Professional Development Seminar - "Career Coaching: Insights and Strategies for Professional Practice"

CCC Professional Development Seminar: "Career Coaching: Insights and Strategies for Professional Practice"

Date: Friday, March 22, 2019

Time: 9:00am - 12:30pm        

Location: Northeastern University, Curry Student Center, Room #348

The coaching movement is widespread across many fields of endeavor, there are life coaches, fitness coaches, executive coaches, lifestyle coaches, you name it.  And of course, there are career coaches.  However, what distinguishes career coaching from career counseling and how can we borrow from each approach to best serve our clients? 

We will begin with an impressionistic assessment of career coaching and counseling, then trace some of the theoretical foundations that inform our practice.  We will try out some coaching techniques and discuss how they might apply to our work with clients and explore principles of good practice, quality and ethics.  Participants will gain insight into the complementarity of coaching and counseling, and takeaway some tips and techniques to apply in their work with clients.

Participants will:

• Gain insight on their own practice from the perspective of career coaching and career counseling
  
• Discuss the similarities and differences between career coaching and counseling
  
• Trace the theoretical underpinnings of career counseling and coaching, with a focus on positive psychology, appreciative inquiry, and client-centered psychotherapy
  
• Explore issues of good practice, quality and ethics as applied to career coaching and counseling
  
• Practice selected coaching techniques in the session and discuss how these might apply to their work with clients
  

Steve Koppi is executive director of the Career Development Center at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI).  A member of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) career coaching faculty, Koppi participated in one of NACE’s early Career Coaching Intensive programs offered in 2007 and has intentionally practiced this approach in working with clients over the years. Previously, he served as director of career services at Mount Holyoke College, Gallaudet University, and American University. His professional experience includes work with students and employers at institutions such as Middlebury College, Johns Hopkins University, and Brown University. Koppi also headed the alumni relations office at his alma mater, Catholic University of America, where he received a bachelor of arts degree in religion. He also holds a master of arts degree in college student personnel from the University of Maryland, College Park. He can be reached at skoppi@wpi.edu.