Gerald Sioco is a freelance Career Coach and Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach who is passionate about helping people discover their God-given strengths and navigate their careers with greater clarity, confidence, and purpose.

Drawing from strengths-based coaching, career development, and his Christian faith, Gerald helps professionals better understand who they are, what they naturally do best, and how they can contribute meaningfully through their work. He is also a Points of You Expert, an ICF-trained Coach, and a Knowdell Career Transition and Development Coach.

Gerald believes that work is more than a paycheck—it is one of the ways people express their gifts, serve others, and participate in God's purpose for their lives. Through coaching and meaningful conversations, he encourages individuals to grow in self-awareness, embrace their unique design, and make career decisions aligned with their values and calling.

Based in the Philippines, Gerald enjoys reflecting on faith, purpose, strengths, and the lifelong journey of becoming who God created us to be.

• Website: geraldsioco.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coach_gerry_sioco?igsh=Y2J2NTkxcm02enJq&utm_source=qr
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coachgeraldsioco?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Praise God for you, Gerald.

It's a great pleasure to connect with you.

What part of the world are you in today?

I am from the Philippines.

Oh, that's wonderful.

You're 12 hours away from my time zone, which is very cool.

So my morning is your evening.

Your evening is my morning.

How did you even come into the concept of understanding that your personality, your natural strengths, are a core component of what you do and how you do it?

Great.

So last 2017, that's the year I discovered Gallup.

It was a big risk on my part because I loved attending workshops, personal growth courses, but this Gallup course is the most expensive that I have seen.

But then I listened to my conviction and took a step forward and it led me to learning about the industry of coaching.

So from there, since I learned about my strengths, I also went through different self-awareness certifications to get to know myself better.

What are your strengths?

You mean from Gallup?

Well, was there a different understanding of what you thought your strengths were before doing Gallup or was it confirmed when you did Gallup?

It was confirmed when I did Gallup because I took the StrengthsFinder assessment when I was already 30 years old.

So I've had quite a number of experiences and by the time that I took the assessment, I've had examples of what my strengths are, what it showed.

How old are you, Gerald?

In this picture, you look as though you're 30, for the most.

Yeah, I think that was a younger picture of mine, but I'm now 44 years old.

Wow!

So you've been in this space for quite a bit.

What's been the most exciting experience you've had being a coach?

The most exciting part for me is to see my clients having that enlightenment.

It's like some revelation popped into their head and when they refer me to other people, that's the best feeling in the world because it just tells me that I was able to help them.

Being in the Philippines, are there challenges working with people in other time zones or are you primarily working within the Philippines?

When I started, I primarily worked with clients here in the Philippines.

I actually just started doing coaching full-time this year.

So usually most of my clients are Christian professionals from my churches and then through word of mouth, I get to know other clients as well.

When you became a Christian, how did you initially meet Jesus?

I met Jesus through a friend who invited me to this Billy Graham evangelistic program here that was held in the Philippines.

During that time, I was not yet that open to Christianity but then I was already curious at that point so I started going to the church where my friend goes.

I was already searching because during that time, I was not happy with the work that I was doing.

It led me to search what else is out there.

I felt like I had disillusionment because the thing I thought would make me happy when I had it, when I had it, it didn't make me happy.

So I don't know, it started a search for meaning for me.

Transitioning from the previous job that you had, was that difficult into full-time coaching?

Before I transitioned from my previous job to full-time coaching, I was already doing coaching for a few years already.

So the transition is a little bit of a challenge because right now, I rely on my income from this work.

So I need to do a little bit of stretching here and there to make ends meet.

Why go the route of only Christians?

I started with Christian professionals because my worldview is already rooted in Christian perspective.

It simply made sense to me.

It's a different feeling when you're able to help people see a different perspective, how they look at the world.

Is the coaching different because you're doing Christian coaching in comparison to someone that would teach from, let's say, a psychological perspective or from a personal development perspective only?

When I do my coaching, I inform my clients that I'm a Christian coach and I ask them if it's alright to sometimes put in spiritual questions to our conversation.

Most of the time, they actually prefer that.

So it's not that you only coach Christians, it's just a matter of the coaching you're doing is from the perspective of the Bible?

You can say that, yes.

Hmm.

So I have another question with the perspective of who was the first person you coached?

Was it family or friends?

Or was it even that friend that got you into church?

It was a friend of a friend.

When I started, I was so nervous that I didn't charge that much.

All I wanted was to experience how to coach.

And when I did, I found out that this is the thing that I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

I don't even call it work anymore.

I call it my calling.

That's why this year I decided to go full time with it.

Who did you achieve certification with?

What body?

All right.

So 2017, I started with Gallup.

But then Gallup is just a tool to help people.

It's not really how a coaching conversation goes.

So I took up essentials of coaching from a Christian coaching school, and I found Professional Christian Coaching Institute.

Oh, you founded an institute.

Did you just say that?

Yeah.

No, no.

I didn't.

Oh, you found them as a resource.

I found them as a resource online.

So I took a course from that school, and I I intentionally chose them because I wanted a Christian coaching school for myself.

On the synchronicity of saying or mistaking the found word, which is a word that could mean both things, right?

Is that something that you would actively pursue?

Sorry, can you say that again?

I know that we said the word founded, right?

And I mistakenly thought that you founded the institute, right?

But you said you mentioned you founded it as a resource.

But I'm saying on that page, is that something that you would actively do if given the chance to create an institute that provides the resources locally there in the Philippines?

Have you ever thought about that?

That's something that hasn't come to my mind because I feel like I'm still fresh in my journey of coaching.

I want to learn more and experience more, be able to coach more before I start teaching it to others.

You want to get more experience under the belt.

Correct, yes.

Who is your ideal client?

Right, my ideal client are professionals who feel stuck at the moment.

They're not sure which way to go.

They need direction so that they can move forward with confidence.

Why do you think God has called you for such a time as this?

Wow.

This is very personal for me because 20 years back, I experienced the same feeling where a job that I had, which I thought back then was good for me, eventually turned out that it was not able to honor the values that I have as an employee.

Right now, it's like a full circle moment.

God has put me in this place to help other people who felt the same way back when I was young.

Do you have a family now?

Yes, I have a wife and a daughter.

My daughter is turning six.

Congratulations.

That's wonderful.

Thank you.

How long have you been married?

I've been married for 10 years.

We just celebrated last April.

Oh, congratulations again.

Oh, the decade marker.

That's wonderful.

Do you find yourself...

Yeah.

Or is it possible to coach your wife?

Oh, that's a pretty interesting question.

Okay.

The general answer should be yes, but it really depends on the mental fitness of your spouse.

In my case, my wife actually has chronic functional depression, so I'm not equipped to handle something like that.

That is an example of why it is important for people who decided to do what you're doing as a coach because you love it and not understand the technical aspects of the field.

Because you could create a situation where you damage someone, couldn't you?

Correct.

Yes, absolutely.

Go ahead.

You can go ahead, Gerald.

I agree with what you said.

There's quite a difference with counselling and coaching.

I know for a fact that I'm not a counsellor, so I don't want to do work that I have no competencies with.

Okay.

Five years from today, you're listening to this conversation.

You're on the marker for being a 50-year-old man.

What's a message you'd leave for future you?

For my future self.

For your future self.

I'm going to tell myself to just take one faithful step at a time.

I don't have to know the whole journey because that's overwhelming.

As long as I make sure to just remember to take the next faithful step, that should be enough.

Hey, this has been an honour speaking with you.

In closing, is there anything else you'd like to share?

For our audience.

I've spent some time helping people find career clarity.

One thing I've learned is you're less lost than you think.

So sometimes the clues are already there in your strengths, experiences, passions, and even your struggles.

We have to pay attention to those clues because the goal isn't to become someone else.

The goal is to become more fully who you were created to be.

And I hold this quote to me everywhere.

No one can do better than what God has designed you to do Love that.

Gerald, a pleasure, a treasure.

Thank you for being on What is Inspired by 12 Minute Conversations.