Valeria, 30 years old, PhD in physics, currently an IT consultant

Describe your biggest, coolest result from a coaching program.

Perhaps the coolest realization is the formulation of the most important criteria that my work should meet. And also the fact that it is more interesting for me personally not to choose one area and focus on it, but to try many different and new things and constantly learn.

In addition, after this formulation, it became clear to me personally that my current employer fits my personal values and priorities very well and that I can and want to take responsibility for my personal career path within this company.

What difficulty did you come to coaching with?

I came to Zhenya after working for three months at my first job "in my specialty" (in quotes because it's a meme) and realizing that it was a complete bore. In a leading market leader company, I didn't like just about everything: from the work of HR to clocking in and out and comments like "don't worry, you'll get used to it in a year, it's unusual for everyone after the academy".

I had a complete rejection of the situation and absolute confusion: is it really going to be like this for the rest of my life now! I already had an offer from another company and we agreed with Zhenya to meet for the first time three months after starting at this new IT consulting company.

It was very important for me to define for myself important criteria and triggers in order not to get into a completely unsuitable company again and to formulate the criteria of a suitable company for me, i.e. what should be there and what should not be there in any case. And most importantly, why it matters to me at all.

How did the work go?

We worked for 6 sessions, discussed mainly strengths and tried to articulate from different angles what it means for me to "work high". It was difficult for me to verbally define my feelings, name them and unravel the reasons for their occurrence. The associative example with picture cards and metaphors helped me a lot, as a visual person it was much easier for me to formulate something keeping a picture in front of my eyes.

What did you leave coaching with?

Probably the most important thing, even if not profitable for Zhenya 😂 , is the skill of self-coaching. The skill of asking myself questions: why this is important to me, why this makes me happy and this annoys me, and what I can do about it.

It always seemed to me that I couldn't focus on one thing and was always floundering or out of place: I want to work with people, and I'm a techie, and I'm also interested in solving technical problems. I was confused by this and kept feeling like I had to choose one thing. An important realization of our sessions is that you don't have to choose: you can combine and combine in one profession or "fill in" the desirable communication with people/technical problems by volunteering or freelancing. This helped me to calm down and realize that everything is normal and that interest in many fields is actually my thing and sets me apart as a special professional.

I also realized that my current employer is a great fit for me personally at my stage of life and that in this consulting position I have a lot of opportunities to make my personal path/career aligned with my values and interests.

Unexpected result: I've always been roughly indifferent to what I wear, but now that I need to be in formal business attire from time to time, I've become interested in the topic of personal style and formal wear that is comfortable for me. I'm now working on this as part of my career representation of myself.

Thanks to this, I made my first presentation in the company (I wanted to do more presentations). I am now brave enough to take on new tasks so that I can learn to do them well. I openly communicate my strengths and weaknesses, defining the status quo so that there are no misunderstandings with clients and colleagues.

How do you feel after completing the program?

Even if outwardly it seems like nothing happened, for me, internally defining my personal priorities feels like it put my career and self-esteem on such solid pillars instead of a vague soupy mishmash of kind of interesting concepts to me. This certainty helps me prioritize in the moment and look boldly into the future, checking career opportunities/perspectives against my personal values.