What Is the Vocatus Approach?

Overall, my work is based on a developmental lifespan approach to career development that integrates the theories of several key career-development theorists and career psychologists.

Once I help to identify your present stage of career development and the specific tasks you need to focus on, we will work with three time frames, past, present and future, to determine what you want, why you haven’t been able to achieve it, the benefits and limitations of your current situation, as well as a method for setting, planning and achieving authentic goals.

The core idea of my approach is that meaningful work choices can emerge only after having defined a cohesive work identity.

Some additional features of my approach include a method to clarify your work identity, a three-generational work-focused genogram to trace your family work history, the use of film, photography and art therapy techniques and exercises as part of your career self-assessment, and an individualized, comprehensive career-testing package comprised of a career notebook and instruments, handouts, books and booklets.

 

I individualize my approach to address the unique needs of each client.  Of the many methods and techniques at my disposal, I will choose the ones that are the most relevant to your needs and will be the most interesting and engaging to you.

 

 

 

Who Can Benefit from My Work?
The Vocatus approach is for adults at any stage of life who want to discover their work identity and find a career endowed with both financial rewards and meaning. This includes people who are seeking a clearer understanding of their present work life and an increased ability to influence their future, and these individuals range from executives to artists, from fast-track career builders to novice job-seekers, and also include people returning to work after a lengthy absence. 

 

 

Who Are My Clients?
My specialty is adult career development.  Clients span all levels and all areas of the world of work.  Most are or have been successfully employed but are looking for more meaning in their work life.  Despite their successes, they often report that they have never known what they wanted to do.  They all want to learn how to make informed professional choices, advance in their current career or change their work entirely. Some want to begin a special project, such as writing a book, develop a part-time business or fulfill some other long-cherished goal.

 

 

What Is the Difference between Developmental Career Counseling and Traditional Career Counseling?

Briefly, traditional career counseling is primarily a “test-and-tell” approach that assumes that if you take a test it will tell you what kind of work to do.  This is an outmoded technique no longer recommended by career theorists working at the cutting edge of the career-development field.

Overall, developmental career counseling is based on the idea that as you develop, mature and evolve, your career must keep pace with your growth in order for you to remain happily and meaningfully employed.

Developmental career counseling, as I practice it, moves you through the nine stages and associated tasks of the career-development process. My first goal is to assess, and if necessary, clarify your work identity before we begin the process of building a career. After your work identity is clearly articulated, you will learn how to develop and manage this process by yourself, to continually reevaluate your career and to make authentic career choices based on an authentic sense of self.

 

 

How Do I Know if I Need Career-Development Counseling or Coaching?

In general, counseling is most useful to those in the early stages of career development or in a transition between stages, both of which require more reflection.  Primarily, self-definitional questions are addressed, such as: Who am I?  What do I want to do or do next?  Which of these paths should I take?  Certainly, one of the initial goals is to help you identify the right questions to ask yourself at this point in your career.

 

Coaching is most useful to those who are currently doing what they want to do or who have a pretty clear idea of what it is, but they need to develop more strategic and tactical plans.  The questions asked by candidates for coaching are more concrete and measurable, such as:  How do I handle interviews?  How do I build a network?  What management goals do I want to achieve? 

 

 

Do You Work Only with People Who Are Changing Careers or Do You Work with People Who Have Other Work Issues?

In my practice, I address all work-specific issues, problems and concerns.

For example, for clients seeking assistance in enhancing their performance on the job, coaching is provided on issues such as communication skills, leadership, managing political challenges, maintaining a professional demeanor, techniques for enhancing promotability and strategies for dealing with difficult co-workers, whether a boss or a peer.

In addition, I counsel clients on work-adjustment issues, including workaholism, having received a poor performance review and techniques for improving the next evaluation and establishing appropriate work boundaries, e.g., proper management up and down and improving interpersonal work relations.

I also coach clients on breakthrough projects, such as developing a workshop, writing a book, starting a business, growing an existing business and establishing a brand for those who are self-employed.

 

 

Do You Work Only with Individuals or with Businesses As Well?

Some clients prefer to work alone, while others bring in business partners to develop mission statements and business plans. Managers may want a session with one or more employees to learn to communicate better and work more effectively as a team.  Couples come in to learn how to best align their careers with their personal life and family goals.

My goal with all clients is the same: to assist in developing a more meaningful, more financially rewarding career.  This theme holds true regardless of the number of people attending a session. 

 

 

Do You Use Career Testing?
Absolutely!  Career testing is an excellent means for quickly gathering information about yourself and the world of work and organizing it into themes to serve as a basis for our discussions. It can be used strategically in all stages of the career-development process.

However, my preference is to use career testing in conjunction with counseling and coaching. In fact, my approach cannot be successful with career testing by itself.

That said, many of the instruments available offer rich interpretive reports that can stand alone, and I offer them to clients for whom counseling is not possible or affordable. 

 

 

Do You Help Your Clients Conduct a Job Search?

Of course! A career needs to be implemented. I strongly believe that a career- development specialist must be proficient in all stages of the career-development process.  I provide the full spectrum of job-search services, including resume development, counseling on the most effective strategies to use for developing interviews depending on your specific situation and goals, coaching on interview preparation as well as on how to conduct a successful interview, and counseling on job-offer negotiation and acceptance. Job-search campaigns are tailored to address your individual needs.

 

I’m Successful at Work, but I Want More.  I Just Don’t Know What “More” is!  
This is a common statement that I hear.  First, we have to define what “more” means to you. It often translates into greater meaning, a better alignment between your career and your values, additional time for hobbies, family, and intellectual or creative challenges, etc.  Part of my job is to help you to articulate your personal definition of “more.”

 

 

How Do I Know if I Need Developmental Career Counseling or Psychotherapy?
The career unrest that prompts the first call to my office is often in response to a work-related crisis or difficulty negotiating a career transition.  Old ways of managing your career may no longer work. At such times, these predictable aspects of career management are often accompanied by stress and anxiety—sort of a “divine discontent” that presages a need for change. 

These feelings may mean that you are simply having difficulty managing the different career-development tasks. However, sometimes career-development counseling surfaces therapeutic issues that are entrenched and unresolved. When these kinds of feelings emerge, it may be difficult for you to distinguish between a therapeutic issue and a career-development issue. Real and imagined barriers, outdated myths and beliefs about yourself and what you can accomplish, self-defeating behaviors and limiting assumptions often surface under the pressures associated with a career transition or crisis.   

Part of my job is to help you make that distinction and then suggest that you discuss the issue with your therapist or refer you to a therapist as a precursor to career-development counseling. 

 

 

What Is Your Training?
I am a Master Career Counselor, certified by the National Career Development Association as well as a National Certified Career Counselor and National Certified Counselor, certified by the American Counseling Association.

 

My educational background includes an M.Ed. in Counseling from the University of Maryland. The topic of my master’s thesis was Bibiliotherapy, in which I explored the use of literature as a therapeutic tool to raise self-esteem.

Additional studies include the Training and Research Institute for Self-Psychology, the Ackerman Institute for Family Therapy, Teachers College at Columbia University, and the Publishing Institute, New York University.

 

 

How Long Does It Take?
This, of course, is the hardest question of all to answer since it depends on so many factors that are difficult to define and measure.  One, for example, is how much support and structure you need from me. You may need a lot or a little, but most likely it will vary. Another factor is how many stages of the career-development process you’ll need to work on in order to master them on their own.

For me, I won’t work with you on a later stage of career development until I’m sure that you are coming into coaching with a clear work identity.  For example, I can’t help a client to build a strong professional network until I know what they want to accomplish.

New clients usually don’t call me until they have tried everything on their own, and nothing has worked.  At that point, they are pretty stuck, and it may take awhile for us to sort things out together.

 

However, after I’ve worked with a client, they have learned how to plan ahead and can anticipate the need to schedule a tune-up session when approaching a transition, when an important decision must be made soon or when they need to take the time to stop and reevaluate their plans.

Generally speaking, weekly sessions for three-six months will move you through one stage of the career-development process.   It’s not uncommon, however, for a client to be working on more than one stage at a time. For instance, a client may be employed at a job they don’t like, need to resolve an unclear work identity andalso need todeal with a poor performance review they just received.

 

 

How Do I Begin?
If you like how I work and wish to speak with me, we’ll schedule a time to talk on the phone so that I can answer any questions you might have, which will enable you to make an informed decision about whether or not to proceed. If you wish to, we’ll schedule a consultation, either by phone or in my office in New York City, depending on your location.  The consultation will serve as a stand- alone session, so that even if you decide not to go any further, you will know what stage of the career-development process you’re in. We’ll also discuss your goals and establish an appropriate timetable for you to reach them.

Counseling is provided on a session-per-session basis.  You may stop the counseling at any time, for any reason and are free to resume counseling in the future, should you wish.

 

 

Do I Meet with You or an Associate?
All career-development counseling and coaching services are performed by me. As your goals take shape, I’ll provide you with a broader network of professionals to provide specialist support as needed, such as graphic designers, financial-support planning, grant writers, editors, Web designers, etc.