It’s that point of the holidays when it’s between Christmas and New Year’s and the days just seem to bleed into each other and I have lost all track of time. It’s also the time of year when I start looking back over the year and start looking at what’s ahead in 2019.
Hello 2019…
Here’s my snapshot of what I have coming up in 2019 so far:
Monday January 7th – Thursday, January 17th: For the first time in a year,Guidance Counselling for Adults will be open for registration again in April 2019. An early bird, sliding scale rate will be available for the first few days. GCA is my 5 week group program (with lots of options for support from me). There will be three different ways you can take the program and new additions including coworking sessions!
Want to be notified when it opens (and receive an early bird bonus)? Sign up below. You’ll also get my job search checklist to help you see what you’re doing right and what you might be missing.
- 12:30pm EST on Monday, January 7th and Tuesday, January 8th: I’m going to be doing TWO Facebook Lives about job searching and switching careers. Want to get notified 15 mins before I go live? Click here and you’ll automatically be signed up to get an email. I haven’t confirmed the topics for these lives yet – have a specific question or topic? Hit reply or DM me and I’ll get back to you.
- 6:30pm EST, Thursday, January 10th: I’ll be speaking about salary negotiation strategies for women at the Toronto Public Library (free). Click here for more details and to register. I am pretty stoked that the event is featured on TPL’s front page (is this only cool to me?).
- Career Strategy Hour: I’m launching a NEW one-on-one service. This session is for when you have a job or career opportunity come up and you want to brainstorm and strategize about it (like if a contact has referred you to a job posting and you want to strategize how to leverage the connection in your application or if you have two job offers and aren’t sure which one is right for you etc).
- I’m doing some internal career development workshops for organizations to help people navigate and cultivate career opportunities within their workplace. If this sounds like something you’d like at your organization, just let me know.
- I’ve had a lot of fun with the in-person workshops I’ve done this year and I’m thinking I’d like to do more – maybe an in-person Guidance Counselling for Adults or resume workshop? What do you think?
Goodbye 2018…
SO MUCH HAPPENED IN 2018. So much.
- I’ve now worked with over 300 clients in 10 countries. Wow wow wow. That’s the beauty of doing all of my coaching sessions over the phone and running Guidance Counselling for Adults online.
- I ran GCA once which was so much fun – some of my fave moments were conversations on the coaching calls and in the Facebook group about how to balance practicality with passion and how to deal with perfectionism and imposter syndrome.
- My TEDx on resilience reached 54k views.
- I ran a promotion for Ask for More, my salary negotiation course for women and an anonymous ally reached out to me and funded 5 spots <3
- I co-taught a course and coached international trained professionals at Rotman School of Management at University of Toronto.
- I’m not always available to review resumes (ppl usually have a tight timeline) so I created Pain-Free Resumes & Cover Letters.
- I coached dozens of people through my one-on-one services, Career Clarity, Nail Your Interview, and Get Paid.
- I had a baby!
I had planned to take 4 months off but then ended up taking 8 month of “modified” maternity leave due to health issues. This was a great reminder that we have to remain flexible in our plans.
It also helped me realize that my health – which directly impacts my family’s health – is my priority. Taking extra time off meant I had less work (and money) in the short-term but that healing time has set the foundation for me to work sustainably in the long-term. If I had gone back to work at 4 months and powered through, I would have crashed and burned.
I share this not to say “oh poor me” but more to say it’s ok prioritize your needs. It may not always be possible (bills are unrelenting) but if you can do it, it’s worth it.
I’ve seen this topic come up a lot in my clients. It is possible to take time off or take a “more junior” role for your health or sanity. More people do this than you think. It’s not the end of your career – it’s temporary. You just have to figure out a way to reframe your experience and job search in a way that isn’t resume-focused (because resumes highlight timelines). And in case you were wondering, yes, Guidance Counselling for Adults can help with this.
Want to reflect on YOUR career in 2018? I’ve designed “Your Career Year In Review” to help you do exactly that.