FAQ

Thank you for contacting Career Matters. We have been in career coaching for 10 years and work with people that wish to make a career change, go back to school, find a new job, or look at new directions.

We also work with people in their second half of life to find more meaning and utilize their interests. There are many different approaches to acting as a career consultant. We find career assessments can be helpful to give a person more insight into themselves, their strengths and their gifts. However, some people might prefer only coaching and that can certainly be arranged.

Here are some common questions about Career Matters and our methods:

1. Will working with Career Matters help me find a job?

We help people understand themselves and their abilities so he or she has more of a direction in which to look for jobs or new careers. We do help people find a job when he or she feels confident in the narrowed down areas to look.

2. Is it unusual for people not to know what career to pursue? Even though I completed college, I’m clueless as to my next step.

Many people do not know what they want to do for a career, before or even after college. Because of emerging technologies, fields and areas of expertise, there are so many choices and it can often get confusing. Sometimes a person pursues a career that may not be the right fit. Many times, we find that people don’t spend much time “career planning” – they would much rather plan a vacation. It can be that a person is reluctant to examine what is important to them for a number of factors; a fear of disappointing others, not making enough money, fear of failure, etc.

3. What are some of the factors that people look at to make a career transition?

When we are working with individuals, we are helping them understand themselves better. Some of the factors that we address are: Abilities, skills, personality, interests, values, and family of origin. The more someone focuses on his or her individual strengths and values, the more information he or she will have to choose a career, make a career change or choose a school program that is compatible with their goals.

4. How do assessments help someone?

Assessments help by accessing deeper information within a person. We use 3 assessments: The Highlands Ability Battery, The Strong Interest Inventory, and the Myers Briggs. Abilities give us information about our natural talents. The more that we use those abilities, the less stressful our personal and professional lives can be. By measuring these talents, we can get clues as to how you think, how your brain solves problems and how you’d like to relate to a job environment. Also, your ability results for the Highlands Ability Battery are directly related to your performance and are, therefore, more “black and white” than the Strong Interest Inventory or the Myers Briggs which have varying degrees of “gray” as they are self-report tests.

5. What does “coaching” accomplish?

We find looking for a job can be very isolating and can lead to depression. Having a coach can help a person be more accountable, someone to discuss new ideas, and also provide goals to work on. Many people know what they are looking for but they don’t know how to “market” themselves. Going through a career transition is a process and takes much time to narrow a job search, know where to look and how to market oneself.