Getting Ready for Placement? Free Career Coaching for Higher Ed Job Seekers!

During my 15-plus years as a Student Affairs professional, I have had many opportunities to coach students and young professionals  through their efforts to explore graduate schools, navigate the graduate school application process, and to prepare for placement conferences and job interviews.

I have a master’s degree in Counseling and Guidance Services and a generation of work behind me, at one of America’s best universities. I’ve served on many screening committees, and conducted interviews by phone, at placement exchanges, and in-person (individually and as part of day-long processes). I’ve always felt good about my skills in this area, and my track record for helping students and young professionals with their resume preparation and interview strategies has been pretty good. Many people who I have coached have been able to find jobs and get into graduate school. I think that having read through a few thousand resumes and conducting several hundred interviews has given me a pretty good idea what people on the hiring side of the table are looking for. Let me put this experience to work for you.

These experiences led me to my own career exploration, and eventually to the path I am currently on, toward certification as a life and career coach, and starting my own independent coaching and consulting practice.

Over the past few years, a confluence of events caused me to take a harder look at my life, and weigh the security of my current position against a few other things: the satisfaction the position was giving me, and the opportunity costs associated with staying on this secure path. I realized that my current position wasn’t rewarding  to me in the ways it had been before, and that changes in my personal life  (becoming a father, seeing my parents get older and have health challenges, and discovering I have a neurological disorder) had pushed me to reevaluate how I spend my time and energy. In the final analysis, I realized that I’d moved beyond my job, and that it just isn’t a good match for who I want to be, and how I want to spend my time and energy, at this point in my life.

So I decided to take a major leap of faith and try to work for myself, and create a position that would allow me to do the things I enjoy and feel that I do well, every day. I decided to leave my job, in order to move forward in my career. I’m not leaving my profession (Student Affairs in Higher Education)…I’m just going solo.

I recently began a coaching certification program, which started with a five-day intensive class, and is followed by independent work, a critique of my business plan, review of work with practice clients, and a final exam. From here, the program is self-paced, but I intend to finish by the New Year, if at all possible.

In pursuit of this goal, I need to begin coaching and I need practice clients. I’m seeking 2 to 3 clients, and would like to find higher education graduate students and young professionals and help them explore their career possibilities and manage their job search.

Practice coaching clients will receive 4 free coaching sessions (a $300 value). During these 45-minute sessions, we’ll explore current career interests and directions and any roadblocks in the way of your successful search, so that I can help you plot your course, refine your job search strategy and hopefully, land a fulfilling new position. I’ll be using techniques that are part of the Life Purpose Process ©, a proven coaching method that has assisted thousands of people in finding their purpose and setting new goals for leading successful and balanced lives.

If you are interested, please e-mail me at sean@higheredcareercoach.com and we can set up a time to speak on the phone or chat online, to discuss the parameters of the coaching process. If it sounds like something you would be interested in doing, we’ll set up a regular time to speak on the phone or over video chat weekly, to discuss any issues you are dealing with, and to work toward setting and meeting your unique life and transition goals.

A couple of other notes if you are interested:

• These 4 to 6 sessions are offered for free, and no further obligation will exist on either side of the coaching relationship.
• I will not be asking you for money, credit card information, or enrolling you in anything.
• All sessions will be confidential (between you and me) unless you specify otherwise.
• If you are interested, I need you to commit to a minimum of 4 sessions between now and December 31, because I will need to submit evidence of having practice clients as part of my certification process.
• This is not psychotherapy, and I am not a licensed therapist. If issues arise that are better suited for work with a therapist, I will advise you to meet with one.
• If you are interested in continuing with coaching past the 6th session, we will need to discuss a separate agreement, and those sessions will be billed at a regular rate of $75 an hour.
• While we will discuss ways to improve your resume and cover letters, to target them toward your search, extensive resume and cover letter writing and editing are not included as part of this coaching. Resume and cover letter consulting or editing can be arranged separate from the coaching, and we’ll negotiate a rate that reflects the amount of editing/rewriting/redesigning needed. The minimum rate for resume revision/editing is $125, with additional work billed at $75 an hour.

If you know of anyone else who might be interested, please pass this information along. If you have any questions, e-mail me.