Career Planning
Career planning is about finding a career that matches your abilities, reflects your values, and is viable in our ever-changing world of work. The starting point is self-awareness. Insight to Action provides a systematic process and tools so you can think deeply about who you are, what you want and what you do well. It’s also about learning to ask the right questions about fields you are considering so that you get the information you need to make an informed career choice.
Who will benefit from career-planning coaching?
Coaching for career-planning is helpful for:
- students and young adults in their early careers, who need help to find the right career path
- individuals seeking a career change, who aren’t sure what they want to do in the next phase, or question what they are best suited for
- individuals who plan to pursue new work interests after retirement but need help evaluating their options.
How does it work?
Insight to Action’s career-planning process is customized to your unique situation and consists of one-to-one coaching sessions including:
- Career-Life Review
- Take a guided walk through your career and educational background and significant volunteer/recreational activities. This provides an opportunity to reflect on your accomplishments and recognize what motivates you. Consider the lessons learned through your career highs and lows.
- Online psychological assessment
- Scientifically validated tools provide insight into your interests, strengths and personality factors essential to determine the career options that best fit you.
- Self-reflection exercises
- Heighten your awareness of your strengths, skills, values and preferred future vision, and gain insight into what energizes and inspires you.
- One-to-one coaching
- Together, we interpret the results of your assessments and exercises, discuss the implications and prioritize your options.
- Support
- You will receive expert guidance as you research career options that appear most promising. For example, you’ll receive links to online resources that provide information about the employment outlook, training requirements, salary prospects and so on. You’ll also receive coaching and encouragement to conduct informational interviews with people actively engaged in the field. Finally, you’ll receive guidance to evaluate your options against your decision criteria to ensure that you make the right career choice.
How career-planning coaching has helped others
“I take every opportunity I get to emphasize that I didn’t pick this career “out of a hat”, that I did my research and picked it because it fits who I am on a multitude of levels. Through one-on-one counseling and a number of self-assessment exercises, my aptitudes and skills were matched against career types by priority. This gave me the guidance I needed to research retraining options. I am now training towards a new career and have confidence that my chosen career fits who I am. It’s a whole different world, and I feel optimistic about the future.”
P.B. found his path as a Technical Writer after 15 years in the workforce, feeling under-employed and lacking direction.
“Elaine Sigurdson helped my daughter figure out where to go to university and what to study when she got there. An accomplished student in many areas, my daughter was having trouble focusing because she has so many interests and abilities. After some testing and discussions she was able to zero in on two areas and has now made her choice to go to a small liberal-arts school this fall! I don’t know how she would have made these decisions on her own.”
Donna Pappacosta obtained career coaching to assist her daughter with educational planning.
“Elaine has the unique ability to encourage deep introspection that most people don’t take the time to do in day-to-day life. Her methods help clients discover their true selves: personality and character traits, strengths and weaknesses, as well as goals and aspirations. She inspires a confidence and self-awareness that will forever change one’s attitude and approach towards the job search, career-building, and life in general.”
Peter McGovern, received career coaching as a graduation gift from his parents.
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