We have seen a significant growth in the number of companies created specifically to provide Life and Career Coaching. Seeking out support to help achieve life goals in the UK is now more commonplace, and whilst there is never a guarantee that the exact desired results can be achieved, the service provides job seekers access to individuals who are trained to listen and to be objective when creating working strategies on how to develop careers.
It’s important to remember that career development is not necessarily about leaving a current employer, but about how to move forward, be that for promotion or to search for other roles within the business. And, because not everyone has the confidence or the skills to be able to cross over into an unknown future in an unfamiliar and risky new role, a good career coach will provide the necessary guidance. Gaining a better understanding of themselves through personal insight and self-realisation will be key because in order to be effective it will be important for individuals to work closely with their coach and to be prepared to hear some unwanted truths about whether or not what they want is realistic, and or what might lie ahead if they choose to cross the line.
When setting up Marmion we were conscious that we didn’t just want to place people in companies, we want to connect people with businesses that complimented their preferred style of working, elements of their personality aptitude, and just as importantly to place them into environments in which they would be at their most productive. Conversely, we wanted our clients who would ultimately be responsible for these new hires to have a better understanding of themselves and their style of management. With attrition management being at the forefront of our service we knew that by investing in getting to know both parties well we would make the ‘right’ introductions and if the candidate and clients were more self-aware they would be able to more easily recognise if they could work together for the long term.
We decided to invest in a well-tested character trait-based assessment and it now forms an important part of our standard evaluation programme. It’s an assessment tool that is not generally included in the service offered by our industry, which, as it becomes more reliant on AI to make decisions about a candidate’s suitability for a role, is sadly less connected with its candidates. We make no apology for this style of recruitment as we don’t practise in this way. Our approach is consultative with a focus on career counselling so, whilst the assessment is delivered online, to be meaningful, it requires an in-depth face to face feedback session to explain the results. This investment in time to explore the report and the impact their unique traits and working environmental requirements are, gives the candidate a stronger narrative when they are in interview as they can describe themselves and what they can bring to the business more effectively. It takes effort on all sides to get all the pieces in order, and once it’s done we know it works because our ratio of interview to job offer is often 1:1.
When searching for the most appropriate psychological/psychometric assessments we wanted to find something that would be totally unique to the individual, it wasn’t just about finding a ‘type’. The report takes into account 7 individual ‘instinctive’ indicators; practical, enterprising, enquiring, promoting, perceiving, responding and organising, whilst also assessing an individual’s most productive environment through four opposing orientations; task, ordered, social and flexible. No two results generated from the assessment are the same, which makes it more credible and therefore of more value to both our candidates and clients.
The 360-degree feedback session, which combines the report, the insight we can provide regarding the role they’ve applied for, an assessment of the potential line manager they’ll work with and detailed information about the business they should consider investing their career in enables our candidate to make more informed decision about whether or not to proceed. This combination of counselling and introduction to a job makes our role much more meaningful and satisfying.
Information and advice will empower individuals and help them to feel more confident in who they are and what they can contribute to an organisation, whilst simultaneously enabling employers to ensure they provide these individuals with the best environment to succeed. Additionally, because i3 role profile highlights the characteristics needed to succeed in the role it may highlight that changes in the original job description are needed. An example of this could include an individual who is currently working in sales as a cold caller, who is reporting feelings of job dissatisfaction and is struggling to meet targets. Their i3 profile shows that ‘promoting’ is bottom of their 7 indicators and yet in the role profile report it clearly states that a high promotor is required to succeed; an indication that a cold calling role is not best suited to their natural strengths. This level of insight is very valuable to not only those who want to achieve more within their current role, those considering a career change or those seeking advice at the very beginning of their career as it allows individuals to establish what roles and working environments they are best suited to. We’d suggest that as this profiling remains unchanged in someone’s lifetime it would help to understand more about oneself before entering the world of work, it may even influence decisions regarding the choice of University courses which could potentially be linked to future careers.
Humans are multi-faceted individuals and using personality assessments as a guide for career coaching is a great way of helping individuals match their individual personality, preferences and natural abilities to the kinds of requirements of work, pressures and environments that different careers can offer. As recruitment processes continue to advance, and the emphasis on the importance of employee satisfaction and fulfilment at work increases, introducing career coaching and personality-based assessments can be hugely beneficial for employers, current employees and potential future employees.
For more information please contact me on 0113 3320 678 or email me on janet@wearemarmion.com
https://www.wearemarmion.com/
