I’m not a career coach.
In fact I’m not sure, what is a career coach?
What I am is a Communication Coach. And from my perspective, I see the process of seeking a job as a communication challenge.
“Can you help . . . my husband, a friend, my son, my daughter “ the question often begins in one of these ways.
Someone knows someone who is either looking for a job or someone who aspires to a more fulfilling or challenging career move.
How do you figure out what you do well? And how do you figure out how what you do well helps a business? From my perspective, it is all about Identifying and Communicating your value.
Usually the Can You Help? is followed by the specific challenge:
- Can you help someone get the job they want?
- Can you help someone get a second interview?
- Can you help someone interview more successfully?
The answer is YES, I CAN. Whether you are currently employed and want to move to your next level of excellence, or you are looking for that perfect match, you are going to need to communicate your value.
This is the common thread in my work with executives, their teams, business owners, politicians, sports figures, and people in some aspect of a job search or change.
Conneaut Area City Schools
First, you need to correctly identify your value: the value you bring to a workplace. Most people do not correctly identify what their value is to others and to a company. You need to identify, develop, and learn how to discuss your value.
Second, you need to communicate your value in way that advances you to the next level in the interview process. This means that you need to be able to discuss your attributes easily, and how these attributes get results for an employer.
Third, you need an objective, external source to act as a mirror of reality. Especially if you belong to Gen Y, Gen X, Baby Boomers, Tweeners, or Mature . . . and that includes everyone in the job force today.
I attended a couple of your after work sessions at your office. I had mentioned to you that afterward, I essentially felt renewed somehow. After going home, I thought differently about my job search and interviewing. Thought long and hard. You also had talked previously of a person’s value. So I took a step back and viewed myself differently and what I truly had to offer.
I applied for and was called for an interview for a job where, I was told, 800 people applied. I thought about some of the things you said regarding presentation, etc. I felt confident in my abilities, but somehow I think I didn’t communicate them that well previously. I was able to (better and more fully) explain my value to them and how it matched up with the job. (Thought I always had, but something was different in me!….Thanks to your meetings)…!
‘Tentative’ start date is 11/23/09.”
Each generation has challenges because someone from a different generation will either hire each generation, be supervised by someone from a different generation, or need to work in tandem with someone from a different generation.
The interview process is just another challenge in communication. The rules of communication are clear and finite whether they apply to a sales presentation, a Board presentation, the President of the United States, or a job interview.
Correctly Identify and Communicate your value and you will get the job you want.
Case Study: How to Use Communication to Get the Job You Want
Situation: The wife first called me with the question, “could I help her husband?” As a high school principal, he had interviewed for a superintendent’s position three times. He had the certification, but three times he had failed. He would have another opportunity in six weeks: could I help?
Process: After an initial phone conversation with “Ed” about how to use communication in the interview process, we began our accelerated program. Ed drove 90 miles each way to work with me, to learn how to look at this process from a new perspective.
To learn how to speak in results rather than process, to learn how to build bridges with every unhappy parent and board member, to learn that the skills necessary for an effective superintendent are not the same skills necessary to be an effective principal.
Result: The move from principal to superintendent is one of the most challenging “promotions” in all professions. We worked hard at helping Ed learn to identify and then communicate his value in a very different way than he had in past interviews. He is now a superintendent, member of an exclusive club.
Conneaut Area City Schools
