When I coached Bill O’Connor on This Emotional Life, we spent about 80% of our time on job-related coaching, and 20% of our time on assessments like you saw on TV. As PBS writes:
With the help of [an executive] coach specializing in positive psychology Bill was able to refocus his career search and channel his strengths.
The 80% of Coaching
The most important job of a coach is to move a client closer to where he wants to be. That’s why 80% of my work together with Bill included:
- Job assessment questionnaire
- Job-seeking resources
- Using your strengths in your job search (one of the most read articles on PPND
- HOW to tell stories during a job interview: SARI method
- The one most important thing to know during a job interview
Bill was a great client because he did the exercises between each session, and was really trying to figure out where to take his next step career-wise.
The Three Steps of Coaching
Coaching almost always involves three steps, and we focused especially on the latter two:
- ASSESSMENT – where is the client going? For Bill, this was deciding his next career move (you saw this on the PBS program – the Assessment step)
- TARGETING – what specifically needs to be done? Which companies? What industry-function-geography?
- ACTION STEPS – practicing the cold call (it’s all practice) and writing job-specific resumes
Considering Coaching?
If you’re considering coaching, send us an email or call 1-877-818-NEWS (6397). I can help coordinate a fit between you and one of our coaches.
Client: Bill O’Connor
Coach: Senia Maymin
Project: Job-Search