Many school careers advisors offer a great service. However, many are not qualified and have limited access to resources and time within a school environment. My service is not intended to replace the role of a school careers advisor – it is there to provide a more comprehensive, indepth service to those who want one-on-one careers guidance.

When friends and family offer advice they mean well, however it’s not always provided from a place of knowledge and experience.

A qualified careers advisor will provide you with objective, expert guidance to help you get to know yourself better and set a realistic, personalised careers plan that will work for you.

In the long run, working with a careers advisor should save you money, save you time and lead you to a career which provides greater personal satisfaction and professional fulfilment.

Life is too short to be stuck in a job or career you don’t enjoy. My service is also highly applicable for people who are mid-career but feel they need a change and would like to investigate options. You will most likely have other considerations too, such as family and financial commitments, and I will always take these into account.

Making changes to your job or career can require commitment, dedication and sometimes sacrifices. However, the aim is to build a more fulfilling, productive future in the long run.

Yes, I completed a Diploma in Career Guidance (Distinction) with the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology – the only qualification of its type in New Zealand. This included many hours of on-the-job placements at various schools and educational institutions.

I am also fully accredited to use the Morrisby Profile system. Morrisby is a world-leading online careers system developed in the UK that uses comprehensive psychometric testing and scientific measurement to gauge an individual’s strengths and interests, their motivations, skills, personality and desires. These results help us give recommendations for education and career choices that match their abilities and interests.

I chose to work with Morrisby for its reputation, relevance, ease of use, and comprehensive offering.

If you’re Hawke’s Bay-based I will meet with you at my office in central Hastings. If you’re located further afield than Hawke’s Bay and aren’t able to travel, I can provide my service over Facetime, Zoom or Skype.

I have spent many years developing a professional, valuable service that uses online testing but doesn’t rely on it 100% – my service is personalised to each and every client and includes my own input and guidance.

Also, although I am a qualified careers advisor, unlike many others in this field I don’t have a background as an academic or teacher. As a business owner and employer who has clients in many industries, I offer a firsthand knowledge of the world of work and provide practical, realistic advice.

Your time commitment with me will depend on your individual needs:

• For full profiling you will need to commit approx 4 hours – with further time needed from you to implement your action plan
• For aspirations planning for Y9 students, total time will be approx 1 hour

We can book subsequent follow up sessions as you roll out your action plan to ensure you’re on track and to discuss any barriers and make a plan to overcome them.

I will provide you with an info-sheet before the service commences detailing the process. Please contact me for more info.

Knowledge is power! So the aim is for you to come away with a greater understanding of who you are as an individual; your strengths, weaknesses, interests, values, learning style etc. For those who undertake full profiling you’ll receive a comprehensive report, along with recommendations and an action plan for you to implement. We’ll talk through all the options so you can feel really confident to make considered, informed decisions about your future.

Some clients find that a follow up appointment is helpful to keep them on track and discuss any concerns or decisions they have to make. We discuss action taken to date, thoughts and feedback in order to revise the plan and keep on track. Many parents find that it’s helpful for this follow up to be completed by me (as a third party) rather than them.

For more information on pricing for my professional careers service please get in touch to discuss your requirements.

If you consider the costs involved (time and money) of proceeding down an inappropriate track, engaging in professional careers guidance is a very worthwhile investment to make for you/your child’s future.

No, I’m not here to tell anyone what to do – I’m here to guide you through the process. I will offer advice, recommendations and feedback, but ultimately the decisions are yours to make. If you make the decision for yourself you will be much more likely to ‘own’ them and take action.

You’re welcome to attend the first session for a short while to communicate any thoughts and outcomes you would like to see achieved, however in order to achieve the best results I will then meet with your child one-on-one without parental involvement for the remainder of Session 1 and most of Session 2.

I will certainly encourage your child to share the outcomes of the process with you and to invite you to join us at the end of Session 2 for 20 minutes so you can also hear my recommendations and next steps. However, please note that I am held to strict professional standards of confidentiality so am not able to discuss particulars of these sessions with you without your child’s permission.

This is an age-old problem! Adolescents crave independence. Because their brain isn’t fully developed (especially the area of the brain that controls emotions), when their parents offer advice or tell them what to do they’ll often snap back, especially if the advice is not what they want to hear. They may come back with comments such as ‘you have no idea who I am or what I want in life’.

Often, it’s easier for a teenager to work with a third party who isn’t as close to them; who can listen to them and learn about who they are as an individual, with none of the back story of knowing them as a young child, and work with them on a respectful, equal level, rather than in a parent:child relationship.

There are many ways to help your child: Start career conversations early, talk about aspects of different careers, help your child to gain life and work skills, build dreams with your child, be a good role model, support your child to explore career options, help your child with transport to work experience, seek help when your child is struggling, seek career support from a qualified careers advisor.

Accept that your child might want to follow a different career path than the one you want for them; that they are an individual with their own future to follow. Support them down this path and help to set them up for success on their terms rather than being judgemental.

The world is very different now to what it was even 10 years ago. As parents, we need to be aware of this and have an open mind for what this will mean for our children as they seek further qualifications and look to join the workforce of the future.

Book them an appointment with me! Everyone is driven by different career motivators, such as money, fame, power, social interaction, creative expression, intellectual challenge, helping others, or independence. Whilst I can’t guarantee anything (especially if teenagers are being made to attend an appointment with me against their will), I will do my best to build a rapport with them and identify their motivators to help them make a plan.

In my experience, most people want to do something positive with their lives, so it could be that your child just isn’t motivated to communicate with you at this time. See the answer to my question above Why doesn’t my child listen to my advice?