1. What is the job search or career transition process?
2. Do you have a structured program?
3. How often will we meet?
4. What if I want to relocate or stay where I am?
5. Do you offer secretarial support?
6. Will you find me a job?
7. What is expected of me?
8. Will you guarantee me a job?
9. Where's the value in your service?
10. What is your cancellation policy?
11. What are your professional fees?
12. How can I get started?

What Is the Job Search or Career Transition Process?

It's generally two-parts:

Self discovery or career evaluation.
Through personal interviewing, pencil-and-paper exercises, and
structured career testing and assessment, we help you create an exact
blueprint of the job or career that fits you best, and makes the best use
of your skills, interests, and talents. In business this is called a roadmap
or strategic plan.

Implementation.
In phase two, we finalize the plan you have created. We conduct an
aggressive job search campaign, or help you reach the other career goals
you have set. If you don't want a traditional job, we'll help you start
or buy a business, launch a consulting practice, or take any other
direction you choose. Interim Executive assignments are popular.

Do You Have A Structured Program?

Yes, but it's not canned. The process is flexible and tailored to your specific wants and needs. Some people begin with interviewing, others with resume critique, still others with career testing. There's no proper place to begin. In most cases, we start with a thorough career evaluation. A successful career transition program involves 10-30 hours of consulting. Smaller career problems--for example, a disagreement with one's boss--can be solved much more quickly.

How Often Will We Meet?

We serve as project managers to keep you on track, but you control the pace of the process. We can meet as often or as seldom as you prefer, depending on your sense of urgency, but two or three hours per week is common in the beginning. After the first few weeks, one hour per week is the norm. We'll meet with you in person, by telephone, or online. We hold weekly conference calls for our high-level clients around the country.

What If I Want to Relocate? Or Stay Where I Am?

We work internationally, and many of our clients relocate. We can help you relocate anywhere in the world, or if you prefer, we can help you maintain your present residence. Geography--where we are or where you are--is not a limiting factor in our work together. FAX lines, FedEx, e-mail, Internet websites, teleconferencing, and long distance telephone are key tools of our trade. We've had clients in most major cities in the U.S. and abroad.

Do You Offer Secretarial Support?

Yes, we offer full scale secretarial services. We're comfortable word processing one letter or a thousand, with quick turnaround. In addition, we can meet any other infrastructure need you might have.

Will You Find Me a Job?

No, we're not recruiters or placement people, although we work with them daily. If you're job hunting, we'll introduce recruiters and headhunters into your search (they're one and the same thing) but we're not headhunters at CareerLab.

We do have hundreds of industry contacts, and when appropriate, we'll share our contacts with you or make personal introductions. We seldom ever spearhead a career move, or direct a job search campaign, without introducing the candidate to several of the right people. The career transition process is like a tennis game; assuming both of us do our parts, the outcome will be tremendously successful!

What Is Expected of Me?

Our process is similar to any self-improvement program, such as weight loss, financial planning, physical fitness, or a college education. In the case of a weight loss program, for example, a physician can't produce results alone. The patient has to contribute by exercising more and eating proper foods. The same thing applies to career transition. We ask you to complete simple homework assignments, to keep appointments and commitments, to act on our advice (assuming you agree with it) and to make your best efforts to participate. In other words, we are 50% of the solution, and you are 50% of the solution.

Will You Guarantee Me A Job?

No, we can't guarantee a job, because we can't control hiring managers. No one can. Employers must like you and find you qualified to hire you. And that's under their control, not ours. Therefore, while our success rate is incredibly high, we never guarantee jobs, and neither do other reputable career firms. Beware of any career marketing firm that guarantees you employment, especially if they promise to do all the work. A firm can guarantee to keep working with you until you're employed--but that's an entirely different promise altogether. That we can deliver.

Where's the Value in Your Service?

Many prospective clients have asked, "If you won't find me a job, and you can't guarantee me a job, where's the value in your service? That's a fair question. The value is in the fact that we have talked with many hundreds of people about their careers. (The President of our firm, has spent 20,000 hours as a career consultant. It's hard to invent a career problem he hasn't solved many times before.)

We understand the business world and the job market, and we know what works career-wise, and what doesn't. Like any expert who's good at what they do, we can help you take your career to the next higher level, higher than you could go alone, because we've done it hundreds of times before.

Our most talented clients don't have problems finding a job. In fact, they can find opportunities too quickly, and they sometimes jump too fast into the wrong opportunity. We can help you determine your 16 most likely possibilities, and sort them down to the top two or three choices. In other words, we can make your career choice fit. Plugging you into the right place in the business or non-profit world is a tremendous value proposition. That is what we offer.

What Is Your Cancellation Policy?

We ask for 24-hour advance notice to cancel a scheduled meeting, otherwise we bill one hour for any missed appointment.

What Are Your Professional Fees?

We take a menu approach to our pricing, allowing hourly or project fees. As we learn about your situation, we can quote a mutually-workable fee. If you're seeking an objective and confidential sounding board for your career, you've come to the right place. We understand detailed, complex, confidential situations. Nothing would please us more than to get to know you.

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