Dom: Hey folks! Welcome back to the MentorCruise podcast and I want to start this episode off with a pretty scary stat actually. And that is based on a survey by TechRepublic - 75% of us feel like we are stuck in our careers and half of that is because we feel like the companies that we are at or the place that we work at do not provide the growth opportunities that we are looking for and the other half is actually that we are feeling too overwhelmed and that too stressed to make use of those opportunities and that lack of progress, that lack of development in our career is a pretty big source for burnout, which is a quite a common mental health challenge for working professionals and people in the industry nowadays.
So in this episode, we are talking to Yulia Arellano, who is a professional career coach as well as a mentor on MentorCruise and doing that whole thing about professional development and professional coaching full-time. She will tell us a little bit more about what we can do in our careers to make sure we do not get stuck; or if we are already feeling stuck, what we can do to get out of it.
Dom: I am here with Yulia Arellano who originally started in business development, but then turned her career into career coaching and career progression. Now working with career professionals, anything from professional branding to career growth to much more. And of course, during that time, also became a top mentor on MentorCruise with spotless ratings of 5 stars - no problem at all. I am very excited to have her on the podcast today to talk about how to think about professional development? How to think about your career? And basically, get your career progressing forward. Thank you for joining me Yulia.
Yulia: Hello, Dominic. Thank you for having me. How are you? I am excited to have this talk with you.
Dom: Yeah, doing well. I am equally excited. I want to give you the stage right away. Talk us through what career coaching is and what you are doing on a day-to-day basis. I am so curious to hear.
Yulia: Yeah, well, to speak about that I need to go a little bit back. I started working as a business developer for start-ups here in France, and quickly I realized that the part that I actually liked the most was talking one-on-one with people from colleagues to people from other start-ups that we are having some trouble in their company and so on. And then, I realized that I actually liked that to talk people through, not their problems, but through the things they want to improve. So after a few years in business development, I decided to take some training to become a certified coach and to be able to provide good service, right? Not only advice or as a friend’s advice, really good service. For me, career coaching is all about first helping my clients or my coachee to get to know themselves best, in the sense that sometimes we know we want something different, but we do not even know who we are or at what stage in our life we are in. So I think that, for me, the first thing is to get to know yourself, and I walk my clients through that process and then get clarity on their goals.
Dom: Right. So, it is not really just, “I want to reach a certain goal in my career” and “let us get towards it.” It is much more than that. You really need to kind of go deep on people’s ambitions.
Yulia: Yeah! It is important for me because sometimes we think we want something because we think that is going to make us happy or because it is the next logical step. But that does not mean it is right for us. And it has happened mostly in the beginning, someone wanted a job and I was like, okay, so let us dive in fast. Let us work on your CV, your LinkedIn profile, your cover letter, and then, they were not satisfied with either the field they chose or the company they chose because they were not even aware of their own values. So then, I decided to take it a step further and start with the person and then the goal. And of course, then the strategy to get there and the milestones and everything, but first start with the person.
Dom: Right! That makes a ton of sense. You were talking about that basically, it was kind of helping people to understand their problems and making them go forward that motivated you to go into coaching. But why coaching exactly? Why not, let us say, human resources? which I guess is, kind of similar in the motivation.
Yulia: Maybe it sounds similar, but I think that human resources is more for the administrative part.
Dom: Yeah, sure.
Yulia: That is the impression I get at least, and of course, I respect people that work in human resources because, in the end, we work in a very similar field, but what I like about coaching and the word “coach” is that we are both learning, right? We are a team.
Dom: Right.
Yulia: As a coach, for me, I am part of your team; and as part of your team, I want to help you to get there. As human resources, I think that there is like, “I don’t know”, I know there is status that someone always stays at the top, like the expert in human resources, and then they tell you what to do. And I do not like to tell people what to do. I am not their mother, right? I like to help them find what they want to do. And yeah, that was for me the differences as well, that human resources and coaching has been evolving so much in the last years that I preferred to explore this path.
Dom: Yeah. And I feel like coaching is such a trending thing or a quickly growing thing that I feel like it might be something that is very hard to get into. How did you get your start as a coach?
Yulia: First, as I mentioned before, I got some training. I took first life coaching, basic life coaching, and training because I wanted to understand how to communicate better with people. Then, from there, I jumped to career coaching, another training specific for career coaching. Now, I am about to finish an entrepreneurship coaching certification as well, because it seems like all of the same, but at the same time, it is very different because there is not the same spirit in someone who wants to find a job or evolve in their career in a company than someone who wants to become an entrepreneur or a freelancer. So I wanted to learn, which are strategies to go with a different types of clients and different types of goals.
Dom: Right. That sounds super diverse. Right? There is a lot of different people that are looking for coaching from you. Who is your typical client that you work with; is it more entrepreneurs and maybe founders or executives or is it something for, let us say, that the “average Joe,” us people, as engineers or marketing that could benefit from career coaching as well?
Yulia: Well, all of my clients are very different and I want to mention these because I work as well with a lot of expats, for example, I am an expat myself. I am Mexican, but I live in France for almost 6 years ago. So, I know the first-hand experience of being an expat and, trying to find your own place in another country. So in that sense, of course, I tend to attract expats because it is what I know best. Besides that, I work a lot with people that are at early stages in their careers. Let us say from job hunters to people that have been working a few years longer in a company, and then decide they want something else, whether it is making a complete career switch because, during that path, they found out that that career they chose was not the right one for them or just because they want to change fields. So, I would say that a typical person, I am not that into right now, executive coaching, I hope one day. But right now, I enjoy working a lot with not younger in age but younger in their career, that is a person.
Dom: Yeah, experience.
Yulia: Yeah, exactly.
Dom: So coaching is maybe not as much as you mentioned, the coach is the guru or the expert in every aspect, it is more than you are working together actually and that you are maybe a little bit further or more progress in your career. But you learn as much from your coachees than they do from you as a coach.
Yulia: Yeah! and that is the fun part for me. That is what I enjoy the most, I think. Well, there are a lot of things that I enjoy about this job, but that is one of those, being able to work with people from all over the world because they speak English, French, and Spanish. So I get to talk with people from different nationalities and so on. I learned from their own mentality, their own person, because we are all very different, but also from their own culture, like what is going on in their country? What is the job market there? What is the trend? So I get to learn from everyone.
Dom: That is so exciting, I guess, you know it as well for MentorCruise, but that you get to talk to people all around the world and you get to see those different perspectives, that is so exciting
Yulia: As you mentioned, I do not know everything about everything. It is impossible. I think that someone who promises to know everything at all, they are lying because it is not possible. And sometimes when I work with someone that is in a field that I am not very used to working with or even it is a first time, I tried to do my best to learn from it as fast as I can and to inform myself with colleagues or with people, I may know, that work in those fields, so I can help them better. But yeah, it is a learning curve for both of us. Sometimes I am more aware of a field and it goes a little bit more smooth, but if I am completely honest, I am also always learning and I am happy that I am always learning because I think that if I did not, I would get bored. So that is exciting. And I like to see myself, as I mentioned before, I see my coaching and we are a team. So in that sense sometimes people come to a coach for the wrong reasons. Let us say they want someone who creates for them their CV or who creates for them their cover letter or who does this for them or that and I think that no! it is in partnership. There are some things that I am going to help you with and guide you through, but there is also some work that you need to do on your own and that is important because I do not want people to depend on me every time they want to write a new CV or a new cover letter. I want to teach them how to do it. In that sense, for me, it is important that my client learns and not that I facilitate all the work for them and then expect to come a few years after right? needing to get it done again.
Dom: All right. Yeah. On that topic, I got a question the other day, which is basically how do you draw the line between, let us say, coaching or mentorship to something like a consultant or in that context it was management right? Where maybe the way that you are looking at it is a little bit different, but where do you draw the line? If somebody asks something of you that maybe falls into the place of a consultant like you were saying, putting together your whole study plan and CV, and so on.
Yulia: I can do that, but it is not my preferred way of working, to be honest, but I could do that if someone asks me. I will answer your question. I have a client. She is already top in her career, but she wants to make some changes and move to another company and she told me, “you know what? I do not have the time to send my CV through all of these jobs offers that I am interested in” and then, we both agreed that I could help her to do that. But in that sense, to clarify my boundaries, first in their discovery session I have with my clients, I asked them, what are they expecting from their coach? Not only me but from any coach, what would their ideal coach do and wouldn’t do. So then once I know that I can tell them, okay! From these lists you gave me, this is what I can do, and this is what I cannot do. So that is the best way. I think that being honest, since day one from both sides, is best than making people believe that they can expect something from me that I will not give them.
Dom: Yeah. So it is more about, again, coaching goes into supporting them, basically not doing the work for them, right? They are still so much work that they need to do, but the support is like taking some handiwork off their table.
Yulia: Yeah.
Dom: Awesome! I want to dive into the topic of career development and professional development and what I see often is that people reach out on MentorCruise and they feel kind of stuck in their careers or maybe not as satisfied. And I am wondering whether you have any insights on that and maybe people that reach out to you and/or stuck in their careers or kind of do not know where to go. What is the kind of advice that you usually offer a candidate like that?
Yulia: Okay. It is very person-specific advice. Like there is no general advice for these kinds of things, but the most important thing I would say to someone is to develop some self-awareness in the sense that we need to learn what you like and what you do not like enjoy in your job. There is no general advice. Of course, we are all different. Every situation is very particular, very different. But the number one thing I would say is that we need to develop our self-awareness, and we need to learn what we like and what we do not like. When we do not like something in our career or our job and we feel stuck, we need to, as simple as it sounds, right? make your list and see what you do not like. And from those things you do not like, is there something you can do about it or not. Because if you cannot do anything about it, maybe it is a time to start asking questions, Right? And there is something I like to work with my clients and it is non-negotiables. Things that my clients will negotiate for any job. For example, for someone, it may be super important to have their weekends free because they have a family or because they practice the sport, whatever they have their right. So they can say, okay, for me my list of non-negotiables is that I need to have a free weekend or that amount of holiday. This salary or decent weekly, doesn’t matter, but if you do not want to feel stuck, first you need to know what you like, what you do not like, and what are your non-negotiables. Mostly when we are young, I think we tend to accept things that are not what we want, because we are just so scared to think that for a first job or that first opportunity that then we are like, “Okay, it will improve eventually.” And truth is that we need to educate ourselves to not accept things that are less than we want, and also to educate our employers. How are you allowing them to treat you? Are they paying you fairly? Of course, and at the early stages in our career, it is more complicated, but there are strategies to do so. And that is when working with a mentor or a coach can be interesting, so they can guide you through. If then you realize that that job is not for you, then you can move on and find another one. I think that we live in a world full of opportunities, but to reach those opportunities, we need to get out of our comfort zone, even if that means quitting a job.
Dom: Right. Is that often the resolution in your experience that if somebody feels stuck. How often does it succeed to really go to, let us say, your manager and talk about those non-negotiables versus leaving the job entirely for a new one? If I feel stuck, is there a future for me, basically, at the career that I am now or is it better to just make a drastic change.
Yulia: Again, there is no one right answer. I think it can go both ways. What I recommend always to my clients is to not think about quitting cold Turkey, because that makes us feel very stressed and very anxious. So, I am not saying like, if you do not like your job today, just quit. No! Okay, then you start thinking, “Okay, I am not satisfied.” Again, Why? Can I do something about it? Can I talk with my manager about it? or with my colleague that it has been a pain. Can I do something about it? Yes or not? Because the priority is to first try to make the job you have right now is better for you as possible, in the sense that if you are not leaving tomorrow because you already have another offer, then try to work it out until you find something better. In the meantime, while you are trying to work things out there, you are also looking for other options. You are also looking for another strategy. Maybe you are studying, maybe you are getting a certification or something else that you are interested in. So when I say, you do not need to stay there, is that you really do not need to stay there, but that does not mean that you need to go crazy and just quit everything and go to Hawaii just because you are tired. No! There are ways of doing things and also I think that trying to make work a job that you do not like anymore teaches you a lot. You learn a lot about how to communicate with your friend, how to improve your resilience, how to motivate yourself, you learn a lot also by staying there for the period of time that is needed until you get the job you really want.
Dom: Yeah. That is a super interesting point because I feel like the consensus is that most people learn the most in the first one or two years of a new job, but really I guess where the other opportunity is to kind of persevere and be resilient and maybe make something work that is not working out quite nicely at the moment. So maybe that is another learning opportunity that people can look at.
Yulia: Absolutely! Absolutely! I think that when we feel we are failing is when we are learning the most, that is almost always true, unless you do not do anything about it, then you are not learning. You are just suffering and failing.
Dom: Right.
Yulia: But if you take advantage of that, you can get to know yourself better and learn, as you said.
Dom: Yeah. I thought it was interesting you said before that, young people are, I guess, less likely to have a long list of non-negotiables, right? If you are at the start of your career, you are most likely to maybe do whatever it takes, right? Is that a good thing or do you feel like that is maybe a mistake that young people do to, kind of, not have those non-negotiables and look for their dream career maybe or their dream job or is that exactly what kind of gives them the edge?
Yulia: I think it is not a mistake, in the sense that we all go through that. It is part of the learning curve. We all go through that. I bet almost everybody has done it.
Dom: Yeah, right.
Yulia: But at some point, you need to value yourself and you need to value what you need, what you want, and how much you are worth as well. To give you an example, one of the jobs where I learned the most - I was being paid like the minimum wage and working sometimes from Monday to Sunday and it was crazy, but I learned a lot. Then I realized that even if I liked the job and my boss was not willing to give me a better salary, working hours that were logical, it was crazy. But anyway, once I realize that I could not improve that job anymore and that I had learned what I needed to learn, I decided to move on. You do not need to kick yourself because you accept something that you do not like, or you do not want, but you need to learn to say, stop. Okay, this has been going on long enough. I need to move on. But again, every experience is different. Sometimes people need to stay there for 10 years until they realize how much they are worth and how much their expertise is worth. So, you get to choose if you stay there one year or 10 years or your whole life, which happens as well.
Dom: Do you feel people at the start of their careers should do anything to optimize their careers, kind of set them up for success later on, or is it a phase that you would discover what you like and explore your opportunities? Or is there something you should do from day one to make sure you set yourself up for success?
Yulia: Yes! Well! In my own opinion, the number one thing you need to learn, whether your day one at your first job or 20 years later, you need to develop your leadership skills. Sometimes people think that leadership is only for managers or for the boss. And I do not think that is true at all. I think that we all need to develop our leadership skills and there are simple ways to do it. Of course, it gets time and it gets work, and so on, but you can start by raising your hand at the work. If there is a meeting and there is something you want to say, you have an idea or even if you have a question, you have the right to raise your hand and jump that barrier. Even if it is scary, even if you feel that you may say something that is completely ridiculous. It is okay. But if you want to develop your leadership skills, start by raising your hand. Another way to do it is to find your skill gaps. And for these, you have to either be super aware of yourself or have a manager or a colleague that can give you some feedback or if not, work with a coach that can help you to find that, but find your skill gaps and keep learning. Because that also gives us kind of a voice of authority in the sense that it gave us more confidence to talk. When we have that confidence to talk, we improve our leadership skills. Also, develop your emotional intelligence, learn how to communicate, learn how to resolve conflict, learn how to ask questions. So, number one, that develops your leadership skills. There is a long list of things you can do about it, but that is my number one thing.
Dom: Awesome! It sounds like the stuff that really pays off early in your career is more around soft skills and leadership and communication. Maybe not so much mastering your craft to the end. Do you think that is a common theme?
Yulia: Yes, I do think so. Because someone, very prepared but very shy will show off their job, for example, or will not talk about themselves and their expertise, sometimes also like people have the idea that if you talk about yourself, you are being egocentric or something like that, but we need to learn how to talk about our job and our expertise. So, yeah, I do think that becoming a leader or leader can get you further in your career than being an expert and not being able to show your craft and to help others to teach others because that is also another way to become a leader in your field.
Dom: Almost like becoming a coach or a mentor yourself.
Yulia: Yeah. Kind of, but you do not even need to become a coach or a mentor but being a good team member in this world of competition, right. For getting about that unhealthy competition and help your teammates because your superiors will see that you are helping them out or that you are reaching out and seeing how everybody is doing and teaching what you know, and also learning from others. So these are the little things you can do on a daily basis that do not cost you a thing and that can improve your expertise, your craft, and also your leadership skills.
Dom: That is super interesting. We had a kind of a conversation in the last episode, which was basically, it was about big tech and getting into those big companies and it was a very similar point that people usually start to reach out and interview for those companies way too late. They are looking to master their craft and get the best at coding or designing or whatever, but in reality, it is all about having self-confidence and just being able to take that jump.
Yulia: Yeah! it is amazing that you mentioned that because I have seen a lot of times, you know, like this imposter syndrome. Someone that says like, “okay, I’m good at this, but I’m not ready to jump,” as you said like to jump. And I think that when someone proposes, for example, “take on this project,” if you say, “I’m not ready yet.” People are going to be like, “okay, they are not ready,” but I always tell my clients, if someone says that you are able to do something, believe them, even if you do not believe what they are saying. They are seeing something in you. They can see your potential may be, and you need to take a leap of faith and believe in yourself, and also trust that you will be able to find a solution to whatever problem comes, taking on those projects, taking on those job positions that maybe you are scared to go to, can be the best thing you have ever done because it will push you to learn and to get that passion that we do not get when a job is boring and when you are perfectly fine doing it, so good that you could do it when you are sleeping. That is why people start to get bored and burnt out because they are not getting out there and feeling that rush and that scary feeling when you are able to do something that you are not quite sure how you are going to make it work, but you need to make it work. So I agree with the person you talked to about it.
Dom: Cool! I thought it was interesting that you pointed out burning out. And I feel like the common misconception is that you burn out because of stress and there is so much to do, but it is often about exactly that, right? That you are standing still and you are not being challenged anymore. Do you see that in your clients as well?
Yulia: Yeah, it is instead of burnout, it is like a board-out.
Dom: That is a nice one.
Yulia: Yeah, which is basically the same, right? You are so burnt and so bored by your job that eventually there is something that collapses in your mind and you are not willing or wanting to do anything more about it. So again, the good way to avoid that is to know yourself and the things that scare you.
Dom: Yeah.
Yulia: Because when you are doing things that scare you, maybe you are going to fail, but you are going to learn something and you will not get that bored-out that people get all the time when they are in their comfort zone and working the same job forever without improvement, you know, what it is, also that thirst of learning. When you lose that thirst for learning, I think you start to burn out and get bored out. Because if you are not curious about your career, then you are not into your career. That is it like being quite honest, right? Because when we like something we are curious about.
Dom: Yeah. Makes a lot of sense. If you are interested in your career, you are actually going to try and learn more about it and grow as a professional, and maybe if you do not do that on the other hand, you are starting to get disinterested in what you are doing. That makes little sense.
Yulia: Yeah.
Dom: Awesome! I am having this thought in my head, which is, if you are new in a career, maybe you spent a couple of months at a company, it might seem easy to turn the ship around and start taking more leadership and signing up for more projects. But do you have an experience, if somebody has spent, let’s say a decade at a company and it is just kind of the norm that you are there and like you are idling and maybe you are a little bit stagnant in your career? How can you turn around from that? when maybe it is easier to kind of hold up your hand and start a new project just because it was not done before, Right? You have spent so much time there that you are just taking that and you are there.
Yulia: Okay. Let’s imagine that someone is there, a decade later in their career and they want to make that change. And maybe they are not sure if they want to stay or not at their job, but I would say that that job they already have, it is a good learning playground to start developing their learning skills. So, what I would say is, don’t take it that seriously in the sense that tries just making a little jump here and there, also because the colleagues, the boss may be so used to the person you used to be, that if you try to change from one day to another, they are going to be like, whoa, like this person is going crazy.
Dom: What is happening?
Yulia: Yeah. What’s happening, Right? Also being honest about it. I think that people can be honest about it and go see their boss or their manager or even their colleagues and say, “I’m trying to develop my leadership skills and you know what? I want to participate more and, you know, can you help me out? Can you tell me when I’m missing an opportunity to speak out?” And sometimes we want to go through it. That is also why coaching has become more popular lately because people are learning that they do not need to do everything alone and in that same perspective, you do not need to do everything alone at work. You can share with your colleagues, with your boss, what you are going through, what would you like to change? You can ask for some feedback. “Okay! Do you think there are ways I can improve my communication or my assertiveness?” or this or that.
Dom: Right.
Yulia: Make those people around you aware of what you are going through and what do you want to do. Because you will gain also their respect because not everybody is able to say that. So if you want to become a leader, start by speaking about yourself and what you are going through.
Dom: That is a super nice point. And I think it shows that if you are already stuck, on one side, you can prevent from getting stuck and being stagnant in your career, but you can also turn it around and kind of get back from that, right?.
Yulia: Yeah! But if you want to turn it around, you need to look for yourself. Sometimes people say like, “Oh my God, I need more money.” So I need to change something and I need to, or just because someone mentioned something, they want to change. No! like, do it for yourself. Find the reasons why this change that you want to make is good for you because then that motivation will keep going on. When we are trying to do something for an external factor, it will dissipate as it came.
Dom: Yeah, that is a great point that it is probably growth. I mean, on one side you see growth in the bank account because you are kind of climbing up the ladder, but probably a lot more satisfying is just being at the edge again, having that hunger for learning, and basically just experiencing that growth personally and professionally. Awesome! What has been your best experience so far as a coach? You have been doing it for a while and you had a couple of clients, but what is really the thing that makes you want to continue basically.
Yulia. That is such a good point. Well, I will go back to what we were discussing first. The reason why I want to keep doing this is, one because I love and I respect the people that come to work with me, in the sense that I know that it is not easy to share when you are struggling or to open up about your career and your goals. It is hard for a lot of people. So, first of all, that I do consider each one of my clients like a human being. I do not overbook myself for the same reason, because I think that people need that personal interest from their coach. I had an experience a lot, a lot of years ago, from my coach that he was not really there. He was there listening to me, but you know, it was not going as I wanted it to be and the communication was not as profound as I needed it to be at that time and I am not saying he was a bad coach. I am just saying that for me, it did not work. So I have been coached a few times in my life and I have learned what I like as a client and what I do not like. So I try to give the same to my clients. And that is one of those things, the respect and the trust that people gave me. Another thing is that I think that there is so much that we can do in this world to improve it. But if I can help from one to one to improve their life a little bit, for me, that is already enough getting that impact from person to person. I think that is great, because then it replicates with their own family, with their colleagues, I think it is expanding. Third, I would say that I enjoy learning, learning from everyone, and learning from different fields, learning different ways of communication, experiences, everything.
Dom: Right. And in the end, I guess, it is also for you, you know, you are helping people experience that professional growth and not getting stuck in their careers, but at the same time, you are experiencing the same, right? with every new experience that you are seeing.
Yulia: Exactly.
Dom: Awesome!
Yulia: I am growing with them.
Dom: Yeah. That is a nice way to put it.
Yulia: Yeah.
Dom: I had one more question. Do you have a good system for accountability? And basically, staying consistent once you are going through a process like that? I feel like it takes so much energy to continuously challenge yourself that it is maybe easy to fall back and just relax for a while. Do you have a system that you are working through with clients there, just to challenge yourself continuously?
Yulia: It depends on the person because we are not all wired the same way. For example, I have a client that he likes to send me a message every day saying what he did during the day. So he decided that was the way we were going to do work. We have a spreadsheet with all his weekly goals and monthly goals and so on. And then every day, he sends me a quick update on what he did. There is other type of people that say, I do not want that type of communication all of the time. I have a lot of work on my hands already. No! So we check-up every other week to see how they are doing, to find what were their roadblocks, for example, to get done, what they needed to get done or to reach those milestones. I get that because as I was mentioning not everybody wants the same type of communication. I could send an email to my clients every day and I am sure that most of them or some of them would say like, bye-bye, I do not want this kind of spam in my life. On the other hand, there are other clients that want that actually, that like that I reach out from time to time during the week between sessions, used to check out how they are and what is going on. So the system as a system does not exist because I think it is personalized.
Dom: Yeah. So maybe the system after all is that coaching aspect, right? Or that mentoring aspect that you have someone on the other end of the line who checks in on you and keeps you accountable, even if it is daily or if it is once per week, does not really matter. But there is someone there and I imagine if you would stop hearing from clients at some point, you would reach back out and ask, you know, what is going on here.
Yulia: Yeah. I always reach out, to expand a little bit on this point, if you listener you want to hire a coach, it is important that you tell your coach, how do you want to communicate? How often, if by message, by mail, through that MentorCruise platform, you need to tell your coach, what do you want? because we coaches, we work with so many people that sometimes it is not as easy as you could imagine to guess what the best option for the client is. So be honest with your coach, tell them if something is working or not working for you, because as a coachee, you also have the right to say, “listen, this was a great idea, but it’s not working for me. What else can we try?” Because it has happened to me with clients that we start with a certain action plan and I always tell them if it is not working for you at some point, you need to tell me so we can revise and revisit. So if they tell me that we do that, but I cannot guess if my client does not tell me. Coaching is about communication. If you are someone that maybe thinks that need to improve your communication skills, I think coaching is a good opportunity to do it in a safe space because we coaches were trained normally to learn how to listen to you and how to communicate with you.
Dom: And at that point, it is much more collaborative than a course or something like that, because you actually have a say in the relationship and you are able to kind of shape the coaching to your liking.
Yulia: Exactly. Exactly. Normally it should be personalized. It should be made for you, even if the coach has already some strategy that they use. Normally, they need to adapt to you because you are the important person in that relationship, in this program.
Dom: Awesome! Well, thank you so much for coming onto the podcast and telling us a little bit more, both about, your personal background, but then also how to navigate a career, how to think about coaching, how to not get stuck in our careers. That has been super helpful.
Yulia: Thank you, Dominic. I want to add that if you want to reach out, I provide a discovery session for free, so they can go to my profile and book a discovery session so we can talk and see if we are a good match for each other.
Dom: Awesome! And of course, your links and your contact details are going to be in the description of this podcast and I would definitely urge everyone who is looking to grow in their careers to reach out to you and book that “discovery session” and see whether it is a match. Thank you!
Yulia: Thank you, Dominic, and thank you, MentorCruise. My pleasure.
Dom: Awesome! My pleasure too.
+
*