Looking for a Speaker?

Looking for a dynamic speaker for your next event who doesn't rely on the security of a darkened room and a glossy Powerpoint presentation to hold the audience's attention?

I use my experience in Improv Comedy with the group World Class Indifference to increase audience participation and retention. 

Here's a list of educational programs for your audience.  Scroll down to find one perfect for your group.  Download a PDF version of the list.

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5 Things You’re Doing Wrong in Your Job Search—and How to Fix Them

As a coach, I feel like I’m giving everyone the same advice over and over again, so this course covers the most frequent tips I give my clients.  I’ll address easy ways to customize your resume, what a good cover letter looks like, networking outside the box, sealing the deal in the job interview, and following up without stalking. 

Social Media and Your Job Search—the Basics

Everyone has heard of people landing jobs through LinkedIn, Facebook, Ning and Twitter, but you’re not sure how those sites work, how safe your personal information is, and even if it’s worth your time to learn them. 

This class covers the basics of each site and outlines how each works from an employer and recruiter perspective as well as the pros and cons of each to let you decide if you should invest more time in incorporating those tools into your job search. We’ll also discuss if it’s appropriate to create an online portfolio of your work or starting a blog.

Making the First Call

These are the calls that everyone hates to make. Whether it’s calling a networking contact, or reaching out to a hiring manager the candidate doesn’t know—it’s those first few seconds of awkwardness that everyone wishes they could avoid. But the truth is that this is one of the best ways to get a foot in the door and get ahead of the pile of resumes in their in-box.

Using proven techniques from a sales coach, I’ll discuss ways to quickly establish rapport and how to get past the gatekeeper to present your case directly to the hiring manager.  

Marketing Yourself

What’s your personal “brand?” Don’t have one? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. This session discusses why you must know what your accomplishments are and be comfortable discussing them in an interview. I’ll provide tips to help you understand what other people are thinking while you’re talking about yourself, and how to look for accomplishments in your career that will be interesting to an employer. We’ll also work on developing an “Elevator Speech” that makes your networking efforts more effective.

Lastly, we’ll talk about the importance of having an effective business card (and no, not all business cards are effective), creating a solid LinkedIn profile and why some people may want to have their own website to showcase their work.

Smile and Be Friendly: Taking the WORK Out of Networking

We've all seen it. Some people's idea of networking is either to pounce on the first innocent person they meet, hand them their resume, and ask for a job at their company, or to cluster around the punchbowl like it's an oasis in the Mohavi Desert—terrified that they might have to carry on a conversation with these “important people.” Either way, it's just not effective. This course teaches that that being an effective networker starts with being friendly; someone that other people like to help.

We'll start off with the basics of icebreaker questions, how to juggle hors d'ourves and drinks, questions to ask that will make people feel special and want to help you, and demonstrate that making one or two meaningful connections at an event can be more fruitful than a shotgun approach of gathering as many business cards as possible.

We'll practice networking until people are comfortable and able to project a professional, friendly image.

You Got The Job—Now Keep It! Navigating the finer points of being an employee at your first job.
Students are beaming with pride as they tell you that they landed their first job at their dream company. Six months later they're cringing in shame as they return for help because they were fired for using their cell phone during business hours or surfing Facebook at their desk. Nobody wants to see a student go through this. This course will prepare them for all of the nuances of the working world—from the fact that their employer will be peering over their shoulder, how to make themselves an invaluable employee, the when’s and how’s to ask for raises, and the one thing that droves employers crazy about college graduates—and how they can avoid it.

90 minute presentation with the opportunity to add one-on-one coaching appointments for the remainder of the day.  

Decoding Job Descriptions

The job description outlines exactly what the employer wants, but are candidates really using this information effectively to tailor their resume and cover letter to fit the position?  

This session will cover strategies to “read” a company’s corporate culture to start to build a picture of what their ideal candidate looks like, pick up on specific key words and phrases in the job description that provide further clues, then incorporate all of that information to understand the position as a whole. I’ll then outline some specific methods to customize a resume and cover letter to demonstrate that fit.

The Tips Behind Constructing Resumes That Work

The key component of a resume that does well is one that clearly conveys a candidate’s unique attributes, either by the way it’s written or how it’s presented on the page. When I was a hiring manger, I always wondered, was this a great candidate, just hiding behind a poorly designed and written resume?

I’ll demonstrate specific tactics that make it easy to customize the resume for an employer and ways of writing the resume that quickly highlight compelling accomplishments. We’ll also discuss writing accomplishments for positions that are not related to sales.

Ending Sweaty Palms and Awkward Answers—a Better Way of Preparing for Job Interviews

Many times candidates feel like they don't have anything to say in a job interview, or are overwhelmed by looking at a shopping list of questions they might be asked.  It can be difficult to understand how experiences that seem insignificant to them can really be crucial to an employer's hiring decision, and then how to concisely structure answers to those questions. 
 
Job interviews are simply about an employer getting to know a candidate beyond what they have read on a resume. I developed the TODAY acronym as a way for candidates to focus their preparation, and remember those experiences that will help them be seen as the ideal candidate for the job. When they walk into an interview armed with topics to discuss, they are naturally more confident and relaxed, which makes the employer in turn get a better overall impression. This course also covers the finer points of an interview such as establishing rapport, avoiding the Walk of Silence from the receptionist desk to the interview, negotiating the offer, and preparing for the 5 questions they will ALWAYS be asked.

Job Interview Challenge

This session takes mock interviews to the next level.  First, we’ll discuss a consistent set of criteria that the audience will use to “score” candidates. I’ll then interview candidates in front of the room asking basic questions regarding their prior work history to keep it a level playing field for all of the applicants. The audience then ranks each candidate, discusses what he or she did well, and provides constructive comments to help them improve.

Candidates are ranked based on common standards of how well they described their prior roles, level of confidence, eye contact and appearance. The audience has the chance to feel like hiring managers, and understand what it’s like to interview a roster of candidates to understand their experience and read their body language. 

The winner receives a $20 Amazon.com gift card.

Interview Like a Presidential Candidate

Political races give everyone an opportunity to judge how much confidence they place on a candidate, and if they think they can do the basics of the job—the same criteria jobseekers face in an interview.

This session includes clips from the 2008 Presidential Debate at Hofstra University between then-Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain. We look at effective strategies the candidate’s exhibited that won the voter’s trust versus those actions that eroded their standing. We’ll also discuss the TODAY concept to prepare for interviews, similar to how the candidates prepared their sound bites before the debate.

Participants see first hand how certain actions color their opinion of a candidate.

This session requires a projector, screen and sound system (speakers). All other presentations require simply a flipchart/whiteboard.

Using Improv Comedy Techniques for Better Job Interviews

Everyone has a fear in the back of their mind that they’ll get one of those “brain teaser” job interview questions…the “if you could be a brick in a wall, what brick would you be?” The worst thing to do in that situation—or any job interview, is to completely freeze and have no response.

Improv comedy techniques have little to do with being funny, but everything to do with really listening to what other people are saying before responding, and trusting your instincts to say the right thing. Many times I’ll be interviewing a candidate, or even at a networking event, make a comment to someone and they’ll respond with a something completely different. Many times that tells me that they were more concerned with what they wanted to say rather than listening to me. Which is a huge turnoff.

This class is a series of group exercises that gets people working together and learning how to be “in the moment” and really listening to the rest of their team to build a complete story. We’ll also work on responding quickly to unexpected situations.