What Can Career Coaching Do For You?

Living (and Working) in Abundance

Guest post by Ed Burns

Have you ever asked yourself the question: “What the heck am I doing in this job?” We all go through it. Tomorrow morning as you sit in traffic or slowly make your way to your cubicle, and look around—you will realize that you are not alone. Do the faces staring back at you look like they are living their passions and callings?

Probably not, yet millions of people each day are convinced that work and one’s passion are two entirely different things. Many brush this issue aside claiming “work is work and it was never meant to be enjoyable.”

Dissatisfaction’s deeper effects

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”—John 10:10

So if you are not living and working in “abundance” or an overflowing of satisfaction, then who is stealing your life away and destroying your soul? Based on what we just read the answer is the thief (the devil).

How many families are destroyed because of a person not working in a job or career that brings them satisfaction each and every day?

It usually starts out as “After the day I had, I need a drink” or “I’ll need another pill to get me through this morning”. It typically turns into depression on Sunday evening knowing that you have to go back into the office on Monday. Before you know it, you are drinking or popping a pill every day and your loved ones become the casualties of this cyclical struggle.

What Career Coaching can do to help

Career coaches help those that have reached their low point. Our clients typically have come to the realization that there must be more to life than punching the clock and collecting a paycheck. Our goal as Career Coaches is to help clients figure out what they are “programmed” to do and then develop a plan to get there.

The first step of the coaching process involves taking a DISC profile test. A DISC profile is an online personality test used by HR companies worldwide. The test involves answering a series of questions based on work habits and likes/dislikes. It takes twenty minutes to finish and when completed, we receive a report that shows their strengths, weaknesses, jobs or careers they would excel in. It also includes a Biblical reference of who they most closely resemble in the Bible, which is a nice extra for people of faith.

This report shows our clients’ strengths and weaknesses and provides a unique insight that very few people get to experience. For most of our clients, this is the first time they have ever seen what they really look like on paper. This report also gives many examples of jobs or careers that our clients would excel in.

The interesting part is that quite often we hear people say “oh yea, I wanted to do that when I was little” or “I never thought that I could make money doing that.” We then take the information found on their DISC profile, and begin identifying the jobs or industries that our clients want to explore further.

Converting the results into concrete action

During this time we encourage and facilitate job shadowing and reach out to others already working in this field to receive valuable feedback on the benefits or pitfalls that they have experienced on their journey as well.

Job shadowing is when we get clients to follow someone else for a day or two who is working in the career field that they would like to be working in. It’s usually not paid but it gives the candidate an idea of what, for example, “a day in the life of a dog trainer” looks like.

Once the client figures out an industry he or she would like to begin targeting, we also create a résumé that includes a summary of transferable skills that can be used in this new career along with cover letters and reference sheets. Career coaches then sit down with clients and practice the interview process. We cover the most frequently asked questions in interviews and prepare the client to be able to answer the questions in a way that showcases their strengths in their previous job experiences.

The ultimate payoff

The entire career coaching process typically lasts three months from start to finish. The results are nothing less than life-changing. One hundred percent of the time clients are so relieved that they just began moving forward!

They usually find out so much about themselves and realize they can make a living doing what they love. They become inspired and full of life. Their health changes, their family relationships are much better and they just feel they are “doing what they should be doing.”

We have all heard the saying “life is too short.” Well, life is too short to be merely surviving in a job that yields a paycheck and nothing else. Career coaching provides the ground work to begin moving away from the destruction of merely existing and beginning the path to walking (and working) in abundance.

Make Tomorrow Better Than Today!

Ed Burns is the founder of The Provision Group, a Financial and Career Coaching company. He is a graduate of Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania and has held many executive corporate positions mostly with GE (General Electric). Ed has been married for 13 years to his wife Megan, who is also a financial and career coach. Together they have two children, ages 2 and 4.

Tags: career change, career coaching, career strategies