Table of Contents:

Life Focus
Bigger Life Possibilities
Dream Job
Creating and realizing a vision
Taking charge of my life
Internal motivations
Doing something meaningful
Passion overcomes fear
Confirming and expanding an idea

Life Focus

A 56 year old single divorced female, the financial manager of a consulting firm, was recently downsized and needed new direction and help with her mother's living arrangements.

In the Career Change Program she identified her highest priority decisions and gained some decision-making and planning tools. She created some new goals (with deadlines), action plans and support resources.

These gave her more control over her life and increased her self esteem. She became better able to manage her responsibilities for her mother.

Bigger Life Possibilities

A 47 year old married female, research scientist in a giant manufacturing firm, was overwhelmed with too many duties and interests. She felt pulled in too many directions and over-committed.

In the Career Change Program she identified important value conflicts, decided to be more self-directed and learned some new decision making tools and set some priorities for her work and life.

Her new career possibilities enabled her to express her spiritual and financial values. She set some deadlines and action plans for her career and family.

Dream Job

Teresa has made a number of difficult choices (decisions) in pursuit of her top career priorities --- have her 'Dream Job' and live in the RTP area with her partner. After she lost her existing 'Dream Job' in a SE state, she made the difficult choice of moving to the RTP area and continuing her job search while living where she wanted to live. Once here, she chose to focus her search on the same kind of position ('Dream Job') instead of a generic 'best job I can get'.

To make herself more marketable by acquiring PMP certification, staying focused on her 'Dream Job', her 'Work Related Values' and using some decisions tools she learned in the Career Change Program, she was able to get and accept an offer of her 'Dream Job'.

Unfortunately, for her, she had to move to another state and temporarily move away from her desired RTP area residence.

Although employed in her 'Dream Job' in another state, she is now using what she learned about job seeking and her expanded multi-state network of friends to continue her search for her 'Dream Job' in the RTP area.

Creating And Realizing A Vision

John was a successful manager in a global corporation, but was approaching his late 50's and had been dreaming for several years of pursuing a second career in counseling and social work.

He used the Personal Future Timelines from the Career Change Program to manage the transition and make the dream real. In using this tool, he became aware of how his change would affect other family members and he included them in the plan, ensuring success for everyone involved.

He also realized the full scope of what is involved in changing every aspect of one's life after almost 60 years, and was able to plan far enough ahead to cope with all the aspects.

Once Johns additional education was completed, all aspects of the Life Career Planning Workshop proved helpful in staying focused on the specific second career he wanted. John actually turned down some social work jobs that did not offer the opportunity to counsel. He wound up with a mental health agency as an outpatient therapist. This is consistent with the realization of his original vision.

Taking charge of my life

Before the workshop, Fran's work as a Financial Sales Representative for a large inter-state bank was boring and she was oppressed by sales goals. She did not receive the mentoring and leadership she needed from her immediate supervisor. Because she lacked clear direction, she knew her self-esteem would continue to decline if she did not think seriously about making a real life/career change.

During the Career Change Program, with thoughtful reflection on possible applications of the feedback from the Career Change Program's self-assessment instruments, the opportunity to set some motivating life/career goals, and the encouragement of Mike and Steve, she moved out of her comfort zone, decided to take some risks and to take charge of her life/career.

After the Career Change Program, and months later, she accepted the opportunity to work on several short term training-related projects, one of which received an award from the Bank's Executive Board. Later she was offered and accepted the opportunity to move into the Training Department. Now she has both her 'Dream Job' and increased self-esteem.

Internal motivations

Attending the Career Change Program saved Angie weeks in her job search. The instrumented feedback she received helped her focus her job search on areas where she had strong interests and skills. She learned that she is highly motivated for her parents to be proud of the kind of work she does. She is also motivated by her needs for personal growth and professional development.

Steve and Mike helped her realize that in job selection, these internal motivators are equally important to her as the external motivators --- salary and benefits.

The Career Change Program helped her set some job search goals and outline an action plan that kept her momentum going after the Career Change Program. She effectively marketed herself and she got a position and salary level beyond what she thought possible.

Doing Something Meaningful

Beth is a skilled programmer. She is good at it and she loves doing it, but had moved from job to job trying to find a place that was meaningful for her to apply her skills. Her career in the software industry was moving from job to job and being miserable. She had not thought much about what she wanted to do with her life/career. She wanted to help people but she did not know how to find employment programming without going back to school in education or medicine.

In the Career Change Program she came to a new awareness. After viewing her results in the Campbell Interest and Skill Survey, she discovered that her interests, skills, personality and work were not in alignment but could be. She learned how to do a job search and her self-confidence increased. After the workshop she found a job that she loved writing software for pharmaceutical companies that she loved.

Later, she and her husband created and implemented an unconventional "baby's first year" plan by which she could work part time doing what she enjoyed, be at home with her baby and after the first year do some extensive traveling

Passion overcomes fear

Elise attended the Career Change Program to increase her confidence that she could leave her present job and start her own business. She had been in the retail industry for 20 years and was currently Supervisor of many store managers. Her manager wanted her to move to Colorado from North Carolina. Participation in the Career Change Program confirmed her passion and abilities to run her own business. Her obstacle was her fear of getting out on her own and failing. Her twin passion was keeping herself organized and training her store managers to become better organized. She believed that if she stayed focused on her passion rather than focused on making a certain amount of money, that she'd be successful. The focus of her growing business is to assist people in organizing their home, their time and their small business office.

Fear is something she faces everyday but remembers what she learned in the Career Change Program
--- goal setting, planning and following up. She keeps her focus on her passion for sharing and teaching others how to be better organized.

Confirming and expanding an idea

The Career Change Program confirm Martha's idea that she would like being a salesperson. This was confirmed by her scores on the Five Factor Personality Inventory and the Work Values Inventory. She also learned the importance of patient networking to get the job that she wanted. Before the end of the Career Change Program, she had set some goals and created an action plan for the following week.

By the end of the Monday following the Career Change Program she had six 'informational interviews' with sales companies scheduled for that week. These led to several job interviews that helped her narrow her focus and enabled her to turn down some employment offers until she accepted the one she wanted and is happily employed.

She has learned to compensate for her major weaknesses --- difficulty in setting goals, not planning her work and getting distracted easily and frequently.

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