st1four steps to career coaching-protected2

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hat Career Next!Car eer Chan e and Placement S eciali sts

Four Steps to Career

Coaching:

A beginners guide

Career Choices today are not likely to be once only choices. They are also likely to

need far greater thought than previously given. Economic crises, rapid globalisation of

competition and downsizing are seeing the breakdown of traditional career roles in a

single organisation.

A contract for life is less likely today. This applies to all levels from senior to junior,

and private to public organisations. The ‘iron rice-bowl’ has been replaced with a

porcelain one. It requires more cleaning, careful handling and greater maintenance

than the iron rice bowl of earlier times.

Like the rice bowl, so the career. It requires softer treatment to remain serviceable.

Now many more people are working part-time. Singaporeans are very aware of the

labor market conditions in their country. Turnover in professional occupations

stabilised over the past two years in organisations that did not down-size. Those that

did down-size forced their professionals to either return to study, seek self-

employment or commence part-time work. Some may even have considered changing

career. Each story is different. Today, the labor market calls for a standard approach

that encourages individual differences to flourish.

So how to groom your porcelain rice bowl to suit your needs and competencies for

our current market conditions. This is where the Four Steps of Career Coaching can

support you.

STEP ONE: ASSESSMENT

This is a crucial opportunity to take stock. To assess your achievements to date and

assess your potential for the future.

Here is where we can review your career progression to see what you have been able

to achieve so far. We can look at your suitability for the career you have now as wellas those you may wish to explore or consider moving in to. Remember that market

conditions are the rule, even if you wish to start your own business this must be

supported by an existing or potential market. No one can survive without customers.

Not even the Civil Service.

Suitability is a special term we use to describe the following eight significant areas

that support your success:

SUITABILITY

1. Your match to the tasks required of you

2. Your interest in the job

3. Your attitudes about the job

4. Your personality balance



5. Your motivation (drive) and how well you manage stress

6. Your interpersonal skills

7. Your decision-making skills

8. Your match to the working environment

These factors have been isolated and tested by Dr. Dan Harrison, founder of the Inner

View computer profiling tool. He has thoroughly tested and shown through his manyyears of research throughout USA, Australia and Asia that these eight factors are the

keys to matching people to jobs and careers. They are free of culture bias and can be

tuned to match any job. So you can compare yourself with that job or career before

you make a career choice.

Suitability is the strategic dimension in the job race. Normally we are used to thinking

about qualifications and experience. These are not enough. Today when hiring new

staff, companies must look at the suitability of the match between each individual and

their company’s culture and goals.

Assessing your suitability for a range of positions and career lines will give youseveral avenues to explore.

STEP TWO: EXPLORATION

Having identified your potential jobs and career avenues your career coach and you

can begin to effectively explore them together.

People often underestimate the value to be gained from an effective exploration

program. Instead they often try to jump straight into job-hunting. They may find they

get a lot of rejections as they apply for jobs they are neither equipped for or suitable

for them.

Career exploration enables job-hunters to safely find out which job is of real and

genuine interest to them. A good career coach will make appointments for them to

meet people who are in similar careers that they are interested in.

There is nothing like actually talking to someone who is doing your dream job right

now. You can very quickly find out if that job is really what you are looking for. And

if it is, then you can make some real contacts in that line, find out how did that person

get into their career, and what are the entry requirements involved.

This is very useful for higher level professional jobs since many of these can be quite

specialised, such as joining the diplomatic services or becoming an author. You and

your career coach can plan for you to field research two or three such careers that you

have identified earlier. There is nothing like visiting someone who is already where

you want to be, to test if that is really going to become your porcelain rice bowl of

tomorrow.

STEP THREE: CAREER GOALS

A natural step to follow your exploration: determining your final career goals. From

this will come the next job you that should apply for.

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But you may also find that other goals arise: further education to support your chosen

career, joining that professional association to begin networking in your field, finding

a mentor to help your career growth or joining a social service or sporting

organisation to reflect your developing career goals further.

So career goals can be formed for these three main areas:

1. Career Line e.g. Marketing

2. Ideal job within your career line e.g. Marketing Manager for a major

Clothing and Fashion House

3. Professional Association membership e.g. SIM or MIS

Remember that your ideal job may not be available to you yet because of lack of

experience or suitability. A proper career plan will link the job that you apply for to

your ideal job and provide a path for you to reach that job.

STEP FOUR : CAREER ACTION PLAN

So you have set goals in each area. You have target dates, employers or professional

support services for those moving into self-employment, loads of other plans and you

can’t wait to get going.

You will need to review your resume, maybe even re-write it significantly to better

reflect your new goals. Your resume must get you that first interview. In the USA now,

nearly every job applicant uses a resume writing service to help them prepare their

resume and a powerful cover letter. Your Career Coach should be able to provide

these services to you.

You have an interview and need support to prepare for it. Yes, there are loads of books

at the bookshop on these matters. But there is no point in trying to teach yourself

these crucial matters – it is rather like trying surgery on yourself. You need a

structured learning situation, so take advantage of your Career Coach and ask them to

set this up for you.

You need to know which employment agencies are the best to apply to, or which

employers are hiring at the moment. Your Career Coach today can search this for you

and direct you accordingly. They may even be able to set interviews for you withhiring managers.

Now, at this point you may be wondering what can your Career Coach to improve

your chances of success.

There are four main areas that you will need their support:

1. Leading you through the four steps and develop an effective strategy that builds

upon your strengths using their specialist tools and skills

2. Motivate you and assist you to face the challenges of job and career change.

3. Refer you to others along your path that will add value to your needs

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4. Offer you training and development to assist you to effectively market yourself.

This might include resume writing services, interview techniques and salary

negotiation skills training, and presentation skills development.

Turning dream careers into reality is the role of the Career Coach. The Four Steps

covered here outline many of the activities and processes needed for this to come truefor you.

John Read

Managing Consultant

What Career Next!

Tel: 354 3551

Email: [email protected]

INDIVIDUALS…

What Career Next! has been established to specifically help those moving into or

between professions to be successful in reaching their goals.

CORPORATIONS…

What Career Next! can assist companies wishing to improve their corporate career

development programs and offers career management training, coaching and

counseling in-house.

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