This Coach Helps Get Careers Back on Track

JoAnn Wesley Hassler is a counselor of sorts, but her clients aren’t seeking relationship advice.

Instead, the Naperville resident and coach and corporate trainer strategizes with real estate agents and entrepreneurs on goal setting and time management to help them reach their personal and professional ambitions. Some of Hassler’s clients have sought her help after finding themselves unemployed.

“We’ll talk about what they have done in the past and what they’re looking for, and I work with them in terms of uncovering what their vision is of themselves going forward,” she said.

Creating a new vision for their future could be on the minds of many who lost their jobs.

One expert believes it takes three years to accomplish a career change, largely through trial and error, according to this article in Money magazine. But a recent NPR/Kaiser poll of people unemployed for a year or more showed almost 70 percent of them want the government to offer more training opportunities and placement services.

Nationally, the unemployment rate dipped from 9 percent in October to 8.6 percent in November, but “about half that decline occurred because many of the unemployed gave up looking for work,” according to The Huffington Post. That leaves about 5.7 million Americans who have been unemployed for 27 weeks or more, according to NPR.

Interestingly, Hassler said the downturn in the economy has led many who have lost their jobs to consider going into business for themselves. She has coaching clients in Yorkville, Sugar Grove, Naperville, Aurora and the surrounding areas.

“I’ve seen more and more people who are wondering if they can take the skill set they have and create a new business rather than trying to fit back into a corporate structure,” she said.

Hassler has been coaching Re/Max Realtors since 2004, and has been a Realtor and independent contractor for more than 20 years. For real estate agents struggling in the current housing market, Hassler helps them consider new options.

“For some who never wanted to work in foreclosures, they might have to reevaluate and say, ‘If I won’t work with foreclosures, would I work with rentals?’ Or maybe they can get a designation to work with seniors or short sales,” she said.

But not everyone who comes to Hassler is in dire straits.

“Some clients are just trying to figure out how to move forward,” she said.

Recently, Hassler worked with a successful real estate agent who was getting bogged down by her workload.

“What she wanted to find was a little more time in her workday,” Hassler said.

Together, they determined the real estate agent should consider getting an assistant.

“But as successful as she was, in this economy there was still a little bit of fear — what if she steps away and people won’t see her as being hands-on? That’s how she saw it,” Hassler said.

By working together, the agent decided to hire an assistant part-time.

“She found she could let go of certain things that freed up some time for her,” Hassler said.

Hassler said often her clients are able to arrive at their own conclusions.

“Everybody has the answers within themselves; there really is something to that,” she said. “Sometimes they just need someone to ask them a question—What else might you consider you haven’t considered already? What other skills can you explore at this time?—and give them the space and freedom to just talk.”

Find more articles from this ongoing nationwide Patch series, “Dispatches: The Changing American Dream,” at The Huffington Post.