Are you living the life you want? Has your job become just work … unfulfilling … holding you back from enjoying life? Living the life you want is my mission. That includes having a satisfying career that you love to wake up in the morning and do.
Over my 25+ years as a career coach, I’ve helped people transition to different industries, move to and from consulting and corporate, change occupations, find meaningful work after retirement, and more.
A few examples of the clients whose lives have changed through my career discovery and life coaching services…
Case Study: Commodities broker whose industry became obsolete and searched aimlessly for two years until coaching helped him to transition to a new career within 60 days.
SITUATION: Bill, a commodities broker, was referred for coaching after searching unsuccessfully for two years following his industry’s decline. He had responded to about 9,000 job postings … that’s correct, 9,000. He fired away his résumé to every job that sounded interesting even if it was not a match.
SOLUTION: During our initial consultation, two issues became clear. He was using an untargeted résumé and lacked a concrete job search plan with specific strategies to execute.
I helped him to see his transferable skills, leadership strengths, purchasing experience, and achievements relevant to purchasing management, developed a targeted résumé to showcase his qualifications, and created a job search plan with specific action steps to implement. I also helped him improve his interviewing skills to build his confidence.
RESULTS: Within 60 days, he received two offers as purchasing director with target employers at the compensation level he needed.
“You told me that it was possible for me to find my dream job in the state where I want to live. I really didn’t believe it was possible for me. I just had to tap into what I love to do. You guided me through your process, and now I’m happy to report that you can add me to your success stories on both counts. There’s one more point to add, I’m at a higher salary than my last position. It’s a steal since I love what I do now – for the first time!”
Case Study: Marketing major finds his dream job with a leading brand.
SITUATION: Dave, a marketing graduate, was referred by a former client after an unsuccessful search for over year after getting his degree. He wanted to work for a leading brand in the tech industry. He had five companies in mind.
His résumé was bare bones—an outline of his short-term foodservice jobs during and after attending college. Nothing on his résumé reflected his marketing knowledge gained from his coursework and internship.
Like many people, he spent his time searching for postings online. He had zero interviews from numerous job postings—except for jobs that did not interest him. He felt hopeless about ever getting a position in his intended profession.
SOLUTION: During our first consultation, I pinpointed his challenges. He was searching only online and using a résumé that lacked any content related to his career target such as coursework, class projects and internship experience. In addition, he needed specific job search strategies to follow because he never had to search for a professional position.
Our coaching helped him to identify his valuable areas of knowledge, skill set, and experience in the marketing field so that I could create a targeted résumé to showcase his qualifications. In addition, I planned out his search strategies. His focus was on global companies such as Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, and Google.
I coached him in how to use LinkedIn for research and how to reach out and connect with contacts along with his target employers. I also provided interview role play sessions that helped him learn how to present his experience and win the offer.
RESULTS: Once he implemented the search plan and approached his network, he was successful in gaining referrals to his target employers. He was interviewed for marketing positions that would also help him learn and advance his skills. Within 55 days, out of the five target employers, he received three offers in marketing helping him kick off his career and potential advancement opportunities.
“You helped me land my dream job not with just one company but three of them! It was unbelievable. I struggled for so long trying to search on my own and nothing worked. You provided the résumé, a plan and interviewing skills training that I needed to make it happen. Thank you! I’ve sent several friends your way who are in the same situation.”
Case Study: Teacher transitions from education to a new career in sales
SITUATION: Susan had been employed as an elementary school teacher during the past eight years. Although she had impressive performance evaluations, she realized that it was not her cup of tea.
She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do next but had a couple of ideas. She read a book about finding a new purpose and direction in life. That’s when she found our contact information.
She wondered: What else can I do with my experience—without getting a new degree—and how do I get there?
SOLUTION: During our initial call, I explained to Susan that her teaching skills provided an excellent foundation for other types of jobs within and outside of education, including sales rep, corporate trainer, education writer, education policy specialist, curriculum developer, academic advisor, education consultant, instructional designer, test developer, to name a few.
First, I helped her to identify her professional interests (the things she enjoyed doing), strengths, skills, and type of work environment. Sales jumped to #1. Before launching a job search immediately, it was important to conduct research to reality test her career option. That is, talk to a few people in different typesI of sales, learn about the profession, ask questions, and check out how her skills would fit.
This exercise led to a new career target: pharmaceutical sales. I built her résumé and cover letter focused on the new career goal by translating her skills and writing about her experience and accomplishments without any education industry jargon.
The next step was to coach her in how to research and approach employers, build and reach out to her contacts, present her experience in a new “language” for sales positions during interviews, and communicate her value—that is, to answer the question: Why should I hire you?
RESULTS: Her new résumé led to five interviews with pharmaceutical companies. She effectively conveyed her value proposition during the interviews and won three job offers out of the five with companies she was most interested in joining.
In this highly competitive field, each of the job offers she secured paid significantly more than her salary as a teacher. A quick learner, she completed her company-sponsored training in short order to begin a new career in pharmaceutical sales.
“You are a consummate coach! With your help, I not only figured out my career passion that I had lost in education but landed the job with my #1 company! I couldn’t believe how your interview skills training made me feel prepared and confident. Thank you for being there to help me start a whole new career life.”