What Are Your “Unique Qualities”?
The first two months of 2017 have been very busy for me in terms of a number of new coaching clients coming into my life. When I first meet a new client or potential new client, one of the things I enjoy during our initial consultation is learning about them. What has been their history to date? What is currently happening in their life? What do they see themselves doing going forward? How may I be of most help to them? This part of the coaching process never gets tiring for me. That is because I have come to learn that each individual I work with, even if they are part of a profession that I have worked with before, is going to have their own unique qualities. It is often from those qualities that I’m going to begin to get a sense of how it is best for the client to promote what it is they offer, and how to craft the message for those with whom they need to connect.
Often times the person who is least likely to be able to spot your own unique qualities, are you, yourself. I know I myself have been guilty of this as I built my coaching practice. One of the items that I attribute to my attracting more clients than at any other time since I have been a coach, has been my comfort in knowing who I am and what I am about. Are there other coaches who are better resume’ writers than I? Certainly. Are there other coaches that may have more to offer in terms of performing a mock interview with a client? That is likely so, if the coach’s former background was as a Human Resource professional, or hiring manager. And, those who coach job searchers that come from the process from a job recruiter’s viewpoint may know a lot more of the behind the scenes ins and outs of that process than I do.
However, what may make me unique compared to other Career and Job Search coaches? One is that I am actually trained as a professional coach. Many who do the type of work I do are not. That often gives me a greater understanding in supporting my clients of the life impacting aspects of job search. When I started my coaching career my focus was on helping clients through life transitions. The career focus evolved over the first two years of my coaching when I focused on obtaining certification in that aspect of my discipline. However, it is more than certifications that I realized that made me unique. When I did work a corporate job I was in middle management positions, that precarious place between ensuring the desires of upper level management were delivered, while at the same time being the sounding board and listening ear to the staff as to why something was not as easy to do as management believed. While in middle management, my focus was always on development of my staff, being there to listen when they had something on which they needed counsel. It even got to the point that my staff was pointing other of their co-workers who did not report to me, to speak with me since they trusted I could be of good counsel to their co-worker who needed a listening ear.
We all have unique qualities. I may work with three clients who are nurses, yet one’s specialty may be as a diabetes educator, another as the support in a cardiac unit and a third focused on nursing administration. They are all nurses. But, their strengths are all very different in how to best craft a search strategy for them and the types of people and organizations with whom they should connect. When I hear someone is a “Project Manager”, that signals to me so many possible messages. Is their strength in guiding the efforts of Information Technology personnel, or having overall oversite over multiple functional groups and make sure multiple efforts are kept on track. Are they considered “Project Management Institute” certified, or have they performed the role for a long time in smaller company environments, where such a designation is not as often sought?
So how do you find out what makes you unique? One way may be taking assessment tools that bring out your values, strengths and characteristics. Another may be reviewing each item you have done in your past, noting what you liked about the role, and what made you successful at it. If you find that you are having difficulty extracting what you need yourself, speak to others. They often can pick out the characteristics. Ask them what they believe are your strengths, and how you may exhibit them. Certainly, working with a coach such as myself or others like me is another way. Or simply ask the following question. If I was not doing what I am not doing now, WHAT WOULD NOT GET DONE, or WHAT WOULD NOT GET DONE AS WELL AS IT IS NOW?
We all have unique qualities. They take us far beyond the “job title” that may describe our job or role in life. And, most likely those unique qualities will follow us through our entire life, no matter what the activities we are doing or choose in which to be involved.
