If you’re here, you’re thinking about finding the job that’s right for you.
And you probably also want to find the workplace that’s right for you.
Maybe you want to make a major career change, improve your situation, or jump back into the workforce after an absence (hi, parents on leave or caring for families full-time!).
You might be bored or want to level-up your career with a new challenge (this can be stress-inducing because you’re not using your strengths or feeling engaged).
Maybe it’s more about the workplace…
You might feel undervalued, not getting the opportunities you want, or want your manager to actually be invested in your growth and flourishing.
You want to earn more and you know you’re more likely to achieve a bigger increase in salary by finding a new job instead of asking for a raise.
Your job might look great on paper but something’s missing.
Making the move can feel overwhelming. The hundreds of job postings and resume updates, the uncertainty, the lack of feedback – it can be isolating and paralyzing.
It’s worse if you’ve been searching for a long time already, or if you’re in any kind of stressful job situation (read: pandemic) or transition.
But there IS a more fulfilling position out there for you, at an organization that better fits your skills, matches your values, and aligns with your goals.
I’m Kathryn Meisner, Career and Salary Negotiation Coach.
A little bit about me:
- I’m an intersectional feminist.
- I have a TEDx on resilience (now with 100k+ views).
- I’ve been featured in places like Refinery29, Chatelaine, The Globe & Mail.
- I’ve worked with over 500 people across 13 countries to help them find jobs they love in less time, and with salary increases up to $50,000. Yup, for real.
And I’ll be your Guidance Counsellor.
Are these reasons holding you back? Let me tell how I can help.
For those of us with non-linear career paths (I’m a career chameleon myself), a move can feel especially daunting. But hardly any career unfolds neatly and with a single ladder to climb, often because:
- You’re a generalist
- You have soft skills
- You “fell into” past positions, whether out of serendipity, necessity, or convenience
- You have a gap in your work history
- You’re trying to change careers
- You don’t know exactly what you want to do next, or what’s possible
- You feel like you don’t have the “right” education or enough education
- You don’t know if you’re qualified enough
Side note: Let’s ditch the idea of a “career ladder” and embrace the concept of a “career jungle gym.” It sounds more fun and it allows for more options instead of just up or down on a single path.
If you want to figure out the next move on your personal career jungle gym…
Let’s figure out together in Guidance Counselling for Adults.
**Registration is currently CLOSED **.
In the meantime, you can apply here to see if we’re a good fit.
I have some good news for you
Regardless of the reason why you want to find a better job…
You DO NOT have to know what you want to do next before you start job searching (many of my clients land a better job before they figure out the exact job title they want).
You can give yourself permission to stop waiting until you know exactly what you want to pursue.
And you can stop with all the resumes and scrolling through online job postings. Those strategies are almost always a waste of time and effort and it’s painful and soul-crushing.
This approach to job searching isn’t very effective, especially if:
- Your career hasn’t been linear or hasn’t had a clear trajectory
- You’re a generalist
- You have a lot of soft skills
- You have a gap in your work history
- You’re changing careers
Plus, this approach does absolutely nothing to help you get career clarity or figure out which job or organization is right for you.
It can leave you in a bit of a catch-22 situation – how do you apply for a job if you don’t even know *which* job you want? Or what your skills are? Or how to market yourself?
And even if you do get contacted for an interview…
How do you know if the job will actually be what you want? What if the organization/colleagues/your boss is everything you hate? And what if it’s worse than your current situation? WHAT IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT?
Guess what? These are just *some* of the things we’ll cover in Guidance Counselling for Adults (registration is currently CLOSED but you can apply now and we will keep your application on file for when GCA registration opens up again).
This may sound counterintuitive but…
Many of us are still stuck with what we were taught in school: That job searching begins with your resume. But that’s not the best approach for this job market.
You can leave behind the old method of scrolling through hundreds of job postings, waiting for the perfect position, then crossing our fingers and submitting an application that may or may not get any traction. This scattershot method doesn’t work for most people anymore–if it ever did at all. And it definitely won’t help you figure out if the job and workplace is right for you.
Finding the job (and workplace) that’s right for you doesn’t start with your resume or a job description, or even with with a specific job title.
It starts with you.
Decisions about your priorities and what makes you feel engaged and fulfilled in a role and work culture.
THIS is what needs to guide your exploration and job search, way before you start editing your resume or reaching out to your network.
No, you probably won’t get everything you want but how can you get even part of what you want if you don’t know what that includes? Or you don’t know how to communicate it in a way that supports (instead of stalls) your job search?
You can leverage your experience, whatever it may be.
After making decisions about your priorities, it’s time to decide what skills you want to offer and which you want to stop offering.
To be able to make these kinds of decisions, you need to have a deep knowledge of your skills, experience, and results you’ve contributed to.
You don’t need to contort your work history into a linear career. You know more than you think and you have way more to offer than you realize.
I don’t want to help you cover up your non-linear work history, I want to help you discover and confidently communicate the *value* you bring because of it.
Your difference is your differentiator.
I want to help you transform how you see your skills and experience and ultimately, how you see yourself.
This is what happened when my client divorced her job titles and its part of what you’ll work on in Guidance Counselling for Adults.
Divorce your job titles
In Guidance Counselling for Adults, you’ll divorce your job titles by unpacking all your roles and detaching your skills from job titles. Then, we’ll translate them into transferable skills and divorce your job titles.
This is ESPECIALLY important if you’re a generalist or switching careers. My guess is that your titles have never really been an accurate description of what you do. Maybe your current job has expanded past the confines of your official title a while ago?
And if it’s helpful, we can have a “job title divorce party” to help you let go and move on from the titles (and workplaces) that you want to leave behind. Let’s burn it down together.
After that?
A sustainable job search strategy that fits your life.
No job search burnout for you.
One of the many challenges of figuring out the next step in your career and then actually finding that role is that it feels like a full-time job, often while you’re already working. And if you’re unemployed, you have to also fend off panic about finances.
What if you could jumpstart your job search in just two weeks?
With supportive guidance, a clear structure, and proven results?
In Guidance Counselling for Adults we’ll be intentional with a clear strategy, the right tools, the right connections, and the right action. All are tailored to your specific context.
You’ll leave behind information overload and analysis paralysis.
You’ll take calculated, strategic risks with strong, steady support behind you (from moi).
You’ll find out what’s possible without actually knowing what’s out there.
You’ll be able to confidently talk about your experience.
Remember guidance counsellors?
Some of us had better experiences with them than others, but basically, guidance counsellors helped us (or at least they were supposed to help us) navigate the confusing world of university, college, and careers. They helped us figure out what we were good at, sometimes with surprising results. The best ones helped us stay true to ourselves–our interests, abilities, and desires–and avoid directions that weren’t the right fit.
Why should this kind of guidance end after high school?
I became a Career and Salary Negotiation Coach because every career move takes us into the unknown, and every person deserves a calm, encouraging, and experienced guide.
This is why I’ve been called a career therapist and a salary doula.
I like to think of myself as your caring, warm-hearted, and action-oriented career coach and job search strategist, ready to support you with tools and accountability, and to stick with you through the entire process–from getting clear on what you want all the way through to negotiating your salary.
Want to work together?
Click here to read about how I can help you in Guidance Counselling for Adults: kathrynmeisner.com/gca
Find out how my decade worth of job searching wisdom, experience, lessons, practical tools, and collaborative methods can help you transform how you see your skills and experience, transform your job search, and land the job (and workplace) that’s right for you.
Guidance Counselling for Adults has no official start date at this time, but you can apply now and we will keep your application in file.
Let’s get your job title divorce party started and find and land the job that’s right for you.