Winsheff

After a career in strategy development and implementation at Citibank, J.P. Morgan and PricewaterhouseCoopers, Win made his own transition into career coaching where he has helped clients, from the trading desk to the jeweler’s bench advance in fields right for them.

Win coaches his clients on how to tell their stories and generally sharpen their career building skills.  Clients feel more comfortable communicating their value and end up with superior networking ability, cover letters worth reading, a résumé that gets them in the door, and money-making negotiation skills.  Win has been gratified by feedback from clients that he has helped them improve their attitudes, gain confidence and become grounded in the job search process.

In addition to an M.B.A. from Boston University and an undergraduate degree from Kenyon College, Win is certified as a career coach through the Five O’Clock Club.  He has also trained at two nationally known outplacement firms and has studied Myers-Briggs at the Jung Institute and counseling at The General Theological Seminary.

Win has spoken and taught career courses at the New York Public Library, St. Bart’s, St. Thomas and various alumni groups in New York.  Topics include ‘The Art and Science of Networking’, ‘The Effective Résumé’, ‘Sustaining your Job Search’ and ‘Maintaining Integrity in Office Politics’. See Events for upcoming talks.

What is a career coach?

In a simple world we would send our résumé out to the companies where we wanted to work, the ones with satisfying jobs where we are challenged, and do work that we enjoy with people who share our sense of purpose, all for a boss who helps us grow and makes sure we are paid what we are worth. This does happen. Really. With any luck we have experienced at least some part of this dream for ourselves.

Life happens though, and we don’t always find ourselves in the place we want to be when we want to be there. A career coach (sometimes called a career counselor) is an expert in this process who has a lot of experience helping people to move their job search forward. Just as you can go on safari or trout fishing on your own, sometimes the experience is enhanced by having a guide to help you along the way. Just as a guide knows the best places to fish or how to avoid making the buffalos panic, a career counselor knows the most effective ways to pursue a job search. An experienced counselor will also be able to make the most of your skills and abilities to make the process quicker and easier for you.

My job is to help you to adapt your experience to the marketplace and to help you to get a job that you like in a field that interests you. In working with you, I also help you to develop greater ease in managing your own career.

Why would you use a career coach?

There are many useful books out there on finding a job. It is probably a good idea to at least look at one in the bookstore or in your library. I like the Five O’Clock Club books by Kate Wendleton. They emphasize the practical and are based on what has worked at the Five O’Clock Club over the years. A good career book will lay out the essentials of how to think about your search and give you lots of good ideas about how to present yourself most effectively.

Somehow, though, when it comes to some of the things that are most important to us, we don’t move forward as quickly or smoothly as we would like. It can be helpful to have a guide. Just as a guide helps the vacationer who only has a week to get the most out of a vacation, so a career coach can cut time off a job search. In the end the cost of the coach is more than offset by salary if the search ends even one month earlier than it would have otherwise.

When would you use a career coach?

Of course you will use a career coach when you want help in your search. Maybe you are stuck, not knowing how to follow up with an important contact. Maybe you have been looking for a while and have no more ideas of where to turn. As a career coach, I help clients to overcome problems like these. In addition there are lots of specifics that I help people with. Some samples:

  • Preparing for interviews
  • Writing letters to get you in the door, and
  • Follow-up letters that keep you in the running
  • Using your Résumé to make selling yourself easier
  • Adapting your experience to move into a new area
  • Negotiation strategy
  • Job search while working
  • Developing your “elevator pitch”
  • Making the networking process more interesting to you and hence, easier

Please contact Win for more information.