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Wondering What’s Next In Your Impact Career? Start Here

Wondering What’s Next In Your Impact Career? Start Here

career coaching, job search, strategy
By Erin Ewart Record levels of turnover are happening this year as the economy recovers and more people feel comfortable leaving their jobs.  After a challenging year that has helped all of us get more clarity on what's important, many of these job seekers are looking for work that's more aligned with their values, priorities, and purpose.  If finding mission-driven work is your goal, we have a roadmap for you. Our Careers for Social Impact Career Transition Framework breaks down the process of moving toward your next impact career step into three distinct phases: Build Your Foundation, Define Your Direction, and Find Your Fit.  To successfully use this process as you search for what's next, you’ll need to focus on three key things:  Getting as clear as possible on what’s…
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5 Keys to a Successful Negotiation

5 Keys to a Successful Negotiation

negotiation, strategy
By Erin Ewart Of all the topics we cover in our coaching programs, negotiation tends to be one that provokes the most questions and discomfort.  And it’s no wonder that so many of us don’t feel comfortable negotiating. We typically get little (or no) training on how to negotiate, and when we end up in a high stakes situation like negotiating a job offer, we can feel totally lost.  But negotiation is such an important skill, both in your career and your life overall. And like any other skill, it’s something you can learn and get better at, starting right now! We can’t promise that negotiating will ever be your favorite thing or that you won’t get nervous during these conversations, but there are definitely things you can do to…
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An Update on Our Commitment to Anti-Racism

An Update on Our Commitment to Anti-Racism

updates
By Erin Ewart As we recognize and honor Black History Month, I thought it was a good time to share an update with you on our commitment to anti-racism. I shared some initial thoughts on this over the summer, and today I want to share what we have been working on since then, and what we are committed to doing in the year ahead.  What We’ve Been Focused On In the early stages of this work we have been focused on three main areas: 1. Naming our values. As a foundation for this work, we have formalized our organizational values, with one of these being Equity & Access. Just as we encourage our clients to get clear on their values before embarking on a career transition, we recognized that it was…
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Job Searching? Take These 3 Steps Now to Start the New Year Strong

Job Searching? Take These 3 Steps Now to Start the New Year Strong

job search, networking, strategy
By Erin Ewart The end of the year is so close we can taste it. This is a great time to take a break, especially if you’re job searching or in career transition. While it may feel tough to step away from your search, it's an important way to keep your energy and motivation up during this process so you won't burn out.  So if you’re planning to take a little break from your search over the holidays - great! Make sure to decompress and truly unplug for a few days if you can.  But before you step away, there are three important things you can do to wrap up the year on a great note and make sure you’re prepared to hit the ground running again in January. 1.…
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5 Ways Your Network Can Sustain – Not Drain – You

5 Ways Your Network Can Sustain – Not Drain – You

networking
By Erin Ewart This week in our Job Search Bootcamp program, we’re focused on networking, a topic that our clients often have a lot of anxiety and negative perceptions about before we dive into what it actually means.   I’ve written a lot in the past about networking because I think it’s one of the most challenging, misunderstood, and important parts of the job search and career development process.  People often say they find networking to be draining, but I believe it doesn’t have to be, and that if you can do it in a way that feels authentic to you it can be fun and energizing (yes, even if you're an introvert like me!). And I would argue that rather than draining us, our networks are actually the thing we…
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We’re Halfway Through the Year. How’s it Going?

We’re Halfway Through the Year. How’s it Going?

career coaching, strategy
By Erin Ewart All the sudden it's June, and we're almost halfway through the year already. I know I always find myself wondering "how did we get here so quickly?!" And precisely because the years feel like they fly by so fast, the midpoint of the year is an important time for all of us to reflect on how things are going in our lives and careers and what we want to prioritize for the rest of the year.  It may feel hard to create time and space for reflection, but that actually makes it even more important, so that you can identify where to focus and what to de-prioritize. Follow our three step process below to review, reset, and reprioritize as we move into the second half of the…
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How to Plan When Planning Feels Impossible

How to Plan When Planning Feels Impossible

job search, strategy
By Erin Ewart If you’re anything like me, these last few months have passed in a weird time warp, seeming to both take forever and fly by at the same time. And it’s no wonder we’re feeling this way: we’re experiencing something called “temporal disintegration”, which means we lose track of time when the future is in question.  And the future is definitely a great big question mark right now - but we still have to think about what's next. It’s such a paradox: how can we plan our lives, careers, or anything else, when things are changing all the time and we have no idea what will happen next month, or even next week? It’s a question I’m really grappling with right now, both personally and professionally. We have…
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How to Network Right Now

How to Network Right Now

job search, networking
By Erin Ewart What a month it’s been. Like all of you, I’m feeling overwhelmed as I process everything that’s happened in just a few short weeks. I’m also feeling overwhelmed by the volume of content that’s being shared right now, and I know you may be as well - so if you’d like a quick summary of the tips below in video format, click here!  In the coming weeks, we'll aim to address some of the common questions we’re hearing from our clients, and the first one I wanted to tackle is how to network right now.  Networking is always important for your career, and that’s going to be true more than ever as the hiring landscape gets more and more competitive in the coming months.  But it’s also…
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Job Searching During Uncertain Times

Job Searching During Uncertain Times

job search, strategy
By Erin Ewart As I write this, we are experiencing a unique and in some ways unprecedented series of events.  The news is constantly shifting and has us on high alert: a global pandemic. Markets falling, schools closing, and events and travel plans canceled.  We are all being impacted by this, and it’s infusing a level of uncertainty and anxiety into our lives in a way we rarely experience. If you’re looking for a new job, you may be feeling especially worried right now. What does this mean for your search? Is there anything you can or should be doing differently in response to what’s happening in the world? It’s a tough question to answer, because there is still so much we don’t know about how this will all play out.…
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What’s Your Story?

What’s Your Story?

career story, job search
By Erin Ewart How do you feel about telling your career story? When we ask our clients this question, we often get responses like “anxious”, “confused”, and “frustrated.” This a topic everyone wants to focus on, and that nearly everyone finds challenging.  Of course there are people out there who feel confident about telling their stories, but they have one thing in common: they practice A LOT. To illustrate this point, I was in a training with other business owners recently, and everyone went around the room and gave their 15-30 second pitch on the spot without a hitch. You know why? Because business owners do this all the time. But for most of us, talking about ourselves is hard. We don’t spend a lot of time reflecting on what…
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