Coach, Councelor, Mentor: who to choose to change jobs for the best?
Instruments to support a job search I have been working in the labour market for years: first I tried to change my own job to progress in my career, whereas today my job involves helping people who want to find the right job for “them”.
In order to be as effective as possible in my new role, despite my background as a management consultant, I was “trained” with specific courses. I studied coaching. Since I studied years ago, I have become used to seeing the differences between this and other instruments, because in Italy these roles are not very widespread yet because they’re used by people who don’t have the necessary training and experience....
The coach
In Italy, when someone uses the word coach everyone immediately thinks of a football manager. In the UK people might think you were talking about a bus! There are probably a few analogies there.
A professional coach is someone that brings you from where you are now to where you want to go.
The origin of the word "coach" A coach helps you clarify where you are now. For example: you might like your job, it may correspond with your field of studies, it could be in line with your aspirations, you can see potential developments you like, you earn enough money ....
A coach can help you identify your objectives to in the short to medium-term. For example: you want to earn more, you want to manage people, you want to move to a different office or country, you want to move from a technical role into management, etc..
A coach can help you to understand what the next steps are and what you should do. For example: doing a specific course, learn a foreign language, start looking for a new job, look for a different role within the same company, develop a soft skill that will help you to improve in an area where you are currently a little weak....
A coach can help you implement and undertake specific activities and analyse the responses objectively so that step-by-step you get closer to your goal.
The mentor
The origin of the word "mentor" A mentor – for people who have a classical education – is the friend to whom Ulysses entrusts his son, when he goes on his voyages....
A mentor is therefore a wise man, a reliable person that is able to guide a younger person in a process. In the case of Ulysses’s mentor that process was life itself. Nowadays we might limit the scope to a person’s professional career in a company or embarking on an entrepreneurial venture for the first time....
A mentor is a guide whom you respect and whom you turn to with your doubts and questions to get some help or some advice. The difference between a mentor and a friend is that a mentor will be your guide or example on the issue at hand: the mentor will be your role model and blueprint, you might even want to become like them... For example the mentor could be an important manager while you may just have started your first management role, they could be a successful lawyer while you only have a few years experience, they could be an entrepreneur that you also respect on a personal level and because of the contributions they have offered to the local community or society... and you’re just setting up your first company.
A mentor will always be available, they will encourage you and offer emotional support.
They will be experts on the subjects they guide you on.
They do everything for free.
The counsellor
Councelling The term counselling refers to a professional activity that can guide, support and develop a client’s potential, by promoting an active and positive attitude and helping them in their ability to make choices. A counsellor deals with problems that are non-specific (making decisions, improving interpersonal relations) and also defined (family, studies, work).
– da Wikipedia
Counselling derives from the verb to counsel, which in turn comes from the Latin verb consulo-ĕre, which means to "console", "comfort", "come to the assistance of". It comprises the component cum ("with", "together ") and solĕre ("raise", "lift "), and can refer to both an action that means "help in getting up". It is similar to another Latin verb: consulto-āre, a repetition of consultum, the past participle of consulo, that means "take counsel", "deliberate", "reflect ". This places the term amongst the forms of the verb "to consult" as recourse to a superior knowledge for temporary requirements.
– da Wikipedia
A counsellor’s aim is to make someone feel good. So, even in a work-related context, a counsellor supports a person that is facing a critical period that might involve both family and professional issues, or organisational changes or requests that are particularly challenging... . A counsellor supports someone to get through these moments successfully, give them the correct perspective and find the energy to proceed.
On this subject, I also suggest you read this article that was published some while ago in the newsletter www.pmi.it. It offers a view of these instruments within a business context.
