Updates on our Career Coaching Service Options

I've made updates to the career coaching service options available on the site with the addition of quarterly arrangements as well as the already existing monthly coaching packages. Much of my client work is done a project basis - either with in-depth career move programs, or specific deliverables like LinkedIn profiles, resume writing, etc. In some cases, a monthly or quarterly schedule works great. In the words of one my current clients working on …

Lessons in How to Manage Your Career & Personal Impact from My Dad

My Dad, David Christie, passed away peacefully on Sunday after a long but dignified journey with Alzheimer’s. Reflecting on his life and career, four themes occur to me that serve as valuable reminders for our professional and personal lives. My Dad started his career with the Royal Bank 3 days after completing high school and retired with the bank 43 years later. Here’s what comes to mind as being key lessons from his life.

Old Fa…

How Well Do You Know Your Industry?

One of the valuable skills I learned during my years in the executive search industry was industry mapping.

I would receive an assignment for let's say a VP Logistics in a 3rd party supply chain company and over the course of a couple of weeks I would create a document that mapped the names and locations of the key players in the industry, their relative sizes, the names and titles in each company of the people related to the job and even try and figure out the …

Many professionals and executives have made a significant step in their career or even changed the trajectory of their career thanks to riding a wave. While it can happen accidentally, paying attention to your environment can significantly increase the likelihood of catching your next industry wave. Learn how to ride a career wave.

What is an Industry Wave?

Nothing more than a ripple far from shore, a wave slowly begins to pick up energy and size. The art of surfing is to spot the right wave, catc…

Targeted Planning

The prospect of making some form of career change is both exhilarating -- and daunting. If you’ve decided to change careers -- and you know exactly the new career you want to pursue -- it’s important not to be stymied by the enormity of the challenges associated with the career-change process. So, how do you get the ball rolling? Drawing from my experience as an executive recruiter, director of an MBA career centre and as career coach, here are some powerful strategies you can e…

Understand Your Strengths

I can’t sing. I’d like to, but I am hopelessly off key. In the company of more musically gifted friends, it is glaringly obvious to them, and the more musical they are, the more uncomfortable it is for them to listen to me. They hear, or see something that I don’t.

What do I mean by “seeing”? 

We all have the ability to see things that not everyone else does. Patterns, ideas, problems, structure, systems. They are subtle, near invisible things, obvious only to those who ha…