Complimentary Session
Coaching is an intimate, direct, and collaborative process and the person who coaches you has to be the right person for you. To see if we are a good match, I precede each coaching engagement with a 30 minute complimentary coaching session either in person or by telephone. During that session, you, as a potential client, have the opportunity to ask your questions about coaching and particularly my coaching approach, prices and practices, all at no charge. You’ll be able to get an idea of what it would be like to work with me and see if I meet your expectations. Similarly, I’ll be able to see whether I think that I’m the right coach for you or whether a referral to another coach makes more sense for both of us. At the end of the complimentary session, we’ll discuss whether entering a coaching relationship makes sense and, if so, we’ll schedule our first appointment.
Process Overview 
The Life in Focus Process is a four phase process which generally extends over 12 sessions. Depending on my client’s individual needs, our sessions may be weekly or bi-weekly so that my client’s coaching objectives can be reached. During that time, we will establish the goals for the coaching engagement, the measures that will help us determine when these goals have been met, and our next steps. Between our coaching sessions, there usually is “homework.” We craft these assignments together so that you can determine the fieldwork that you think will move you forward in between our sessions. This fieldwork will help you to achieve the many potential benefits that career coaching offers.
A key element of the Life in Focus Process is G.E.M.S.™—A Guide to Exploring and Maximizing Strengths™, my proprietary personality self-assessment tool that is available only to my clients. G.E.M.S. provides my clients with insight into their personality type–what I call our “behavioral DNA,” the “Silent Factor” that impacts all aspects of our life. Working together, I help my clients understand their personality type and use that information to improve their lives.
PHASE I: DISCOVER
What’s your “Behavioral DNA”?
My work with clients involves a 4-step process that starts with self-discovery. Helping my client figure out what’s important to her is key. It’s the mirror that helps her keep in focus throughout her job search, our work together and the job she ultimately chooses.
- How much time does she want to devote to working?
- What kind of workplace or boss will allow her to flourish?
- What kinds of tasks energize her as she gets up each morning?
- How much money does she need to earn?
- What motivates her?
- Which of her talents does she want to continue to use?
- What are her strengths?
- Do most of her duties in the jobs she is considering play to her strengths?
- What challenges does she face and how can she minimize their impact?
G.E.M.S.™: A Guide to Exploring and Maximizing Your Strengths™
Using my proprietary personality assessment tool, G.E.M.S.™—A Guide to Exploring and
Maximizing Your Strengths™, coaching and other tools, the Discover Phase of our work provides essential information about who you are and what you need in your life to be engaged and satisfied. We’ll use the information we discover together throughout the rest of your career search journey to identify jobs where you’ll feel confident, effective and valued.
During my career, I often observed recurrent patterns of behavior among different people that just didn’t seem random. This always made me curious. I wanted to know more and began to study personality type–our inborn way of looking and dealing with the world around us–our inherent “wiring”–that helps make us who we are. I call this inherent wiring “behavioral DNA” and it is the “Silent Factor” that influences all aspects of our lives.
I developed my proprietary self-assessment tool, G.E.M.S.™—A Guide to Exploring and Maximizing Your Strengths™ as an interactive, enjoyable, and thought-provoking way to help my clients identify their personality type. G.E.M.S. explores your natural, underlying drivers—information you can use to take steps to create the life you want at any stage of your life. It is based on years of research and experience and helps you identify your particular “behavioral DNA.” G.E.M.S. is a powerful tool that provides insights about:
- what energizes you
- what influences the way you prefer to interact with the world
- what types of information you generally find meaningful
- how you prefer to gather that information
- how you generally like to make decisions and what’s important to you in that process
- how you prefer to structure and live your life.
G.E.M.S. is available only to Life in Focus clients. It’ll help you see your strengths in a different way. It’ll give you a “bird’s-eye view” of your challenges and blind spots—and ways to deal with them. It’ll also give you clues to your personality-based stress triggers…before they affect you and others…and some steps you can take to nip stress in the bud. It’ll help you understand how you can communicate so that you can be heard. Finally, it’ll help you see what’s important for you to be your most satisfied, competent and valued self. G.E.M.S. provides essential information to use in your job search and to help you succeed in the job you ultimately select.
Back to the top
PHASE II: IDENTIFY
How can I use what I’ve got to get the “best” job for me?
Once we understand what’s fundamental for you to have a satisfying life, we’ll begin to identify the types of jobs that will keep your life in focus and fulfill your personal and professional needs. What we know from research into personality type, in each field of work—whether its education, the arts, healthcare, medicine, business, consulting, law, law enforcement, logistics, marketing, sales, media, entertainment, technology, social services, a skilled trade or some other area of expertise, there is a type of job that is best-suited to your personality type—your “behavioral DNA”.
Using what we have identified in the Discover Phase of our work and other tools, we will develop a job search that uses what you’ve got to get what you want from your next job. Whether you choose to stay in the field you are in or have been trained for or want to change your focus, we will use the Identify Phase to explore potential areas of opportunity. At the end of this process, you’ll know your preferred field, the types of jobs to look for and the ones where you’ll feel most competent, satisfied and valued.
You’ll learn how to find information about your day-to-day tasks, the company’s mission, values and culture and the management style of your potential boss. You’ll know more about areas of potential growth and opportunity and those experiencing a down-turn. You’ll know what you need to flourish and thrive. Armed with these tools, you will be more confident and successful in your job search.
PHASE III: CHART YOUR PATH
PLANNING THE ROAD-MAP & STAYING ON COURSE
In the third phase of our work together, we will chart your course to move from idea to implementation. Using information about your “behavioral DNA” and the types of jobs within which you’ll flourish, we will develop your most effective and productive job search strategy. We will pinpoint specific available job opportunities and select ways to identify others to add to the mix. We’ll develop your networking approach and hone and practice how you present yourself so that you’ll be more effective in getting the interview opportunities you want.
During this phase of our work, we will define a series of short term goals and measures to evaluate your success in achieving them. We’ll identify the steps you will take, the obstacles you may encounter along the way and what you’ll do to overcome them. I will help you stay accountable and in focus throughout this phase via emails, telephone calls and coaching sessions, as needed.
Each of us has our own path during this phase. Whether it’s networking, informational interviews, speaking with others or something else, you’ll will have all the tools you need to confidently proceed to find places where you would like to work and ways to open those doors.
PHASE IV: GET HIRED
How can I “nail” the interview?
Many see the interview as a roadblock to success, a mystifying and arbitrary process that stands between them and their future. I see it differently. I see it as a two-way street where both you and the company are learning about each other and are deciding whether to take the next steps together. The interview provides you with important information that will help you determine whether this is the right job for you. This is key so that you don’t take the wrong job and land back in the job market again or worse, tie yourself to a job that makes you feel unappreciated, ineffective and stressed.
Over the last 30 + years, as part of my role at Cablevision and as a leader of non-profit organizations, I have conducted hundreds of interviews for various types of jobs. As a Career Management Coach I use the skills I’ve developed to help my clients successfully handle any type of question or scenario they may face in an interview.
Whether we’ve worked together to define your job search or have just met at the interview stage, I can help you confidently position yourself as the right candidate for the job you seek. Preparing for your interviews is essential. The first impression you make is important and often you have just a few seconds to set a positive tone for the entire interview. Based on my experience, I know that most people really don’t know how to deliver their message effectively.
Employers today, more than ever, want to hire real people–not robots or parrots. One of the main problems leading to unsuccessful interviews is a lack of authenticity. Employers want to get to know you–unique, individual you, not some “canned wannabe”. My live, customized “you-focused” approach enables you to identify your stories that illustrate your strengths and tell them authentically and confidently so that the hiring employer sees you as unique and the right candidate for the job you seek. The prepared “most frequently asked” interview questions with their “best” answers that you can find on the internet or purchase in an interview-in-a-box format simply can’t do that.
There’s no magic bullet out there. In today’s job market, there are usually many candidates vying for the same position and the interview process generally has multiple rounds of interviews. Why go it alone? I will be with you throughout your interviewing process— providing advice and support, helping you de-brief your interviews and, if necessary, working with you to refine your interview strategy. I will be your strongest cheerleader, advocate and guide as you effectively showcase YOU and land the job you want. I can help you join the ranks of other Life in Focus clients who have landed offers and know that when they accept a job, they’re choosing a position where they’ll feel most competent, satisfied and valued.
Working through The Life in Focus Process, my clients know what information they need to make career choices that will help them create the life they want and how to get it. They know how to look at workplaces and jobs and make the best possible career decisions they can. They are prepared to analyze the information they get and answer the questions that will help them make the best possible career decisions like:
- Is this company a good fit?
- Will my manager supervise me in a way that is likely to help me succeed?
- Will most of my day-to-day tasks in this job play to my strengths?
- Will working in this job provide me with what I’ve defined as really important in my life?