Who do I work with?

The eagle-eyed amongst you might have noticed that I’ve recently changed my LinkedIn headline. No longer “Career Coach for people in their 20-30s”. Now it’s:

Why have I done this? Mainly, as I’ve realised it’s more about stage than age. I recognised what my clients had in common isn’t their age - in fact they typically range from late 20s-early 50s. It’s the career challenges they are facing.

So, what do my clients have in common:

-       They are not brand new to working. They have a number of years’ experience but now find themselves at a career crossroads, unsure where to go next

-       Often they ‘fell’ into their current career and are now questioning if it still a good fit

-       Many others had career goals they were working to in the early stages of their career, achieved them … and are now left thinking, “Is this it? What’s next for me?”. They want to design the roadmap for their next chapter in their career

-       Many come to me after an incident or period which has negatively impacted their career confidence, so alongside the clarity and direction we also work to rebuild their self-belief

-       Often they have a few ideas of what’s next and need support to make it happen… but many others see a blank canvas when they look at their future working life

-       They all want clarity, they want direction, they want support in making sense of who they are, want they want and what they offer so that they can make positive choices about their next steps

-       They are typically professionals in business (corporate to small-medium sized companies) or education, across a variety of industries and roles (from Management Consultant to Creative Director, and HR Manager to PR Manager, and beyond…!)

My reasons for working with this mid-career group remain the same as when I badged myself as coach for people in their 20s and 30s. I see a lot of support out there for executives around career development, I see a lot of support for students and those starting out …. I see much less support for those of us in the middle phase. But people mid-career absolutely need career coaching too, to support with all the challenges I listed above … and more!

NB: Those who know me might be thinking but I thought you liked supporting students and graduates? I do… and I continue to do that through my freelance work with business schools and universities. But it’s not the main thing that makes up my 1:1 career coaching work.