Category Archives: Career Coaching

How Do I Find the Best Career Coach for Me?

As we emerge from the COVID shutdown and workers are required to return to their offices, many people are reevaluating their employment. They want jobs that do more than just pay the bills; they are seeking meaningful work that aligns with their values, personal priorities and lifestyle. For a good number of employees that means working remotely. As they consider their work/life options, many successful professionals are contacting career coaches for the first time.
Hi Trish, it is nice to meet you.Whether you are trying to transition into a new career or looking for a similar role that is a better fit, a career coach can help you land your next job faster than you typically would on your own. But how do you find the right one for you? I recommend starting with a quick Discovery Call.

What Is a Discovery Call?

A Discovery Call is a complimentary (free) call between a coach and a prospective client to discuss the possibility of working together.

Because the coaching relationship itself is vital to client success, many career coaches, including myself, hold Discovery Calls with potential clients to determine if we are a good fit. This first conversation allows both parties to get to know each other, and to make sure they connect on a personal level. Some coaches do charge for these calls, but I do not believe you should have to pay to interview a future service provider.

A Career Coach Can Support Your Career Advancement in a Variety of Ways:

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Is It Time to Add a Trained Professional to Your Job Search Toolkit?

This whole process of looking for a job is just one more thing that’s changed drastically over the last few years. It’s hard to keep up, isn’t it? It used to be easy to find and land a new job, but today’s digital job search is so much more complicated. The job market is crowded and super-competitive because digital platforms like LinkedIn have expanded the candidate pool. To gain an employer’s attention in our highly connected world, you need to rise above the online noise to stand out among your competitors. To do so takes strategic action and a willingness to let go of outdated ideas that may no longer serve your interests. Is there a job search 2.0 tool that can help? You bet.

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Take a minute to see what Certified Career Transition Coaches do. As trained professionals, they help you apply industry best practices so you can avoid the hassle of learning by trial and error. Offering an impartial view of your career goals and personal branding, a career coach can help you gain the competitive edge so you can get in front of decision makers at your target companies. Continue reading →

What Does a Career Coach Actually Do?

Do I need a career coach? Where do they fit into my job search?

how a career coach can accelerate your success

If you’re wondering about the difference between a career coach and a recruiter, it’s actually pretty clear-cut. A recruiter works for the employer – a career coach works for YOU. When it comes to helping you reach your career goals, that’s a big difference. As your career coach, I have your best interest at heart. I will make sure you are prepared for success and will guide you along your journey.

Now you’re thinking, “Okay, so you work for me. But what exactly do you do?” I’m so glad you asked. My role is to help you gain a competitive edge in a crowded job market. I do this by helping you establish realistic career goals, articulate the incredible value you offer an organization and actually get in front of decision makers.

As a Certified Career Transition Coach, I can help you identify your career drivers and preferred communication style as well as the work environment in which you thrive. When you are in a role that aligns with who you are as a person and how you operate, you are generally happier and more successful.

As a leader, you drive success by filling your team with experts. Why should your approach to managing your career be any different?

Career coaching is a truly collaborative process through which I help you determine what you’d like to see in your next role and where you would like to work. We develop a branding strategy and then a step-by-step action plan to get you into that new role.

Want more? As a professional resume and LinkedIn profile writer, I also help you position yourself as an expert in your field. Through our conversations and coaching exercises, I will pull all the important content from you, and weave it into a compelling career narrative written in your voice. Describing your own career accomplishments is difficult for many people, but the objective viewpoint of a trained coach facilitates this process. Another bonus? A professionally written resume does so much to boost a job seeker’s confidence, which in turn, promotes success!

Can a career coach really help?

How many times have you thought: “Why should I hire a career coach? I have always written my own resume.” It’s a common question. Let’s look for answers. Continue reading →

Finding the Career That Fits Your Personality

Since we spend the majority of our waking hours at work, career satisfaction is key to our overall happiness. Yet, until we are mid-career, many of us do not pause to consider our level of personal satisfaction. We push forward to earn the accolades, annual raises and the next promotion. Day after day; year after year. Then one day, we wake up and realize we really do not enjoy our jobs. You know you deserve to be happy and feel the urge for a more rewarding career. But where do you start? The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® personality inventory is a very useful tool to help you identify your ideal role – one that aligns with your strengths and how you operate best.

MBTI personality typesWho Should Take the MBTI®

As a Certified Career Transition Coach and MBTI® practitioner, I work with many mid- to late career professionals looking for more career satisfaction. The good news about us baby boomers working longer is that there is time to build a successful second act career. In fact, I reinvented myself at age 48 and have never been happier. I want everyone to have the same career satisfaction and work tirelessly to help my clients achieve it!

The MBTI® offers:

  • Increased self-awareness
  • More job satisfaction
  • Healthier interpersonal relationships

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How to Survive WFH With Kids

deep breathing for stress release

Deep Breathing Games for Kids

Typically, this would be a helpful post I’d share on social media, but I feel this message is one that will stand the test of time and provide ongoing value to my readers. So, blog post it is.

With the additional pressure of this extended COVID-19 isolation, today’s parents of young children are the new “Club Sandwich Generation” who deserve the highest Medal of Honor. Not only do they have to care for their family and possibly their aging parents, they now have to do it while trying to do their job at the same time. There is no more separation of day job and personal life. Gone are the days when the kids were ushered off to school and the parent could focus on their work duties for 8 hours before morphing back into Super Parent at the end of the day.

The New Balancing Act

Parents working from home are asked to juggle a lot, adapting to new ways of doing their jobs with many learning new technology as they go. On top of all this, they had to assume the huge responsibility of enabling their kids to keep up with their school work. Not knowing if we must maintain this pace for two more weeks or until the end of summer in nerve-racking. And none of this will work if the kids are bouncing off the walls consumed by their own anxiety and pent up frustration.

While I love my children dearly and miss them now that they are grown and out on their own, I feel extremely fortunate that I do not have to endure this extended home quarantine with the added responsibility of caring for young kids. After 8 weeks of isolation, I can barely keep myself sane, productively working and trying to maintain some semblance of a normal routine.

The Silver Lining?

Your isolation experience can be fantastic resume material. You can use it as an example of how you persevered and overcame obstacles, adjusted to a new, unpredictable environment and kept business moving forward.

How to Help Children Cope

When life gets crazy, deep breathing can help us feel calmer. Many adults practice some sort of deep breathing exercises, through yoga, mindfulness or meditation. It is a great life skill to teach our children, but how do you convince them to give it a try?

Here are some simple techniques from Shelley M. Greggs, NCSP, a nationally certified school psychologist and adjunct faculty at Florida SouthWestern State College. In her School Smart article in the April 24th Island Sun newspaper, Shelley shares ways to include fun and motion to engage children. The Feather Breathing looks fun to me. Who says games are just for kids? Continue reading →

Today’s Resume is Ideal for Mid-Career Reinvention

Because today’s resume is a forward-facing document that positions you for your next job, it has never been easier to reinvent yourself professionally.

I work with many mid-career professionals looking to reinvent themselves. Their industry may be contracting, job  outsourced or they may simply want a change. Many want to pull back from the responsibilities and headaches that can accompany upper management roles and, once again, become individual contributors. The prospect of leaving your job behind at 5 pm and enjoying a personal life can be pretty attractive.

Until recently, I do not think many of us actively managed our careers. Sure, most of us were told by our parents that we could be anything we wanted to be, but how many of us followed our dreams? I doubt many people wanted to be stuck in an 8’ by 8’ beige cubicle, eating lunch at their desk under glaring fluorescent lights. Yet, that is where many of us Baby Boomers find ourselves. The time to restore your work/life balance and live a purpose-driven life is NOW!  Your New Career

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Does Your 2018 New Year’s Resolution Include a Career Change? Planning Will Make Your Dream a Reality.

A new year brings new possibilities. As we turn over the calendar, we tend to look forward to the New Year as a chance to reset ourselves and we resolve to make improvements, both personally and professionally. If your New Year’s resolution is to be a happier person in 2018, a new job could be just the answer. Considering how much time we spend at work, enjoying your job can significantly impact your overall happiness. You deserve job satisfaction ― and it is achievable.2018 New Year Resolution New Job

So you’ve made your New Year’s resolution to change jobs or maybe even reinvent yourself in a new career, but how do you make this happen? What do you do first? Where do you begin? How do you get from hopes and wishes to reality? It’s common to feel overwhelmed by the prospect of a job search. I have learned that the key to a successful job transition is in the planning.
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Preparing For Your Year-End Review

‘Tis the season to celebrate with friends and family. ‘Tis also the season for year-end performance reviews, which is the perfect time for you to position yourself for success.

Performance reviews can be stressful, especially coming as they do during the holiday season. You naturally hope that your manager notices all of your hard work and recognizes the value you offer your organization. But does management really know how valuable you are? Year End Career ReviewAs part of the review process, many companies ask their employees to provide a self-assessment to their manager. This is your best opportunity to remind your manager of your contributions and highlight the impact of your efforts. It is also a great first step to developing a strong resume.

Not sure how to show your value to an organization? You are not alone. To make it easier for my clients, I recommend that they start with the following questions:  Continue reading →

Three Steps to a Successful Mid-Career Transition

Let’s talk about your career. I don’t mean your current job that’s so unrewarding that it feels like a prison sentence, or the one that you’ve been told is being eliminated in a few months. No, I mean the career you dream about, the one that you really want, that you know you were meant to have. Let’s talk about THAT career.Mid-Career Transition is Possible

Changing careers can be a daunting prospect, especially if you’ve already devoted a long time to your present career path. I know how it feels – I left a high burn-out job and successfully reinvented myself several years ago. I had heard (and told myself) all of the reasons why career change is impossible and bound to fail. “Competition for good jobs is fierce,” and “I’m too old to change careers now.”

Sound familiar? It doesn’t have to be so scary.  Continue reading →

What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

The Importance of Career Assessments

Guest post by Lynne Bossart independent college advisor and owner of Muse College Consulting LLC

As a child, you probably had any number of answers to the question, “What do you want to be when you Muse College Consulting.grow up?” But, as a teenager and a college-bound student, the answer is not always so clear.  You may think you have to decide on your major before you even look at colleges. But did you know that according to the National Center for Education, about 80% of college students change their major at least once during their
college career?  And, “undecided” is one of the most popular majors for incoming college freshmen. In fact, there are jobs and careers that haven’t yet been invented but will be by the time you graduate college.  So, the real question is, “What do you need to know before you embark on your post-secondary path?”  Continue reading →

3 Ways to Master the Modern Job Search

You are successful, admired by your colleagues and proud of what you have accomplished. You have been working your way up the corporate ladder, winning regular promotions and raises. Suddenly, you start to notice that your company is moving in a new direction and you have not been invited to key meetings. Don’t wait until you are notified that their plans do not include you – you need to address the situation head on and take charge of your career NOW. Executive job search tips

If it has been some time since you last searched for a job, be prepared for an entirely new process. Here are 3 tips to mastering today’s complicated job search.
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Dispelling 3 Job Search Myths That Are Paralyzing New College Grads

Congratulations on your recent graduation from college! As you prepare to launch your professional career, you might feel overwhelmed and unsure how to start your job search. You may have heard that no one is hiring, or that you need to apply to hundreds of jobs to win one interview. Don’t let fear or outdated career advice derail your job search efforts. Here’s the scoop on the top 3 job search concerns that I hear most often:

MYTH #1:  No one is hiring.2016 job search advice

TRUTH:
Despite the doom and gloom reported by the media, there is actually a good deal of hiring going on today, in nearly every sector. Continue reading →

The Benefits of Working with a Career Coach

There is a great deal of hiring taking place in early 2016, but the competition for top jobs is fierce. As the confidence in the job market rises, jobseekers in transition must compete with people who are employed full-time but looking for a better position. You do not have to go through this alone. A career coach can help you gain the competitive EDGE.

Edge Career Solutions Graph Icon

Working with a career coach can accelerate your job search results and reduce the frustration typically experienced in a DIY job search. Offering insightful guidance, I will help you navigate the “hidden job market” to find the right opportunities, and develop a structured job search plan that breaks down the overwhelming process into manageable steps. Hiring a career coach provides a significant ROI. Typically, my clients win more job interviews and land job offers with attractive compensation packages. Continue reading →

Give Yourself a Gift This Season

Guest Blog by Gayle Draper, CHRP, of Intentional Careers and Human Resources,  in Ontario, Canada. Originally posted December 7, 2015

presentsDon’t these boxes look wonderful, colourful and effectively displayed.  What is really important about them?

Yes for my fourth blog on a grey Monday afternoon in December these are deep questions and with the holiday season in full swing give yourself pause to think about it.

 It is your brand that sets you up for current and future employment success like one of these shiny boxes; great looking resume with all the right words, LinkedIn looking active and professional and all looks terrific from the outside but what is inside.

 Are you happy in the role you are performing?

Is your job giving you intellectual, creative and social opportunities for growth each day? Read More…

360 Degree Professional Branding Key to Career Success!

I just returned from the Career Directors International annual conference in Orlando, FL, energized and full of new ideas on how to better position my clients for success! CDI is a fantastic organization whose members are among the elite career coaches and resume writers in the world. Attendees came from Australia, Canada, Great Britain, 360 degree branding brings career successIreland, Brazil and every corner of the US! It was great to meet so many of my online connections face-to-face and make some great new friends. I learned the latest and greatest resume and LinkedIn profile techniques and strategies to accelerate a job search.
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Boomers Find Real Satisfaction in Encore Careers

As a Career Coach, I work with many seasoned professionals who are looking to reinvent themselves with a new career. Some are looking for more job satisfaction, while others are changing careers out of necessity as opportunities in their current field are dwindling. One of the best things about today’s resume is that it is a forward-facing marketing document – not an autobiography. I can highlight my clients’ transferrable skills and show potential employers how their experience will enable the jobseeker to be successful in this new role.

One roadblock to career reinvention has been employers’ reluctance to take a chance on an employee who does not have proven success in the same field. Current training can help, but I have recently discovered a better way for mid-career professionals to migrate to a new field!boomerdenlogo Continue reading →