Resume and LinkedIn Coaching Success for a 60+ Year Old Information Security Professional

Resume Coaching Success for a 60+ Year Old Information Security Professional

Client Profession:  Information Security Architect / Engineer

Client’s Problem:  Client’s original resume was not generating any interviews in a hot job market for information security talent.

Client’s Original Resume: 8 Pages in length covering 40 years of professional experience

Client’s Original Resume Content: 5 of 8 pages focused on managerial skills.  The coaching client disliked managerial tasks.

New Resume after Jeff Snyder Coaching: 3 Pages covering 40 years of professional experience that aligned with my client’s LinkedIn profile message.

New Resume Content after Jeff Snyder Coaching: Hands-on technical information security topics with no mention of managerial skills.  The new resume generated interviews.

Coaching Client’s Results:  Coaching client found a Cybersecurity job 20 minutes from his home. 

“I wanted to let you know that I have found a new - and very good - home here. I think it's fair to say that I am about as happy as the law allows. I also wanted to let you know that I got the job largely as a result of the resume and LinkedIn profile you helped me construct. I have to say that one of the other things that helped me was my attitude.

Thanks again for all your help. I fully expect that this job will last me into retirement. (I'll be 66 in just over two years and if I end up liking it as much as I think, I may well continue working a reduced schedule past then.) From what I can see now, it looks like I'll be living the good life for the foreseeable future."

Jeff Snyder Coaching is found at www.jeffsnydercoaching.com, 719.686.8810

Resume Coaching Sale!!! / Closed 9.28.15

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Your Resume Is Not For You

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Coaching Results

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How Many Words Are In Your Resume?

On my screen, as a result of my research team’s work, I am looking at a resume that contains 11,883 words.  In case you’re not an expert on how many words fit on a clean, clear, logically written single resume page (I’m not either), the sample resumes in my resume coaching portfolio that have opened interview doors for my past resume coaching clients have an average of 1,250 words total.  These 1,250 words cover 2-3 total pages with plenty of white space.

In case you were wondering, 11,883 words equates to 39 Word document pages.  This resume I'm referring to was sent to me for one reason and that reason serves as the basis for this blog article.  I wish I could tell you that I’ve never seen a 39 page resume before but this is the second time in the past few months that I’ve seen a 30-40 page resume.

When you send out a resume, you have to know who might be sitting in your resume's audience.  Chances are very high that the people in your audience are busy, data-overwhelmed professionals who don’t read unless they have to.  I don’t mean that they can’t read.  What I mean is that they scan before they commit to reading and that resume scanning process might last for 10, 15 or maybe 20 seconds. 

A 39 page resume doesn’t even qualify as a resume in my own data-overwhelmed world.  A 39 page resume is more like a dissertation to a data-overwhelmed person.  I can’t think of anyone I know who is busy and data-overwhelmed who would invest even 5 seconds to tackle a 39 page resume.

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

ASIS Webinar Feedback for Jeff Snyder

After working with a group in Denver last week that was assembled to assist the Colorado Board of Education with future curriculum decisions and speaking to a large group of Colorado Springs ISSA members last week, my phone rang when I returned to my desk on Friday.

On the other end was the Communications Manager from ASIS International.  She was in a bind.  A webinar speaker she had scheduled for today had to back out last Friday.  My name was brought to the Communication Manager's attention as a possible webinar speaker.

Today the webinar event happened and I had a blast.  My part of the event involved covering topics that I work with every day as I fill information security jobs, corporate security jobs and cybersecurity jobs.

 If you missed the webinar that focused on career development and resume coaching, I'm always available through Jeff Snyder Coaching to assist you.  I teach my clients how to get from where they are to where they want to go and they have personal success.

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

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

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