Career & Return to Work Coach, Surrey
Testimonials
"Rachel has helped me take control of my return to work after a 12 year career break. Over the past year I have had regular career coaching sessions via Skype. The sessions enabled me to identify my career objectives, build my self-confidence and ultimately enabled me to secure a new job.
My journey started with me undertaking a variety of exercises to identify my key skills and strengths and this helped me to get clarity on my career options. The one hurdle Rachel was great at coaching me through was to look at “what’s stopping you” - and there were a few! “But how will my family cope!” Rachel helped me break down those barriers and I still fondly look back at the drawing I made of my perfect world when I return to work. It may not be perfect but I will try hard to get there.
Searching for work can be a solo task but with Rachel giving me focus, structure, support and a friendly ear it felt that she was personally interested in my journey too. She helped me understand the importance of networking. Even though networking is all about making contact and connecting with people it can be hard making that initial step to tap into the resources you have available to you. I got some useful advice and support from ex-colleagues, working mums and friends to help me along the way. With the confidence I had developed through the career coaching sessions, we worked on my personal brand to bring together my skills, values and experience. It is difficult to say everything in a 30 second commercial about yourself but once I had it nailed it was perfect to use in the interview room!
Rachel’s background in HR helped explain the CV selection process and how a typical HR resourcing team would work. Rachel provided me with a CV template, reviewed my CV and through google docs we were able to work in real time together. Rachel also provided hints and tips on how to create a good LinkedIn profile and how to use LinkedIn to network effectively.
I was able to build up a strong self-esteem, and with a clear sense of direction and increasedconfidence I felt able to start applying for those jobs and attending interviews. Rachel took the job description and pulled together a sample interview. I felt just as nervous going through my “first interview” with Rachel but I am glad that I had someone like her with patience, advice and honesty to report back afterwards - the good and the areas to work on. The real interview (although still nerve wracking) was not so bad - after practice, practice practice! When I secured the job I felt like I was phoning a close friend to tell Rachel the good news.
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The overall process has been amazing. Rachel presents herself in a warm, friendly and empathetic manner. I would like to thank Rachel for her patience, motivation, wonderful support and helping me secure that all important new job!!"
Sheena Cresswell
Online Project Manager, Milton Keynes
"I met with Rachel yesterday having connected with her through the CIPD, Career Connect Morning Club.
I cannot thank her enough for her positivity and clarity as she challenged me to give different parts of my professional side marks out of ten, helping to focus my career direction.
Rachel has fantastic empathetic qualities and a genuine capacity to listen and understand. She has empowered me to vocalise what I want, that I am a qualified professional with real experience. I am now taking control and I will no-longer be apologising for my career history. Onwards and upwards!"
Thank you.
Katharine Moss
HR professional on a career break, Surrey
"Rachel has shone a light on key aspects of ‘what makes me tick’ so that I can gear my working life and personal development around those essential drivers. With each session, we drew nearer to the target of what it is, that I really want to be spending my time doing. It was an unexpectedly, eye-opening experience. Even the exercises I completed between sessions were fun. I wish I had done this years ago! With Rachel’s guidance, I have made positive changes to my career that will see me move into a more creative area that I always admired but never recognised was a central motivator for me. I thoroughly recommend Rachel Wright’s Career Coaching for anyone wanting to change direction or enhance their current career."
Angela Burke,
Surrey (2018)
"I called upon Rachel to review my CV following some negative comments from a number of recruiters, but I wasn't sure (had no idea) what needed changing. Rachel was able to provide options on formatting, content, and level of detail. The process was very simple and took away any potential stress with her methods.
This has turned my CV round and has enabled me to secure interviews and subsequently a job offer. The feedback I received from one recruiter was that it was the best CV they had ever seen."
Gavin,
Head of System Management,
Surrey (2018)
"Rachel helped me return to work in 2015 after a long career break to start my family and for over three years my job was a godsend. Eventually, I moved on past the period of feeling ‘grateful’ for a job that fit in around the school run and started wondering why I wasn’t progressing at work or even feeling happy there. Rachel was the first person I thought of to see again as I knew she had the expertise and compassion to work through these feelings and find a practical way of sorting this situation out.
Through a variety of exercises – that were fascinating and entertaining – Rachel helped me to identify how I had been choosing the same type of jobs because they were expedient and brought in a decent income. I also discovered that I was not really using any of the skills that are fundamental to my personality. With visualisation techniques we reviewed my day-to-day life in an objective way – to see what was holding me back from progressing professionally and whether my personal needs were being met through hobbies and interests. I was able to describe all the things I want to start saying ‘no’ to through a variety of exercises (and homework!) while Rachel provided positive feedback and I built a plan of action to bring into my life all the good things that I actually like doing. It was such a rewarding experience and sometimes a bit emotional (in a good way!) to see that I have some great skills that need to see the light of day. I am working on my plan to start my dream career and am also starting to see real benefits to my overall satisfaction in life. I definitely feel a lot more in control of where I am going because of all the insight gained over these past few months. I thoroughly recommend Rachel Wright’s Career Coaching to anyone who is looking for a meaningful step in the right direction."
Office Manager
Surrey (2015 & 2018)