CAREER

Tips from NYWICI Coaches

Tips, tricks and words of advice from the NYWICI coaches. Learn more about our coaches, our coaching program and all the benefits of a New York Women in Communications membership. 

As a member, you can schedule an annual complimentary one-on-one career session with one of the NYWICI coaches.

Nomi Bachar

“Teach yourself to accept and understand your emotions rather than to judge, criticize or dismiss them.”

“In emotionally difficult times, allow yourself to feel. At the same time, support yourself to find what makes you happy.”

Diane Baranello

“Reaching your full potential…you can do it! The challenge is in pushing boundaries. No one reaches her full potential doing what she’s always done and nestled in her comfort zone. Success is developing new talents, taking on larger challenges, risking failure, setting your compass on the next horizon.”

“Reputation. It takes a long time to build and minutes to destroy. Slow is the way to go. Build your reputation one client, one experience, one story at a time.”

“Confidence. It’s simple really. Take credit when you deserve it. Ask for what you have earned. Stand up when you speak, stand out when you can.”

Caroline Ceniza-Levine

“Peak performance strategies are not just for athletes prepping for a big game. There are many high-stakes career events—sales meetings, performance reviews, salary negotiations. You want to have the same ability that champion athletes have to harness your best performance at will. Some strategies: develop a specific routine for how you will eat, dress, and prepare for ‘game day’ high-stakes events; pick a strong motivational cue to get you focused; practice in performance conditions (e.g., role play that salary conversation before the big meeting).”

“Employment statistics are always wrong, so unless your job is to track the labor market, stop listening to market news. Your own employment rate is always 0% or 100%. You either have a job or you don’t. You either love your job or you don’t. Even if the unemployment rate is 25%, you just have to be one of the three out of four people who has a job. Focus on your own search and career.”

Rory Kelly Connor

“What you resist persists. Every time your back goes up and you get defensive or resist, take a deeper look at that. There’s an obstacle there that is holding you back.”

“Your choices make your life. All choices have consequences. Be accountable for those choices and where they have taken you instead of blaming others. If you don’t like where you are, make new choices, even if they are hard.”

Ann Fry

“Never let anyone else tell you what you should or should not be doing—your life and your career are up to you. Keep the ‘naysayers’ away.”

“Always come from your heart—be loving and compassionate with yourself, and with others. It’s the human connection that means everything.”

“Every time you fail to honor yourself, a little piece of your spirit dies – always keep your light shining…honor yourself no matter what.”

Mim Nelson-Gillett

“If you have the kind of job where you need to switch your whole mode (e.g. from the big picture and managing others, to detail work you do yourself) try to schedule your time in chunks so that you aren’t popping in and out of different ways of working. You may want to do the detail work early in the morning, or at the end of the day. This will improve your productivity, reduce stress and have you feel more in control.”

“Trust your instincts, trust your decisions, trust yourself.”

Maren Perry

“Leap first, figure it out later. So many of my successful clients attribute some part of their success to a moment where they took a risk. Many of my clients who are on their way up and hoping to be successful are instead trying to figure everything out before they take a big step. Take a note from those at the top: take the big assignment, agree to lead the meeting, and promise to write the whitepaper…all before you know you can. I promise you there’s nothing that will help you learn faster than having that deadline. You’ll rise to the challenge!”

“Build a network. Get to know people. Remember and track them. Consciously create a web of people that you trust and who trust you so that you can reach your goals with their help. That’s not just about the CEO, but the maintenance person and your next door neighbor. Facebook and LinkedIn can make this easier, but they don’t count unless you really know them and could reach out to them. Everyone is said to know 150 people: if your people all know 150 people, you have 22,500 people at your fingertips to help you find your next job, donate to your cause, give you advice or anything else you need.”

“Keep learning. There’s no end to what you can be. Stay curious and engaged. You can grow not only in skill, but in how you approach the world. Learning new software is useful, but not nearly as useful as improving your ability to communicate, forgive others, or increase your emotional intelligence. We can all always get better at those.”

Belinda Plutz

“In a job search, follow-up is vital. When someone gives you information or a name to call, in addition to ‘thank you,’ always give feedback afterwards on what happened, framed in the most positive way. For the person helping—in addition to knowing that you used their connection—being appreciated and seeing results helps to fuel the process.”

“Make it easy for prospective employers to reach you. Most people have a ‘signature block’ on their business email. You also need one for your personal email. Create a personal ‘signature block’ that includes your name and phone number at the very least. You might also want to add your LinkedIn URL, and links to your blog or web page if appropriate.”

Laura Schwarz

“Focus on and value your strengths. Find opportunities to showcase and stop stressing about all the other things you could be better at.”

“Don’t let other peoples’ bad behavior bring out bad behavior in you. You can’t control other people or situations, but you can control your reaction.”

Joanne Tombrakos

“Your online engagement is a reflection of who you are. So think before you post to Twitter, LinkedIn or whatever your social network of choice is. Who do you want to be seen as?”

“Differentiating yourself in today’s marketplace does not have to be flashy or expensive. One of my favorite tools is remembering to say ‘thank you.’ It’s simple, inexpensive and guaranteed to set you apart, because the truth is—too few people use it.”

“Multi-tasking is not a badge of honor or a time-saver. To do things right, one needs to focus. To pay attention. To give full concentration to the task at hand. Ultimately, you’ve saved time.”

Terry Yoffe

“Ask yourself: What stories do you tell yourself that keep you from achieving your goals and outcomes?”

“Are you stepping into the vision of what you would like for yourself or are you stagnant and not looking to the horizon?”

As a member, you can schedule an annual complimentary one-on-one career session with one of  the NYWICI coaches.