Career Coaching: Our Approach:

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Support

Career transition can be a challenging process. Our experienced consultants will support you through a difficult time. At all times we provide empathy, motivation, counselling and practical advice. The components of the coaching comprise:

Gaining Self-insight: Appreciating your Strengths

We normally begin by helping individuals gain greater insight into their strengths and weaknesses, and to reflect on their career to date. We help them clarify their personal goals and the skills they need to develop, to attain them.

We encourage people to complete a battery of psychometric tests and self-assessment exercises, in particular, personality and motivation questionnaires. As psychologists, if we feel additional insight is required we can make use of further assessment tools.

We also carry out in-depth interviews and discussions.

Clarifying Career Goals

We encourage individuals to reflect on their career to date. When have people flourished, when have they struggled or not felt energised? Many people fall into a career by chance. We help people to clarify the motivating personal goals which will give their life meaning and purpose. We then move on to identify the resources and skills that will be needed to attain them.

In addition to the traditional "career ladder" approach, if required, we also consider alternatives such as a sideways career change, self-employment, portfolio careers etc.

Developing a Pro-active Marketing Strategy

We provide practical help with a range of marketing skills for job seeking:

• Identifying a compelling proposition i.e. You!
• Identifying potential customers i.e. employers you would actively want to work for.
• Learning how to think like a recruiter - understanding the recruitment process and the criteria used to select people.
• Identifying potential influencers i.e. your extended social network.
• Identifying how you differentiate yourself from the competition.
• Situational awareness i.e. taking into account the big picture - the global factors that impact on your search e.g. political, regulatory, legal or technological changes, or changes in the competitive landscape that could offer opportunities or pose threats.
• Encouraging an active job seeking approach.

Developing a Personal Brand

We are thinking about personal branding in the sense of effectively marketing you to help you achieve your career goals (rather than becoming an internet celebrity!). This entails:

• Identifying what makes you unique. What is your unique selling proposition (USP)? What differentiates you from others in the field? What are the key strengths and characteristics you wish to convey to prospective employers?
• Being consistent in the demonstration of those characteristics. Consistency is key to a brand.
• If it is consistent with your brand, establishing a reputation, becoming an authority in your field. Ideally the field should be relatively niche. This means making the effort to write articles or produce podcasts or videos and answer peoples' questions on online forums.
• Reputation Management. It is critical to make sure there are no embarrassing traces lurking in your social media history.
• Ensuring your brand conveys the real, authentic, genuine you rather than a projection you can't deliver.

Working with Recruitment Agencies and Headhunters

It is always useful to establish a good relationship with a recruitment agency or headhunter. Too often candidates and agencies are like ships in the night. Many candidates feel that agencies are working for employers and are therefore 'not their side'. If an agency thinks you are a good bet in helping them to earn a commission, and you feel they will put you forward for appropriate roles, you can develop a partnership which will be beneficial to both sides. We can help you use a better understanding of the agency perspective to receive more support from them.

Tapping into the "Hidden" Job Market

The hidden job market is not some vast secret database of jobs kept hidden from you, which is only revealed to the select few. It refers to the fact that the employment market is fluid and dynamic. Some managers have ideas for roles long before the HR recruitment process is cranked into action and recruitment agencies are mobilised. Tapping the 'hidden' job market means using resourcefulness to work your extended network of contacts - to identify opportunities, to seed ideas of working with you into peoples' minds. It has been known for persuasive people to convince a manager that a new role is required they had not even considered.

We can help you work your broad network of contacts. We can also help you develop plan of campaign and prepare for meetings.

Using the Internet and Social Media Effectively

The internet has vast resources to help in your career transition. A key tool is LinkedIn. We can help you to learn how to use the web for research about organizations and people, presenting yourself positively, finding roles and helping to be found by potential recruiters.

Fine-tuning your CV to secure the Interview

Although we now live in the digital age, where recruitment processes often use bespoke online forms or social media, the CV is still a useful staple. We can help you present yourself in the best way, taking into account both content and style.

Practising Selection Assessments

We can help you prepare for psychometric assessments with practice tests e.g. cognitive ability, strengths, motivation and personality. We can also help with preparation for assessment centres.

Developing Job-winning Interview Skills

We can help you develop your interview skills. We can help you prepare for competency-based interviews and tough interview questions. We can provide interview practice and provide additional video feedback.

Motivational Coaching

We provide support with the career transition campaign, helping to develop confidence, build motivation and maintain momentum. We will help you develop a plan, milestones and timescales. We will help with tracking progress on the plan. We will also provide a comprehensive workbook with assessments, exercises, practical tips and useful information.