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Patricia A. Crew
Master Career Counselor MA, LCPC, NBCC
Patricia has almost 30 years of experience helping individuals pursue, change, manage and advance their careers. As well as a Masters degree in counseling from Catholic University, Patricia has completed numerous post-graduate classes in counseling and career development at Johns Hopkins University.
Patricia previously worked as the Career Development Manager for the Montgomery County Government and as a career counselor for the Montgomery County Commission for Women.
She continues to be a featured speaker with recent presentations topics that include: Secrets to Predicting Career Success That Only You Know, Get Out of Your Own Way To Get What You Want in Your Career and Winning Strategies to Enhance Your Worth at Work.
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COMPREHENSIVE CAREER COUNSELING CAN HELP YOU TO: |
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~ Gain a clear understanding of your core strengths. ~ Do a thorough career exploration. ~ Manage a career change. ~ Improve your work performance. ~ Remove artificial, organizational barriers to success. ~ Navigate thorny management issues. ~ Prevent derailment by building strategic alliances.
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| CLIENT SPOTLIGHT
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"Losing
a job under any circumstance hits the core of one's self-esteem to say nothing
of the financial challenges to the self and family. Where to turn? What to do?
How to feel? There are many dilemmas and potential crises depending on our own
preparedness for such disasters that face us head on to a greater or lesser
degree. Regardless of who we are, I personally believe that we cannot job
search without support, preferably professional support.
Searching
for a career counselor can be daunting but I suggest looking no further than
Patricia Crew MA, LCPC. I have known Patricia Crew since at least 1999.
Here's
what she has done for me and can do for the job seekers willing to listen and
to follow her guidance. She starts with an assessment of the career goals,
family and personal issues, and reason for the search. As needed and in my
case, she may use standardized tools to determine the match of interests with
the appropriate job search.
After
the initial assessment, she refers back to the findings to relate them to what
the job seeker is doing at the moment. This technique is reassuring and
comforting that time is not being wasted, that the job search is purring along
normally. Genuine empathetic concern is the hallmark of her service.
When
the job search well seems dry, Patricia fills it up with new strategies for the
search and the continuous encouragement not only in session in person, but by
telephone and email. When a job offer is made, she continues to coach to help
determine job fit through inquiry and discussion on the risks and benefits of
the job.
Patricia Crew is Counselor Extraordinaire and it is
a pleasure to know her."
- C.C.
Bethesda, MD
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Volume 8: Summer 2009 Greetings!
Welcome
to the eight edition of my Comprehensive Career Counseling Newsletter. As I
mentioned in my last newsletter, I have taken these next few editions in a new
direction to address some of the problems and opportunities facing many of us
in the current turbulent times.
Straight
from the front pages of the Washington Post, Sunday, August 9th, "FALLOUT: Life on the Firing Squad: THE ART
OF LETTING EMPLOYEES GO." Yes, do
read the article - it is very interesting but PLEASE do not buy into the
anxiety that it creates for those of you who are imagining or facing a career
transition.
Also, we
are reading and hearing on the news that the unemployment rate is dropping
exponentially - so what to believe?
Believe
that we, in the Washington,
DC area, are in insulated circumstances and hiring is continuing to occur -
especially in the Federal Government (see more about this in my Recommendations.)
In my
last issue, I enumerated the criteria for choosing counselors to guide you in
this difficult and confusing time. In
this issue, I will discuss "Why" a career counselor would be helpful to you.
I have three workshops coming up in the Fall including: Wednesday,
September 30th from 6:30
to 8:30 pm, I will be
presenting Secrets to Predicting Career Success that Only You Know. Also,
I will be presenting A Career Woman's Guide to Self Promotion on
Tuesday, October 20th from 6:30
to 8:30 pm. Go to the Commission for Women's Web site closer to the workshops to read more and register.
And, a
very special event presented by one of the authors of "Guide to America's Federal Jobs" will take place at my Potomac office location on or about October 28th. There is limited registration - please call
or e-mail me with your interest. There
will be a fee.
I'd like to remind you that I am now seeing clients on Thursdays
(including evening hours) in Washington,
D.C. at the following location: 1700 17th Street, NW, Suite 201.
And finally, I'd like to encourage you to visit my new Web site at www.crewcounseling.com
if you haven't done so already.
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Why Career Counseling?
Are you living in close alliance with your goals, values,
life's purpose and what is important to you? If not, consider the importance of
career counseling. "With work envisioned as a quest for self, the key to career
counseling is to assist clients in finding fuller meaning in life; thus, career
counseling becomes a methodology for life planning."1
Recently, an acquaintance of mine commented that she thought
I "just helped people find jobs". To
this, I gently responded that my work as a career counselor was a bit more
complex, realizing that the vast majority of individuals do not understand the
purpose, dynamics and techniques utilized in career counseling.
Career counseling exceeds helping individuals write resumes
and prepare for interviews. As
practitioners, career counselors recognize that there is much more involved in
the career counseling process as we comprehensively explore all the elements
occurring in an individual's life impacting their career choices and work life
experiences.
In many respects, a career counselor is like a trusted
friend who enables you to ponder, explore and assess self and options in a safe
environment. As William Arthur Ward
suggests, "A true friend knows your weaknesses but shows you your strengths;
feels your fears but fortifies your faith; sees your anxieties but frees your
spirit; recognizes your disabilities but emphasizes your possibilities."2
This discussion then leads us to the question, "What then
are some of the critical elements in career counseling?"
1. Systematic and thoughtful exploration of
the nature of the career difficulty.
People struggling with making career decisions feel overwhelmed and
confused by a lack of direction or the presence of a vast array of options. Career counselors assist by helping the
individual to define the career problems, find ways to resolve these
situations and/or assist in finding positive options for the future.
2. Thorough assessment of a person's entire
situation. Such an exploration
includes: feelings, life roles, practical aspects such as the financial
situation, family relationships, health issues and other personal
influences. Creating a solid, trusting,
working alliance, a career counselor encourages clients to comprehensively
assess all variables impacting their career concerns. Career decision making is a multi-dimensional
experience
3. Development of
clear objectives or "career challenges." Addressed as part of the career counseling experience,
career counselors add structure to the counseling process by identifying clear
objectives and suggesting the techniques and strategies to be utilized in
realizing goals.
4. Self-assessment
and career exploration are key. Stated
succinctly, according to D.P. Block and L.J. Richmond: "When thinking about
work...(clients) should ask themselves: 'What do I know, what can I do? What do I
know about myself and what do I know about the world of work? What skills do I
possess that would be useful in our world of work? Which of these skills do I
enjoy using and (very importantly) what knowledge and skills that I do not have
now would I want to acquire to do a specific kind of work?"3
Soulful self-assessment provides the basis for a career
exploration free of social constraints.
This allows an individual to expel preconceived notions, familial-based
goals and pressure from peers. Career
counselors provide a safe environment where career is not viewed as linear but
cyclical. Career/life planning is often
an exercise in connecting the dots, piecing together a puzzle - integrating
past and present to allow one to courageously take the next step.
1 Kinjerski, Val and Skrypnek, Berna J. (2008, June 4). Four Paths to Spirit at Work: Journeys of Personal Meaning, Fulfillment, Well-Being, and Transcendence Through Work. The Career Development Quarterly, 56(4).
2 Pryor, Robert G. L., Amundson, Norman E. and Bright, Jim E. H. (2008, June 4). Probabilities and Possibilities: The Strategic Counseling Implications of the Chaos Theory of Careers. The Career Development Quarterly, 56(4).
3 Bloch, D. P. and L.J. Richmond (1998). Soul Work. California: Davies and Black Publishers.
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SPECIAL EVENTS
Guide to America's Federal Jobs will be presented by Karol Taylor, co-author of "Guide to America's Federal Jobs". This workshop will help you to:
- Discover the Government's opportunities and benefits.
- Find and apply for Federal jobs more efficiently.
- Use the official Federal jobs Web site most productively.
This workshop will take place on or about October 28, 2009 in Potomac, Maryland and will require a fee. Please check my Web site (www.crewcounseling.com) closer to the date for more details. If interested, please e-mail me at trishacrew@aol.com or phone me at 301-838-9456.
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RECOMMENDATIONS
Womenomics: 1.Write Your Own Rules for Success and 2. How to Stop Juggling and Finally Start Living and Working the Way You Really Want by Claire Shipman and Katty Kay (2009) Flexibility, time rather than money,
strategies to tame the demands of technology and negotiation methods to deal
with getting what you need in your life as a woman are only a few of the many
insightful and useful topics offered by this new book co-authored by Claire
Shipman of Good Morning America and Katty Kay of BBC
News. Take a look!
- Ready to Work
First Tuesday of the month, 6:00 pm
- Transition Roundtable - TelecomHUB
Second Tuesday of
the month, 4:00 pm
- CFO Support Group Second Thursday of the month, 4:00 pm For more information, contact ardell.fleeson@cbre.com. |
PARTNERS CORNER
Marva Goldsmith
Most people
have a vision of what they want to achieve but don't understand that their
words, actions and image may be holding them back. Marva Goldsmith, a Certified
Image Professional, delivers image and branding services through workshops,
workbooks, consulting and branded collateral development that helps her clients
market their best self. Preview her new website at urbanbuzzblog.com. |
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| As always, I look forward to your feedback.
Sincerely,
Patricia Crew
Comprehensive Career Counseling
trishacrew@aol.com
301-838-9456
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