Peak Careers

Professional Development for Career Practitioners

Interviews

Interview: Power of Adaptability and Our Values

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This is another informative interview with Dr. Spencer “Skip” Niles and is a follow up to his keynote speech at the National Career Development Association (NCDA) conference in San Diego this past June 2024. I personally thought it was the best keynote speech I’ve seen in years.

Note: You can still watch his speech by registering for the NCDA Virtual Conference by October 1st, 2024 here.

We explore three pieces of his keynote.

  1. The importance of being adaptable in our careers
  2. The chaos of starting something new
  3. The values activity he uses where you outline your own book of your life
Interview with Dr. Spencer “Skip” Niles

BIO: Spencer G. Niles Dr. Spencer Niles serves as Professor in the Counselor Education Program at William & Mary. Previously, he served as Dean (2013-2020) and Professor at the School of Education at William & Mary.

Spencer Niles is a Past-President of Chi Sigma Iota International and was twice the President of the National Career Development Association (NCDA). He is the recipient of the NCDA Eminent Career Award. Niles is a Fellow of the National Career Development Association and the American Counseling Association.

Niles is a Fellow of ACA and NCDA. He served as two-term Editor for The Career Development Quarterly, Editor for the Journal of Counseling & Development, and continues to serve on numerous journal editorial boards. He has authored or co-authored approximately 140 publications and delivered over 150 presentations at national and international conferences. His book Career Development Interventions (6th edition) is the best-selling career text in the world. His forthcoming co-authored books are titled Career Flow and Development: Hope-Action Theory and Career Recovery: Creating Careers with Hope in Difficult Times.

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Jim Peacock is the Principal at Peak-Careers Consulting and writes a weekly email for career practitioners. Peak-Careers offers discussion-based online seminars for career practitioners focused on meeting continuing education needs for CCSP, GCDF and BCC certified professionals as well as workshops for career practitioners and individual career coaching.

He is the author of A Field Guide for Career Practitioners: Helping Your Clients Create Their Next Move and the recipient of the 2020 Kenneth C. Hoyt Award from National Career Development Association.

Sign up to receive my TOP 10 TIPS WHEN WORKING WITH AN UNDECIDED PERSON. You will also receive the career practitioner’s weekly email on a variety of career topics, industry news, interesting events, and more. (Sign up)

INTERVIEW: Career Trends in the Next 3-5 Years

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My guests today

Ann Nakaska –Career Consultant / Career Educator / Futurist

Dr. David Blustein –Professor and the Golden Eagle Faculty Fellow in the Department of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology at Boston College

Dorothy Dalton – International Talent Management Strategist and Founder of 3Plus International.

QUESTION

What are the career trends in the next 3-5 years that career service providers need to be aware of?


We discuss how the future affects marginalized people and social justice issues, the 4th technology era impact, why post-secondary education needs to move away from the “four-year” model, and much more.

Watch / Listen Now

Full Bios

Ann Nakaska –BA, M. Ed., CDF is a career consultant who specializes in career decision making and career planning. She researches, writes, and presents on work trends and career opportunities of the future. She loves reading about business, innovation, and the fourth industrial revolution. She is optimistic about this age of uncertainty and loves exploring the work opportunities open to all people created by industry innovation. https://www.constructivecareer.com/
LinkedIn: Ann Nakaska BA, MEd | LinkedIn

Dr. David Blustein –is a Professor and the Golden Eagle Faculty Fellow in the Department of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology at Boston College.  Dr. Blustein is the author of The Psychology of Working and The Importance of Work in an Age of Uncertainty as well as numerous articles and book chapters. He has been instrumental in developing psychology of working theory, which represents a social justice-informed perspective on the role of work in people’s lives. Dr. Blustein is also in practice as a career counselor, career coach, and counseling psychologist.

Faculty website:  https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/schools/lynch-school/faculty-research/faculty-directory/david-blustein.html

Counseling Practice website: https://www.careercounselingconnection.com/massachusetts/lexington/career-counseling/david-blustein

Dorothy Dalton – is an International Talent Management Strategist and Founder of 3Plus International,  working with global organizations to meet their diversity and inclusion goals.  She is a Certified Trainer and Coach focusing on supporting individuals to reach their potential. She has recently certified as  a Trauma Informed Coach in response to a spike in workplace mental health issues. www.dorothydalton.com

JIM PEACOCK is the Principal at Peak-Careers Consulting and writes a weekly career news email for career practitioners. Peak-Careers offers discussion-based online seminars for career practitioners focused on meeting continuing education needs for CCSP, GCDF and BCC certified professionals as well as workshops for career practitioners and individual career coaching. He is the author of A Field Guide for Career Practitioners: Helping Your Clients Create Their Next Move Sign up to receive my TOP 10 TIPS WHEN WORKING WITH AN UNDECIDED PERSON. You can also receive the career practitioners weekly career email which includes a variety of career topics, industry news, interesting events, and more.

Three Words to Guide Us in 2024

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Another Peak-Careers INTERVIEW  on our Three Words to Guide Us in 2024

My guests today are Scott Woodard – Executive and Leadership Development Coach, Marcela Mesa – Psychologist and founder of Orientarte in Colombia, and Belinda Wilkerson – Founder and principal counselor at Steps To The Future, LLC

We discuss how they choose their three words and what they mean to them.

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Dr. Belinda J. Wilkerson is the founder and principal counselor at Steps To The Future, LLC, a college and career counseling service serving students worldwide. A lifelong educator, she held teaching, school counseling and counselor educator positions in Rhode Island before relocating to North Carolina. Wilkerson is an adjunct professor at Providence College (RI) in the School counseling program. She is a former Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Cumberland County Public Library and Information Center and presently serves as the Vice-President of the Cumberland County Friends of the Library. She is in the second year of her Presidential cycle for the North Carolina Career Development Association (NCCDA), serving from 2023 -2024 as President. Belinda served on the Board of Directors for the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA) Board from 2016 – 2022 and was the VP for Ethics & Standards of Practice from 2019 – 2021. Currently, she is a member of the IECA’s Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) Committee and a co-founder of the Black IECs Affinity Group.

Wilkerson earned an EdD in Educational Leadership from Johnson & Wales University, holds an M.Ed. in School Counseling and a BA in history/ secondary education from Rhode Island College. Besides IECA and NCCDA, she holds memberships in the Southern Association for College Admission Counseling (SACAC), the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), the National Career Development Association (NCDA), the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) and the Career Counselors Consortium (CCC).

Married with two adult sons, she enjoys her fur family, reading, and traveling. Connect with Dr. Wilkerson on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/belindawilkerson/.

Scott Woodard is an executive and leadership development coach, helping leaders transform from strong to superb. He frames issues so people can take action and achieve their goals – for themselves, their organizations, their communities. He works with individuals and teams to see new patterns and create alternative ways to move forward. Together they identify small actions that lead to big changes.

Scott has conducted workshops and trainings for leaders and teams, to identify their strategic goals and develop measurable outcomes. 

He has coached people from all walks of life: corporate executives and elected officials challenged to transform their organizations; Boomers trying to determine the “second acts” of their lives; and new graduates starting out in their first career.

Prior to his professional coaching career, Scott enjoyed a long career as a successful policy advisor to state and local elected leaders in Colorado, helping key decision-makers frame these issues in ways that they could move forward with actionable strategies. He was honored to receive a German Marshall Fund Fellowship in recognition of problem-solving leadership for public sector leaders.  He holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration and a BA in history.

He lives the ex-pat life in Ajijic, Mexico with his wife, a psychotherapist — so he is truly in touch with his feelings.

Scott can be reached by email at [email protected]. He can also be contacted via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottwoodardcareercoach/. 

Marcela Mesa, is a Psychologist, GCDF and FCD Instructor in Cali, Colombia, with 24+ years of experience delivering career services in private practice, passionate about helping people make good career decisions from a broad diversity of social contexts. Trained as a Psychologist in the Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen in Germany, Specialist in Gestalt Therapy and Human Talent Management, founder and CEO of Orientarte in Colombia (www.orientarte.com) and now Orientarte LLC (www.liveyourdreamcareer.com ) in the US, aiming to deliver career services for Latinos living in the US. She is also co-chair of the NCDA Global Connections Committee. She can be reached at linkedin.com/in/orientartemarcelamesa and [email protected]

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Jim Peacock is the Principal at Peak-Careers Consulting and writes a weekly email for career practitioners. Peak-Careers offers discussion-based online seminars for career practitioners focused on meeting continuing education needs for CCSP, GCDF and BCC certified professionals as well as workshops for career practitioners and individual career coaching.

He is the author of A Field Guide for Career Practitioners: Helping Your Clients Create Their Next Move and the recipient of the 2020 Kenneth C. Hoyt Award from National Career Development Association.

Sign up to receive my TOP 10 TIPS WHEN WORKING WITH AN UNDECIDED PERSON. You will also receive the career practitioner’s weekly email on a variety of career topics, industry news, interesting events, and more. (Sign up)

What do you want to be when you grow up? Is the wrong question.

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Join me here for another Peak-Careers Interview. My guest today is J.P. Michel the Founder of SparkPath and Creator of the Challenge Cards.

Today we are discussing his new book, The World Need You, and how we can get away from the horrible question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and to flip the equation to helping people discover and articulate the challenges they want to take on.

Here is the link to purchase his book

Screenshot from video with JP Michel and Jim Peacock

Watch or listen now

BIO

J.P. Michel is the creator of the Challenge mindset and the Challenge Cards, which have been used by more than 70,000 students around the world. His past consultancy work with leaders led to the creation of SparkPath, an innovative career exploration company spotlighted on the Forbes, TEDx, CBC and BBC. 

Recognized as the 2022 Outstanding Career Leader by the Career Professionals of Canada, JP’s holds a degree in psychology from the University of Ottawa and a master’s degree in industrial-organizational psychology from the University of Manchester. 

TEDx: The Challenge Mindset: Helping Youth Find Purpose and Impact  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanphilippemichel/

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Jim Peacock is the Principal at Peak-Careers Consulting and writes a weekly email for career practitioners. Peak-Careers offers discussion-based online seminars for career practitioners focused on meeting continuing education needs for CCSP, GCDF and BCC certified professionals as well as workshops for career practitioners and individual career coaching.

He is the author of A Field Guide for Career Practitioners: Helping Your Clients Create Their Next Move and the recipient of the 2020 Kenneth C. Hoyt Award from National Career Development Association.

Sign up to receive my TOP 10 TIPS WHEN WORKING WITH AN UNDECIDED PERSON. You will also receive the career practitioner’s weekly email on a variety of career topics, industry news, interesting events, and more. (Sign up)

Interview: Professional Development through Action

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Another Peak-Careers Interview. Join me here where I interview three past-presidents of the National Career Development Association. Dr. Lisa Severy, Dr. Seth Hayden, and Dr. Lakeisha Mathews.

Today I ask:

  • What do you see as the benefits for being involved with a professional association?
  • What advice can you give to people new to the career development profession?

Interview with 3 past presidents of National Career Development Association.

Watch or Listen Now

BIO’s

Dr. Lisa Severy has been a leader in career development, counseling, and higher education since 1996.  Lisa is an NCDA Certified career counselor and has worked with students and alumni at the University of Florida, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Phoenix and in private practice. Lisa earned her bachelor’s degree from Indiana University and has three graduate degrees, including a PhD in Counselor Education, from the University of Florida.  She was President of NCDA in 2013-2014 and served as the NCDA Rep to the ACA Governing Council from 2017-2023.

Dr. Seth Hayden is an associate professor of counseling, coordinator of the clinical mental health
program, and associate director of the online counseling program at Wake Forest University. Prior to
his role at Wake Forest University, he was the program director of career advising and counseling at
the Florida State University Career Center. He currently serves as a senior research associate in the
Florida State University Career Center Tech Center.

His research focuses on the connection between career development and mental health. In addition,
he examines the career and personal development needs of military service members, veterans, and
their families.

Dr. Hayden is a licensed clinical mental health counselor in North Carolina, a national certified counselor,
a certified clinical mental health counselor, and an approved clinical supervisor. He is also a co-editor
of the Journal of Military and Government Counseling and associate editor of The Career
Development Quarterly. He’s a co-author of two NCDA monographs, Group Career Counseling: Practice
and Principles, and Career Development for Transitioning Veterans. In addition, Dr. Hayden is a past
president of the Military and Government Counseling Association and the National Career
Development Association, both divisions of the American Counseling Association.

Lakeisha Mathews, Ed.D, is Director of the Career and Internship Center at the University of Baltimore and is also the owner of Right Resumes & Career Coaching, career development business focused on providing professional documents, career coaching and training for mid-level and mid-management professionals in a variety of industries.

Dr. Mathews holds several industry certifications including Certified Career Coach, Certified Resume Writer, Global and Career Development Facilitator, and Executive Career Coach among other designations. She holds an Ed.D. in Higher Education Leadership & Innovation from Wilmington University, a  M.S. in Human Resource Development from Towson University and a B.A. in Communication from the University of Maryland College Park.

Lakeisha is committed to the field of career development and in 2011, she was elected as president of the Maryland Career Development Association. In 2017 she was elected Trustee-at-Large for the National Career Development Association (NCDA) and formally served as the Trustee for Higher Education Career Counselors & Educators. She served as President of NCDA from 2022-2023 and traveled to Canada, Italy, Egypt, and Taiwan during her tenure to inspire career professionals around the world.

Of most importance is Lakeisha’s client-centered approach to career coaching. Hearing success stories continues to be the favorite part of her job as a Higher Education Administrator, Educator and Career Coach!

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Jim Peacock is the Principal at Peak-Careers Consulting and writes a weekly email for career practitioners. Peak-Careers offers discussion-based online seminars for career practitioners focused on meeting continuing education needs for CCSP, GCDF and BCC certified professionals as well as workshops for career practitioners and individual career coaching.

He is the author of A Field Guide for Career Practitioners: Helping Your Clients Create Their Next Move and the recipient of the 2020 Kenneth C. Hoyt Award from National Career Development Association.

Sign up to receive my TOP 10 TIPS WHEN WORKING WITH AN UNDECIDED PERSON. You will also receive the career practitioner’s weekly email on a variety of career topics, industry news, interesting events, and more. (Sign up)

 

Interview: An Update on the Hope-Action Theory

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I talk with Dr. Spencer Niles about the Hope-Action Theory developed by Dr. Spencer Niles, Dr. Hyung Joon Yoon, and Dr. Norm Amundson. I’ve always said that hope is what drives career development. We review what Hope-Action Theory is and what are some ways coaches can utilize this theory.

Listen to what Skip says here to understand how hope can be cultivated in our work. Hope requires three things in our work. (1) A goal the client is working toward (2) Strategies on how to achieve and (3) Are they confident they can move forward and motivated to do it?

Skip introduces us to how you can give hope to a client using poetry. He shares two poems that demonstrate using this medium to help our clients. As well as the importance of reflection.

Note: this is my second interview with Skip on the Hope-Action Theory. Watch our first one here.

Watch / Listen to this Interview Now

BIO: Spencer G. Niles Dr. Spencer Niles serves as Professor in the Counselor Education Program at William & Mary. Previously, he served as Dean (2013-2020) and Professor at the School of Education at William & Mary.

Spencer Niles is a Past-President of Chi Sigma Iota International and was twice the President of the National Career Development Association (NCDA). He is the recipient of the NCDA Eminent Career Award. Niles is a Fellow of the National Career Development Association and the American Counseling Association.

Niles is a Fellow of ACA and NCDA. He served as two-term Editor for The Career Development Quarterly, Editor for the Journal of Counseling & Development, and continues to serve on numerous journal editorial boards. He has authored or co-authored approximately 140 publications and delivered over 150 presentations at national and international conferences. His book Career Development Interventions (6th edition) is the best-selling career text in the world. His forthcoming co-authored books are titled Career Flow and Development: Hope-Action Theory and Career Recovery: Creating Careers with Hope in Difficult Times.

———————————————————————————

Jim Peacock is the Principal at Peak-Careers Consulting and writes a weekly email for career practitioners. Peak-Careers offers discussion-based online seminars for career practitioners focused on meeting continuing education needs for CCSP, GCDF and BCC certified professionals as well as workshops for career practitioners and individual career coaching.

He is the author of A Field Guide for Career Practitioners: Helping Your Clients Create Their Next Move and the recipient of the 2020 Kenneth C. Hoyt Award from National Career Development Association.

Sign up to receive my TOP 10 TIPS WHEN WORKING WITH AN UNDECIDED PERSON. You will also receive the career practitioner’s weekly email on a variety of career topics, industry news, interesting events, and more. (Sign up)