Career Coaches: Results of Hiring Criteria Survey.

Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, at N2growth, reports that companies are failing to focus on values and character as part of their hiring criteria. According to the report cited in the story, the main considerations are:

“Leadership ability”;
“I would have to say being a good communicator”;
“The ability to think outside the box and eagerness to learn”;
“The ability to make a good first impression”;
“Intelligence”;
“Commitment to invest long hours”;
“Being a team player”;
“Excellent time management skills”;
“Enthusiastic attitude”;
“Strong analytical abilities”;
“Solid technical skills”;
“The ability to execute”;
“The ability to follow process”
“That the individual is a nice person”;
“That they have a degree from a good school”

To read Matt’s complete article, click here.

The Line Between Coaching and Consulting Gets Murkier.

J. G. Ebersole and Associates, on their coaching blog offer a list of “symptoms” that might indicate a need for business coaching. Here are a few of the items they mention:

Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach offers the following list of situations that indicate you could be ready to benefit from business coaching:
+your business has no clearly defined vision and mission
+your business is growing so rapidly they need help staying in control
+you are working in their business, but not on their business
+you are showing signs of stress and getting burned out
+you are having difficulty with a business partner or key employee
+you are experiencing financial difficulties
+your business is going through a transition
+you are losing clients and customers
+you are feeling lonely and isolated and do not know where to turn
+you have no succession plan or exit strategy
+you have no strategic business plan or marketing plan
+you want to manage and grow their business in a strategic manner
+you recognize the value of outside advice
+you simply feel overwhelmed

Many of these problems are addressed by marketing and management consultants, as well as by coaches. No doubt, the difference is in the process of developing solutions. In many cases the consultant is in a prescriptive mode — do this, don’t do that — whereas the coach is working collaboratively with the client to develop solutions.

Click here to read the rest of the Strategic Thinking Business Coach blog.

Executive Coach and Author Suzi Pomerantz Wins 2007 Woman of Achievement Award.

Suzi Pomerantz, Master Certified Coach and author of Seal the Deal, was among nine honorees selected from a record number of nominations for the 2007 Woman of Achievement Award. Pomerantz is the CEO of Innovative Leadership International LLC and serves as Vice President of the board of directors of the International Consortium for Coaching in Organizations (ICCO) and the editorial board of IJCO. Based in the Washington, D.C. region, Pomerantz has served executives in Fortune 500 corporations and law firms nationwide as a leadership, business and executive coach for over 14 years. Pomerantz was nominated by the Women Business Owners (WBO) organization, where she’ll be speaking in January.

Get the rest of the story here.