Emma Ferrier: Moving to Pastures New

Emma used to work for a large headhunting organisation in London where she was EMEA Operations Manager. She was good at her role and quite liked it but she found the people and company culture difficult and frustrating to work with. Emma was also keen to move out of London but wasn’t sure how to make this move happen. That was when she came to us.

Now, Emma is happily settled in the West Country. She is the Business & Centre Manager for a company in Bath that appreciates her, values her and where she feels confident in herself and what she can do. Emma is 41 years old, has recently married and is excited about what lies ahead for her.

Here we have interviewed her, asking her to share her experience of working with us, with you…

What was going on for you when you came to us?

“I was working for a global head hunting company as their EMEA Operations Manager in London.  I liked the content of my role but really didn’t like my boss or the organisation’s culture.  I also didn’t want to be based in London any longer and had to figure out a way to move that I was comfortable with.  I then found out that my boss was “hanging me out to dry” in order to protect his own role and I ended up with a grievance and then being made redundant.  It was horrendously stressful, was dragged out over a six month period and both my health and mental well-being suffered as a direct result.”
How are you doing now? 

“Now I run a serviced office business centre in the centre of Bath. This has been a significant geographical and mental shift for me.  I’ve managed to regain my professional confidence which has enabled me to be successful in this new role and have slowly learnt to believe in myself again.”

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Multiple Options Made Clear

John came to Position Ignition having sold an SME, where he was Managing Director, and then having worked as a turnaround business consultant for 2 years. He is 46 years old and was looking for help with his next steps. Since working with us he has become a Non Executive Director of a large hospital trust and is also the Commercial Director of an innovative start-up business in the clean energy sector.

Here we ask him to share his experience and to tell us about the process that got him there.

Why did you seek professional help?

“I approached Position Ignition (PI) as I found myself on a “roundabout of options” and knew that the next steps I’d take would be important and should therefore be built on solid consideration. It’s hard do this alone, and so professional impartiality is needed. I’m glad I made the decision to use PI.”

What made you choose us? 

“I was recommended to PI by a friend. I then met Simon and Nisa and really liked their approach and experience. I had been to one of the major executive career consulting firms in 1999 but found their approach very two dimensional. PI’s approach is much more holistic and helped me consider all aspects of my life and also sought my wife’s opinion too.”

What did you do with us?

“I met my Career Guide many times for discussions and reflections on various “homework” that I’d done. The programme approach was very useful. It considered my hopes, interests, lifestyle requirements, motives, fears, and reflected on my past – both domestic and professional – to tease out what I really enjoyed doing. The web-based personality analysis was also pleasingly balanced, as was the feedback and discussion.

The most challenging part was closing down options – at one stage “everything” seemed interesting and possible, but focus was needed to ensure success.  Over time we honed in on relevant targets and my Career Guide encouraged and coached me prior to specific interviews.”

What has happened since?

“Since going through the PI process I have become a NED (Non Executive Director) of a large hospital trust and also joined a VC (Venture Capital) backed start-up in the clean energy sector. Both roles are changes of industry, but both call on my experience and qualifications. 

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Securing the Right MD Role

Bob* had enjoyed a career that included ten years in the British Military followed by 20 years working for a number of US and UK based computing technology companies. Immediately prior to coming to Position Ignition, he was the UK MD of a French-based Software company, operating from the UK. With equity in the business, and responsibility for Global Sales & Marketing of a new and very specialised software application, he became concerned about the senior management’s ability to understand the commercial opportunity and to execute an effective growth strategy. Bob had a clear picture of what he wanted out of ‘life after work’, which in his mind was 7-10 years hence. He knew that his current position was unlikely to enable him to achieve his professional and personal goals so began to think about where to go next.

Now, thanks to his work with Position Ignition, he is in a new role as European Managing Director for US based industrial automation business. Here, he tells us about the process that got him there.

Why did you come to Position Ignition?

“I knew I needed to find a new position, but was unsure if that meant a career path change or doing a similar sort of role in a different kind of organisation/industry than I was used to. I had never had to actively prospect and find a new job as I had in the past been introduced to opportunities in the same industry/market. I found the way in which companies looked for and secured new people was in a very different form to when I found my first civilian job through an advert placed by the hiring company, now including multiple web-based portals which companies and head-hunter used for talent searching. I had engaged, at significant personal cost a so called ‘Executive Development’ company who made many promises about introducing me to the ‘unadvertised senior executive job market. This was a total waste of time and my money and tainted my view of companies professing to be able to help. During my time looking at where and how I should start searching I came across Position Ignition (PI) website. I was interested in the advice, objective assessment qualification of relevant opportunities open to me and active direction & intervention that was offered by a cadre of people ‘within and connected to the PI network’ with a wide and deep pool of expertise and experience.”

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Establishing the Right Career Direction

Liz is 24 years old and has recently graduated from the University of Leeds in Sports Science and Physiology. She was working as a receptionist in a gym when she decided to seek help in figuring out which direction to go in next. After working with us, she is now about to start a midwifery degree at King’s College London. She is very excited about her chosen career direction and here she shares with us why…

What were you hoping to get from seeking career help from us? 

I was seeking a better understanding of where my strengths lay. What kind of career would be suited to my strengths? Am I suited to a medical career? I had a real desire for confirmation that my ideas are in the right direction.

What was your experience of career help so far?

A career consultant at school based her suggestions on a formal interview and tests. Position Ignition was much better as it treated me holistically. They did not just look at traditional strengths and weaknesses but everything. It was really good to include the positive and negative values as this plays a large part in career enjoyment through to the kinds of people you will enjoy working with.

What happened when you worked with us?

I had one face to face meeting to discuss my life story, strengths and weaknesses, positive and negative values and life goals. I then had, two further skype calls to discuss potential careers.

Was it helpful?

It was all really useful. It met my expectations of being a holistic approach to finding the right career direction. It was challenging to look back at my life and talk at length about it.

Discussing my positive and negative values was something that I had never considered before when discussing career choices. It was valuable to think about the other people that you will be in contact with on a daily basis as well as whether you personally are suited to the job.

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Getting on the Corporate Career Ladder

Oliver Lombard is 22 years old. He had recently completed his studies at Newcastle University where he was studying Politics and Economics. He had been applying for several corporate Graduate Schemes but was having no success. He graduated with a 2:1 without a job, until he came to us and now he is about to start as a Trainee Insurance Broker with F P Marine…

What brought you to Position Ignition?

“I had tried to look for jobs on my own but had failed.  I wanted to know what I was doing wrong, how I could improve my applications and the best way I thought was to get some expert advice. Another client had recommended that I come to Position Ignition, so I did.”

Have you had any career help before?

Yes, from the University Careers Department. I found their advice vague and generic.  They helped me with my CV, covering letters and interview technique.  It was beneficial but ultimately it was not a tailor made solution to match my needs. They did not have the same depth in knowledge or the passion as the people I was in contact with at Position Ignition.

What did you do end up doing with us?

I had a number of thorough meetings with my Career Guide. 6 hours in total. It was step by step guidance. It was about making sure I really knew what industry I wanted to work for, then it was about helping me build up the tools I needed to attract and impress potential employers. 

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Mastering a New Role

Can you tell us about yourself?

“I’m a lawyer. I’ve worked in private practice doing family and civil law. For most of my career I’ve worked for financial services organisations as a General Council and Company Secretary. I did an MBA a couple of years ago. I decided to move sectors and have recently landed this brand new role.”

What was your situation when you came to us?

“I had just got into this new role that hadn’t existed in the past. I was trying to find my way to develop my role within my organisation and to try and provide the best service that I could.

In new roles sometimes I think it’s difficult because no-one really knows what they want or what’s expected so I wanted some guidance on that.  It had taken the company a very long time to recruit for this role and the business was very fast moving, fast changing – so having someone guide me through it was really helpful. I was now in a different sector to before so this was quite a change, it was completely different and I hadn’t worked in this way before.

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The Shift from Crossroads to Clarity

Annette came to Position Ignition in 2010 and completed a one on one career control programme with us. We interviewed her at the end of this process to get her feelings and views on her experience.

Why did you come to Position Ignition?

“I was at a crossroads in my career. I was working for a great company and I had an interesting job but there was something that wasn’t quite right. I felt like I needed to make a bit of a change but I wasn’t sure which direction I wanted to go in. 

I had been with this company for 11 years and it was time to do something different. I wasn’t specialising in any particular area and wanted to explore what niche would work well for me. I wanted professional help and was delighted to find Position Ignition”

How did you find us?

“I found Position Ignition via the web. I had researched a few other companies but what interested me was the way that the process was explained. It didn’t sound like a process. It sounded very personal and for me it really resonated.”

Why did you seek professional help?

“There were elements of my role that I wasn’t enjoying and I was very uncertain about what I really wanted to do. I found it hard to find the time to take a step back and to really think about what I wanted. Doing that when you’re working everyday and on my own I found very difficult. I tried to think about my future plans but found it hard to have those conversations with myself! I spoke to my manager, my friends and partner but all of those people have a vested interested in what you are doing and for those sorts of people, change can throw up lots of concerns. It was difficult to do this myself, so I thought that having someone to guide me through the maze would be really helpful.”

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The Graduate With His First Job and a Career Plan

Edward was about to graduate from University. He was studying Chemistry in Birmingham and had no firm idea what he wanted to do next or how to go about finding out.

He thought about further study and decided to sign up for a Masters. He also wanted to go travelling. Another option was for him to get a job and for him, getting a role in the financial services industry sounded appealing.  So – what was the right option for him and what did he really want to do now?

Edward came to us uncertain of the best way forward. It was straight after he graduated (June 2010) that Position Ignition began guiding him towards his next step.

How did you find the programme?

“It worked really well having meetings and then distilling targets that then enabled me to do my own work. My Career Guide (see Meet the Team) was a big help – she was always on hand to answer any question I had and was a great support.

I started out not really knowing what I wanted or what would be best for me but through this process I’ve become really clear about what I want; the best thing is that I’ve also managed to get it.  I had no focus initially and too many options – it was difficult to know where to start. Having this support helped me to understand what was important to me – doing a Masters or getting a job. I ended up knowing exactly what type of job I wanted, where, in what city and in about a month, through a lot of creative thinking and a much sharper focus on my job search, I got a job!

I was also able to travel which was another thing I wanted to do but whilst I was abroad, my job fell through because the person who hired me left the company! That was unfortunate and I was really disappointed but we worked through it and came up with a new strategy fairly quickly. Soon after I arrived back in the UK, I worked with my Guide again in order to secure another job. My search paid off for a second time and, I’m really happy now.”

What did you value most from it?

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Public Speaking Champion from a Big Impact Session

Solveig came to us wanting help with her public speaking. She had a very important competition coming up and wanted to make sure that she would be fully prepared and confident for this event.

She had a very focused session with one of our Career Guides and this is what she has to say about it:

“I really liked working with my Career Guide, she was very helpful, very knowledgeable about her subject and gave me valuable feedback allowing me to become the World Public Speaking Champion for Europe in 2010.”

JCI President

Finally Getting Interviews and Getting the Job

The Situation:

"I had tried applying for new jobs but had not had many interviews for jobs that I really wanted and had messed up on the one really good opportunity that I had had. As a result, I had low self-esteem and felt that I was falling short in my interview technique so I came to you for help"

The Results:

“The process I went through was very successful as it met my short term objective of finding a job. The sessions helped me to improve my confidence and communication skills, and I learnt the importance of networking. They also helped me to understand my key strengths so that I could articulate them better to potential employers.

My Guide was very honest in his approach and taught me that being yourself is the best way to tackle interviews rather than trying to act how you think you should behave which is not natural.  He was also able to help me improve my CV using more suitable language for perspective employers.  I had previously paid for a 'professionally' written CV, which was a big waste of money and had not got me any interviews.  As soon as I followed my Guide’s advice about less is more, I started getting asked for interviews again.  I left the sessions feeling a lot more confident and less scared of job interviews, which obviously showed!

My investment was very valuable as it helped me to secure my current role. It’s quite a bit of money to spend but for me it is worth the investment if it helps you find a job.”

Events Organiser, FTSE 100 Investment Bank