Emma: Job Search Coach
Hey!
My name is Emma BF - it’s a very long last name. You could think of me as your best friend,
whatever works for you. I currently live in New Hampshire, although I lived in Washington DC for the last
five or six years.
I am a job search coach for HIRED and a leadership and career coach for women in technology. I’ve been part of the Bossed Up community since 2016 when I was Director of Operations at a college access and mentoring organization in Washington, DC.
The Bossed Up community really helped me sharpen my negotiation skills, while supporting me in making a huge career pivot into technology. For the last few years, I have been a technology consultant for nonprofits and pivoted into leadership coaching for women because I have a vision of compassionate, powerful women, leading organizations and companies to transform our world.
What drives you to help others as a job search coach?
What drives me to help people in their job search process as a coach is knowing firsthand how accountability and having someone who has your back can create massive results in your job search process, because I tried to go through the job search process on my own and it felt like gears were just spinning.
I was applying online into a black hole of job postings. When I stepped into a coaching relationship and called in support from my community, that's when things started happening. I was pushed outside my comfort zone. I was guided to companies that aligned with my values and my mission. At the end of the day, I ended up making more money - $10,000 more, than the job posting even had described. I know that’s because I had community and accountability. I had people who had my back.
When did you realize you needed help during your job search process?
I realized I needed help when I was only looking at jobs in what I had done before. I had put up my own blinders. I thought, “Okay, I've been in the nonprofit sector, so that means I'm going to stay in nonprofit leadership.”
It wasn't until five people helped me see that maybe I need to put down those blinders to see what's possible by stepping into technology. I was so resistant. I was like, “No, I don't do that. I'm not a tech-person really.”
People were trying to help me and I was resisting it based on what I had done before, rather than welcoming in that advice - that support and seeing what was possible in a new version of me.
What have you learned from helping people find careers that suit their needs?
Where I see people struggle the most is really getting clear on their vision - getting clear on what they want. I just got off a call with a client and she said:
“I feel like I've been on the hamster wheel of just taking the job that's next in front of me. Now I'm turning 30, and I want to - for the first time in my life, ask the question, What do I want?
Not just staying on the wheel because people are saying, ‘Oh. Here's another job because this is how I see you.’ Or, ‘Oh. Here's another job because this is what you've been doing.’”
I want to help others really get clear on the questions:
What do you want?
Why do you want it?
What does that look like in the context of a job that serves your lifestyle?
Why do you care that job seekers find careers that best fit their specific goals and needs?
To me, it's important that job seekers find a job that aligns with their goals, because I have experienced the feeling of only doing what other people tell me I should do.
When I tapped into what I actually want - what lights me up, what work brings me joy every day, that's the type of life I want to see women all over this country live. I want to see people take back their own power and know that they can actually decide what they want to do. They can choose it, and they can create whatever they want.
What are some of your personal core values? How do they shape your coaching style?
My personal coaching values are empathy, connection, and empowerment. I believe that in order for me to really serve people I work with, I start with connection and really understanding why you are even on this job search.
Is it because you're in a toxic work environment?
Is it because you're sick and tired of being sick and tired?
Is it because you feel undervalued and you know in your gut that there's something bigger for you?
I always start with that connection to create empathy.
I want to be there with you in this process and not just say, “Okay, let's go. Let's go into the steps.” I want to start with learning about why you want this. Why does it matter? What are your fears around it?
Oftentimes people believe that the job search process is all about tactics - taking action. What I find is we’ve got to start with the fears. Tell me what about this process scares the crap out of you, so I can serve you as a coach.
You can find the steps online. You can find steps on YouTube, on blogs, and podcasts. But to have a coach who’s really saying, No. I'm here for you in your situation where you're at, so you feel empowered to choose the job that you want and you feel empowered to decide what you want.
That’s what guides all of my coaching sessions. How I connect with people guides how I serve people. I personally feel like it's what is missing in this world - empathy, connection, and empowerment.
Why do you want to help members of the Bossed Up community find what they're passionate about?
At the end of the day, that's all that matters - that you are doing something that you love.
All that matters is you feel lit up about your life. All that matters is that you step into your power and create what you want, because we know that we all lift as we climb.
By supporting you get to a place where you feel happy, powerful, and on fire, then you are going to give permission to other people around you to know that they can do it, too. Bossed Up is the ripple effect - by you being successful, by you stepping into your dream job, by you feeling empowered to do this work, then other people will too.
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