I recently began a course to better my career coaching skills. The facilitator asked us to define “intentionality” as it relates to working with job seekers. My first response was FOCUS. Not a tragic thought but as I’ve continued my reflections, I peeled back a few more layers and decided you first must figure out what the focus IS before you can be intentional.

Your focus may be different than that of the job seeker. You may be focused on helping them develop the best possible resume so they can job search and maybe they haven’t job searched in years and don’t even know to use a resume to showcase their skills. It’s no wonder the job seeker may appear uninterested or even angry. As a team, the focus is different. So it would seem the two parties involved need to agree on the focus, then the work that is done can be intentional.

Back up still one more step—to agree on the focus the job seeker and you must figure out the goal. The focus will change depending on the goal. If the goal of the job seeker is to return to school and work part time, how and where they look for employment changes. Goals can be discovered by listening, asking good questions and reflecting back to the job seeker what you’ve heard. Once a goal is determined it’s easier to become focused and intentional.

Your job can actually become easier as well. Between you and the job seeker, you can determine action items that will help reach the goal. So I’m becoming more intentional with the questions I ask and reminding myself to focus on what the job seeker is really saying.

What’s your definition of “intentionality”?

Photo by Marfis75