What our participants are telling us this week...
"Thank you. I thank you for helping me through the darkest period of my life. It’ll never be forgotten and I will be forever grateful. You helped me to turn the corner, to get to the corner, to turn and to give me the encouragement to make the turn… a long convoluted metaphor, but I hope you get what I mean."
"My coach was amazing and always so helpful. All of my meetings with my coach were excellent and the sessions gave me such good advice and support. I really felt like the coach cared about me and genuinely wanted to help me with my new career aspirations."
"The match with my coach was perfect, the portal was diverse with lots of interesting content, but I found the time spent with my business coach extremely valuable."
"I found this workshop very useful in allowing me to think positively, focus on building resilience and embracing the changes with a learning opportunity & belief that I can adapt even after being in the same job role for 34 years. This supported me to look at elements in my control how I embrace this change"
"I’m due to start a new role on Tuesday. Thanks for all your help through my redundancy and with the CV writing, it has definitely made a difference"
"The Independent Financial guidance support was extremely beneficial, great informative information, delivered from a real level headed perspective"
"I have enjoyed the flexibility provided by the programme and certainly a ‘menu of options’ approach worked for my situation. The coaching sessions were helpful and he gave me a number of things to think about and investigate, and the financial session was really helpful in thinking through future plans around my pension position."
"Sam was great at letting me discuss what I have been struggling with at home and at work and the sessions made me realise how helpful it is to talk about these feelings and work out some good strategies to get through it."
"I can’t thank my coach enough for all their support & advice given me during our sessions. My coach has made me look at things in a different way and given me the push to open up, talk about my feelings, direct me to the right places. Making my return as effective as possible. Without their advice, I probably would of rushed my return in July, put myself under a lot of pressure & had a mental breakdown after a few days. I highly recommend this programme to anybody returning to work after long term leave."
"When I was told I was being made redundant, it was honestly the shock of my life. In the first instance I was devastated, but quickly this turned to determination to make a career change and do something different. In stepped my coach, who from the first contact, was 100% on board with what I was aiming for and planned how she was going to help me get there.
One of the things I found most beneficial was the way our sessions were entirely tailored to me, and my circumstances. This just made me feel so valued and worthwhile, especially at such a difficult time. She helped me initially with my cv, then once I had secured an interview, my presentation for that interview.
She was on hand whenever I needed her, providing advice and guidance, and a general ear to listen to any concerns I had. When I secured my new role she was one of the first people I told and completely genuinely shared in my excitement.
During my first few months in my new career, she has reached out a number of times, not for any official help, but just as a support with genuine interest in how I am getting on. She has been so wonderful and I really feel I owe her so much.”
"The CV support really helped me and I could clearly see where I needed to make improvements- I used the new CV to apply for 3 roles and secured 3 interviews and I really believe the CV support was part of that achievement so thank you. I was offered two of the roles and have accepted a role I am extremely happy with."
"Having returned from maternity leave, it was really helpful to talk through current challenges with somebody independent. It gave me an opportunity to think about how best to sensitively manage these going forward and my coach had some helpful suggestions. We also talked through things I can do now to ensure I have access to further opportunities within the organisation in the future."
"Thank you for support it was great, I start a new job today!"
“My Coach is a great source of information, experience and support as well as a valuable sounding board. In just three sessions my coach gave me advice on recalibrating my career on re-entering the job market after a long period of time in one organisation. He also provided feedback on crafting a quality CV, covering letter and professional profile. I believe his help secured me access to a greater choice of roles and gave me confidence to be selective. I'm delighted to have accepted a position which is suited to my strengths and offers the shift in career direction I sought.”
“My redundancy experience has really been transformational in many ways, aside from the lock downs and what I have learned I will carry forwards in what I hope will be my new career, whatever that looks like. Working Transitions have helped shape this and supported me and this has made a real difference.
Sam has offered me an exceptional level of care and support, complimented by her professional advice since I was made redundant last June, and she has truly made a difference. Your whole team have been so helpful to me. I would certainly recommend Working Transitions.”
“Excellent Service, Initial contact was good and had a career coach, Ken was good. Really professional and workshops were very well presented. Really good content.”
“The support was helpful, provided reassurance and steer when I felt vulnerable, thank you so much. Now happily one month into a new role.”
"I just had an hour session and she was absolutely wonderful. Very insightful, good suggestions and just overall lovely to work with. She was absolutely fabulous! Really seems ‘tuned in’ to the types of questions you might get asked, hints and tips, etc. She’s also just a genuine, welcoming individual."
“Kim and I continue to meet, and she continues to be a great source of inspiration and challenge as I set about developing my new life as a coach/mentor.”
“Thank you so much for this session its been great I’ve got loads I can now go away and implement. I had been really struggling with motivation to get started but this has really helped. Looking forwards to the next session now.”
"Kate has been absolutely brilliant during the programme; she’s gone over and above to provide positive feedback, offer suggestions and provide a wealth of background information."
"I'm getting stuck into my new role and it's going very well. The team is extremely capable and very supportive, so I'm expecting to learn a great deal from them. My new line manager is also great to work with too. So, all in all, I think it would be OK to close our 'case'. I have appreciated your support though, and very much enjoyed our meetings."
"The workshops are really useful as are the supporting documents."
"Excellent service and this is just from the limited service I took up. As I did not take the services up in a timely fashion I was 'nudged' by my contact on a regular basis of the impending expiry of the various options, but not too often that I felt pestered. This ultimately led to me 'getting my finger out' and actually arranging the financial advice service that I wanted to use, so I would like to thank you for reminding me otherwise I would probably have left it too late."
“Sam was absolutely brilliant and made it possible for me to perform at my best to secure employment. Always supportive, constructive and thought provoking. Sam engaged fully and helped me feel confident in my interview stages when my gut feel was to give up. Definite hints and tips and support in abundance.”
“Sam has been able to deliver the care and consistency that I have really needed over the past year. I am so grateful for being able to have the opportunity to receive her advice, knowledge and support, as this has made a significant difference to how I have been able to navigate a pathway going forwards over the past year. Hopefully, it will help secure a future, that has benefited from all the support I have received. I would certainly recommend the Working Transitions support to family or friends.”
“My interactions with Jemma were helpful, and I found the CV comments really constructive. Although I resisted the initial help, after unsuccessful applications, I found the support really helpful with CV layout, structure and content really helpful which is positively helping my ongoing job seeking experience.”
“My coach was great, very engaging, she reached out multiple times, was easy and flexible with scheduling sessions. She quickly understood what my situation was, thought outside of the box and understood the context and situation, was not pushy, understood me. I appreciated that she remembered everything previously spoken about and would recommend her 100%”
“The coaching was helpful, helped me prepare how to approach interviews which I successfully then secured a new role. It was so helpful to actually talk to someone rather than just reading materials.”
“My coach was amazing, supportive, gave clear direction, shared her skills and expertise and helped build my confidence. She was always kind and considerate and always looked at positive skill set to promote - I am extremely thankful for all her support.”
“The support helped me secure my dream job. Fantastic support from a human perspective, which is what I needed rather than CV work. Enabled me to present myself positively in interview that secured my position.”
“Happy with everything clear information in the outset of the programme, my coach was very good, enjoyed the sessions and found them very helpful and pointed me in the right direction as decided to go self-employed. Business is going well ups and downs, very busy weeks and slow weeks but all going well, Thank you”
“I have absolutely nothing but high praise for my coach! I was having a bit of a tough time after being made redundant, and not only did he help me prepare for interviews and update my CV, but he helped me see the bigger picture not just with work, but life in general. I was feeling particularly flat at the time, but every time I met with him, he made me feel so uplifted and positive.”
“Initially I did not know what to expect from the service available to me, the service from all has been great. Very different experience to be in my 50's out of work after being in employment for 20 years, not only having to job search/interview but to complete this virtually. Jemma is very knowledgeable, approachable and understanding in the coaching sessions, Jemma helped me to look at different options and was very flexible with the support.
When you are made redundant and especially in the pandemic knowing it’s no fault of your own, the job searching can become a lonely process and can make you question yourself, one of the main positives from your company and the service you provide is to know someone cares, someone is there to support you and you have someone to speak to.”
“When the program was initially offered through work, I have to say I was sceptical, now I have been through the programme I am a definite supporter, prior to speaking with you I questioned how would it help and support in my move forwards especially with all the thought process and concerns and low feelings that can come with a redundancy and the concerns about information being passed back to previous employer. However, I can now say I am an advocate of this type of support.
I really enjoyed my time with Shelley, I got a lot from the sessions, support with CV/Interview etc and shortly after the sessions I found a new role.”
“The initial introduction call was great very informative and helped a lot so I could make a plan and know how to most effectively use the programme and also what to expect. I attended some workshops to help provide me with inspiration for how to turn my creative hobby and grow this into a business.
The coaching was extremely useful especially around the CV and teaching me how to sell myself on a CV, this was incredibly useful knowledge, and I don’t think you realise how important this is until you have an expert coach to help and guide you with this.
I am very grateful to have had access to this support and also very grateful to Jill as she was very flexible in covering my changing needs.”
“Sam clearly had a wealth of knowledge and experience and drew on this in our conversations. Sam prompted my thinking and I now have a set of notes to inform my first conversations in my new role.
The portal and supplementary materials were excellent and helped to focus my thinking, and I now have a good CV and LinkedIn profile as a result. My check ins and coaching sessions were incredibly helpful. This was the first time I've had outplacement support and I found it a worthwhile experience. Thank you.”
“In March 2021 I was made redundant, and I used my coach to counsel me with regards to finding a new job. I would like to confirm that she has been very helpful in supporting me in understanding how I can improve chances of successfully getting a new job. I would have no hesitation in recommending her to other people in similar situations.”
“Ian was appointed as my virtual coach as part of my outplacement options with Working Transitions, following my redundancy in December 2019. I feel lucky to have been appointed Ian as my coach, as I felt we immediately 'clicked' and we were able to move from the 'getting to know someone' stage to adding value very quickly.
- Fantastic listening skills, allowing me to speak, express my feelings, views and opinions without interruption.
- Ian helped me to reflect on my internal thoughts and arrive at different conclusions.
- Ian started a positive change in my mindset, moving towards a 'Give it a go' attitude from my previous fear of starting to commence things in case something went wrong.
- Encouraged me to explore options and talk to people, move a thought or possibility into a tangible action.
Although the relationship was on a professional foundation, Ian felt like a friend, someone who I could open up to, chat about anything on my mind with the comfort of knowing this would be kept confidential between the two of us.
Ian helped me 'professionalise' my LinkedIn profile, he identified I was relatively new to LinkedIn and I was seeking guidance on how to navigate myself around updating my profile and posting content"
Keep your eyes out for next week's testimonials...