Career Coaching

Whether you have a nagging doubt that your current career isn’t the right match for you but you aren’t rushing to make a change, or you’ve reached the point where you feel like resigning tomorrow, career change coaching can help you get clear about what enjoyable work looks like for you.

And career coaching also helps when you want to stay in your existing job but improve things – you might want to deal with a difficult colleague, get a promotion, more pay or persuade your boss to let you work flexibly.

Career coach Simon Annesley on making a change at work

I work with people of all ages, whether they want to move into something completely new or to be at their best in a job they enjoy.

I spent years thinking about a change of career, so it feels particularly purposeful for me to help people choose the career that’s the best match for them and to help them overcome any obstacles that might be stopping them from enjoying their work.

Depending on what changes you want to make it’s my job to:

  • Help you understand what you want from your work so you can find the right match for you.
  • Give you the tools to deal with your inner critic if it’s telling you there’s no way you can make a change
  • Help you to ask for what you want from a boss or colleague
  • Explore career possibilities and understand their appeal for you
  • Help remind you why you’re doing things like going for a promotion when it feels tough going (and celebrate with you when you get there!)

Firework™ career coaching programme

To help people who are thinking about a complete career change, I use a coaching programme called “Firework”, designed by two highly experienced coaches, to give you clarity about things like:

  • What feels purposeful for you and what you value
  • Your favourite skills and strengths
  • What motivates you about work (apart from paying the bills)
  • What a great workplace looks like for you
  • What most interests you

How does career change coaching work?

It works in three phases – Explore, Dream and Discover.

The Explore phase is all about you getting clear about what you want from both your life and your work. To help you make a sound choice about your career choice, you need to know what you want from your life outside work too.

You complete interesting, thought provoking exercises away from your coaching sessions and we then dig deep into your answers to uncover the really important information about you. This phase gives you a blueprint of yourself.

In the second Dream phase, you generate exciting new career options. And because you understand who you are and what you want from Explore, you can judge how good a match these options are for you.

When you’ve chosen the option that’s the best match for you, in the final Discover phase you create a plan to take you to where you want to be.

Who has career coaching?

Anyone and everyone!

My clients have included people in their 20s in the first phase of their career who are wondering if they’ve made the right choice for them. And people in their 30s and 40s who are successful and established in their field but have a nagging feeling that it’s not right for them. And now everyone looks set to retire a lot later, I also work with people in their 50s who want the last phase of their career to be more fulfilling.

I also career coach managers and leaders who want to gain promotion or who want to make positive changes to any aspect of their work.

What’s the difference between career coaching and career counselling?

Career coaches and career counsellors have a broad range of approaches and some may be similar but roughly speaking, a career coach helps you to uncover what you want to do for yourself and a career counsellor will be more likely to make recommendations about what you should do next.

What if I want to change my career and other areas of my life too?

The Firework™ programme is flexible so it’s absolutely fine to combine it with coaching about other parts of your life. And because Firework™ takes a “whole life” approach to career direction, my clients have found that it gives them insights which lead to improvements in other areas of their lives.

How long does the career change programme take and how often are the sessions?

The full programme takes around 12 sessions (1 x 2 hour induction + 11 hour-long sessions). And the number of sessions per month depends on you and your circumstances but should be a minimum of two to maintain momentum. If you have time to spend working through the process more quickly, (eg if you’ve taken redundancy) this is fine too – it can be tailored to whatever works for your circumstances.

I look forward to helping you create an inspiring and motivating next stage in your working life.

Simon Annesley
Managing Partner
Qualified Coach with the Coaches Training Institute (CTI)
Licensed Firework Career Coach (www.fireworkcoaching.com)

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    Liam, Head of Strategy at Venturethree

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