help my client see how and why their unique traits cause them to operate the way they do.  Simultaneously, my client will learn how their unique traits could be coming across to other people. It is during this second meeting that “Ah Ha” moments and “Light bulb” moments frequently occur.  This is when my clients start to see not just what dots are sitting on their report but they start to see how their dots work together to make them the unique person they are.

• How: In our next meeting, this is when I build our meeting around the homework my client worked on after our second meeting.  During the homework stage, I find that many of my clients start to develop clarity around what they uniquely have to offer.  Once the switch flips in my client’s mine, it is now time to start working on how they can leverage their unique giftedness to create their best performance.

• Leverage: In our fourth meeting, this is where I apply my 26+ years of experience as a professional recruiter to help my clients to create a personal strategy around their unique Strengths.  By strategy I’m referring to what my client will do with their new-found understanding of how to create their own best performance. For some of my clients, this means making course adjustments in the job they already have in the company they’re already in.  Some of my clients come to the realization that they might be in the wrong job or that they might be in the right or wrong job in the wrong company.  Other clients who had been scratching an entrepreneurial itch now have the clarity to see that stepping out to start their own business of some sort is the right personal decision.

Bottom Line

What matters to me is that each and every Strengths Coaching client I’m privileged to work with is able to move forward with enhanced Clarity, Direction, Confidence and a Strategic Plan to know how to get to their next destination.

What's Next?

Many of my Strengths Coaching clients learn so much about themselves through the Strengths Coaching experience that they stick with me to work on improving their Emotional Intelligence.  In addition to being a Strengths Coach, I am also a Certified Emotional Intelligence Coach.  The work I do around Emotional Intelligence Coaching is the most deeply impacting work I’ve been privileged to do with other people in my entire career.

The combination of Strengths Coaching and Emotional Intelligence Coaching is what moves my clients from “Good to Great” and I’m fortunate enough to go along for the ride. 

Jeff Snyder Coaching

Human Behavioral Change Is Really Difficult and Potentially Priceless When It Happens

If you figure it out or if someone tells you that something in your behavior is getting in the way of your progress and you decide that it’s time to address that behavior, there are a few things you should know about behavioral change.

The behavior that is getting in the way of your progress likely didn’t start yesterday.  Therefore, fixing a negative behavior isn’t going to happen as soon as tomorrow. Most human behaviors are deeply ingrained because we’ve been practicing our bad behaviors for a long time.

The idea of changing human behavior is possible and frequently very fruitful but it is also one of the most difficult endeavors a person can take on.  The behavior that is deeply ingrained and practiced will take time to unravel and to improve.

Anyone who is serious about changing behaviors that might be holding back their progress can change their behavior.  There is no magic wand or pixie dust available to facilitate human behavioral change.  A properly trained emotional intelligence coach can assist his / her client in making positive change and the benefits of doing so can be priceless.

What does changing human behavior look like?  Here are just a few examples.

Impulse Control

The smartest person in the room frequently has the impulse to let others know how smart they are.  Learning how to control this impulse and adding a scoop of humility can do wonders for this person’s personal and professional progress. Impulse Control is an Emotional Intelligence skill that can be improved upon.

Listening

It has been said that most people listen in order to determine how best to formulate what they’re going to say next.  In other words, they aren’t really listening to actually hear and understand what someone else has to say. They're listening to build their speaking strategy. 

A different listening approach would be to listen with the intention of understanding the person who is speaking.  This change in approach can radically change the results of a conversation.

Winning Too Much

Many people who in leadership roles are highly competitive people who need to win all the time.  The down-side of being wired like this is the tendency for such a person to step in and give his / her team the answers to a problem.  By simply (not so simple for this person) stepping back and allowing one’s team to formulate an answer to a problem, a highly competitive, win at all costs type of leader can dramatically boost his / her team’s willingness to contribute to problem solving in the future.

People who consider how their behavior impacts the audience around them and people who strive to achieve balance in their behavior are the people who will achieve the most desirable results in all facets of life. This is simple to say and very difficult to achieve. 

As difficult as it is to achieve behavioral change, the results of changing negative behavior can be priceless.

Jeff Snyder Coaching

The Importance of Employee Engagement

The other day I shared an article from the Harvard Business Review.  The article title was “The Dark Side of High Employee Engagement”. 

Since I shared the Harvard Business Review article, it should be mentioned that Gallup’s continuous research on employee engagement in the United States shows that employee engagement hovers around +-31%. 

That means that +-69% of people who go to work every day in the United States are not engaged in the work they’re doing.

While the Harvard Business Review article brought up some interesting points, I don’t think there is a significant risk in most companies of seeing employee engagement becoming too high any time soon.

What Can Higher Employee Engagement Produce?

·        Increased Employee Job Satisfaction

·        Employee Retention

·        Greater Profits

·        Lower Stress

·        Happier Customers

·        Fewer Safety Incidents

·        Higher Quality Output

·        And More

For the time being, I’ll continue to focus on helping my clients to determine how they can produce their best performance by aligning their unique natural strengths with the work they choose to do.  There are plenty of people who are still trying to figure out what they were built to do well. 

Jeff Snyder Coaching

"Ace Your Interview with Perfect Interview Answers"

Acing An Interview

"Ace Your Interview with Perfect Interview Answers"

This was the subject of an email that recently landed in my Inbox.  This kind of email subject drives me crazy.  Here's why.

• There are no tricks to acing an interview. 
• There are no perfect interview answers.

My Advice For Performing Well In An Interview

• Communicate with clarity about what you're great at and what you're not great at.
• Know how to articulate what you're great at by backing up what you say you're great at with stories of past accomplishments and contributions and well-articulated aspirations of what you want to accomplish in your future.
• We're all not great at something. Know exactly what you're not great at and know how to articulate what you're doing to manage your weaknesses.
• Honesty and accuracy is always your best strategy.
• If you're younger and you're chasing a job that is above you, know your unique personal strengths and know how to tie your strengths to the job you're stretching towards.
• If you're older, know your unique personal strengths.  Know how to tie your unique personal strengths and hopefully the wisdom you now have to the job you can easily contribute to.
• Be sure to show up to your interview with questions.  Questions should not be one-dimensional.  Ask technical questions, business questions, questions about the hiring authority's management style and more.  

Conclusion

Knowing yourself inside and out and knowing something about the company you're about to interview with is your responsibility when you go to an interview. Being prepared to ask strong questions is your responsibility when you go to an interview.

If you don't know your unique personal strengths, consider strengths coaching. Knowing your unique personal strengths will go a long way towards bringing clarity to your interview process.

If interviewing is uncomfortable to you, don't risk leaving a job offer on the table.  If you need interview coaching, invest in yourself and get interview coaching.

Jeff Snyder Coaching

46% of Millennials

"Only 46% of millennials say their managers actually deliver on their expectations for feedback"

Coaching Millennials

Confidence Matters

A really impressive person called the other day.  I wanted to learn about him and he wanted to learn about my company and my services.

As the call began, I asked the person on the other end of the phone what he was great at.  In other words, I wanted to know right away what he was better at than anyone else in his building.

Most people can’t answer this question but this caller knew exactly and precisely what he was great at and what he wanted to do moving forward. 

It’s rare that someone answers my question quickly, decisively and with clarity.  I love it when they do because I know they’ll interview well if I can put them in front of one of my clients at some point in the future.

You can possess skills and talent but if your skills and talent are not packaged with confidence when you deliver, you may be passed over.

Jeff Snyder’s, Security Recruiter Blog and Jeff Snyder Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810

He Has a New CISO Role...What Will He Do First?

The CISO stepped into a new role in a new company.  It was time for him to strategically plan what kinds of first impressions he was going to make.

In this new role, he needed to develop a strategy for managing up, across and down.  The first group that needed his attention was the team he inherited.  He had not hired anybody on his team. Each team member was in place when he arrived.

The last CISO’s performance left many people on the team sitting on the fence.  Would they stay or would they go?  They were all waiting to see how their new boss would be the same or how he might be different from their last boss.

Fortunately for the CISO, his strategic plan was far more of a plan than the plan most CISOs carry with them to a new employer.  His plan looked like this.

·        He worked with Jeff Snyder at Jeff Snyder Coaching to become super-clear about his own Strengths and just as clear about the areas where he might need help. Through Jeff’s Strengths Coaching, the CISO knew exactly and precisely what he had potential to be great at and where he needed to delegate.

·        Not knowing anything about the team he inherited, he had each person on his team take a StrengthsFinder assessment to gain an instant understanding of how each of his team members was uniquely wired.

·        The CISO worked with Jeff Snyder to gain an understanding of how his unique strengths would work well with his team member’s unique strengths.  Just as important, the CISO wasted no time in discovering how his unique strengths might clash with some of his team member’s unique strengths.

·        Now that the CISO understood how he was wired and how each of his team members was uniquely wired, he immediately scheduled one-on-one time with each member of his team.  This was the smartest move he could have possibly made because the last CISO rarely invested time to communicate.  Immediately, the CISO moved the fence sitters to a point where they decided to stick around to find out what the new CISO was all about. Instead of guessing as to which team member to delegate to, he delegated with a well-thought-out plan and immediately empowered people on his team.

·        Over time, the CISO worked with each team member to put each person in the right position…a position that aligned best with each team member’s natural strengths. 

·        The CISO retained every team member he wanted to retain.  For those who were not in the right positions and an appropriate role could not be created, the CISO helped each person who needed to find a new job to do so without them having to worry about repercussions. 

·        The CISO did everything he possibly could to engage with each and every member of the team he inherited.  He got the right people in the right seats so everyone could deliver their best performance.

Jeff Snyder Coaching

Why Won’t They Interview Me?

The email in my Inbox read like this.

“Unfortunately, to my surprise, I have had very little luck”

 What this quote refers to is the lack of interview opportunities a job seeker is receiving when he sends his resume.  I reviewed the job seeker’s approach and I know precisely why he isn’t having success.  When I reviewed this person’s resume, I could not figure out what he was great at, what he had accomplished, what his contributions were and how he added value to his past employers in a matter of seconds.

According to research from www.theladders.com, the amount of time resume reviewers invest into reviewing resumes before forming a first impression of the candidate connected to the resume is down to 6 seconds.

There is very little time to form a first impression when sending a resume.  There is very little time to register a first impression when someone opens and reviews your LinkedIn profile.  Investing time to ensure that the first impressions you’re making are your best impressions could mean the difference between getting on the interview stage or not.

When my clients interview, more often than not, they’re interviewing for 6 figure positions.  If a person is sitting at $120,000 today and they have an opportunity to interview for a position at $130,000, it makes sense for that person to do everything possible to be sure they’re registering the best first impression they can register.

Jeff Snyder Coaching, Resume Coaching, LinkedIn Profile Optimization, 719.686.8810

Are Your Employees Engaged or Disengaged?

Is the Command Talent one of your top Talents or Strengths?

People who are strong in the Clifton StrengthsFinder Command talent are part of a small group.  Out of 34 traits that are measured in the StrengthsFinder assessment, Command comes in at 34 in frequency.  Only 5% of people have Command in their Top 5 Traits or Strengths. 

People who possess strong Command have presence.  They naturally take control of a situation.  They make decisions and they lead. 

Command gifted people need to be in the driver’s seat.  They need for things to be clear amongst other people.  They are willing to speak up.  They’ll share good to know, bad to hear news to give people a realistic idea of where they stand.

People with high Command do not shy away from confrontation.  They can be direct and highly decisive. Command gifted people can inspire others to rise above their fears.

Command comes with a powerful high side to leverage if you have it.  Command also comes with a powerful low side if you have it and you haven’t built a strategy to manage it properly.

You can find out how you're uniquely wired and you can learn how to turn your unique set of talents into strengths!

Jeff Snyder Coaching

Is the Includer Talent one of your top Talents or Strengths?

People who are strong in the Clifton StrengthsFinder Includer talent are exceptionally skilled in the act of accepting others.  They have an instinctive awareness that helps them to spot those who might be left out of a group.

Includers look for ways to make the circle of inclusion larger.  Includers see everyone as being the same. Therefore, everyone should be included.  Includers bring a high tolerance for acceptance and diversity to a group or team.  Includers generally hate cliques.

You can find out how you're uniquely wired and you can learn how to turn your unique set of talents into strengths!

Jeff Snyder Coaching

Is the Futuristic Talent one of your top Talents or Strengths?

People who are strong in the Clifton StrengthsFinder Futuristic talent are inspired by what they envision being just down the road. Futuristic people can inspire those around them when they share their visions of what could be in the future.

People who possess the Futuristic talent have the ability to see what is around the corner. They can often see what’s ahead in ways that other people cannot see. 

The Futuristic talent enables those who have it to spot trends. People who have this talent can often see what’s just beyond the horizon.

Another word for Futuristic is Visionary. Companies look for vision in candidates when they hire to fill leadership roles.

You can find out how you're uniquely wired and you can learn how to turn your unique set of talents into strengths!

Jeff Snyder Coaching

Is the Restorative Talent one of your top Talents or Strengths?

People who are strong in the Clifton StrengthsFinder Restorative talent are exceptionally capable when it comes to dealing with problems.  They are instinctively gifted when it comes to determining what went wrong and what should be done to fix a problem. 

Restorative people are energized by solving problems.  People who are wired in this way can effectively deal with personal, professional, financial, systems problems and more.  They are diagnostic experts who can deal with problems in a calm and collected manner.

You can find out how you're uniquely wired and you can learn how to turn your unique set of talents into strengths!

Jeff Snyder Coaching

Is the Developer Talent one of your top Talents or Strengths?

People who are strong in the Clifton StrengthsFinder Developer talent are able to spot talent in others and they have an instinctive ability to know how to develop the potential that lies in others. 

When a Developer gets to assist in developing another human being, this is one of the best experiences they can possibly have.  Developers possess a selfless desire to help others succeed.  Developers can often see talent in other people that those people don’t see in themselves.

You can find out how you're uniquely wired and you can learn how to turn your unique set of talents into strengths!

Jeff Snyder Coaching

Is the Adaptability Talent one of your top Talents or Strengths?

People who are strong in the Clifton StrengthsFinder Adaptability talent are “right here”, “right now” kind of people.  They embrace change and can implement change quickly.  They are energized by chaotic situations because they have a unique ability to work their way around obstacles that chaotic situations tend to present.

Adaptability people aren’t swayed by sudden change or sudden requests for a change in direction.  They prefer to go with the flow and they aren’t stopped by obstacles.  Instead, they’ll figure out a way to work around what might be obstacles to other people.

You can find out how you're uniquely wired and you can learn how to turn your unique set of talents into strengths!

Jeff Snyder Coaching