The Last Responsible Moment and Your Agile Coaching Career Advancement

Jan 10, 2022 by Scott Showalter

My 4 year old son Ethan, hilarious as hey may be, has a bit of a challenge. You could say he's not very agile when it comes time to use the restroom.

Yes, I know what you might be thinking, "Isn't he only 4?" (and some of you are like, "does this have to do with agile?" ...hang with me).

The answer is yes—on both accounts.

In his short 4 years of life, Ethan has figured out a simple system for when it is acceptable to go pee. He will hold it in until he really needs to go, or as we agilists like to say the last responsible moment.

Just as we, as agilists, have figured out the same simple system for how we care about our agile careers. More on that in a moment.

Depending upon the circumstances, the last responsible moment can quickly turn into an irresponsible moment.

For example, yesterday, it wasn't until we were waiting in line at a drive-through oil change place, that he decided to tell us that it was time to go, suddenly declaring out of the blue, "I HAVE TO PEEEEEE!!!!" We had probably a half hour of waiting left, because this place was surprisingly busier than I would've expected them to be for a Sunday morning.

Whenever you let a lot of pressure build-up in an enclosed system over time, it causes it's own eventual need to go. Just like kids...and their parents...and our careers.

And by go, of course, I mean go boom.

Kids explode.

Parents explode.

Pipes explode.

Your career explodes.

It's not good for anyone.

Well, maybe a plumber, but we're the Agile Career Accelerator, not the Plumbing Career Accelerator. Plus, I don't care to visualize plumbers doing their work. Avert thine eyes!

Here's the thing though. This is often how we as busy agile coaches handle our resume. We wait until we really, really need it and then being short on time, we give it a few tweaks here and their and just send it off with no additional regard, rather than taking the time to thoughtfully research, revise, and as I've seen 99% of agilists' resumes needing, actually overhaul it completely so that it has the power to impress. Not just a little, but a lot.

Only 1% of agilists resumes we've seen at the Agile Career Accelerator are anywhere close to being as full-bodied yet concise as they need to be, and even then they're missing several valuable sections of content that would help them truly differentiate and sell the agilist when they're in front of any hiring manager.

My point is, if you want the career acceleration that comes with updating your resume at the right time, you don't wait until the last responsible moment. No, no...

Like most agilists would do, you keep your sense of urgency and proactivity, even though you're busy with work.

That last responsible moment just before your metaphorical work bladder bursts is not the last responsible moment to update your resume.

The next responsible moment to update and likely overhaul your resume is right now.

That's why I'm proposing something bold.

Bold like my son, who doesn't hold back when he really, really has to do something.

I propose that you MAKE TIME to turn your resume MAGNETIC this week.

Learn the 7 secrets nearly all agilists are missing on their resume that would make them desirable to hiring managers for opportunities they want and deserve in mere minutes, not months.

As for Ethan, we got resourceful, as all agilists should be, and we found a restroom.

The great irony here is that pragmatism, the idea of making decisions based on practical rather than theoretical considerations, is what drives agility in our organizations. True agilists try to make decisions based on what we know, tend not to speculate, plan for change and we frequently deliver what stakeholders and customers have given evidence that they need, not merely what we speculate they might want.

Future opportunities and growth are the customers of your career.

Your resume is a key stakeholder.

You are the team delivering the value.

Yet, if we're not frequently updating that resume-as-stakeholder, we are allowing 5 negative things to happen.

1.We're missing out on all the potentially valuable work we're doing as it could pertain to our resume.

2.We're making it harder on our future self (the team) to remember all the good, and it will be lost among the wreckage of circumstances that might occur down the road if we lose our position or our contract comes to an end.

3.We're making it harder on our future self (the team) to get new work.

4.We're likely not leveraging the skills we're developing in ways that are "sticky" to the hiring managers who are looking for people just like us.

And most importantly...

5. We're not presenting ourselves and our career most excellently.

Our negative history and our awesome future potential will both be unknown to the people we need to know it, so that they can act on our behalf, in alignment with our agile career growth and advancement goals.

We're losing the chance to turn every conversation into an opportunity for us (and our community) with relevant potential employers.

Every hiring manager, even on the other side of that job ad on LinkedIn or anywhere else, is looking for someone with your experience.

By only updating your resume when it is needed, you are not unlike the plumber who came to fix those burst pipes.

Please don't bend over while working on your resume!

Thank you so very much!!me!

Friends, listen.

The time to take action on your resume is right now.

Learn how to make yourself shine in your very best light.

Don't wait until the last irresponsible moment, or else you will end up like several people I know who even went to so far as to purchase the Magnetic Resume Masterclass, but didn't watch it or execute on the valuable strategies within it, and just sent the same ol plain old resume they used before, with the few tweaks, and struggled to get interviews and job offers.

Instead, be like Ryan, or many of our other Agile Career Accelerator private clients who got the Magnetic Resume Masterclass, watched it shortly thereafter and immediately implemented the strategies and tactics taught, even as they watched, pausing as they went along.

Are you ready to increase your quantity, quality and pay grade of future agile coaching opportunities by making it easier for executives, hiring leaders and even other agile coaches to find you and get the word out about your value?

Here's a future opportunity for you, right now...

Until midnight tonight, I want to give you 90% off the normal price of this immensely valuable masterclass. Don't delay. At 12am EST this very night, that discount will be taken from you. So put your phone on DO NOT DISTURB, close all the doors, and lock yourself in for the next hour or so, and dig in.

It's worth it.

I'm not just saying that, check out a few of our case studies and success stories from others who've said the same thing.

Remember, the discount expires at midnight, so be that action taker that all aglists should be, and head over there now.

Your future self will thank you.