Is Your Job Search Stuck?

The social media post read like this:

“I simply do not understand how someone can be out of work for any amount of time. I have been out for 4 months and we're almost heading to a shelter. I don't know what we will do if SOMEONE doesn't hire me soon.”
 

Out of curiosity, I dug deeper and looked up the LinkedIn profile of the person who wrote the quoted words.  The LinkedIn profile offered next to nothing in terms of evidence of Accomplishments, Contributions to past employers or Value this person has created along the way in their career.

No, I’m not suggesting that this person has no Accomplishments to report or that they don’t do anything of value. What I am suggesting is that they have invested minimal time into building what I consider to be a skeleton LinkedIn profile that doesn’t communicate value.

If you want results in any facet of life, you’ll have to take action. The person who wrote the quoted words above is likely good at something but I don’t know what that something is and neither will any employer who needs this person’s skills if they don’t do a better job in packaging and delivering their value.

Since this person needs to do some LinkedIn Profile Optimization, there’s a pretty good chance that they need help with resume writing and interview coaching as well. Don't let yourself slip into the position of the person who wrote the quoted text above. 

Jeff Snyder’s, Jeff Snyder Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810

There’s Great Value in Understanding One's Personal Strengths

I’m referring to Strengths as described in the Clifton StrengthsFinderⓒ assessment. One of my strengths coaching clients is a technology sales professional.  I’ll refer to this client as Bob.

In addition to learning about himself, his own Strengths and how he could fine-tune his Strengths, an interesting realization came to Bob this week. This is what he shared:

“I fully expected to learn quite a bit about myself but what I didn’t see coming was how much I’ve learned about everyone else around me.  I now find myself in meetings and conversations where I’m able to get a much quicker handle on other people, who they are, and what’s making them tick.  In many cases I’m able to make an assessment of who I’m dealing with and adjust my expectations accordingly.  It’s actually reducing my frustration level and in some cases has helped me make better connections with clients and peers while giving me a better understanding of why I may not be making the progress I’d anticipated.  In certain situations and I’ve been able to make some adjustments.”

I look for results everywhere with my coaching clients.  The results Bob is reporting is his new-found ability to understand people more quickly because he now understands his own unique wiring and he is beginning to see the unique wiring of everyone around him.

By understanding the wiring of people around him, Bob is now able to tailor his communication to each unique individual he approaches in his audience.

How much more effective might you be if you intimately understood your own unique wiring and you learned to understand the unique wiring of people around you at work, at home and at play?

Jeff Snyder’s Jeff Snyder Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810

Do You Possess a High ACTIVATORⓒ Score on the Clifton StrengthsFinder™?

Activatorⓒ is one of my top scores on the Clifton StrengthsFinder™. The more I coach people who have this strength and the more I learn about this strength, the more I understand just how unique it is.

Putting my opinion aside, here are the facts.  Out of the 34 traits measured by the Clifton StrengthsFinder™, ACTIVATORⓒ comes in at number 29 in frequency out of 34.  What that means is that 11% of people out of more than 15,000,000 who have taken the assessment have ACTIVATORⓒ in their top 5 strengths out of 34 possibilities.  In other words, having Activatorⓒ in one’s top 5 strengths is somewhat rare.

The more I understand about how ACTIVATORⓒ works, the more I like it. 

• People who have this particular strength are always thinking about how to get started and how to mobilize others. 
• They turn ideas into action and they often possess contagious energy. 
• They make things happen!

If you are deeply gifted with Analytical traits as defined by the Clifton StrengthsFinder™ and you have a difficult time hitting the “GO” button, you might need to partner with an ACTIVATORⓒ in order to get your brilliant ideas into motion.

If you have this trait yourself, you should be in a position where you have the ability to get things going.  Remember that most people don't have the "GO" button to push that you possess.

Jeff Snyder’s, Jeff Snyder Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810

The Limitations of an Executive Leadership Coach

Coaches who are gifted and talented to deliver the services they deliver can help their clients to take quantum leaps forward.

However, even the world’s most gifted coaches have a limitation 100% of the time. Dr. Marshall Goldsmith who wrote the book “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There” is one of my mentors.  On more than one occasion, I have heard Dr. Goldsmith suggest that unless someone wants to change and is willing to do what is required to change, there is no coach in the world that can make that person change. 

Dr. Goldsmith’s advice when a coach meets someone who isn’t willing to get out of their own way to face change is to walk away and to walk away quickly. If someone doesn’t see their need to change or they see the need but they don’t want to devote energy and efforts towards making change occur in their life, they are not coachable.

I always ask prospective new clients if they are teachable and coachable and then listen very carefully to their response.  If they’re not teachable and coachable, it doesn’t matter how large my results pile is, this person will not achieve the same results as my previous clients.

A while back, I received a call from someone who found me on LinkedIn. His introductory statement was a question. 

“Am I correct to believe that you do both recruiting and coaching? Please understand that I am not interested in any of the coaching services you offer that come with a fee attached.”

As I sat at my desk looking at this individual’s average resume, I had to bite my tongue and I remembered the advice from Dr. Goldsmith.  I was deeply challenged to not say a word when I already knew what the caller’s new resume could look like and I knew how much more effective his new resume would be in opening interview doors if he would simply trust me to guide him.

If you ever consider the idea of working with a coach, first ask yourself if you are ready to do what it takes to achieve positive change.  If you are not, there is no reason to invest your hard earned money with a coach. 

If on the other hand, you're ready to move forward and you're just not sure what that means and you're ready to be teachable and coachable, the right coach can help you to take quantam leaps forward that you might not have been able to achieve on your own.

Jeff Snyder’s, Jeff Snyder Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810

Chief Information Security Officer Resume Writing Testimonial

You Measure The Size of the Accomplishment...

Career Coach For Women In Technology

If You Want To Lead, You’ll Need Exceptional Soft Skills (People Skills)

Not long ago, one of my 30ish year old coaching clients brought something to my attention that he encouraged me to ponder and to take action on.  I’ll call him Bob.

Bob told me that he wished I’d been available to him 5-6 years ago as a coach when he was a Team Leader for the first time in his career.  Because he knew more about a particular technology than everyone else in his company, he was asked to lead the team that was implementing a new version of the technology.

Knowing a lot about technology and leading a team are two entirely different skill sets Bob told me. 

Bob told his story as if it had happened yesterday.  The memory of being asked to do something he was not trained to do was fresh in his mind.  In the end, he admitted that he did a great job of leading the technology side of the project but he also admitted that he didn’t do so well when it came to leading the people side of the project. 

I sensed that Bob wasn’t happy with his previous boss for putting him in this situation without giving him proper preparation.

Bob continues to rise in his career. Today he is a Vice President.  The training he didn’t have around people leadership 5-6 years ago still isn’t part of Bob’s skill set.  That’s why he came to me for help. 

I’m working with Bob at his request to help him develop people skills or soft skills as Bob called them so he can deliver his best possible performance as a new Vice President.

Bob is a gifted technologist but he admits to not being a gifted people person.  He has to be one of the most intelligent people I’ve ever met.  His high IQ unfortunately doesn’t translate into naturally having exceptional soft skills. 

In Bob’s current role where he routinely works with his company’s leadership group and he routinely meets with his company’s customers, Bob has come to the realization that the technical skills that propelled him to where he is today are not enough. 

It was the President of Bob’s company who told him he needed to develop better soft skills. This comment captured Bob’s attention. 

If you’re a rising technologist who is gifted with high IQ and you’re great at all things technical, the sooner you start developing soft skills like Bob is developing, the better. 

Jeff Snyder Coaching, 719.686.8810

She's Rare, She's Valuable, and she has Unlimited Potential!

While reading an article in the New York Times, I ran across a sentence in the article that grabbed my attention.

“In a capitalist economy, the market rewards things that are rare and valuable.” CAL NEWPORT 

Last week I was privileged to have coached four women who all work in the cyber security profession.  They are all exceptional in their own ways.

One of the tools I use in my coaching practice is the Clifton StrengthsFinder Assessment.  In less than an hour, this tool shows me exactly and precisely how each of my clients are uniquely built.  Every time I review a new client’s StrengthsFinder results, I get to look at traits that are both rare and valuable.

WOW!

One client in particular whom I worked with last week has more than one trait in her top 5 Traits / Strengths that are both rare and valuable.  When these traits are weaved together, she is a special person.  

By the way, the Clifton StrengthsFinder is made up of 34 traits.  Each term that describes a trait belongs to the Gallup Organization and is Trademarked.  Traits near the top of one's Clifton StrengthsFinder report have the potential of being turned into Strengths.  This is what Strengths Coaching is all about.

COMMAND

Command is my client's number 1 trait.  Out of 34 traits that make up the Clifton StrengthsFinder, Command is the trait that comes in at number 34 in terms of how often it is found in the top 5 on a StrengthsFinder report.  

The Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment has now been taken by more than 15,000,000 people around the globe.

• For men, Command shows up in the top 5, 3% of the time. 
• For women, the Command trait shows up in the top 5, 2% of the time.

To say that my client who has Command at the top of her Strengths profile is an anomaly is an understatement.  The reason I say that is that our traits / strengths do not work by themselves.  They work with the other traits / strengths that surround them.

SELF-ASSURANCE

Also showing up in my client's top 5 traits is Self-Assurance.

• For men, Self-Assurance shows up in the top 5 traits / strengths 6% of the time.
• For women, Self-Assurance shows up in the top 5 traits / strengths 2% of the time.

Is my client starting to look like a rare and valuable contributor to you?  She is!

COMPETITION

One more trait that shows up in my client’s top 5 traits / strengths is the Competition trait. 

• For men, Competition shows up in the top 5 traits / strengths 16% of the time.
• For women, Competition in the top 5 traits / strengths is much more rare showing up only 2% of the time.

What does this picture tell me as a Strengths Coach?  My client’s top traits / strengths are both rare and valuable. The client described above has huge up-side potential that is virtually limitless. 

The company that hires this naturally gifted leader will see multiples on their return on investment.

Jeff Snyder Coaching, Strengths Coaching, 719.686.8810

Why Can't You Write My Resume...I Gave You My Last 3 Job Descriptions

Your last 3 job descriptions describe what you were hired to do in your last 3 jobs.  If a resume writer could simply compile the descriptions of what you were hired to do to create your resume, there would be no skill involved in the process of writing a resume.

A great resume is far more than a record of what you signed up to do in past jobs. A great resume shows a record of what you signed up to do, what you actually did and the value that was created as a result of your efforts.

It is your Accomplishments, Contributions and Results that need to be demonstrated on your resume in a language that aligns with the language of your resume’s audience. 

While your resume is always about you, it is for your audience 100% of the time.

What you were hired to do in previous jobs should actually be allocated the least amount of real estate on your new resume.

Resume writing is difficult because when it is done strategically and correctly, it is a mix of technical writing, business writing and creative writing.  Many people do well with the technical writing piece.  The business writing piece of a resume is still within the grasp of some.  It is the creative piece of writing that is outside of most of my client’s skill sets.  Too much of any one of these elements will upset the delicate balance of a great resume.

Finding just the right balance of Technical Writing, Business Writing and Creative Writing is required to build a resume that will be most appreciated by the resume’s audience.

Jeff Snyder Coaching, Resume Writing, 719.686.8810

Can a Career Road Map be Strategically Planned?

Not long ago, a really bright converged security professional came to me for resume writing help.  After sharing a phone call with this person, I was convinced that he/she was extremely articulate.  After a short amount of time on the phone, I saw a serious disconnect between the person portrayed on the resume that was in front of me and the person I was listening to on the phone.  This happens all the time by the way.

There was no doubt at all that this caller needed help from a professional resume writer but that’s not all they needed. I sensed that I was listening to a Security Rock Star who didn’t know they had a future as a Security Rock Star.

My caller needed clarity, confidence and a clear career road map.  I suggested that they consider my Strengths Coaching program. 

Here’s how it works and here’s what my clients can expect in terms of results after the coaching program is has been completed.

1.      The beginning of the program focuses on learning.  After my clients take a Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment, our first two phone calls focus on me helping my client to understand what their unique talents are, how they operate, how they come across to other people and what the powerful edge and potential pitfalls are that are connected to each of their unique talents.

2.      In the second phase of this program, my clients begin to understand their unique talents.  At this point they can claim what is naturally theirs and they can choose to own the gifts they have.

3.      Once my client decides to claim and own their gifts, then I’m in a position to help them to properly aim their gifts.  What this means is that some people are gifted to be the most brilliant architects and engineers in the building.  Other people are naturally gifted to manage people and some people are naturally gifted to learn how to lead. At this point, I can step in with my 26+ years of experience in recruiting and I turn to my top strengths. My Futuristic strength combined with my Strategic strength and my experience all work together in helping my clients to build unique strategic career road maps that align with their unique giftedness.

A Strength as defined by the Clifton StrengthsFinder is the ability to consistently provide near-perfect performance in a specific task. 

The good news is that every human being has talents that can be turned into strengths. All of our talents are different; making us unique individuals.  Once talents become strengths, the sky is the limit when an individual can deliver a near-perfect performance over and over and over again.

 Jeff Snyder Coaching, Strengths Coaching, 719.686.8810

Strengths Coaching and Emotional Intelligence Coaching…Why?

I was recently asked why I offer both Strengths Coaching and Emotional Intelligence Coaching. 

Strengths Coaching focuses on what a person has potential to be great at based on their natural giftedness. Because I work heavily with people who are gifted technologists, I have built up enough data and experience to understand the uniqueness of the gifted technologists I’m privileged to serve.  When I get to pass this understanding on to the gifted technologists who trust me to coach them, I get to help my coaching clients take their personal game to a new level. 

Maximizer

This work taps into the Maximizer (one of my top strengths) in me. By default, my Maximizer causes me to focus on taking good to great all the time.  I love to show my clients how they can turn their good performance into a great performance.

Gifted Technologists

My work goes beyond working with gifted technologists.  My unique experience also enables me to show some of my clients how their unique giftedness sets them up to either become or to fine-tune their leadership abilities if they're already in leadership. 

The days when I get to coach someone who has potential they didn’t know they had before we got together are some of my best days!

Weaknesses

Because everyone I coach is a human being, there is a 100% chance that every one of my coaching clients have weaknesses.  As a Strengths Coach, I have determined that it makes no sense at all to try to help my clients turn their weaknesses into strengths.  It simply doesn’t work.

What does work is the effort I invest with my clients to strengthen their strengths while showing them how to build strategies around their weaknesses so their weaknesses don’t get in the way of their strengths. Strategies can’t be built around topics that are not clearly understood.

Emotional Intelligence

It was my observation that everyone has weaknesses that led me to discover a way to become trained and certified in Emotional Intelligence Coaching. 

Emotional Intelligence shows me how my clients perceive themselves.  Sometimes this self-perception is right and sometimes it is wrong.  I can also see how my clients are likely perceived by other people.  When there is a gap between how my clients perceive themselves and how they come across to other people, there is work to be done.

The good news here is that a person’s Emotional Intelligence can be improved upon.  In my coaching practice, these are the Emotional Intelligence skill we measure and work to improve based on each coaching client’s unique needs.

Emotional Intelligence

Self-Perception

Self-Regard, Self-Actualization, Emotional Self-Awareness

Self-Expression

Emotional Expression, Assertiveness, Independence

Interpersonal

Interpersonal Relationships, Empathy, Social Responsibility

Decision Making

Problem Solving, Reality Testing, Impulse Control

Stress Management

Flexibility, Stress Tolerance, Optimism

Working with my clients as an Emotional Intelligence Coach to improve their Emotional Intelligence is the most difficult and the most impactful and rewarding work I do.  When a person works to improve their behavior, the behavior that impacts other people and progress is made, this is the most impactful work I do and it is one of the greatest personal and professional investments my clients can possibly make.

Better behavior leads to all kinds of positive results.  When my clients are focused on doing work that aligns with their top strengths and they are focused on delivering their work with their best behavior attached, the result for my clients is their best performance. 

Jeff Snyder Coaching, 719.686.881

​ I’m a Director, She Wrote…That’s Great News, I Thought in My Mind

My Resume Writing Service

I have been assisting people with resume writing since 1990.  In 2008, I turned my pro-Bono work into an active part of my business.  I didn’t go out and study other people’s approaches to resume writing.  Rather, I collected thoughts from several of my clients as well as from many of my colleagues and peers; people who have reviewed tens of thousands of resumes in their careers.

From there, I set out to build a resume writing methodology from scratch. I started with my own thoughts, the information I’d collected from my colleagues and peers as well as information your audience told me they wanted to see in a resume and began building from the ground up.

What I created is a proprietary resume writing methodology that has opened interview doors for my clients around the globe since 2008 and continues to open interview doors today.  My clients have included Analysts and Engineers, Architects, Managers, Directors, VPs and “C” Suite Executives.

Hiring a Resume Writer

Here are a handful of suggestions with regards to how you might want to go about selecting a resume writer or a resume coach.

• Hire a resume writer who understands your profession and the audience you’ll be sending your resume to.
• Hire a resume writer who can demonstrate client results as a result of their clients using their resume writing approach.
• Be ready to roll up your sleeves to partner with your resume writer or resume coach.
• Don’t approach a resume writer with this mindset:

“To be frank, I was really looking for someone just to write my resume. I was not looking for guidance. As you may have noticed, I am Director of Information Security and have very little time to devote to resume writing.”

 

You’ll Have To Participate

Understand that you are the only person on the planet who has walked in your shoes.  Nobody knows why you are unique or special other than you.  Nobody knows how to tell your stories of Accomplishment, Contributions or the Value you’ve created for previous employers other than you.  The best any resume writer can do is to meet you half way.  If they claim to be able to do more, I suggest that you turn around and run away.

A great resume is a forward leaning document.  This document cannot be written by you handing a resume writer your last three job descriptions.  Job descriptions talk about what you are hired to do.  They never talk about what you did or how you did what you did.  This by the way is what employers told me they want to see in a resume. 

You have to participate in the resume building process.

My Resume Writing / Resume Coaching Options

I offer a 1 Hour Resume Coaching program for my clients who are confident in their writing skills.  These clients are people who want to learn my proprietary resume writing methodology.  I’ve boiled this knowledge transfer down to a 1 hour coaching call. 

For my clients who are not as comfortable with their writing skills, I have a service that I refer to as my Full Resume Writing Service.  My 1 Hour Resume Coaching program is so effective because it addresses both auditory and visual learners, so I deliver this program to my Full Resume Writing clients before I take over as their editor.

I my Full Resume Writing clients to the drawing board to build their raw resume material based on the methodology I have taught them.  When my clients are ready for me to jump back into their resume writing process, I do so as their personal editor.  I take their raw material and turn it into a polished, professionally written resume that is then ready to open interview doors.

Conclusion

Nobody on the planet can write your resume for you from start to finish.  Regardless of how busy you might be, you have to slow down to participate in a knowledge transfer process. 

There is no other way to end up with a great resume.

Jeff Snyder's Jeff Snyder Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810

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

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