We recently connected with Jacqueline S. Savoy, a member of the JEVS Career Strategies’ team, to learn more about her background and how she came to be in the career advising field. Jackie, as she is known to her clients, has been a Senior Career Counselor at JEVS Career Strategies for 7.5 years providing career assessments, career counseling, career development, and job search strategy services. Jackie received her MA in Counseling Education from Villanova University, and her BS & Teaching Certifications in Education from Temple University. She has the following certifications in her field: CPI Master Career Transition Consultant, Life Options Retirement Coach, Assess Coaching Certification, Career Architect Certification, Lominger Associates, MBTI & Strong Interest Inventory, FIRO and TKI, Neuro Linguistic Programming Certification.
How did you decide on a career in the career counseling field?
I always was interested as a child in what people did for a living and why. I started out teaching health education in the Philadelphia School District, influenced by my mother who was an art teacher. At one point I also worked part-time in the financial services field. I thought I would take over my father’s investment business, however, living on commission was a roller coaster ride that wasn’t appealing to me long term. While working for the School District, I used my professional network to learn about jobs at Temple University. A position providing academic advising became available and, shortly after, I was hired as the Fox Business School advisor and then the Academic and Pre-Law advisor. While working at Temple, I continued to use my professional network and found out about another new, quickly developing aspect of the career field at that time: outplacement services provided by employers to employees who were being downsized.
How did you find your way to the career counseling position at JEVS Career Strategies?
I loved helping people figure out what they enjoy doing best and what skills they enjoy using best. After working for years in different areas of the career services field, the industry was changing and I found myself as many of my current clients do. I was one of 300 staff downsized from a career consulting job I loved. That transition was the toughest one. I was older and at my level I was not looking forward to job searching again. I got to see just how devastating that experience can be, which I believe made me a better coach for others. The JEVS Career Strategies job was exactly what I wanted. I knew it when I saw the agency’s tagline “Making hope happen” since that is what clients in my previous jobs told me I did for them.
What is it that you enjoy most about the job you do?
That old saying “Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life” is true. I am thrilled when my clients get a job they are excited about, with better compensation and a group of people they think they will like working with. I recently worked with an Administrative Assistant who lost her job, was going through divorce, not getting any interviews. I helped her recreate her job search plan and materials, coached her on interviewing and salary negotiation, and she landed a new position at $20,000 more per year than her last job.
What is the one key thing you tell all your clients to do?
There is not one thing. One gets the best results using all the job search strategies: a customized resume, a customized cover letter, a customized LinkedIn profile, Networking, answering postings, interview and negotiating salary practice. However, I do think going after your ideal job or an interim job until you can get there and creating and maintaining a positive focus is the secret sauce. I get to teach all of that at Career Strategies.
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If you are interested in learning about the JEVS Career Strategies team or how we can help individuals get to the next stage in their careers or job search…
> Submit an inquiry form, anytime of day!
> See/attend our upcoming free workshops.
> Read our career advice blogs.
> Contact us at 215-832-0878 or cs@jevs.org
Posted in Blog JEVS Program: Career Strategies