Charlotte Rinaldi   on Wednesday 02/02/2011 at 12:31 PM

Wow Ebony,
What a clear overview of an incredibly complex process. I work with Liberal Arts students at a polytechnic university. Although many of these students are not as "eccentric" as you described, they feel it because of the contrast between their need to continue the internal search while their peers are following linear career paths. It was fun to hear your process of guiding clients without limiting them by outside expectations. Thanks for a great article.

Ebony Tara Scurry, PHR, GCDF   on Wednesday 02/02/2011 at 10:59 PM

Hi Charlotte!

Thank you so much for your positive feedback on my article. I’m thrilled you fun learning about my process! I wish you the best of luck as you work with your Liberal Arts students. I absolutely know what you mean as per their need to continue searching within themselves despite what their peers are pursuing. Again, thank you for your comment! Please stay in touch!

~ Ebony

Jennifer Rogers   on Thursday 02/03/2011 at 12:51 PM

I really enjoyed your article on being a career architect. You expressed yourself beautifully, describing so well our interactions with clients and strategies to help them. Your title got me thinking, maybe I am a "career geographer"? Helping clients find their way to their destination!

Love it! Great to re-frame my personal label.

Thank you!

Ebony Tara Scurry, PHR, GCDF   on Thursday 02/03/2011 at 10:27 PM

Jennifer, thank you for your comment and compliment!

I’m so excited that you enjoyed my article. To learn that it inspired you to analyze your own title and brand means a lot me…makes all this hard work worth every second! Special kudos goes out to your tag-line by the way – I like it!

Best wishes as you move forward towards success!

~ Ebony

Ken Mattsson   on Friday 02/04/2011 at 01:31 PM

Ebony,

I was so surprised to find this article, as I work with some very similar clients (creative entrepreneurs, I call them) who's career paths fall outside of the normal way that people think about career development. I 100% agree that for career advising to be effective, it has to be connected to their lives, and I find that analogies are one of the key things to get them to understand, as it's in the non-linear language they understand.

The largest value that I can bring is usually the structure in understanding how they will succeed and helping them build that foundation.

Ken Mattsson

Ebony Tara Scurry, PHR, GCDF   on Friday 02/04/2011 at 09:51 PM

Hi Ken,

Absolutely: the normal way many think about career development is that it’s a “stop and go-stop and go” linear pathway. In reality and in particularly for creative and eccentric clients, it’s actually more like an obstacle course!

Thank you for adding your input about the usefulness of using analogies. I also agree with you on helping them understand the “How”. When our clients happen to know “What” they want, they’re usually looking to us to show them “How” they can get there.

Thanks for sharing Ken! I appreciate your comment.

~ Ebony