Poor work / life balance
The circumstances
Working for a highly respected firm of management consultants, William was a Director at 34, enjoyed an excellent salary package and had a portfolio of clients that included some of the world's largest and most prestigious companies. However, the nights away and long hours were taking their toll, and he wasn't seeing enough of his young family. He wanted to leave the firm and do something that would provide a better balance between his work and private life. William decided to engage the services of Appleby Associates and worked with one of our professional career consultants.
The issues
- Management consultancy was all William knew
- He didn't know what else he could do
- He didn't know what he wanted to do
The outcome
An Appleby Associates career consultant guided and supported William through a tailored programme that enabled him to identify his transferable skills and explore options that would provide both a challenge and a much better work/life balance. He secured several offers and accepted a senior marketing position with an innovative and successful retailer.
Redundancy
The circumstances
Redundancy hit Paul just a week after he had celebrated his 50th birthday. He had spent the previous 10 years as Production Director of a large manufacturer. The parent company had sold the subsidiary company to a competitor that did not wish to retain the incumbent management team. Paul decided to engage the services of Appleby Associates and worked with one of our professional career consultants.
The issues
- Paul hadn't conducted a job search for more than 23 years because his last three moves had all been initiated by headhunters
- He was not ready for the scrap heap
- He was in a state of shock over his sudden redundancy
The outcome
An Appleby Associates career consultant first helped Paul come to terms with redundancy and see it as an opportunity to take stock. After exploring a number of options that fitted with his skill set and interests, his career consultant helped guide him through the unadvertised job market. A short while later he took up the position of Operations Director with a 5% equity stake at a smaller manufacturing company.
Changing sectors
The circumstances
Kate was a very successful head of corporate fund-raising for a well-known charity and had introduced several high profile sponsorship schemes valued in excess of £5 million. At the age of 30 she decided she wanted to move into the private sector but found her main difficulty was that all her work experience had been in not-for-profit organisations. Kate decided to engage the services of Appleby Associates and worked with one of our professional career consultants.
The issues
- Kate was having no success responding to advertisements
- Recruiters did not seem to be interested
- She did not really know what she needed to do to change sectors
The outcome
An Appleby Associates career consultant worked with Kate. They started with Kate’s natural abilities as a fundraiser and her work-related aspirations, Kate's career consultant helped her explore different avenues and ideas. As a direct result, she was able to secure a corporate account sales role with a large software company. She is now enjoying being part of an exciting development culture and her income has more than doubled.
New to the UK
The circumstances
For personal and family reasons Chris relocated to Birmingham from Chicago where she had held a number of general management positions with well established US financial services companies. As a business professional she assumed it would be fairly straightforward to find an opening. But after three months’ concerted effort she was getting nowhere. Chris decided to engage the services of Appleby Associates and worked with one of our professional career consultants.
The issues
- Chris was 'different'
- She lacked local knowledge and had a very thin UK network
- She was unaware of UK recruiting methods
The outcome
An Appleby Associates career consultant, who had worked with clients in a similar position to Chris, was able to make a real difference to her search. Her career consultant helped with everything from showing her how to write a CV geared to the UK market to interview techniques and establishing an effective career search network. With these new skills and know-how, Chris was able to land a role running a small insurance company.
Traditional outplacement
The circumstances
Neil was a Divisional Financial Director of a FTSE 100 company when corporate restructuring made his position redundant. His generous redundancy package included a traditional executive outplacement. However, after the programme had finished Neil seemed no further forward. He had just one screening interview to show for all his efforts.
The meetings he had with the counsellor – a former HR manager with an international chemicals company – were well meaning but not challenging or productive.The seminars he attended were uninspiring. Neil’s former company had paid £6,000 for the outplacement service but he had played no part in selecting the service or the counsellor. Neil decided to engage the services of Appleby Associates and worked with one of our professional career consultants.
The issues
- Neil wanted to choose who he would work with and how
The outcome
Upon meeting Robert, a highly experienced career consultant with a business background, Neil found the personal chemistry was good so they agreed to work together to get things back on track. Once more in control, Neil was re-energised and began to make progress. The intensive work, particularly on interview techniques, soon paid off and Neil accepted an offer with a well funded start-up.