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Career Coaching Demystified

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I cannot enumerate the times that a new client has found our website via a random search on Google and told me they thought “this is just what I’m after!” right alongside “I didn’t know this existed”.  It’s time to spread the word people.  “Is it normal for people my age (30’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s) to do this?”  Yes, it is!

 Career Counselling is for Grown-ups!

In this 4th industrial revolution, we can expect long, multi-staged and multiple careers throughout our lifetimes.  The roles we choose as teenagers leaving high school are rarely the ones we will be pursuing in middle-age or beyond and not everyone dreams of retiring at 65 with only golf and cruises to fill our days toward 100.

Just as life is a series of events, problems, solution-seeking and resolution finding, so are our careers.

In the same way we may approach a doctor for a medical issue, a relationship counsellor for relationship struggles  or a plumber to fix a burst pipe, Career Counsellors are the people to work with when there is career problem that feels too big to manage alone.

Career Counsellors provide services that help people make occupational and study decisions, find career information, plan and manage their careers and plan career transitions. They assist individuals and organisations to prepare for their futures by making informed decisions about career and workforce development.

In this new series of blogs, we will be breaking down what we do and how we approach our work with clients, so that the mysterious world of career counselling can stand in the sunlight.

This first blog will be focusing on Career Counselling for adults.  What is it and why do I need it?

Career counselling is a very specific field that focuses entirely on wellbeing at work.  Career Counsellors are highly educated and trained professionals with a passion for their field and a deep knowledge of the world of work alongside the economic, political and social changes at play in their society.

Career counsellors are deep, active listeners who take a person-centred approach to their work.  What does this mean?  We focus on you, the client, your needs, your specific situation, your strengths, your challenges and your interests.  With you at the centre of the conversation, we help you understand and unpack the issues that are central to your personal decision-making and the choices open to you within the familial, cultural, social and economic framework of where you live.

In placing you at the centre of the puzzle, we help you understand yourself, communicate your aspirations and build a plan for your career that is personal, focused and achievable.

As an adult, it is a rare thing to sit in front of another adult who is impartial, objective and unbiased about your choices, your experiences and your opportunities, yet who is informed, fair-minded and qualified to provide cohesive, constructive and practical support and encouragement to assist you in building a plan and actioning it to ensure you fully embrace your own significant strengths toward a career that allows you to contribute in a meaningful way to your community.

Often-times, with the support and backing of a qualified Career Development Practitioner (Career Coach), individuals finally identify their career direction with the confidence to articulate their “motivating why” for making change, alongside an understanding of the challenges they may face and a plan for how to overcome those challenges and make change.

Good career coaches utilise a range of tools in doing this work, some might be assessments of career interests, strengths and personality profiles, resources for understanding different career options and learning opportunities and the global and local job market.  The resources utilised will be dependent upon the needs of each individual and no two sessions will look identical and no two outcomes will be the same.

Professional career coaches  subscribe to a professional code of practice and meet the ethical standards of the CDAA and CICA.  They will be able to provide a list of testimonials from satisfied clients who have had a positive experience and have gone on to make courageous career decisions that have ultimately led to real career satisfaction.

At Strategic Career Management, we pride ourselves on being the leading career coaches in Perth and we invite you to take a look at our website and get in touch today to discuss how we can help you unravel your career conundrum.

Soft Skills for Career Success – Part 2 – Focus on Values

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In our last blog, we looked at the importance of recognizing your Employability Skills in identifying careers and articulating your value proposition in new roles.  In this instalment we’re going to close the circle by discussing how to identify, communicate and align your values.

What are Values?

Values are central to our decision-making.  Whether these are conscious or unconscious, values are a factor in every decision made or action taken.  Values lead to behaviour and the collective behaviour within organisations and teams leads to the formation of culture.

Values are the deeply held principles, beliefs and ideas that people hold or apply when making decisions.  People express their values through personal behaviours and organisations express their values through cultural behaviours.

When we work in organisations that align with our values, we are free to do our best work.  Our commitment and energy can be focused toward progressing our organisation’s vision.

Understanding our own values and identifying those at play within organisations can be fundamental to identifying our culture-fit and achieving success within a particular organisation or sector.

The Barrett Values Centre identifies seven levels of values:

1.       Survival Values – may include Health, Nutrition, Self-Defence, Safety

2.       Relationship Values – Belonging, Open Communication

3.       Self Esteem Values – Pride, Self-Reliance, Excellence, Self-Image are some positive values

4.       Transformation Values towards continuous growth and development – Adaptability, Courage, Team

5.       Internal Cohesion Values – Integrity, Alignment, Authenticity, Creativity

6.       Making a Difference Values – Collaboration, Intuition, Mentoring, Empathy

7.       Service Values (to humanity and the planet) – Compassion, Humility, Future Generations

Our values operate on a continuum and are interdependent.  If we focus exclusively on the lower needs (1-3) we’re unlikely to be effective leaders.  If we focus exclusively on the higher needs (5-7) we may be missing fundamental values that work as the foundation of good, effective leadership.

Organisations live by metrics such as employee turnover, revenue and customer satisfaction.  It is the values that sit as the drivers behind these metrics.  If you can identify and articulate who you are and what you stand for (i.e. your values) and you can identify examples that speak to how these drive your decision-making and successes, you’ll be well on your way to creating a great value proposition to a potential employer.

Having this personal insight will also allow you to make a clear assessment of how a potential employer is tracking with their organisational culture and whether this will be a good values-fit for you, thereby allowing you to do your best work.

Developing a mindful approach to identifying and working with values as an individual is a fundamental step in making positive, conscious change.  A great place to start is with the Barrett Values Centre where they offer a free online Personal Values Assessment that is a useful starting point for thinking about your values.

Values are at the heart of all of our coaching, whether that be in identifying a first or new career direction, articulating your value proposition in job applications or interviews or building effective teams.  If you need help with articulating your values and developing your ‘value proposition’, we offer a range of services including, team development workshops, career counselling, job search coaching, interview skill training and a great online career management program to support you.

Get in touch for a chat today.

Soft Skills for Career Success: Part 1 – Employability Skills

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When we coach clients through a career change or job search, they will often focus heavily on their technical skills and experience while neglecting to recognise the significance of their soft skills.  The benefit to be gained by considering values and employability skills alongside the technical skills allows us to identify a good culture and job fit in organisations and careers.

An ability to articulate your employability skills and values are the secret to developing a compelling “value proposition” to potential employers.

In our work with organisations and individuals, we are seeing a trend toward hiring for values and soft skills.  Sure, the hiring manager wants to ensure that the technical skills are there (or nearly there, as technical skills can be taught), but what they’re finding is that the interpersonal skills are the ones that operate as the glue to bond people within teams and provide the drive to deliver excellence.

In fact, LinkedIn’s new 2020 Skills Report showed how we respond and interact with others is a key consideration for employees in the new decade.

In this two-part blog, we’ll be looking at two aspects of those transferable skills:

  • Employability Skills

  • Values

Firstly, let’s look at Employability Skills.  What are employability skills you may be asking?  The chart-toppers in the LinkedIn report were:

  1. Creativity

  2. Persuasion

  3. Collaboration

  4. Adaptability; and

  5. Emotional Intelligence

When we work with our clients, the challenge often lies in not just paying lip-service to these skills but in identifying whether they are relevant and determining how to best authentically communicate the skills in application documents and interviews.

The first step is to clarify your ‘value proposition’ for yourself, so that you can assess whether the hiring organisation or career space is a good fit for you and whether you have what the hiring manager is looking for.  The second step is to gather evidence through stories to help you prove your skills.

To get you started, we’ve provided a brief review of what each is and how to demonstrate your capacity:

Creativity – this is the ability to bring original thinking to the table.

Can you think of a time when you’ve identified a new process or tool or an improvement?  This might be a widget design or a new way of tracking documents, down to a new idea for dealing with customer complaints.

Persuasion – This is the ability to tell a story and provide context for a decision or pursuing a new idea.  Communicating the ‘why’.

Can you identify a time in a previous role (or your current one) when you’ve been able to promote a change in process or a new concept to get people on board?  How did you achieve success?  What were the hurdles you overcame?

Collaboration – The old saying that ‘we are greater than the sum of our parts’ continues to hold true.  Effective teams can deliver outstanding results by working together for a common outcome.

Do you have a story where you’ve been part of a high-functioning team and have helped to deliver an outcome through teamwork, collaboration and relationships?  What was your role?  What was the result?  What difference did it make to your team or organisation?

Adaptability – Change is a constant and it is increasing in rapidity.  Adaptability is a core skill in every working environment.

Can you remember an occasion where you’ve embraced change and shown up with a positive attitude and open-minded professionalism?  What were the benefits that were realised through your flexible approach? 

Emotional Intelligence – here’s where things can come unstuck.  Emotional intelligence, or emotional quotient (EQ) is the ability to regulate your own emotions and recognise, appraise and respond to those of others.

The stories you need here are the ones where you demonstrated a capacity to work with others in a range of difficult situations.  It may have been the way you handled negative customer feedback or supported a colleague through a difficult project.  It could also have been the way you managed your own emotions.

Considering these five key employability skills, knowing your stories, adding them to your resume and ensuring that you have examples primed and practised, will place you in a good position to demonstrate that you are more than the sum of your technical skills and will truly add value to your new employer beyond the responsibilities of the role.

In the next chapter, we’ll further discuss values and how they also have an impact.

If you struggle with this work or would like to workshop how to best articulate your skills, we have a range of services including, career counselling, job search coaching, interview skill training and a great online career management program to support you.  Get in touch for a chat today.

On Helping a Bird

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It’s interesting how we can find metaphors for career counselling everywhere…

I was leaving my father’s house after our weekly dinner gathering in early January and the vast flock of corellas was settling noisily down for the night in the trees in the part opposite.  Then something flew by my head.  At first, I thought it was a piece of rubbish but when it landed above me on a low hanging branch, I realized it was a wiero (cockatiel)!  It was beautiful – white and grey pearl and very tame.

She must have been mixing it with the big guys for a while – but was out of her depth and seemed to want something else.

We were easily able to get her down from the tree – she seemed to be inviting the contact – and I bought her home.

We cleaned out a disused cage and set her up for the night with some food and water.  She was delightful the way she called as we left the room and enjoyed sitting on our hands.

I’d have been keen to keep her, as she was an absolute joy, but my son suggested that we place an advertisement in the local lost and found group to see if we could find her owner.

The following night, after work, that’s just what I did.  Low and behold, within 45 minutes Ariel’s original owner had made contact.  It turned out that Ariel had been missing since early October last year – three months in total!

We were able to return her to her owner and she spent the night sleeping on her chest, just like the old days!

As I was reflecting on these strange events, that brought Arial to me and then saw her returned to her owner, I realized it’s pretty much the same process that we use with our career counselling clients.

First, the client – motivated for change – finds us.  We listen, ask questions and encourage them to feel comfortable and be brave.  Then we support them, dig a little and work with them to uncover their ideal role or direction and we help them identify the best path toward their goals.

It’s a bit of a midwifing service, with the career consultant as the conduit through which the magic happens.

I felt really pleased to be able to reconnect Ariel with her loving owner and it’s the same feeling I enjoy with each and every client I work with.

If you’re feeling lost and tracking with the wrong crowd, consider making contact with our career counsellors.  We’d love to help you uncover your right path toward a career and role that is satisfying and where your strengths and talents will be valued.

How to Tell Good Career Advice From Bad

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Article originally posted on abc.net.au.

What’s the worst piece of career advice you’ve ever been given?

For two friends of mine, it was “don’t ever admit you were wrong” and “don’t ask for help — it shows weakness and an inability to do your job independently”.

Both are dubious suggestions, but they’re far from the worst examples of bad advice.

The Huffington Post recently reported women at an Ernst and Young leadership seminar in the US were told not to be too “shrill” and that they should look “healthy and fit”, with manicured nails. (The company says it’s no longer running the seminar, which was put together by an external provider.)

Curious for more examples of questionable guidance, I typed “worst career advice” into Twitter and found this doozy: “The secret to success in medicine is maximising the hours between 12am and 6am with productivity.”

Clearly, much of the above is terrible (or at least hugely misguided) advice. But when you’re young and new to the world of work, or deeply embedded in a particular work culture, it can be hard to tell.

We spoke to career coaches and management academics for tips on how to identify bad advice, and what to do when you get it.

How to identify bad work advice

Consider the advice-giver’s motivations, what motivates someone to give advice?

“It could be a genuine desire to help,” says Susan Ainsworth, a management professor at the University of Melbourne. “Or it could also be a desire to control others, and [be motivated by] self-interest.”

If someone is telling you what to do, or how to act, consider whether they have anything to gain if you follow their advice — and whether that gain equals your loss. “Really, the person should be impartial [because] they’re more likely to have your interests at heart,” Ms Ainsworth says.

Think about what you really need

When it comes to questions of career direction, Ms Ainsworth says “a lot of career advice assumes that people should want a position with more money or responsibility. [That] they should always go upwards”.

If someone is telling you what to do, or how to act, consider whether they have anything to gain if you follow their advice — and whether that gain equals your loss. “Really, the person should be impartial [because] they’re more likely to have your interests at heart,” Ms Ainsworth says.

Think about what you really need

When it comes to questions of career direction, Ms Ainsworth says “a lot of career advice assumes that people should want a position with more money or responsibility.

[That] they should always go upwards”.What if that’s not what you really want? Bad career advice is often too general and takes a cookie-cutter approach. “Or it’s just opinion,” says Helen Holan, a Perth-based career coach.

Good advice, she says, is usually:

  • Tailored to the individual

  • Unbiased and distanced from the giver’s own motives, beliefs, values or feelings

  • Takes into consideration your values and goals — rather than trying to convince or tell you what to do

  • Helps you challenge assumptions and see things from a range of perspectives.

Trust your gut instinct

“Often we do know what’s right [for us] and we just ignore that little voice, because we’re looking at other people’s advice as being the most sound,” says Melbourne-based career coach Kate James.

She uses meditation to help her clients tune into their core values and what their intuition is telling them. If you’re not up for meditating, perhaps make note of your reaction when you receive a piece of advice. Are you emotional? Angry? Confused? If so, it might be worth reflecting on why.

What to do when you receive bad career advice

If you’re up for it, ask questions

“I would ask — not in aggressive way — about how that person formed their advice,” says Ms Ainsworth.

“So questions like, ‘When did you realise that was a good thing to do?’ Ask about their own career, get them talking about themselves. Because that will tell you a lot about how to put their advice in context.”

Thank the person

“If we assume that people generally have good intentions, it would be dangerous to call them out [on the bad advice],” says Ms Holan. “Thank them for caring enough to want to give the advice, and say something to let them know that you’ll consider it.”

Consider getting impartial help

If you’re confused about what to do with the advice you’ve been given, have a think about your core values and goals. One option is to get a career coach. “[They] can be helpful because you’ve got someone impartial who’s working with you,” says Ms James.

If you go down that route, look for someone accredited with the Career Development Association of Australia (CDAA) or Career Industry Council of Australia (CICA).

Don’t beat yourself up

All of the experts we spoke to agreed no decision is perfect, and no decision is fully wrong. So if you follow what you later realise was bad advice, there’s still value in the experience. “You’ve learnt something about yourself, you’ve grown more confident in yourself, you’ve perhaps realised what you do want,” Ms Holan explains.

Take my friend who was told never to admit to a mistake, for example. He was just starting his career at the time, so he figured it was solid advice. “Later [I] realised that you can’t grow if you’re never wrong,” he tells me. “Your workplace has to let you make mistakes and if they don’t, go elsewhere.”

Better to learn a lesson late than never at all.

Author – Sana Qadar

ABC Life

The 5 Steps to Making a Career Change Decision

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Like any major life decision, deciding what you want to do (next) in your career can feel incredibly daunting. Whether you’re just entering the job market, considering a career change or simply stuck trying to decide between different job opportunities, there’s always that feeling of ‘what if I make the wrong decision?’, ‘what if there’s a better opportunity out there for me?’ and ‘where can I go for career change advice?’

While making career decisions may not be an easy task, it is definitely doable and unless you get serious about it those doubts will stay with you and can ultimately grind your career to a standstill. The following steps can help you get clarity on your options and make a career transition decision with confidence.

1. What do I want to do?

Finding work that you are passionate about is crucial to your happiness and success, so while answering the above question may seem like a task in itself, it’s absolutely crucial that you take the time to do it.

This is all about building your self-awareness so work on uncovering your strengths, skills, weaknesses, motivations, values and aspirations. Personality tests and career change counselling can help, but also look at your story to date: when were you most excited about going to work? What were you doing then? Don’t expect a definite answer to surface right away; instead, look out for patterns and focus on these.

2. What are my options?

Be clear on the options that are out there for you: read up about industries you’re interested in and check out job descriptions – what are the key requirements and day-to-day responsibilities? Go to job fairs; reach out to career coaching services; connect to people in your preferred role on LinkedIn or join industry-specific groups. Notice where your attention goes, but be realistic: do you have the skills and experience required? If there are gaps can you easily fill them?

3. Where can I go for advice?

A career change counsellor will provide individualized one-to-one discussions that deliver practical, professional career change guidance. Taking the time to discuss your options with a professional and build a career transition action plan is something you can do to give you the edge and point you in the right direction for your next career chapter.

4. Find overlap

The next step is to compare your list of options with your needs criteria. Most likely this will substantially reduce your list to just a few options. Dig a little deeper into these remaining few and try to get a feel for what’s involved in these jobs and whether you could see yourself doing them. To truly get the inside scoop you can try job shadowing, where you’ll follow around a professional as they go about their day at work and potential find a mentor who will offer further insights to your possible career transition. Volunteering can also be a great way to really test the waters in a certain role or industry.

5. Take the leap

You may come out of this process of elimination with several options left to choose from, or perhaps there’s only one that’s right or perhaps that one sounds right on paper, but you’re still not convinced. At this point it often comes down to a gut feeling. Ask yourself: does this decision feel right? Does it excite me? Can I see myself doing this? If your answer is yes to any of these questions, take a leap of faith and start researching specific employers to apply to.

Doubt is often a symptom of fear, so try to keep things in perspective. Many people think that one decision can set them on a course that they can’t change, but the opposite is true – you can always change your mind. If you do make the ‘wrong’ decision see it as a learning experience: knowing what you don’t want to do is just as useful in helping you make the ‘right’ decision.

Your career is a journey and you’re likely to stumble upon more than one crossroads as you go along. Be conscious and thoughtful about the direction you choose to take, do your research and remember, when in doubt, follow your gut.

If you’re interested in career change counselling or advice, Strategic Career Management can offer coaches that are passionate about inspiring their clients to have great careers that use their best strengths and meet their personal interests and values. Contact us to learn more.