Workshop & Webinar Feedback
“A huge thank you. This was one of the most useful courses I have ever done and my first Webinar. I really liked the format and thought that it was a very well planned and thought out course, that was well tailored to the needs of accompanying partners. I wish it was available to everyone!”
“It was a pleasure to work with Colleen. She lead an in-depth, 3 hour workshop for myself and 15 gradating research master students. Colleen was extremely knowledgeable, personable, patient and detail oriented. Colleen’s enthusiastic teaching style coupled with her carefully thought out lesson plan made Colleen a skillful and engaging workshop leader. My colleagues and I all learned a tremendous amount from her interactive workshop.”
“Really engaging, useful, practical tips. Thank you so much.”
“Wow! Fabulous course. Definitely made me think about a different future career choice.”
“I liked how the workshop was informal and how you are easy to approach and open for questions.”
“I learned how to present my full package as a potential employee.”
“It made me think about things I didn’t consider before.”
“Good and important presentation that kept us engaged.”
“Thanks to Colleen’s gentle guidance, I was able to clear away the many clouds blocking my vision to what I wanted out of my career. I have focus, and project management tools to help me get what I want out of my career.”
“I started the Career in Your Suitcase Way program very unsure about what to do next. I have reached a crossroads as an accompanying spouse and mother of young children plus still wanting to be the professional career woman that I have put on hold. Over the 6 weeks I realised I was on a journey to discover who I was and to appreciate how others perceive and value me rather than focus on all the labels I had attached to myself. It was extremely uncomfortable asking for feedback and really analysing myself and not focusing on just my professional persona. I feel very vulnerable looking at me rather than the professional persona. However now I have begun to do that I am feeling so much happier in my self. I feel more comfortable about accepting my situation just to see what happens next. I feel in control and although everything is mostly uncertain, especially as I am repatriating back to my home country, I am ok with facing uncertainty as I have recognised what is most important to me, what is nice to have and that I have control about what happens to me next regardless of location etc.
I know I have a core set of skills and values which I can apply to the situation I am in and I don’t have to keep ‘reinventing the wheel’ just learn to adapt and stay true to myself.
I recently attended my last meeting with [my career support group] and one of the comments that stuck with me was that my confidence in myself and my skills has increased since I started the course and that has helped the others as I have been sharing advice and anecdotes as well as giving my opinion. The feedback surprised me and I thought about it and realised they are right. I am feeling happier being me and so feel able to listen and help others. The weight of the world is no longer weighing me down!
I will definitely be recommending the CIYS way to fellow repats and expats on my journey. The fact that you can do the course online means that international locations are not a factor!
Finally I would like to thank you Colleen. I felt you really understood the position of being an accompanying spouse and an expat and the challenge of remaining yourself when faced with the multitude of new roles that expat living presents.”
“The Career in Your Suitcase Way Program was a great and powerful tool for my career transition. After years in the same company and moving abroad, it was time to step out, and then I decided I needed support to go through this journey. Colleen …is very skilled in what she does and was able to reach a perfect match between my need and her offering. All the tools provided in this wonderful journey equipped me with self-understanding, confidence and encouragement to achieve my short term goals and shape my career.
When the journey with the group was finished, I was sure it was more than a deep dive into my inner me, it was a great investment in my future! Even my husband acknowledged that it gave me strength and confidence to move forward, and that my attitude has changed in the search for a new start!”
“Thanks so much for sharing all your great tips with us. You actually got me excited about resume writing!”
“Thank you for your spirit of adventure, playfulness, laughter, strategic vision, passion, commitment, contagious enthusiasm, and capacity to turn vision into action.”
Coaching Client Feedback
“The careers advice sessions with Colleen have provided me with the opportunity to reflect on what I have done, to make an inventory of my skills and experience and to look ahead positively to new adventures. Her positive, open and highly perceptive comments supported by a range of analytical tools and texts, helped me to take informed steps in the right direction. I would highly recommend Colleen to all who have decided it’s time for a change but need that extra guidance before they move on.”
Working with Colleen in her active career navigation sessions made my transition from teaching to painting so much easier. The assignments I completed in the process helped me reassess my skills and find the direction I want to explore, in order to reshape my professional life and gain more flexibility in my daily schedule. Without this coaching process, my desire to become an artist would have not surfaced with such clarity and determination. Colleen’s warm and friendly approach to career development made the sessions very enjoyable. The resources she included in the assignments are varied and present multiple facets to the process of career transitioning. Thank you Colleen.
“Working with Colleen was an unexpectedly rewarding and enjoyable experience, I came in to it quite reluctantly expecting to come out with a nicely polished C.V and little else. Instead I found an experience that while challenging left me more confident, focused and open to opportunity. Colleen is very engaging and is brilliant at piecing together connecting points before bringing them together for you with an apt metaphor that very neatly aligns all these points to the way they personally relate. I would recommend Colleen and this process to anyone who may just want a little more from their career.”
“I had six coaching sessions with Colleen and do not regret it for one second. I felt very stuck in my career, not knowing how to make adjustments. I was not happy in my role but also did not know how to make an active change.
Colleen knew exactly how to tackle my insecurities and through her calm, structured and well thought-through program she helped me to gain new confidence. The exercises and inspirational content helped me to re-discover my passions and interests.
Colleen coaches in a very pro-active, passionate, non-judgmental and personal way, which made it easy to click with her from the moment we had our first call. Thank you Colleen for helping me get ‘unstuck’ in my career. Hiring a career coach has been the best decision and I can truly advise everyone who feels unhappy, stuck and lost in their career to work with Colleen.
“The decision to work with Colleen has been one of the best decisions that I have made. I found her while searching the ACCESS website in the midst of one my “what am I doing with my life” moments. While exploring the ACCESS website, I came across the ACCESS Trainers and the links made it easy to explore each of the Trainers’ website. Colleen’s website was the second one and as I navigated her home page the information seemed to be packaged just for my situation, there were questions and information that even before speaking to Colleen, had already begun to make me realise that she understood what I was feeling. This motivated me to immediately contact her via her website.
Eight months later I would start a new job. One that would represent a fantastic reward for being brave and challenging myself to take the necessary steps. Being brave and challenging myself did not come easy for me as somewhere along my journey through life I seemed to have fallen off the horse and was afraid to get back on. Working with Colleen and her approach teased out of me connections that I didn’t realise were there and that were holding me back from moving ahead. My journey with Colleen was more than identifying my skills, values, creating a powerful CV and LinkedIn profile to be able to get a job in a new work environment in a new country. These of course were important goals but they were made more accessible by the foundation work that I had to do and for which Colleen provided the pointers. Colleen was able to understand that I was motivated by learning and new knowledge and she guided me accordingly. She provided resources that I would immerse myself in and come up with new connections and discoveries about my natural responses to situations.
For me the value with working with Colleen is her ability to understand what motivates you and journeying with you through to your goal and all the discoveries you will make on the way.”
Colleen helped me to update my resume in English and to localize it. She was very supportive in finding and outlining my passion and I was quickly offered a job in the area I was looking for. Colleen is a highly-motivated career consultant with outstanding perception and great experience taking her time to listen and to discuss my needs. She’s an essential asset to anyone looking for career consultancy.
“I would like to really thank you for supporting me during the last few months with directing my career possibilities. Your clear direction and analytical approach has helped me to gain an insight into my skills and abilities proactively.”
“Thanks so much for such thoroughly insightful and helpful coaching. It’s so valuable, and it’s at a pivotal time in my life! I gained a lot from it, from reflection to delving into strengths and possibilities. It is certainly a relief to talk a bit more about different kinds of careers with someone who is really well-versed in careers, because having so many possibilities can be overwhelming at times!”
“Thank you so much for your support throughout the past few months. It has been a really beneficial process for me and has really enabled me to see how much I’ve grown professionally in a short space of time.”
“It has been a real treat working with Colleen in the past few months.
She very skilfully helped me feel more confident and to streamline an effective work search strategy.
I would not be able to achieve the same results without her.”
Just wanted to let you know that I got the job! Thank you for helping me find my shining moments!!
“Thanks to Colleen’s dedication and expertise, we were able to make my CV and covering letter amazing! Colleen’s skills and expertise in career counselling combined with her positive and energetic attitude made it an absolute pleasure to work with her.”