My New-Client Questionnaire

By Marty Nemko

Most of my clients find my new-client questionnaire very helpful. Here it is:

NEW CLIENT QUESTIONNAIRE

Feel free to leave blank any questions you believe are irrelevant to our work together or which you can't readily answer.

Name:

Address:

Phone:

e-mail:

Skype address (if you use Skype:)

Today's date:

Your date of birth:

What, if anything, would you like to accomplish in each of these areas:

Your career:

Your relationships:

Your financial well-being:

Your recreation life:

Your mental well-being:

Your physical health:

Your spiritual life:

What is/was your most recent job? What did you like and not like about it?

List college(s) you attended, degrees received, major, and approximate grade-point average.

List any test results (e.g., SAT, GRE, Myers-Briggs, Strong-Campbell, etc.)

List the name, age, sex, and relationship to you of each person who presently lives with you. Are they having significant impact on your career or career decision-making?

Are any other people, for example, your parents or peers, significantly impacting your career or career decision-making?

INTERESTS

Write “Me” next to one or two of these that interest you enough that you might want your career to focus on it.

___ A technological cutting edge

___ Food

___Politics

___ Fashion

___ Investing

___ Sports

___ Non-profit causes

___ The environment

___ Entertainment

___ News media

___ Transportation

___ Machines

___ The creative arts

___ Health care

___ Psychology

___ Relationships

___ Economics

___ Animals

___ Plants

___ International affairs or business

___ Criminality

___ Real estate

___ Substance abuse

___ Education and training

___ Perhaps most important, other (specify:) _________.

VALUES

For each of the five questions in this section, write “me” next to the one or two choices that you most want in your next career or job.

Who?

___ Much of the workday spent with intelligent people

___ Much of the workday with artsy people

___ Much of the workday with businesslike people

___ Coworkers who dress in professional attire

___ A workplace culture that’s social, even if that reduces productivity

___ Coworkers who mainly are Democrats or Socialists

___ Coworkers who mainly are Republicans or Libertarians

What?

___ A prestigious career even though training is long and competition for good jobs fierce

___ An under-the-radar career (Often, there’s less competition.)

___ Ethical work and employer

___ Much autonomy

___ Being an expert

___ Big-picture thinking rather than detailed implementation

___ Variety of tasks each day

___ Much of the workday persuading people

___ Much of the day planning with people

___ Much of the day supervising people

___ Much of the day healing people

___ Much of the day producing or reviewing data

___ Much of the day building or fixing. Specify what sort of thing:

___ Risk-taking, physical or financial. Specify:

___ Detail-orientedness, being accurate

___ Leadership

___ Requiring significant additional education

Where?

___ Employed by a large company. If you wish, specify an industry, product, or service:

___ Employed by a small company. If you wish, specify an industry, product, or service:

___ Employed by a non-profit. If you wish, specify a cause or nonprofit:

___ Employed by the government.

___ Self-employed

___ In a particular location, for example, by the water, in an office, at, home, outdoors, small town, city, suburb. Specify:

___ Not being “stuck behind a desk”

___ Travel: If you wish, specify where and the percent away from home.

Workload?

___ Short work hours

___ Long work hours

___ Short commute

___ Learning a lot on the job

___ High expectations for your productivity

___ Modest expectation for your productivity.

___ Low stress

___ Flexible schedule

Compensation

___ Income level (specify):

___ Commission-based or bonus-heavy compensation

___ Benefits

___ Job security

___ Physically attractive workspace

Perhaps most important, Other: _________.

If you had a million dollars to give to a specific nonprofit or to invest in a specific company, what would it be? What could you, at least with training, do well for that organization?

Have you or a family member had an adversity that suggests a career you might like to pursue?

What's an unusual even weird value(s) you hold?

ABILITIES YOU’D LIKE TO USE IN YOUR CAREER

Write “Me” next to one or two of these that you’re naturally good at and, with training, would like to use in your career.

___ Read complicated material and write reports

___ Build or fix complicated machines

___ Use algebra to solve real-world problems

___ Use molecular biology to cure disease

___ Coding. If you have a specific focus, specify:

___ Generate solutions to a city’s budget problems

___ Give educational and inspiring talks

___ Write compelling product descriptions

___ Design the label for new products

___ Create store window displays

___ A creative art, for example, music, painting, fiction writing

___ Convince businesses or individuals to buy your company’s products

___ Intuit people’s emotional needs to motivate them to take action

___ Supervise a group of employees of varied motivation and ability levels

___ Search out a smart business to start and see it through to profitability

___ Review data and information to ensure everything is correct

___ Perhaps most important, Other: ___________________________.

What are your career non-negotiables? Examples: big money, status, nonprofit work, job security, glamour, creative expression, a career that allows ample time for home and family.

If you didn't care what anyone thought, what is your most deeply held aspiration?

SPECIFIC CAREERS

If you’re looking for a new career, are there any you know you’d like to consider?

My book Careers for Dummies has 340 authoritative but entertaining introductions to 340 careers, popular and under-the-radar. It’s available at a discount on Amazon in print or the instantly downloadable Kindle version: https://goo.gl/9Gr8e2

YOUR PSYCHOLOGICAL ISSUES

What truly motivates you: money, praise, status, anger about something, glamour, creative expression, sensory pleasures, proving a naysayer wrong, something else?

What are your life’s few most significant career-related moments?

To what extent are any of the following impeding your career: procrastination, depression, fear of failure, anxiety.

If you've been in therapy or seen a career counselor previously, what were the results?

Would a person whom you respect and knows you well say you have a substance abuse problem?

Right before you go to sleep and right when you wake in the morning, what topic you think about most?

What's something you're afraid is true about yourself?

What's your most serious flaw?

What do you want? What do you really want?

What keeps you from getting it?

What’s a question you’re afraid I’ll ask you?

What would be the wisest career for you? Some people, deep down, know but haven’t been asked that directly.

Who referred you to me?

(Credit card information is required even though in-person sessions are paid by check or in cash. I keep the credit card info on file in case of a missed or late-cancel appointment or if we do a session(s) by phone or Skype.

Your Visa or MasterCard number:

Expiration date:

The 3-digit number on the back of the card:

The billing address for that card: