010: Choose Passion AND Enjoy Success with Seyka Mejeur – CEO & Engineering Job Recruiter

[00:00:56] And a researcher and published author of academic literature. You can find publications from Seyka and the international journal of stress management and in psychology today Seyka and Brian completed a 21 country vegan voyage before starting AdAstra. It’s just an awesome story. I hope we get to touch on that today.

[00:01:17] They traveled around the globe, made some incredible friends, took adventures as they came, interviewed some top chef. And enjoyed cuisine from around the globe, reduced barriers to a plant-based lifestyle and blogged about how easy and fun it can actually be to travel vegan. I imagine I could go on and on and on about this amazing woman Seyka.

[00:01:40] Thank you so much for making time to be with us today.

[00:01:44] Yeah, it’s a true pleasure to be here. Zach

[00:01:47] Seyka Mejeur: okay? I got to back up for a second. I’ve known you for a while. It’s always fun to chat with you and there’s something unique and amazing that comes up every time. But when I was reading through all these amazing points of your story and your journey, one of them for me was not like the others.

[00:02:05] And of course, it’s really tight. Background in general, but when I picture an indoor cycle instructor, I have this image of a boom Mike and like loud music. And, , just this, uh, working up a sweat with a room full of people and doing cardio and it really doesn’t vibe with me on the 15 year Yogi home chef vegan side of Seyka

[00:02:30] so I got to understand what’s the story with the indoor cycle instructor.

[00:02:36] Oh, my goodness. Have you taken in, have you taken indoor cycling?

[00:02:40] Zach White: I confess I have never done an indoor cycling class.

[00:02:45] Seyka Mejeur: The first couple are brutal, right? You are exhausted that you’re, you’re, you know, a little sore from sitting on the seat and they they’re a little rough.

[00:02:56] And then after that, there’s this intensity in being in the room and the music and having, being able to. Motivate the room that you’re writing with getting this incredible cardio workout but there’s something spiritual about it almost. And I fell in love with indoor cycle and decided to become an instructor a while ago.

[00:03:19] And it’s, it’s a thrilling experience. So of course it’s only on the side on the, you know, got a lot going on, but it’s, it’s a passion of mine for sure.

[00:03:27] Zach White: There’s something spiritual about it. I love this. And just to hear the passion in your voice, talking about it. Engineering passion is often lacking in comparison. So like, what is that process like to become a cycle instructor?

[00:03:37] Is this a difficult thing or is not that, not that hard? Like what’d, you have to go through to become.

[00:03:43] Seyka Mejeur: So if you’re, if you’re already an avid indoor cyclist, right? You’re you’re, you’ve got the kind of, uh, endurance and spirit for indoor cycle already. After that point. It’s not too difficult. If you’re maxing out your indoor cycle classes, when you take them with another instructor, uh, all you’re going to do after that point is get certified in this, like.

[00:04:02] One weekend that you take to get certified. I have two different certifications. Both of them, I think were a two day process, uh, pretty simple. And then you find a gym or two that you can teach at, and it’s pretty direct.

[00:04:17] Zach White: Maybe zooming out for sure. The engineer list is like, what is, why are we talking about, I mean, one of the things that comes up again and again, as a coach for engineers is, you know, how are we finding balance in life and to have an area of engineering passion and just even the enthusiasm I feel from you about this area, that’s really completely separate from what you do and the, the value in the work that you do in the world.

[00:04:40] You know, for you, how important is it to have these outlets and to really take it sort of to the next level, not to just go to the gym on occasion, but to pursue that with some more intensity, like, what is it that for you draws you to take it to that next step. And what advice would you have for people around how to balance in that.

[00:04:58] Seyka Mejeur: I love that question. It’s really, really insightful. I, what I love to love life, life is incredible. And I don’t want to get through my, my months and my years and look back and think, yeah, I, I flowed with life. I want to squeeze the energy and the love and the joy and the excitement and the passion out of it that I can.

[00:05:21] And so I could. I hate working out, right. I could begrudgingly get my workout in or skip it most days, or, you know, begrudgingly put on my shoes when I go for a run or go to lift weights, or I could decide that it’s something that I’m passionate about and not just participate in it, but take it as my own and make it into something that I really love.

[00:05:46] It’s a similar thing about being a chef. Right. And I don’t. Eat healthy food, because I know it’s better for me. And you know, you gotta eat. I turn it into, I love cooking and I love being able to contribute that to the people who were in my life. So I think that making a work-life balance or making a balanced life, a lot of that is deciding to have engineering passion about the things that you want to have as habits in your life.

[00:06:16] You have to choose it.

[00:06:20] Zach White: I love to love life. Most people I talk to say, uh, see that quality, that engineering passion that you described as something that’s part of, maybe their personality. I either am that kind of person who’s really passionate, or I’m not, you’re telling us it’s a decision to become passionate about squeezing the juice out of life.

[00:06:46] How did you come to that conclusion? Like how do we know that?

[00:06:50] Seyka Mejeur: Yeah. Awesome question. So I’d say for people who are wondering, Hey, is that true? Give it a trial run, give it a trial run, say what’s something, pick something that you wish that you did that you hate right now. I’m not even going to say that you like, kind of, don’t like, no, give it a real go pick something that you don’t like, that you really, you know, would like to have as a habit in your life and give it a read.

[00:07:18] Engineering Passion trial. Two weeks, right? Of saying, every morning you wake up, you say, I love this thing. And you think about all the different ways that you can love it. I’m sore. After I work out, I love being sore. After I work out, I feel like I’m getting stronger. I can, I can feel my body. I am moving with my body, this body that I have, right.

[00:07:39] That I’m using in life all the time. It can either be. Something I ignore or possibly am part of, or I can be excited about being partnered with this body every day. So I’d say give it a trial run. It’s worked. I, I I’ve been using this decide to be passionate about something. I think, you know, the first time I remember using it, I think I was in high school and there were, there was a class that I was having a really tough time with.

[00:08:04] And I was like, I can either decide to have a grudge against this or take responsibility for. My outcomes and decide to get passionate and thrilled about

[00:08:15] Zach White: it. I love this. So w what’s even more powerful about the way you framed that is don’t take one of your favorite things and decide to just notch it from a nine to a 10.

[00:08:27] Take that thing that you wish you liked. Maybe you really want that in your life, or you see someone else enjoying it in a passionate way. And it’s like, I would love to be like that, or maybe you’ve dreaded it, but you know, it’s really, really good for you. And make a decision to go for two weeks full out, give it, give it not just the college try, but the, the, the, the full go.

[00:08:48] I, I just love this. I hope everyone listening. Well, we’ll take that to heart. And I’m curious for you sake, uh, right now in your life. Is there any area that you are having to choose engineering passion where it wouldn’t happen? Automatic?

[00:09:03] Seyka Mejeur: Ooh, that’s a great question. It’s, it’s become a bit of a muscle for me. So when I, when I have an area that I’m really not liking and I noticed myself budding up against something, I.

[00:09:18] Try to pause and not perfect at it, but I try to pause and say, I have two choices. I can either change the thing that I’m butting up against, or I can change my attitude about the thing that I’m butting up against. And I try to take one of those two paths. So, uh, I’d say, uh, I’d say so. Yeah. So you’re, you’re, you’re pushing me here.

[00:09:40] Challenging me. I love it. So something that is a, I’d say this is one of my more ingrained ones that I, I still struggle with. I, my, uh, Clifton, are you familiar with Clifton StrengthsFinder? Yeah. So my number one, I’ve taken it a variety of times. Sometimes my, you know, my lower strengths change a little bit.

[00:10:03] My number one is always achiever and I really like to get things done. And for me that looks like making, uh, making a list of things, organizing my schedule, blocking out my habits and getting things. What that means a strength, overused becomes a weakness, right? What that means is that I have a really hard time being flexible.

[00:10:25] Now that benefits me in a lot of ways. Right. I stick to my plans. I’m extremely reliable. If I say I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it. I don’t flex out of that very much, but when a great opportunity arises. And I’ve just, I’ve already, I already have the day planned, right? No commitments to anybody else, but in my mind, I’ve already committed my day to something.

[00:10:50] A great opportunity arises. The choice is almost not in my box to get flexible about it. So funny that you ask me how I’m using this in my day today, today, the universe works in mysterious ways, right? So today this is. And, uh, my husband, Brian, uh, who your listeners we’ll get to have a conversation here, conversation with later.

[00:11:14] Very, very cool guy. Um, brought up an idea for a very cool opportunity that we could take advantage of today. And. My reaction is to kind of lock up. Yeah.

[00:11:26] Zach White: Not in the plan,

[00:11:27] Seyka Mejeur: not in the plan. Exactly. It’s not in the plan. No. Is there space for it? Yeah, totally. He has great ideas and he does not have this same kind of rigid, uh, format that, that my personality is kind of been built into.

[00:11:42] Um, but I love the guy and he’s got brilliant ideas. And so I really tried to work with myself there and go, how can I get excited about. How, how can I find engineering passion for not just believing in his ideas, but also in being excited about the flexibility around this. And I was able to find a lot freedom, right?

[00:12:01] My, my muscles relaxed, like my breath, get a little deeper and find opportunities to. Not just be okay with the flexibility, but even come up with some, a few new ideas to, to increase flexibility

[00:12:13] Zach White: around this. I love it. Build on it. Make even more from an, the listener. Can’t see your posture there, but just even seeing on the physical body, like, oh, I’m relaxing into this.

[00:12:24] And then from that place able to take it further. This is super important deciding to be passionate. And I think engineers as a group are not. Categorized as the most, you know, uh, I’ll say emotionally extreme in terms of passion, maybe passionate about their technology or passionate about the information, but you don’t always see, especially outside of engineering, a lot of engineering passion.

[00:12:49] And yet I think that’s sometimes just because we’ve decided, well, I’ve only got, maybe I’m a gear head. That’s my one thing, you know, but I don’t want to share that with people or, you know, Being a cycling instructor. Like, you’re kidding me no way, but I love this. Pick something and go for it. Speaking of engineering passion, then this 21 country vegan voyage.

[00:13:08] And I know that you and Brian have talked about this in some other podcasts and there’s the blog and people can really dig deep into this. We could talk for hours about the amazing experiences you had, but engineering passion, courage, adventure. So many things that come up in this. Of of that entire journey. I know this is going to be tough.

[00:13:28] You can take it whatever direction you want say, but what is a moment in that entire voyage that stands out to you as the place where you encountered the greatest fear, that scariest moment of the trip, what would pop into your mind?

[00:13:49] Seyka Mejeur: It’s actually not hard. So not a difficult thing for me. Uh, it was, it was, it was really clear.

[00:13:56] So we traveled, we traveled all over the place. We were in very many different cultures. We started in Japan, worked our way through Asia, uh, Africa, uh, you know, we were in Tanzania, Egypt, uh, Dubai, we went, uh, through your Europe and an incident in Iceland specifically. Vietnam was an area that I had a really hard time with culture, the culture.

[00:14:23] Um, what is it called? The dissonance? My, my understanding of how the culture worked in a big city was. Really trying to figure out there. There’s a lot of noise. The, when you, when you S there’s honking and yelling and a lot of people, and when you go to cross the street, it’s a totally different culture.

[00:14:43] It’s a totally different, uh, system for driving and walking. When you go to walk across the street, there isn’t a crosswalk and cars don’t stop. And what they tell you to do as a tourist is to step into the road and keep your cases. And there’s honking and there are cars and motorbikes going by you in every direction.

[00:15:04] Very the, their personal space, bubbles are very different sizes. So they’re culturally it’s much, it’s appropriate to get much closer to your body than it is in America. We have much larger kind of personal space. Uh, comfort levels. And that was, that was, it was scary. It was, it took a lot of courage and, um, willingness to accept a different environment to move through Vietnam Hanoi specifically.

[00:15:37] Zach White: what do you learn about yourself in this idea of step into the road? Keep the cadence. That’s a really interesting phrase. I’ve never heard it before. And honestly, it’s kind of making my heart rate go up a little bit, just thinking about it, like the, the faith there. And, uh, car’s not just going to slam into me.

[00:15:58] Like how does that change you to have to face everyday life with that idea of step into the road? Keep the cadence, like, tell me about. Evolution in your life. Yeah.

[00:16:11] Seyka Mejeur: So the work that we do at ad Astra, we’re both interviewing engineers and then we’re connecting them with teams who are going to need to rely on them for everything.

[00:16:28] Right. Putting literally putting hardware into space and that idea from Hanoi a step into the road and keep your cadence was a very interesting exercise and a new muscle for me to, to, to get a lot of experience with, of real life. How. Individuals, the interactions that people have are so different from culture to culture and from individual to individual in America, we, we would never step into the road with a car moving toward us at that speed or accept a car, getting that close to our bodies and not thinking that we’re in fear or not being in fear from vehicle being Netflix.

[00:17:12] Right. And having a willingness to accept these different perspectives and these different ways of physically moving around the world gave, uh, gives me a lot of insight into coaching and building teams where you have to have a lot of space for different people’s perspectives and communication styles, and understandings of how to do this complex work that we’re doing.

[00:17:39] Zach White: What’s it like the first time. So, so for the person who’s listening, like okay. Step into the road, keep the cadence. Sure. Like, but at some point you still have to make that first step happen, you know, you know, what’s it like the first time, or what advice would you have for someone who’s at that point where, you know, you either got to turn around and go another way or it’s time to take the first step.

[00:18:03] What was that like for you? What’d you.

[00:18:05] Seyka Mejeur: Yeah. So well for me, I, uh, closed my eyes and held on to somebody with more confidence. So I gripped Brian’s arm, right? Let me step into the road and keep the cadence. And he was quite comfortable with it. And that gave me an opportunity to be guided by his mentorship is, is a funny word to use here.

[00:18:25] But in some ways it is right. You see somebody who is able to do it with confidence and figure out how to. Model their success.

[00:18:35] Zach White: That’s that’s a great reminder with modeling people. Who’ve gone the road before. No. Where else do you see that as the strategy to success for facing fear? Like there are other times when that’s always the way you should go.

[00:18:51] Are there times maybe to avoid that, like be careful about just falling. What do you think about that as a stress?

[00:18:58] Seyka Mejeur: Oh, gosh, such a tough, that’s a whole topic for a conversation by itself. Yeah, I think that, ah, when, when, gosh, I think that to put it simply reviewing successful individuals. And assessing which pieces of those of those behaviors bring true to yourself is a vital component of developing our experience.

[00:19:29] I think that we can, it can be dangerous too, or it could hold someone back. To just try to model how somebody else has done it. A few reasons. They, you might be set up to reach even higher levels than the person that you’re modeling. And if you’re trying to mimic every step, uh, you might not, you might not get there the most successfully.

[00:19:53] There’s also that, um, if you’re we, we got to do life. With our own history, informing each step. And I think that if we’re, if we’re just trying to copy the footsteps of somebody else, we might miss some opportunities for some real integrity, authenticity, and letting ourselves reach our own levels.

[00:20:15] Zach White: You said something there that’s really subtle, but I think it’s important that we highlight the fact that sometimes your mental.

[00:20:23] Or your role model may actually be holding you back from your full potential. If, if you’ve already learned what you need to learn from that person. And frankly it’s no judgment on their part, it could just be that your path is going to exceed anything that they’ve ever done. And, and being aware of, you know, when has that relationship maybe run its course, or at least needs to shift in the frame to where.

[00:20:49] Unleash yourself from this idea that I’m underneath their mentorship. How do you become more sensitive to that for the engineer listening? You know, they have a mentor today, maybe they want to know like, oh wow, that’s a really interesting thought. Am I at a point where this has actually breaks rather than gas in my fuel?

[00:21:09] What would you say to that?

[00:21:11] Seyka Mejeur: Oh, I love it. Yeah. Getting into this whole idea of, of limiting beliefs and one of the bigger areas of figuring out, figuring out how to conquer these limiting beliefs, probably frankly. I don’t know, 85% of the work is figuring out what those limiting beliefs are because we run on this programming, that’s informing, that’s telling the story of our lives, right?

[00:21:37] And we’ve got these stories that we’re telling ourselves that give us rules for our lives and they’re made up. Most of those rules we made up, or we inherited that rules and figuring out what those rules are that we’re telling ourselves. And then figuring out how to rewrite that script is where a lot of the magic that I have found in life comes from that, that we’re coming.

[00:22:05] We’re circling back around a little bit too. If one of the scripts you’re telling you, it’s easy to talk about it with exercise, right? If one of the scripts you tell yourself is I hate cardio or one of the scripts you’re telling yourself is I hate going to the gym. All it’s exhausting. This is, this is something that in our culture is we like to say this one, we like to have this as a limiting.

[00:22:28] Well, once you read it, that’s a story you’re telling yourself. If you can rewrite that script that your system is running on. To say, I love going to the day. I’m a gym rat. That’s my new identity being in the gym is one of my passions. You’re just writing the code that you’re running on. And so the limiting beliefs that we can give ourselves is, oh, my mentor is so much farther along than I’ll ever be.

[00:22:56] They’re so much smarter than I am. Most of the mentors that I’ve had in my life are incredible people. They’re usually very motivated to see their mentees do even bigger things

[00:23:10] Zach White: than they’ve done. Totally. I love the statement. You are writing the code you’re running on. So let’s get really tactical with this, you know, we’re we’re engineers.

[00:23:23] We want to understand, okay, what is this all about? It’s you’re talking coach language on me, psycho, this limiting belief and scripts. And I don’t know what you mean. So let’s bring it into the world. Of talent, head hunting, career transition. You know, you, you live in this world in your business, you all do amazing work, helping engineers and in aerospace to find awesome roles and top talent people who are looking for that next opportunity and promotions.

[00:23:47] So what is an example? Of a limiting belief or a script that you see holding an engineer back, who’s seeking that next promotion or a career transition to their dream company, or do you know that dream position? What’s a specific example that you see a lot in your work.

[00:24:07] Seyka Mejeur: Yeah. So a couple, a couple of, of examples are I’m not a strong communicator.

[00:24:17] This interpersonal stuff, not a strength of mine. Uh, another one is when people have, have had technical experience throughout their career, that’s gotten them to a certain point and they realize they don’t love the work, but this is what they’ve been doing. This is what their career has come to. That’s a limiting belief that can hold people back from opening their mind to say, Hey, what am I passionate about?

[00:24:51] Right? Because at that point you have two choices. You can either let your history inform what you’re passionate about and redirect your energy to go after that. Or you can get passionate about the work that you’re doing. Engineering passion. Those are your, those are your two choices. If you want to be experiencing the fullness of your life.

[00:25:10] Or there’s there, there are other options, but they’re not fun ones. You can continue to begrudgingly be in the role that you’re in, that you don’t like. And be one of the people who runs on a script of, I don’t like my work. So. With those limiting beliefs there. Well, go ahead.

[00:25:29] Zach White: I don’t want to stop this train sacred.

[00:25:31] You’re on a roll. So, so go ahead and run with the one of those examples. Do you have for listening or, Hey, you know what? Maybe let’s take the communication example. It engineers. Is hearing this and saying, well, yeah, that’s me. I’m a stereotypical engineer. I’m really good at technical stuff, but I’m not so great at communicating.

[00:25:47] So if that story is in their head, if that’s the code that they’re running on today, what’s the first step to get away from that old programming.

[00:25:57] Seyka Mejeur: Yeah. Great, great question. So, one thing to realize is that if you’ve been running this code for a while, it’s been informing. The experiences that you’ve had in life.

[00:26:10] So if this was a code that you decided on or someone told you, or you told yourself early on, communication is not a strong suit of mine, I’m good with the technical stuff, not the communication that holds me back in my career. Ultimately all of my relationships, that’s going to be a, it’s going to be reinforced.

[00:26:33] Because as you, as you continue to lean into that, programming the experiences that you have kind of pile on top, you go, I’ve got a lot of examples of how this programming is true because I’ve been living it for two decades. Well, let’s try to get out of that. Some ways that you could try to rewrite that code is one realize and acknowledge what that script is and that you were the one writing.

[00:27:01] And then start brainstorming how you can break yourself out of that pattern. What does that look like? Does that look like investing in a program like Oasis of courage, right? Where you’re going to get to have these, these connections with individuals have these opportunities to communicate at this deep and, uh, high emotionally intelligent level.

[00:27:27] Is that joining program like Toastmasters, is that getting starting your own group of people? And the entire focus of this group is to enhance this area of your life. That you’re now very passionate about, which is strength of communication. You, you get to just because you’ve told yourself, uh, a story, a rule about you doesn’t mean that you have to continue with.

[00:27:53] Zach White: I promise. I didn’t ask Seyka to mention, OACO in her answer there, but I do really encourage everybody. If you need help with this topic, a great coach like Seyka or if it’s with me and with OACO, like, like, or with someone else get the help because these limiting beliefs, these scripts, this code that you’ve been running off of could be holding you back in a lot of areas and say, God, I want to share something that you set up that really triggered for me.

[00:28:17] I want to see if you agree with this statement. That there aren’t actually that many choices. Once you have decided I want to be passionate about my career, or once you decide, I want to be a happy engineer. I’m not going to settle for less. If you’ve gotten to that point, then there aren’t that many choices you take action in one of these two directions and go, you either figure it out, how to shift your direction from that past data, or you make the choice to get passionate where you’re at.

[00:28:50] You got to start moving down. One of those paths, I feel like we have this illusion of choice. Sometimes that there’s, well, there’s so many, there’s a million things I could do, and I’m paralyzed by choice. There’s just so many choices, but really, if you want to be happy and passionate in this way, it’s not actually that many choices.

[00:29:09] Do you agree?

[00:29:11] Seyka Mejeur: Absolutely. The weight of these choices is not that heavy. You just have to decide and, and open your mind and heart to where, where does this path take me?

[00:29:22] Zach White: It’s like a year expertise in recruiting and head hunting. I would be in big trouble if we didn’t at least spend a couple of minutes unpacking some wisdom and some nuggets for people who are looking at career transition.

[00:29:35] Seeking to change companies. They want to get that dream job, but you know, one of the big tech organizations or, or they’re in aerospace and they want to come find you to give you their resume, to find a job at space X or whatever that is. Give us the 80 20, where do I want to invest? My time and energy.

[00:29:52] If I’m an engineer seeking a career, transition into a new organization, what are the most important places for me to spend time? You know, is it the perfect cover letter? Is it mastering? Resume keywords know like what for you is on that short list of this is where you want to really invest time and energy.

[00:30:10] If that’s you seeking.

[00:30:13] Seyka Mejeur: Yeah, absolutely. I have so many thoughts on this, so I’ll try to keep it really concise and quick. Um, so number one is once you have a vision of what your dream job or your dream company is

[00:30:30] Zach White: big assumption, do you have a clue what the vision is? Does that need to be bullet zero before we even get to bullet one?

[00:30:43] Seyka Mejeur: It’s great. If it is, it’s great. If it is, it doesn’t have to be, you know, a lot of people move around life without having a really clear vision. I will tell you if you can have, uh, in yoga, we call it a dress STI, right? A focal point that lets you do these balance poses that. Otherwise would not be able to do, if you have that goal, that vision of where you’re aiming the path there and the decisions to get there are going to be so much easier.

[00:31:12] So it’s, it’s a whole lot easier if you know where you’re going.

[00:31:16] Zach White: Okay. I’m sorry. I interrupted you. I was, I wanted people to hear that, that I love that. What’s the yoga word you just used. That’s amazing. I’m going to look that up. So a focal point now, once we have that, what’s the number.

[00:31:31] Seyka Mejeur: So you want to look at at your experience and any pieces that are missing for that dream position for that focal point that you’re looking at, how do you need to compliment your experience or the skills that you already have that are transferable?

[00:31:48] How can you tell that story to help paint the picture that you are the perfect candidate for this position? I think the easiest, golden nugget of information that I can give to people is you want to make it so easy for someone to see at a glance, why you are the right fit for this position. That does not mean a 12 point font, single spaced multipage cover letter.

[00:32:22] People aren’t going to read that much text unless they already believe you were the right person. You have got seconds, like a few seconds to tell the story quickly that you were the right person. So if you’re trying to get into this position with your own application, you’re your own resume being the piece of paper, that’s going to get you the position, which.

[00:32:49] I won’t say is the easiest or most effective way for people to get in, but it is one of the most common or it’s the, uh, it’s the lowest energy in the very beginning to get your word out there. Right? It’s one of it’s a piece that you’re going to have any way is going to have to have, being able to network your way into positions is going to be a really strong method of getting in there and networking hats.

[00:33:16] Kind of a dirty reputation,  right? You, you, networking is so important and it has to be done well in order to be as fruitful as it can be, because what it really is about is building friendships and relationships with people who you can help and you have mutual engineering passions that, that overlap and you can support each other and getting to where you need to be.

[00:33:40] Zach White: There’s so much. I want to unpack there and I know we’re, we’re short on time and I want to be respectful of your time today. Second, if somebody is saying, okay, networking, like what’s the best technique. I know we got a lot of really tactical minded engineers out there. Is it LinkedIn messaging? Is it, you know, finding ways to cold call people?

[00:33:56] Or do I need to send an old school letter in the mail? Or like what, what would you say what what’s kind of proven to be? If you’re going to invest some energy, here’s a good technique to go to. Route of networking.

[00:34:09] Seyka Mejeur: So I would say I can’t answer that quickly. And part of why I can’t answer it quickly is because so much is in the nuance mass cold calling, people can, could stir up some really valuable relationships or it could ruin your reputation if you’re doing it really badly, right.

[00:34:30] It could make you seem like there’s something very strange going on. Or you could make a bunch of new friends depending on how it’s approached. So I wouldn’t want to answer that very quickly. I, I. LinkedIn and in finding people with common interests and reaching out with some, some PR, I wouldn’t say an art, but it’s really not something you can practice and something you can a skill you can hone to make really effective, but, um, you want to do it with a

[00:34:57] Zach White: careful way.

[00:34:58] Yeah. You know, this is probably validating a lot of people’s concern or curiosity of, you know, frankly, this is not a skillset that you invest a lot of energy into as an engineer because you don’t make these transitions very often. And you know, it’s the same as I tell my clients, you know, rather than seeking to become that expert during the process.

[00:35:20] Go get help from an expert. So from your perspective sake, uh, who is the person to reach out to first? Is it the recruiter? Is it someone like yourself who’s in that occupation or is it, is it a, you know, a coach or someone who helps with resumes or like where, where would someone go first if they need that guidance and that support on how to walk the process?

[00:35:42] Seyka Mejeur: Yeah, I think those are two, two excellent ways. A coach going to a coach is a, is a great strategy going to individuals who help with resumes, be, uh, scrutinize the screen. Well, to make sure that you’re getting somebody who is invested in your process and who can help you get to where you’re looking to go, kind of anybody could call themselves, right.

[00:36:03] Uh, somewhere. Um, a coach would be really helpful finding a headhunting firm that is very aligned with your experience can be a great way to get exposure. Um, but keeping in mind that head hunting agencies, their customer is the company. So if you have somebody saying, Hey, I’ll find you a job, pay me money.

[00:36:26] I haven’t seen that be a successful method. There are coaches who can help you on your career search. And that can be very, very fruitful, but I, I hesitate looking, finding, paying someone who can go find you a job.

[00:36:41] Zach White: Yeah. Yep. That’s a great heads up for people out there in this process, especially on LinkedIn, where there’s someone on every street corner, you know, saying they can support you in this.

[00:36:50] So pay attention. Sick. There was one thing that we didn’t touch on that you were so interesting. You mentioned it to me before, or we started recording today and I know it’s going to connect with the engineers listening because so many people here are high achievers. They’re driven, they’re goal oriented, you know, they, they connected with, with your, uh, StrengthsFinder assessment of achiever being at the top and.

[00:37:14] What is this idea of, of happiness and achievement that you shared with me? Can you explain that really? Uh, briefly for our people?

[00:37:22] Seyka Mejeur: Absolutely. I had the incredible opportunity to be part of Vance and Carolyn Caesar’s, uh, leadership program. And they have done their research researchers based in Los Angeles.

[00:37:34] And they’ve done a lot of research on high achievers and very interesting finding that they found a while ago is that industry agnostic. High achievers rates of happiness were statistically significantly lower than other populations in the population at large. And there was a real big disconnect because we have people who are ambitious and high achievers and very driven.

[00:38:02] And yet their happiness levels are. Uh, not in a place where you’d hope they’d be. And so they really programmed their life around creating happy high achievers. And I think that that can be something for your audience to listen, to being high achievers, to know that. Creating happiness in your life. It’s not just taking a bubble bath, right?

[00:38:27] Self-care I’m using air quotes, uh, every once in a while to kind of pick up your spirits. It’s something that needs regular investment and commitment in every facet of your life in order to make sure that happiness is one of the things that you’re achieving.

[00:38:46] Zach White: Wow. There’s so much to unpack there, but what I love is it’s right in the heartbeat of why we’re having this conversation.

[00:38:52] And I know why the engineers listening are here. This desire to be a happy engineer, but also to go get some amazing stuff done, like just, just to crush it and be at your best and perform. So I love this and we’re just gonna have to get back together again and go deeper. So this is really great. So.

[00:39:12] Coaching engineering, the work we do. One of the things that I believe in is a great questions lead and the answers followed. So ask great questions because if you ask a bad question, you’re going to get a bad answer. So for the person listening, who’s just seeking that happy achiever, that happy engineering life, what would be the best question to lead them with?

[00:39:38] Seyka Mejeur: What’s a habit that you can get passionate about.

[00:39:44] What is something that you can take from the grudgingly part of your life to something that’s a thrilling copy of yours?

[00:39:55] Zach White: What is a habit you can get passionate about, beyond engineering passion. I’m I’m wanting to answer this for myself right now. What an amazing question. Saika thank you. Thank you. I know people are going to want more of your story to understand this amazing vegan voyage that she went on and just so many amazing parts of your life.

[00:40:13] Tell people where they can get connected with you and how to handle it. Easiest

[00:40:18] Seyka Mejeur: one connect with me on LinkedIn. I’m on there all the time, and it’s the easiest way to find and connect with all the things that I’m doing and ad

[00:40:27] Zach White: Astra. Awesome. And I’ll put some things in the show notes for everybody in ways to get connected with CIC and Brian and their amazing team.

[00:40:33] And, uh, I’ll tell you. This has been awesome. I’m energized. Thank you so much. And I would for one, look forward to getting Brian on the show soon, but also Saika, there’s just a whole wealth of topics from your life. That would be amazing to unpack. So we’ll have to do this again sometime I’d love

[00:40:48] Seyka Mejeur: to, I’d love to as always, it’s a true pleasure to get to connect with you, Zach.

[00:40:52] Thanks for having me.