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Top 10 Under 40: Nichole Tymchuk, National sales coordinator, Convergint, 32

What is the first task you take care of in a typical working day?

In my role at Convergint I am responsible for supporting the sales and leadership teams across all of our business segments in Canada, so my first task of the day is mental preparation. I already know my schedule in advance, but with a team as large as ours and with locations spanning all time zones, it’s imperative that I check my Teams and Outlook for anything new. This includes messages or emails from our colleagues or partners that might require immediate attention. Once my calendar and to-do list is confirmed, I immediately caffeinate and start working on my high priority items for the day. It’s a methodical process that keeps me organized in a way that makes the most efficient use of my time.

What do you enjoy most about the security profession?

What I enjoy most about the security profession is that the technology is always progressing and there are constantly new developments in both technology and our capabilities. This allows us to be part of an evolutionary process that provides our customers with solutions to support their business in the safest and most efficient manner possible. By successfully achieving our co-operative goals, we also ensure that our valued customers can focus more of their time on their specific business needs.

Do you have any tips for achieving a successful work-life balance?

One of the biggest things that I’ve learned to help create a successful work-life balance is how to place realistic expectations on tasks in a priority sequence. Learning to triage your daily, weekly, and monthly tasks is an organizational skill that takes time to develop and a necessary fortitude to implement and stick to.

This also includes creating boundaries for yourself around your personal availability, especially in such a fast-paced and high-demand environment.

Working beyond the scope of a typical workday for a project that needs to be completed is required at times, but doing this consistently shouldn’t be standard as it increases your burnout factor. Lastly, I think it’s important to find something to do in your personal life that you are passionate about or enjoying doing.

How can the security industry draw more young people and newcomers to the profession?

We could all benefit from educating the next generation about how our industry is already touching their lives and they are a part of it without even knowing it yet. We live in a world where every day, more and more information becomes available online. More access to technology comes with a steadily increasing risk and a need to keep that technology safe from digital threats.

Having a co-op or development program in place is crucial to attracting new people to the industry. This allows them to be able to learn about the business while being able to adapt the skills they have already developed to align to our industry. In addition to this, ensuring that they know what career opportunities and paths are available to them will allow them to be set up to have a long and fulfilling career. For example, Convergint has our CDP (Convergint Development Program) where recent grads join us and are able to complete a six-month development program spending time with each department to learn the ins and outs of our industry before joining their local team as a full-time member of the sales or operations teams.