Career Coaching in Washington DC
is at an all-time high in the Covid-19 era

What is Career Coaching?

Career coaching in Washington DC is at an all-time high! It’s never been a secret that Washingtonians are extremely career focused. In the COVID-19 era, people are even more anxious about their careers. Consequently, in nearly-recession-proof Washington DC, even big law firms and universities are hurting. For this reason, high-powered professionals are seeking career coaching more than ever. And it has a new twist: It’s online!

Not only are high-powered professionals seeking out career coaching in Washington DC, 2020 college graduates searching for help. Graduating, unexpectedly, without the benefit of face-to-face career counseling, employment fairs or professorial guidance, they are reaching to career coaches to figure out how to find a job without leaving home.

For this reason, both fully-minted, professionals and new time job seekers want to know:  What is career coaching? Who can it help? What are the benefits of this kind of counseling.

Career Coaching can help you:

• Find a career that you enjoy, greatly.
• Develop a strategy for pursuing your career goals.
• Identify roadblocks that get your way.
• Develop strategies for overcoming obstacles intrinsic to pursuing your career goals.
• Learn that rejection is a normal and expected part of any successful career.
• Understand and navigate challenging workplace situations and people.
• Identify the sorts of supports that you need to be successful in achieving career satisfaction.

How can Career Coaching help during Coronavirus times?

It can help you:

• Identify job opportunities in this very competitive job market.
• Develop strategies for pursuing these jobs when most employers are teleworking.
• Determine whether to find a job or return school.
• Create an effective online network while staying at home!
• Manage strategic and competitive workplace challenges.
• Help prospective employers to embrace your diversity.

Learn more about how I think about careers

If you are considering career coaching with me, you may want to know how I think about career concerns. I’ve written several articles for both the popular media and professional literature.

Washington Post articles on Career Coaching for Professionals

You may want to read some of my Washington Post columns. These columns examine how to integrate work-life and how to thrive in your career.

• • Work-life balance
  • Bolster your position at work
  • When you are denied a promotion
  • Managing diverse teams for competitive advantage
  • How to gain entry into any setting
  • Creating your pitch
  • Dealing with the boss who yells while keeping your cool
  • Moving your business to a new locale
  • Setting Career goals: live online
  • Amy Joyce interviews Dr. Lynn Friedman live online: Salary negotiation

Washington Post columns for Recent College Graduates – Finding Your First Job

Here are some Washington Post articles how how to find your first job.

• • Before You Get Your Diploma — Laying the Ground Work for Your Job Search
  • Time to hit the pavement – How to approach the job search
  • Rejection letter overload What happens when you can’t find a job
  • They like me. They really like me Interviewing and negotiating: Realistic expectations for a first Job
  • Let’s get things started – How to start a job on the right foot
  • Networking the systematic way
  • Finding a Job Without Experience: Six Strategies to Consider
  • To teach or not to teach: Finding an internship
  • Applying for Research Internships and Summer Jobs in Psychology and the Health Professions
  • Research Internships in Psychology

Which is more helpful, career coaching, executive coaching, psychotherapy or psychoanalysis?

Like most psychologists, psychoanalysts, I work with people with relationship difficulties, anxiety, depression, self-esteem challenges, the impostor syndrome, writer’s block and related challenges. Also, I have an extensive background in career counseling and executive coaching. Therefore, I’ve pioneered the integration of psychotherapy with career challenges. The National Career Development Association (NCDA), has published them within, Career Convergence, the largest career publication in the United States.

While many people seek career coaching in Washington DC, some require the more depth-oriented approach, that psychotherapy or psychoanalysis may afford.  The articles, below, describe for whom each of these approaches is most helpful. Although they were written primarily for career counselors and psychotherapists,  many sophisticated laypeople have found them to be helpful.

National Career Development Association

• The Role of Unconscious Conflict in Career Counseling
  • Why do clients undermine the very career counseling that is designed to help them? They do this because they have an internal conflict that is outside of their awareness. This article explains why some clients torpedo their own efforts and how they can be helped.
• The Role of Transference in Career Counseling 
  • Not every client is able to make good use of career counseling or coaching. This article examines for whom career counseling is helpful, and why it is useful. Also, it explores for whom career counseling is not useful and want sort of support might help them to overcome their difficulties.

When the obstacles to career fulfillment are psychological

These articles, below, written for the popular media examine psychological factors that can hamper people’s efforts to define and pursue their work-life goals.

Washington Business Journal

Often, people are curious as to why identifying and pursuing career goals can be so challenging. These articles address this in detail.

• Analyze this: My job, my life and why I’m not thrilled – Many successful people are frustrated and unhappy at work. But how does one clarify and resolve work-life issues? How does one know if one needs help? And, after deciding that help might be useful, how does one know what kind to seek? An important starting point is to identify the work-life conflict. In general, people struggle with three work-life conflicts: What do I want to do with my life? How do I go about pursuing my goals? How do I galvanize myself to get started? What sort of career and executive counseling here in Washington DC?
• Successful Parents must let Kids Learn from Failure – As a CEO, you wonder why your young adult child, has graduated from a prestigious college and is living downstairs in your basement. This article explores how parents might prevent, “Failure to Launch”.
• Coping mechanisms at work: More harm than good? – How do you help and support a superb employee who is sabotaging herself? You are neither a coach nor a psychoaanlyst, but here are some things that you can do to help her to become more self-aware.

Additional resources

Dr. Lynn Friedman discusses how to assess whether one needs career coaching, psychotherapy or psychoanalysis.

• Do you need psychotherapy or career coaching?

Careers In Psychology & The Helping Professions

I have expertise in psychology and the helping professions; I’ve provided links to those columns.

What’s your company policy regarding leaving for psychotherapy during the work day?

• You Answer to Everyone, even if one Employee asks (allowing an employee flex-time to pursue psychotherapy or any other personal goal) – The employee who negotiates a schedule in which he is gone for two hours over a ten hour stretch may not be job hunting. He may be quietly pursuing psychotherapy or psychoanalysis. Assuming his work is solid, supporting his effort may be another step in the direction of maintaining a healthy workplace. The silver lining in the cloud: individuals in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis are typically able to focus more fully on their work.

Seeking Career Coaching in Washington DC?

Please note: In this era of COVID-19, I am providing online psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, clinical consultation, supervision & career & executive counseling. If this interests you, feel free to give me a call:301.656.9650.