Media Press Kit

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Included below is the Q & A sections from the Press Kit

MEDIA Q & A

Champion Your Career
Winning in the World of Work
by Halimah Bellows, MA, MS, CCC, CPC

1. What motivated you to write and publish Champion Your Career: Winning in the World of Work?

I felt that a comprehensive career development book for the 21st century was needed to address the critical concerns of our time—the workers who are victims of downsizing and outsourcing, the “boomers” who are at retirement age but cannot afford to retire and the recent college graduates who are faced an avalanche of confusing information and are clueless about how to pursue an appropriate career path.

Champion Your Career: Winning in the World of Work uniquely incorporates the methodologies and plans of action that are applicable now for a new generation of career seekers in a new economy and a quickly changing marketplace. The resource listings are current and include many websites, blogs, and forums that keep the reader updated on the latest career trends in a given geographic or demographic area.

2. What is unique about the perspective offered by Champion Your Career?

Champion Your Career is unusual in that it combines career counseling with career coaching. By asking the appropriate questions, Champion Your Career gives the reader not only the theory behind choosing a career that’s right for an individual, but offers practical exercises, resources, and powerful questions so that the reader can then become his or her own career champion.

The books that are in the market now offer career choice theory with self-assessment exercises, but without the coaching structure and support that moves readers to active decision-making within the process of becoming their own career champion.

3. What changes in the field of career development have you observed in your twenty years as a career counselor?

The theories haven’t changed. The emphasis is, as it has always been, on reflecting on who you are: your likes and dislikes, your values (in both your personal and your work life), and your skills. Career coaching has been introduced. The process of career development has become more holistic. What has changed is the job search. It has become more impersonal. There is an emphasis on using keywords in a resume. People are asked to fill out behaviorally based questionnaires.

The search requires more patience. The tight economy eliminates a whole population from being able to seek help from a career counselor. More and more, it’s not what you know but who you know, so networking is really important.

4. In what context do you see Champion Your Career being used?

The book is designed so that it could be adapted to be used in multiple settings. It can be an accompanying text to a college career and life-planning course. It can be used in mid-career for those who wish to change careers but don’t know what direction to take. At the same time, retirees seeking post retirement careers will find this book useful along with financial and other post retirement planning. Career development is a process. Once the readers learn this, they can strategically apply the process at different points in their working life.

The book acts as a work manual with each chapter focusing on specific work related issues, solutions and resources. By working with the questionnaires and exercises, readers discover their own specific pathways to making the best-informed decision in their career choice process.

5. How has your direct experience in working with your clients influenced your approach to writing?

I know that the key to quickly gaining insight and taking action toward right livelihood has to do with the art of asking the right questions and providing guidance about how to uncover what is important and true for each reader’s personal career quest. I wanted to present the material in a personal, easy-to-read style with humor to make it accessible to anyone pursuing a new career path. I have designed Champion Your Career as self-paced career development workshop in book format. I offer specific concrete action steps illustrated by the career success stories that are sprinkled throughout the book.

6. How has your personal philosophy about career development inspired your writing?

I am passionate in my belief that fulfillment from making the right career choice is imperative to achieving a life well-lived. Most working adults spend one third of their days in the workplace. Being in a rewarding career and a healthy work environment has a ripple effect throughout their personal and interpersonal lives.

MEDIA Q & A

Career Quest Cards TM ©
by Halimah Bellows, MA, MS, CCC, CPC

1. What inspired you to create Career Quest Cards TM©?

I saw that people needed some easily accessible means of applying the most up-to-date techniques and exercises that have been developed for career counseling in a self-help setting. They needed a tool that was flexible enough to allow them to use it in the ways that best suited their lifestyles.

2. Why are the Career Quest Cards TM© an appropriate tool for career seekers in our present economy and marketplace?

The cards are designed to enable people to gain many of the insights they would gain in career counseling. It’s a really affordable approach to developing a workable strategy for finding the perfect career.

3. How can individuals use Career Quest Cards TM© as a self-help tool?

There are several audiences for whom the cards are really appropriate. They are primarily designed for people who don’t have time to read books or are overwhelmed by too much information. They are particularly appealing to individuals who are kinesthetic and visual learners.

4. How can career development professionals utilize Career Quest Cards TM© in their work with their clients?

The cards can be particularly useful in a workshop setting. The professional can be available to supervise while participants work with each other in pairs or small groups. Afterwards, individuals can share their insights, enabling all participants to gain from each other’s reflections.

5. What successes have you seen with individuals using Career Quest Cards TM© to gain insight for developing their careers?

A number of my clients who have used the cards are spouses of Microsoft employees. Microsoft has a relocation package in which spouses are encouraged to network, volunteer and find work that satisfies them. Clients who have followed my suggestions have been successful.

6. Why did you decide to make Career Quest Cards TM© available as an app?

Once the cards were designed, it seemed a natural development to adapt them as an app that could be immediately available to anyone who carries their smart phone or tablet wherever they go. Millennials, who have grown up in the tech world, are particularly excited about the app. It’s a format they’re used to using.

 

CHAMPION YOUR CAREER/CAREER QUEST CARDS 

College Instructor and Career Coach Halimah Bellows Announces New Tools for Job Seekers for 2016

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, JANUARY 31, 2016 – College instructor, counselor, career coach and author Halimah Bellows announces new career review and assessment tools for job seekers for 2016. Bellows is the author of Champion Your Career: Winning in the World of Work and creator of Career Quest Cards: Coaching in a Box and the Career Quest APP, “This is the time of year when people are generally making assessments of their lives. In the process of review, the question of job satisfaction comes up high on the list. My assessment and review tools give job seekers the strategies needed to make informed choices” Bellows explains.

As a Career Coach/Counselor, Halimah is often asked to assist in goal setting. In the goal setting process there are elements that lead to success in meeting goals. Conversely, there are attitudes and beliefs that impair the success of meeting a goal. “What people need to think about as they enter a new year is that they should be setting goals for what they want instead of trying to get out of something they don’t want. It is common for people to make these typical New Year’s Resolutions: lose weight, stop a habit, or get rid of stress. All of these resolutions are based on what a person does not want. And even the tools used to make these resolutions happen are negative. For instance people go on a diet to lose weight and can’t wait to end the diet.

“What I focus on and teach others through my Career Quest APP, Career Quest Cards, and eBook Champion Your Career, soon to be released in print, is that, in order to meet a goal, you need to turn to those things that you want to make happen, things that will give you a sense of accomplishment, skill building and joy. Those goals will be easier to achieve and much more sustainable.” Halimah teaches her coaching clients to re-frame their life and career choices by choosing positive and life affirming goals that have realistic time frames so that discouragement doesn’t set in.

Champion Your Career is now available as an eBook through Amazon. Career Quest Cards offer skill-building career prompts for young, middle aged and older adults and can also be ordered through Amazon. The cards are portable and practical and combine the best of current career search information. The boxed set contains 24 colorful cards with over 30 exercises that are chock full of thought provoking ways to open creativity, think outside the box and make best possible career choices. The Career Quest App is also available at Amazon. The App and eBook are also available at the google and ibook stores.

For more information and to pre-order Champion Your Career in hardcopy, visit the author’s website at http://www.ChampionYourCareer.com. For media inquiries contact Diane at info@inspiredmc.com.