Career Coaching Gives Job Seekers Skills and Confidence

Things happen. Your company downsizes, your seasonal job ends, or your family is growing but your salary is not. Whatever the circumstances, visitors to CCSC’s Workforce Development Program have the opportunity to work with our career coaches to assess job readiness, make a career action plan, and take steps toward the future they want for themselves.

Career Coaching allows “a holistic approach to helping job seekers get to where they need to be with their skills, personal finances, confidence and planning,” said CCSC Career Coach Carla Scotto.

“All Career Coaching clients make a career plan that identifies their job target, their wage target, and their short-term and long-term goals,” Career Coach Stephanie Wen, LMSW, said. “Coaching is support, not advice. We see clients as the experts in their own lives. They choose the solutions and action steps that make sense for them.”

Many clients start off with JobNet skill-building classes and workshops and also work with CCSC volunteer resume coaches before taking the step to Career Coaching. Danny H. was referred to CCSC by partner agency Workforce Solutions in order to upgrade his computer skills. After taking JobNet classes, he began working with Coach Wen.

“I felt like I was in a tunnel, but CCSC honed my skills and helped my self-confidence,” Danny said. “CCSC is a great outlet for information. They give you a helping hand, and in today’s market that’s gold.”

Danny recalls getting a job interview and Wen making sure he had a tie and a nice shirt for it. “I got that job,” Danny said. “It was a seasonal job, so now I’m back at CCSC with the goal of learning more computer skills and getting a new job, a job that allows me to pay all my bills.”

Wen explains that coaches work with clients on both financial and career goals and that they are there to encourage and keep clients on course. “We are their cheerleaders, but we are also their accountability partners,” she said. “We know we do a good job because clients return to us when they have a setback. They trust us to help them again. They keep in touch and love sharing their success stories.”

Velma K., a single parent who works part-time as a cosmetologist, is looking for success in the workforce now that her youngest of three sons is in high school. “I’d like to reinvent myself from being mostly a home mom. I want to integrate back into the workforce.”

Velma took JobNet classes before starting with Career Coach Carla Scotto. “Carla has worked with me to bring out my inner confidence. She’s helping me get the skills, training and education I need to attain jobs.”

“I felt like I was in a tunnel, but CCSC honed my skills and helped my self-confidence. CSCC is a great outlet for information.
They give you a helping hand,
and in today’s market that’s gold.”

—Danny H.,
Workforce Career Coaching client