McWillie Career Directions’ career coaching model includes the stages Self-Assessment, Career Exploration, Career Planning, Resume Design, Job Search Strategies, and Follow-Up.
Self-Assessment
Self-Assessment is the stage in which you will be assisted in identifying your interests, personality preferences, skills, values, and major career accomplishments, all of which serve to provide insight into your own vocational choices and short-term and long-term career goals. Formal assessments are computer generated and contain data in which the conclusions are statistically supported by standardized measures and are valid and reliable. The two formal assessments that McWillie Career Directions uses are the most widely used and trusted of their kind. Informal assessments are not data-driven, but rather content and performance driven, asking you to evaluate yourself.
Formal Assessments
- Strong Interest Inventory
- Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
- FIRO/B Leadership Assessment
Informal Assessments
- Skills Identification
- Prioritizing Values
- Personal Traits
- Accomplishments and Achievements
- Personal Discovery
Career Exploration
From the Self-Assessment stage, you will get a list of careers that are appropriate for you based on what you have learned about yourself. These careers will be in line with your individual personality type and personal interests. Then it is time to learn about the careers on your list in greater detail and to gather the data needed to make an informed career decision. Career Exploration gives you this information.
- At first you will be provided with comprehensive career information resources in order to gather some basic information about the careers on your list, such as job descriptions, job outlook, earnings, and educational and training requirements.
- After you narrow down your list of career choices, your research will become more in-depth in order to provide you with a better, clearer picture of what the job will be like.
- Lastly, you will conduct informational interviews with individuals working in the careers that are a match for you. Informational interviews are conversations with currently working professionals in which you are able to ask them questions about both their specific career/employment and the larger industries in which they work.
Career Planning
In the Career Planning stage, training is given over the following areas:
- Writing a targeted resume highlighting accomplishments and achievements that are relevant to your chosen profession
- Cover letters
- Researching companies
- Behavioral interviewing
- Negotiating salary
- Identifying compatible cultures
- Trends analysis (local and regional job market trends, employment outlook)
Resume Design
Writing a targeted resume is a crucial piece of Career Planning and your overall career development process and should be emphasized with particular time and attention. Because they receive so many resumes in response to each job opening and they have little time to sift through such countless numbers, recruiters look for specific information about candidates that is communicated in a particular way. This is why Resume Design is such an important piece in McWillie Career Directions’ model. You will be assisted in creating resume and cover letter content that matches your personal career themes, highlights your quantitative accomplishments, and provides evidence to the recruiter that you are highly qualified for the job and will be a successful candidate.
Job Search Strategies
McWillie Career Directions will provide you with materials to expedite your Job Search Process and work with you on developing a strategic plan to best meet your needs. There are many different avenues that you may utilize during your Job Search:
- Networking through peers, social networks, university career centers, professional organizations, and common interest groups
- Online search strategies
- Chamber of commerce
- Business directories
Follow-Up
Follow-up is the process of evaluating the success of the previous steps in Career Directions’ model.
