Apart from the CV check, the career
corner had another service to offer: ‘Try out coaching’. Coaching? Isn’t
that something for people well under way in their career? But GRE2007 is
for young scientists… Geraldine Sinnema of ‘Een wereld van verschil’ (A
world of difference) took the opportunity to put this misconception
right.
“There are basically two kinds of clients: people looking for another
job and people wishing to perform better in their present job. They lack
time to do everything they want, they experience stress or they like to
improve their communicational skills. All these aspects are relevant at
any stage during a career”, Sinnema explained.
Silver bullet
As proven by Medy Kortenhorst, who comments on her visit to the coaching desk. “Partly I came out of curiosity. I have no experience with coaching and wanted to find out what it might mean. On the other hand, I have a real issue. I graduated in medicine, but the real graduation follows after two years of medical practice in the clinic. Before I started, I chose to do six months of research…which eventually turned into three and a half years. So before long I will have my PHD before becoming a medical doctor. What to do now? If I go for my specialization in medicine I will miss out on for eight years on research, which I like. And when I go on in research, I will never become a proper medical practitioner.”
Geraldine Sinnema didn’t have the silver bullet
for this dilemma, but she did have some sound advice, Medy says: “Apart
from work, I also want to have time to start a family. Working part-time
is not always an option. Society urges women to work, but also to be
good mothers. Geraldine had a very useful question for me in this
respect: ‘What do you think is a good mother?’ The answer to that should
lead me to a decision. I noticed I hadn’t asked myself this question
before.”
Listening
Sinnema: “As a coach you have to be able to really listen. Sometimes people come up with one issue, but when you keep on asking questions, there appears to be another cause of the problem. What I often notice as an underlying problem, is that people are guided by external impulses. But it’s not about what others want, it is about what you really want. That question is vital.” Some of the conversations Geraldine had, soon reached a rather deep personal level. Proof enough that there is a real demand for coaching among young scientists.
[Leendert van der Ent]
