Oz and NZ 2008 112

How Would You Like to Transform People’s Careers & Lives?

As a firm believer in the importance of doing work you love, I am passionate about the work I do as a ‘helping professional’ and the positive impact I can make to people’s careers and lives. This my mantra and the code I live by:

You spend more waking hours at work than any other activity. Life is too short, so why be unhappy? Take the ‘leap of faith’ and do what you love!Like most professions, there is no one size fits all, as Coaches and Career Coaches come in all ‘shapes and sizes’. However, one thing is consistent i.e. we all want to make a difference and help our clients achieve (and very often, first help establish) their career and life goals.

Most research shows that 1 in 2 people are ‘in the wrong job‘, unhappy and unfulfilled. Therefore, there are plenty of people who need help with their careers!

What are the key aspects Career Coaches can help with?

  • Successful career transitions, following redundancy or re-organisation
  • Outplacement support e.g. 1:1 coaching and workshops
  • Developing your career to the next level e.g. first management, senior management, executive or top executive role
  • Re-evaluating your career
  • Changing careers
  • Changing jobs
  • Starting your own business
  • Returning to work after a career break
  • Career planning
  • Self marketing e.g. developing your CV and LinkedIn profiles
  • Developing and optimising your networks
  • Developing an online presence and personal brand
  • Job search strategy
  • Successful job applications
  • Winning at Interviews
  • Work-life balance (or ‘blended working lifestyle’ as I call it)
  • Personality profiling
  • Portfolio Career development
  • Retirement planning

This long list is certainly not exhaustive but gives a real flavour of the amazing variety within a Career Coaching role. Obviously some people will only want to specialise in specific aspects and others will be more generalist.

Have you ever thought about being able to help transform people’s careers and lives?

For many years, clients, friends and contacts suggested I should share my knowledge and unique career & personal development tools and techniques with aspiring Career Coaches. I resisted until last year, when a number of clients and fellow Career Coaches cajoled me, as they wanted me to coach and train them to share my secrets for becoming a successful Career Coach.

If you believe that things happen for a reason and timing is everything, it all happened over a remarkable few weeks. I was even introduced to a new contact, who was really excited about my vision and had great complementary skills, to help me develop such a programme. The timing was right and it was clearly meant to be. Hence the ‘birth’ of my ‘Career Catalyst Career Coach Development Programme

The pilot programme was a great success and the feedback was way beyond even my wildest dreams! I have since enhanced the programme even further with new innovations, providing even more value added. It truly is a unique programme to learn how to become a successful Career Coach, either as your business or as part of a Portfolio Career.

The core of the programme is the two full day Masterclasses. These are deliberately small groups to be highly engaging, practical and interactive. You have a real opportunity to learn, practice and take away my proven tools and techniques and all licence free! Many people think I’m crazy (maybe I am!), as I could make big money from licencing but that’s not my purpose for running such a programme.

What type of people will benefit from this programme?

Here are some of the suggested ideal categories of people previous delegates highlighted:

  • Coaches, Trainers, Teachers, Consultants and Therapists, looking to specialise or diversify into Career Coaching
  • All levels of Career Coaches and Outplacement Consultants, particularly those keen to learn and follow a proven process, providing structure and consistency to what you offer
  • People who have experienced Career Coaching first-hand and enjoyed the benefits
  • People with a passion for Personal Development and want to explore Career Coaching as an option
  • HR Specialists in large organisations who regularly support employees with Talent Management, Career Transition or finding roles post redundancy
  • Anyone looking to set up on their own as a Career Coach or within a Portfolio Career because the programme gives you confidence you can do it!

Does this sound like something you might be interested in or someone you might know?

If so, I would love to hear from you. I only plan to run a couple of programmes a year, as part of my own Portfolio Career, so if you are serious about making a difference to the careers and lives of other people, check it out and contact me asap as first come first served!

Steve Preston is known as The Career Catalyst ®. A leading Career Coach to professionals and executives, the Career Coach’s Coach, MD of specialist Consultancy SMP Solutions (Career & People Development) Ltdmotivational speaker and Internationally acclaimed Author of Career and Personal Development books and products, including Portfolio Careers – How to Work for Passion, Pleasure & Profit, Winning Through Career Change – Six Steps to Navigate your way to a Brighter Future and Winning Through Redundancy.