Sheryl A. Odentz, M.A., Ed.M.
60 East 42nd Street
Suite 4000
Focus
:I am the Founder and President of Progress in Work, an award-winning career-management firm that provides attorneys and other professionals within the legal industry with tools and resources to progress in work and maximize career success. Progress in Work’s service offerings include career counseling, outplacement/career-transition consulting, business-development training/coaching, and executive/leadership coaching. Progress in Work was inducted into the New York Law Journal’s Hall of Fame in 2017.
As the primary career-management coach at Progress in Work, I believe that each client has unique personal circumstances and needs, and, for that reason, coach clients one-on-one. I deeply immerse myself in a partnership with each of my clients to achieve results. I provide a structured, step-by-step process to help each of my clients meet his or her individual goals. The length of each engagement varies according to a client’s individual goals. I use a variety of career management exercises and assessments, the latter of which includes The Highland’s Ability Battery, Strong Interest Inventory, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, The Birkman Method, EQ-i 2.0 and SSAT. After each meeting, I send notes on key points, as well as commitments and actions to execute. I am often described as practical, realistic, optimistic, energizing and passionate about my work, and I bring these qualities to each of my assignments.
Experience
:I have spent 25+ years consulting to thousands of attorneys from Am Law 100 and Am Law 200 firms (half of which fall within the top 50), medium-sized firms, and corporations on career-management issues. I have also advised other professionals within the legal industry and high-level executives from a wide variety of other industries.
Prior to founding Progress in Work, I worked in both career-transition consulting and sales/marketing at major corporations, including Fortune 500 corporations. I held leadership roles at several companies, including the HR-management-consulting firm, The Empower Group (a subsidiary of Manpower). I was a pioneer in the legal-outplacement field and co-created the legal outplacement division of King, Chapman, Broussard & Gallagher, a reengineering, executive-coaching, and outplacement firm. I worked in legal recruiting at Elaine P. Dine, at which I learned about resources available to attorneys seeking employment. I began my career in account management at SSC&B Lintas Worldwide (an advertising agency of the Interpublic Group, one of the world’s largest advertising conglomerates) and Group W Satellite Communications.
Education and Certifications
:I received my M.A. and Ed.M. degrees, with honors, from Columbia University, at which I studied Psychological Counseling with a specialization in Business and Industry. I received an undergraduate degree in Music (B.Mus.), concentrating in Vocal Performance and Opera, from Boston University’s College of Fine Arts.
I am one of approximately 200 Career Management Fellows (CMFs) worldwide bestowed by the preeminent Institute of Career Certification (ICCI), the leading career-management/leadership-development organization. I am an Executive Coach certified by iCoachNewYork.
I lecture and write about career-management topics. I served on the Board of Editors of the Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report, which is a publication of ALM (the publisher of The American Lawyer).
I am a career-management coach endorsed by Women in Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF), a respected organization that educates, and provides networking opportunities to, women in law.
For many years, I participated as a career-management consultant in the Career Counselor Referral Program at the New York City Bar.