FAQ’s: An interview with Joellyn Wittenstein Schwerdlin
Here are answers to frequently-asked questions about who I am and the work I do with clients in career transition:
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(1) What do you do as a career coach? Who are your clients?
(2) Have you worked with clients in my industry?
(3) What happens if you haven’t worked with people in my field?
(4) What are your credentials and background?
(5) How did you get into the field of career coaching?
(6) How will we work together?
(7) How will we get started working together?
(8) What happens after the CAP Session?
(9) What is your career coaching program? What does it include?
(10) How long does it take to find a new position, once I’ve signed up for your career coaching program?
(11) What is the fee for your career coaching program?
(12) What type of personality do you work best with and what is expected of me?
(13) For what type of person is this program NOT going to work?
(14) I just need to work on my resume. Can you still help me?
(15) Are you also a recruiter? Will you help find me a job?
(16) Can you provide me with references?
(17) Can I sample your work at a low cost to see if it’s the right solution for me?
(18) I’m ready to move forward, but I have a couple of questions. Can I call you?
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(1) What do you do as a career coach? Who are your clients?
I have a private practice where I work one-on-one with executives, managers, and professionals to help them establish a rewarding career path – not just another job. This career choice will offer the right level of satisfaction, growth, location, environment and compensation: whether this means landing a different position or promotion within a current employer or industry, a new position inside another company, or even starting / revamping a business or consulting practice.
Just to be clear: I’m not an employment agency or recruiter, nor am I hired by companies to fill positions for them. And I’m not a career marketing firm that charges tens of thousands of dollars, promising so-called “exclusive access” to hidden job market leads and contacts. (Side note: when you work with me, you’ll learn to uncover the hidden job market yourself.)
As your career coach, my top priority is YOU: I have a vested interest in helping you achieve your job and career transition as quickly and smoothly as possible. My private mentoring, plus the tools of my 8-module career coaching program will equip you with everything you need to achieve this goal. Together we will develop a clear, concise focus for your career/job search campaign, while exploring your hidden strengths and how to position yourself to compete in today’s labor market. Side note: Please scroll down to (9) for details about this program.
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(2) Have you worked with clients in my industry?
I have worked with dozens of clients at various levels across a wide scope of industries, including (but not limited to) the following sectors and situations:
| Accounting / Administration & Office Services
Association & Not-For-Profit Banking Business Development Customer Service Clergy Conservation & Forestry Culinary Arts Engineering Finance Health Care Hospitality Human Resources & Organizational Development Independent Consultants Information Technology Insurance
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Investment Finance / Law & Legal Affairs
Law Enforcement Manufacturing & Production Operations Marketing New College Graduates Performing Arts (Music & Theater) Personal Training & Fitness Public Relations & Corporate Communications Purchasing, Logistics & Supply Chain Management Real Estate, Construction & Property Management Retail Sales Social Services Teaching & Educational Administration Telecommunications Workforce Re-Entry / Displaced Workers |
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(3) What happens if you haven’t worked with people in my field?
Most likely I have worked with people in your field. Yet, if I haven’t, you are not at a disadvantage. Here’s why: people in your field are probably all making the same mistakes in their career searches. What my clients have found is that I bring a fresh perspective and new paradigms to their search campaigns, and give them resources they’ve never heard of in their field. Because of this, they stand out in an overcrowded labor market and are the ones who get hired and promoted faster.
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(4) What are your credentials and background?
I earned my Certified Career Management Coach-CCMC (through Career Coach Academy) recognized by the International Coach Federation (ICF) as Accredited Coach Specific Training Hours (ACSTH). To maintain this credential, I am required to complete 10 hours in Continuing Education Units every 2 years. I also received a Job & Career Transition Coach-JCTC designation from the Career and Adult Development Network.
My credentials also include a Certified Professional Resume Writer-CPRW designation, which I earned in 1994. You’ll find sample resumes, cover letters, and other contributions I’ve written featured in the following publications: Gallery of Best Resumes, 5th Edition (2011); Cover Letters for Dummies (2009); Job Search Bloopers (2008); Gallery of Best Resumes, 4th Edition (2007); Best Resumes for College Graduates to Land $75,000+ Jobs (2004); Gallery of Best Resumes, 3rd Edition (2004); Gallery of Best Cover Letters, 2nd Edition (2004); Resume Maker Professional 11.0 (2003); America’s Top Resumes for America’s Top Jobs (2002); Gallery of Best Resumes (2001); Gallery of Best Resumes for People Without a Four-Year Degree (2000), Gallery of Best Cover Letters (1999) and others.
Prior to my work as a career coach, I earned my Bachelor of Music Degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Illinois, at Urbana-Champaign. After graduation, I moonlighted as a professional singer while holding administrative positions in the corporate world across various industry sectors, including academia (medical school), business valuation, insurance (personal lines), manufacturing, and pharmaceuticals, as well as nearly two years in the HR department of a social service agency for developmentally disabled adults and children.
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(5) How did you get into the field of career coaching?
You might say that career coaching found me! When I was downsized from my HR position in 1989, I decided to have my resume written at a branch of the oldest, largest resume service at the time. The chief writer of this branch was impressed with my writing and communication skills and hired me on the spot, to learn the resume-writing craft and to help with overflow work. After working there for awhile, I discovered I could do just as well on my own. So, I opened my own resume-writing business in December 1991.
I got clients right away who were pleased that the resumes I wrote helped them land interviews — and job offers! However, some clients returned to me in a year or two, lamenting that the new jobs they landed weren’t such good fits after all. What I discovered was that while a client’s need was a resume update, the problem was that they didn’t know what would bring them true career satisfaction. That’s when I decided to expand my practice into career coaching.
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(6) How will we work together?
I have a virtual practice which allows me to work remotely / long distance with nationwide clients. This means that I conduct all coaching appointments over the telephone and web conferencing, and exchange all information by email and fax. Clients enjoy the convenience and flexibility of working with me from the privacy of their home, outside of work, at their own pace and time schedule, without having to travel.
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(7) How will we get started working together?
We’ll begin with a Career Action Planning (CAP) Session.
During this two-hour assessment (conducted by phone), you and I will discuss your situation in detail. This will include a “guided tour” of your career, so I can see all the decisions which led up to today.
I’ll listen, ask important questions, and provide you with feedback:
- What’s Working: Job search strategies and career directions which appear to be on track; you may already be doing many things right, even though you haven’t reached your career goals yet.
- What Needs Attention: What you can change or add to your career/job search campaign to get better results.
- Next Steps: A customized action plan to help you get unstuck and moving forward.
This feedback will be provided to you in verbal and written format. I also record the session, so you’ll have a permanent copy of it.
The CAP Session allows me to understand your entire career story and serves as a foundation for any other coaching we might do together, to facilitate your career transition.
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(8) What happens after the Career Action Planning (CAP) Session?
We can schedule a follow-up meeting shortly after the CAP Session, to determine if my career coaching program would be a good investment for you.
Some clients get exactly what they need from the CAP Session by itself; others prefer to continue in my full career coaching program, because the accountability and support they get makes their transition happen much faster and more deliberately than working alone.
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(9) What is your career coaching program? What does it include?
This is private, one-on-one coaching where we’ll work through material in the following eight modules:
Module 1: Uncover Your Unique Gifts and Talents to feel more confident about what you can offer prospective employers. We’ll extract your 3-6 “Key Success Factors” which will become the foundation of your job search campaign, to be used in four ways:
- To get clear about your perfect career path and work you love;
- To create core content for resumes, cover letters, and social networking profiles;
- To confidently present your value to networking contacts and potential employers;
- To take control of interviews, salary negotiations, and job offers.
Module 2: Showcase Your Success Stories to create compelling content for resumes, social networking profiles, elevator pitches, and answers to interview questions. We’ll develop this material by substantiating your “Key Success Factors” with achievement-based stories from your work/life: projects you did well, enjoyed doing, and are proud of!
Module 3: Discover Your Perfect Career Path to get clear about the work you love: a reason for welcoming Mondays and jumping out of bed in the morning. We’ll use your “Key Success Factors” along with career interest / personality assessments and brainstorming exercises, to determine which career paths will be the most perfect fit for you.
Module 4A: Transform Your Resume from Bland to Brilliant to stand out from the crowd and grab the attention of target employers. We’ll use the “Success Stories” from Module 3 to create eye-catching, value-driven, key-word rich resumes, cover letters, and social networking profiles which will bring you more interviews and potential job offers.
Module 4B: Perfect Your Elevator Pitch to know exactly what to say to engage your networking contacts and target employers, instead of watching their eyes glaze over. You’ll get a formula for crafting a pitch that sounds natural and energetic.
Module 5: Network Your Way into the Hidden Job Market to compete in the unpublished job market and get referrals to jobs through networking. You’ll learn strategies for communicating with your network that will open doors to hiring managers.
Module 6: Multiply Your Job Opportunities in Unexpected Ways to avoid getting stuck in the discouraging cycle of posting resumes on job boards — and waiting for responses that may never come. You’ll learn to expand your search beyond job boards to bring you more opportunities than you ever thought possible.
Module 7: Turn Job Interviews from Interrogations into Conversations to establish instant rapport with interviewers and be positioned as a top candidate. You’ll learn a “five categories of interview questions strategy” to help you cut down on prep time, ease performance anxiety, handle tough questions, and increase your chances of getting the job.
Module 8: Negotiate Your Job Offer with Confidence, to get paid what you’re worth and enjoy all the benefits and perks of your new job. You’ll learn how to use five salary-negotiation rules which will assure you won’t leave money on the table.
You’ll also get these materials: 1) Binder with handouts and worksheets supporting the 8 steps of the program; 2) Program textbook: “Job & Career-Building: A Time-Honored, Structured Process to Identify Marketable Skills, Identify Target Market Segments, Build Connections with Hiring Decision Makers in Those Markets, Successfully Interview for and Land a New Job or Promotion, and, to Manage Communications Visibility on the Job so that Your Career Naturally Moves to Its Highest Level.”
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(10) How long does it take to find a new position, once I’ve signed up for your career coaching program?
Typically, I begin working with clients for a three-month period; then they can work with me for an additional seven months. Clients who have diligently applied and worked through every step of my program have landed new opportunities within this time frame or earlier; sometimes in three months!
Besides this, a “rule of thumb,” you can expect to search one month for every $10,000 in salary you wish to earn; or longer, if your transition requires learning new skills, getting additional training or experience, or building a larger contact network.
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(11) What is the fee for your career coaching program?
There are four things to know about my fee:
- First: we’re not going to begin the program, unless we’re both convinced you’ll come out ahead and financially profit from it.
- Second: my fee is a professional fee, similar to what you’d pay accountants, attorneys, and management consultants– with one difference: I put a cap on my fee, which means I just set one amount and then we don’t worry about the hours. I’ll be glad to share the exact figure with you over the phone. I promise you won’t be shocked and that you’ll find it to be comparable to what other coaches are charging.
- Third: clients have been excited to report that they were able to recover their career coaching investment within the first month of their new position.
- Fourth: money has never stopped anyone from working with me, if they really want to.
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(12) What type of personality do you work best with and what is expected of me?
My career coaching program was created for goal-oriented people who are super-ready to know exactly what steps to take to land their ideal career position or situation, without wasting any time with unproductive activities or strategies that no longer work.
Consider what you’ll do with me to be an action learning course. No excuses anymore, just a very different way of thinking and full support from me while you work toward this incredibly exciting goal: a new career path, in a great company, at a salary you deserve, where you’ll be happy at work again.
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(13) For what type of person is this program NOT going to work?
My career coaching program is not for people who want a quick fix for their career problem. You’ll be expected to take serious, consistent, “no-excuses” action which includes completing homework assignments and field work. Without doing this work, you won’t make any progress toward finding your ideal career position or situation.
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(14) I just need to work on my resume. Can you still help me?
I’ve discontinued resume-writing as a stand-alone service for new clients. Currently, I only write resumes or updates for: (1) clients I’m currently coaching and those who have completed my career coaching program; (2) clients I’ve written resumes for prior to October 2007, who have regularly contacted me for updates.
If you believe a new resume is all you need to move forward, I’ll gladly refer you to another colleague or alternate resource where you can find a resume writer to fit your needs. But click here to see the benefits of getting career coaching having a resume prepared.
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(15) Are you also a recruiter? Will you help find me a job?
As I stated in (1), I’m NOT an employment agency or recruiter; nor am I hired by companies to fill positions for them. However, during the course of our coaching relationship and when appropriate, I may refer you to a competent recruiter in your field, or will provide you with some trusted resources. Side note: Please understand that it’s not a recruiter’s job to find you a job. They don’t work for you; they work on behalf of their client companies to fill positions on a retainer or contingency basis.
Besides, once we’ve been working together, two things will happen:
1. You’ll learn to be more resourceful in finding a position through other channels, besides working with recruiters;
2. You’ll be able to work more effectively with recruiters and avoid lots of wasted time (for you and the recruiters), because you’ll have a clearer picture about the positions best suited for your needs.
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(16) Can you provide me with references?
Absolutely, I have many successful clients who would be happy to talk to you. (Click here to read some client testimonials.) However, please understand that I never use my clients as sales people; it’s not their job to explain what I do or to help you decide if career coaching is a proper investment for you. While the deliverables of my program are fairly consistent, the learning curve and results are different for each client. Therefore, just check out my integrity and the value of having me as a coach.
The only important questions you should ask are: (1) Did Joellyn deliver what she said she would deliver? (2) What was the difference you found working with a coach like Joellyn versus doing it alone?
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(17) Can I sample your work at a low cost to see if it’s the right solution for me?
The best way to sample my work is to schedule a Career Action Planning (CAP) Session. The fee is a flat $247 and you’ll see what it’s like to work with me before investing in a full career coaching program.
Another way is to sign up for free monthly career tips, which provide you with the latest tools and powerful techniques from my career coaching program.
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(18) I’m ready to move forward, but I have a couple of questions. Can I call you?
Good, sounds like you’re ready to be pulled into your future! Yes, if you have a couple of questions simply contact me via email or call me at 508-459-2854. I can’t wait to see you succeed and am honored to be the one to help you. Let’s get going!
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