They Make It All Possible
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day in the United States of America. It is truly an American holiday and tradition for those who live in our nation. In my role as a Career Coach, I am often thanked by those who are my clients for the guidance I provide them, the tools to which I introduce them or just plain listening to them as they move forward on their job search journey. However, when I sit and ponder upon it, I am the one who should be thanking them for what they bring to my life.
I have been coaching for 13 years now, 11 specifically in the area of Job and Career Search strategy. Coaching came into my life after I left a 30-year corporate career and frankly had no idea what I would do next in my life. Immediately upon leaving my job in corporate I did spend a few months addressing home improvements that my wife and I had started before her passing away from cancer. When they were completed, I knew I had as a benefit from my leaving my job role outplacement services as part of my severance package. I had asked if I could put them off immediately upon leaving, knowing the home improvements would take up most of my time. However, as that was winding down, I knew it was time to move forward.
The idea of coaching had not ever entered my mind as the next major focus in my life. Frankly, I had never heard of the discipline and what it was about. However, I researched, learned about what it entailed and said, yes this sounds like me. After receiving my certification, which was a process which took 8 months of training and final certification steps with a Master Coach, I was ready to strike out on my own. Once on my own, fate took me to the path of Career Coaching. Between a seminar I attended on a Saturday in 2010, and a job search strategy transition group that held regular meetings out of my local town library, I had the platform to get started. The rest as they say is history.
So, why I am thankful to my clients? While the skill sets and methodologies, I use work for those at any stage of life, or for any job role or function they wish to work, what varies are the clients with whom I work. Some of them have introduced me to careers and disciplines about which I would have never known. I remember an early client with an entrepreneurial spirit that introduced me to the world of “incubators.” In the job world, an “incubator” is when a venture capitalist allows those with an idea or product have a forum in which to develop it, while providing the funding to make it happen. Other clients I have had have come from various countries throughout the world, spurred mainly by an opportunity I received to work with “accompanying spouses” coming to the United States when one family member receives a transfer to a United States office from their home company. While the one receiving the transfer is set with their job and new life, their partner and family need to acclimate and set their own lives in the new location. That is where I come in to help.
Even during the recent pandemic, I had the privilege of working with clients from a major hospitality company where I learned so much about the culture of that company, and has made it my go to place to stay when I travel away from home. I have seen how even in the years I have been coaching how the world of work continues to evolve from one where many individuals work exclusively in offices, to now working either partially or fully from home. My profession has introduced me to other professional coaches, (some who do exactly what I do and others that focus their efforts on different target clients), who have become occupational partners of mine. Additionally, I know far more about the work world of the entrepreneur, than I had the slightest idea about during my 30-year corporate career.
During times of 2022 I have had my emotional ups and downs dealing with both day-to-day life and even the periphery items my work involves and makes a part of my life. However, even in the most frustrating of times I have not wavered in my enthusiasm to have a coaching session with a client, or present a career topic in a webinar format. That has kept me going continually even in the most frustrating of times.
Therefore, while many of you have said thank you to me, I want to say THANK YOU to you for being part of my life and journey at this time in my life. You have helped to give me purpose, give me a feeling of gratitude to be able to serve others and helped to make this time of my life as fruitful and memorable as other portions of my life have been before I set out on this journey so many years ago.
