Coaching has helped Leah to find a new path career-wise
The coaching has been an excellent reminder of all the things Leah can do and what she has to offer. Photo: GettyImages.
With the help of PAM’s coaching services, former housekeeping supervisor Leah has found a new direction in working life after burnout.
For the past month, Leah*, who has been a PAM member since 2017, has received coaching under UP Partners’ Heidi Viljamaa’s direction.
“So far we have had two coaching sessions, where I have had guidance on what career I should pursue. Coaching can give me an idea about what my chances are in a field I am interested in”, Leah explains.
Leah used to work in housekeeping as a supervisor. She suffered a burnout a year ago.
“I have been sick the last year and not been able to work. Now I am starting to get a bit better and I am trying to figure out what path to follow, as I cannot continue in my previous work as a supervisor due to health reasons”, she explains.
Leah stumbled on PAM’s Career Services unintentionally, and was positively surprised that personal coaching is provided also in English, which is also her mother tongue.
“If I had known about the opportunity to have a career coach, I would have used coaching much earlier”, she says.
”I have been trying to figure out what I can do jobwise, which is not too physical or labour intensive. The support the coaching sessions have brought to my life career-wise is immense.”
Based on her own positive experience, Leah recommends coaching for all members working in the service industry.
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Personal career coaching is available in Finnish, Swedish, English, Russian and Estonian here.
“Service jobs are often very physical and can be difficult to carry out for a long period of a time. You can easily find yourself in a situation where you have been doing the job for several years and you might wonder if you have anything else to offer”, she points out.
She continues:
“It is only healthy to pause and ask yourself if this is it, and explore yourself. In coaching, you are reminded of all the things you can do and what you have to offer”.
The coaching is not yet over, but overall Leah feels she has learned a lot.
“Coaching has given me a stronger self-esteem, better awareness of my strengths and my professional value and ideas on how to network within my field of interest”, she tells.
In addition, the coach has given feedback on her professional profile on LinkedIn and how to improve it for current job searching.
“My chances to pursue managerial level work in the service sector are limited due to the fact that I don’t speak Finnish. Going into the publishing sector is an option I am now considering and I would like to explore my options to do, for instance, freelance work. Let’s see what the future brings”, she says.
Leah’s* name has been changed.
UP-coach: There is no ready-made recipe for career coaching
“Career coaching is holistic coaching for which there is no ready-made prescription. A coach has only one task: to help the person find the next step in his/hers career. The coach helps the person to reflect on his or her own and walks alongside in the search for the path that would not otherwise have been found by pondering alone. Often a solution arises in a conversation between the person and the coach. The person who receives the coaching has all the answers, but a skilled coach can help clarify them.
Coaching often balances between fear and courage, and seeks out that a person has so much courage that he or she sets out in a new direction despite his or her fears. That courage is supported.
Every person is worth coaching and that is why career coaching is for everyone.”
UP-coach Heidi Viljamaa, UP Partners
Text:: Marie Sandberg-Chibani