Diane had enjoyed a successful career spanning over 15 years in the Pharmaceutical Industry.  After the birth of her third child, after weighing up the cost of childcare as well as the often demanding hours of her job she left her role to stay at home full time.  After six years at home, she was ready to return to the workforce and began job searching.

When Diane came to coaching, she had been job searching for over a year and was feeling both overwhelmed and deflated by the experiences she had as a job seeker.  On the rare occasion she was shortlisted for an interview she struggled with confidently articulating her skills and competence and was contemplating applying for lower-level roles as she felt she was “not at the races” when it came to the jobs she had been targeting.

Through our coaching sessions, we looked at:

Identifying her ideal role

Diane had been trying to jump back on where she had left off six years ago when it came to her career, but when she reflected on her ideal role, it transpired that whilst she had enjoyed a successful well-paid career , she had before leaving begun to experience career stagnation and burnout and had been contemplating the option of a different type of role.  We explored in our sessions the types of roles she could readily transfer her skills to and began to look at options.

Aligning potential roles with her values, working style, and work-life balance needs

Once Diane had narrowed down some future roles and options we looked at how these options aligned with her values, working style, and work-life balance needs. Diane realised she still needed some flexibility with the demands of her home life and didn’t want to find herself back in the “rat race” She also understood better what type of work culture and environment she thrived in through reviewing her preferred working style.

Identifying personal and professional development needs

Diane identified a part-time post-graduate program as part of her professional development needs and engaged in future coaching sessions to work on her confidence, interview skills, executive presence, and networking options. We also reviewed her CV and LinkedIn profile to better reflect her skills and value.

Diane was initially successful at an interview for a part-time role which met her work-life balance requirements and values and allowed her to engage with her post-graduate studies.  At the end of her studies, she progressed into a role that met her ideal working environment and aligned with her values which gave her both the job satisfaction and flexibility she had identified at the outset of our coaching.