Coaching Case Study: Mapping a Career Path

Coaching Case Study By Annelyn Tan
(Career Coach, SINGAPORE)

About the Case

My Client is in her mid-thirty who is seeking for a career switch.  She has been in sales job for most of her working life.  She wanted to switch to a desk bound job as admin or secretary.  However, she is worry about financial stability as she may have to start at entry level.  Hence, she hopes this coaching session could help her to evaluate her current job searching strategy and find ways to move on.

Coaching Foundation

Before we begin the coaching session, I highlighted to her my role as a Coach whereby coaching is not consulting, therapy or mentoring. Coaching is to help her in establishing what is important to her through clarifying her agenda and achieve her goal through collaboration. I also established a Coaching Agreement to align our understanding the purpose of our coaching session.She was put at ease by assuring she sets the agenda and discussion would be confidential.

Coaching Process

Active Listening & Powerful Questioning

My client has been searching for a suitable position with acceptable salary for the past 6 months. She went for a few interviews and none responded. She felt that it could be due to lack of working experience in that field.  I have assessed client’s current situation and evaluate her intention for the change.

She shared her current situation with me that her initial decision was to look for another job that related to her current field, instead of doing the sales process she chose to do the sales support admin. What she is looking for did not come true after 6 months. I can sense that she felt stuck with this current situation. I got her to share about her strength and passion so that I can expand her options to consider what she actually wanted.I posted questions to encourage her to be open to consider other options.

During the coaching session, I applied powerful questioning to help her explore what she can do with her strength and passion. She realized that if she wants to make a career switch, she would like a job that can tap on her strength which will make her career more fulfilling. She also identified some problems, eg; she needed to improve her resume with qualities to align with what’s employers are looking for. She was aware that she needed to check the skillsets required to help her to move into these jobs.

Coaching Outcome

Through powerful questioning, client is able determine what she would like to achieve?What results will she see from the actions she set? Ensure that result is specific and realistic. Set timeline to be met at the end of the coaching session. Explore various options and examine what decision she can make to take the next step towards achieving her result.  She came out with weekly plan to track her progress.  She is able to think more openly and showed confidence in looking for a more suitable job.

At the end of the session, Client is more self- aware which career choice will be more suitable for herself that will give her fulfillment. Client was able to think widely and showed enthusiasm in looking for a more suitable job. Questioning got her to reframe her perspective and change her strategy. By using“ Wheel of Life” coaching tools, she is able to mapped out a better action plans for her next career move . Client’s objective met as she is able to see a big picture for her career path in long term.