Client Testimonials
Career Discovery & Successful Career Change
Hi Melita I came to you two years ago for career coaching when I was on secondment in Wellington from the UK. I thought you might be interested to know what I have done since returning to the UK. I remember reading the book about not taking a leap without taking a big gulp and feeling that the stories in there were not really relevant to me; well, we are about to take our own leap! After becoming a Christian in Wellington I felt a strong call to study. I tested this out last year by doing an Open University course in humanities and really enjoying and doing well at it. It felt like the next step would be to move into full time education. Sooo... we are in the process of selling our house in order for me to go to a Christian college near Boston in the US to take a four year degree course. It is certainly requiring a big gulp, but my wife Kristin and I both feel it is the right thing to do. So goodbye to the civil service after over 22 years! We are excited and a bit scared but I am very much looking forward to the new challenge. I hope you are happy and well and continuing to help people change their lives. Best wishes Mark Whitfield, UK Philippa, changed from being an Interior Architectural Designer to an Event Manager. She realised how easily she could use her transferable client relationship and project management skills into her new career. She had a CV created which also demonstrated her existing event management experience, making it even easier for her to step into her new career field: "Thanks for sending through the CV. It's great and I'll adapt it as required once I've done my information interviews. I'll do these in the New Year. I have some really good leads from networking with friends and can't believe the difference it made to talk about it with others. Thanks for all your help and advice on my career change. Thank you again and I wish you well in the future with your coaching business venture. Have a great Christmas and New Year....lots of cheers!!!
Philippa Hi Melita.
Wanted to let you know I received final confirmation this morning on my new role. Provisional offer now final with start date Jan. 20th.
Thanks so much for all the hard work we carried out together during the early part of this year and thanks for the huge reference! This certainly helped given competitive nature of role and with negotiating salary.
Pete, Corporate IT Sales to Client Relationship Manager, Government
I had been in the same role for over 11 years and had scant understanding of the professional opportunities that existed and even less of an undestanding of the direction that I could or should pursue. From my first conversation with Melita I felt comfortable, heard and important. The process allowed me to identify my professional values and seek new opportunities, which I have done and I now have the role that I desired but did not expect to attain. In addition Melita was kind enough, dedicated and committed enough to work well beyond all expectations and out of hours to meet some critical deadlines. I would recommend Melita services to any one who wishes to review their current professional situation and who may seek alternative professional options. Tony Roddan Partnerships and Business Development Manager Sfrito
Job Hunting
The staff of Career Coach Consulting are all tertiary-educated, industry-trained and experienced. They bring with them expertise in career services. I found them to be very professional, dedicated and committed to supporting my career needs. At the heart of their business is the capacity to understand the clients' needs, deliver a practical solution and be hands-on during implementation. After having my CV rewritten, using the full CV writing services, I applied for two jobs and within a couple of days I was shortlisted for two interviews. Then through sessions of interview training I boosted my confidence and ability to win those interviews. Two job offers followed a few days after the interviews and then I received further help to determine the best role for my needs and negotiate a good salary.
Thank you again.
Wei, Accountant CV & Career Coaching
I found Melita to be a thoroughly reliable, conscientious and trustworthy career coach. Her work was always produced on-time, with attention to detail and complete. Her coaching was comprehensive, and I believe it prepared me well for my career transition. Melita Sharp provided career coaching for me in the early part of 2006. This involved the preparation of a curriculum vitae (CV) and interview preparation. In the event, I did not need to use the CV for the position that I was chosen for, but its preparation and the interview coaching Melita provided prepared me well for the selection process that gained me a Chief Executive appointment with an iconic New Zealand organisation. Melita is an astute coach, and I consider her career coaching sessions to have been of major benefit. Her empathetic approach and question-and-discussion technique drew out information that was useful in relating my experience, competencies and worth to prospective employers. She ably crafted a CV for me that represented my experience precisely and completely. She worked with me to interpret my previous career experiences adeptly, and assisted me to chart future career directions rationally so that I could better represent direct and transferable competencies to prospective employers. Jerry, Chief Executive CV Writing & Cover Letter Service
Hi Melita,
I hope all is going well with you and your wedding went without a hitch.
The good news is that I was offered and accepted the Horizon CFO job. I finish my current role tomorrow and start up in Whakatane on the 4th. A big uplift and change but I feel you need to grasp the opportunities when they arise. I'm really looking forward to the new challenges and the fresh start.
Thank you for your support and coaching at the time.
Kind regards
Todd, Financial Controller
I promised I’d be in touch and although it's taken a while I’m now settled into my new job at the Dept of Internal Affairs in a Project Mgr role in a PMO. I left my current role at the end of September and have had almost 5 weeks leave since starting here a couple of weeks ago.
The organisation and particularly my manager here are pretty on to it and they treat the PM discipline here seriously, so is just the sort of environment I was after. So I have a positive feeling about both the opportunity and the prospects here (famous last words for a PM to make!!).
On top of that the process of sitting my PMP exam and getting my CV sorted has resulted in a $20k increase in salary, so am feeling much more relaxed about that aspect of things now!
Cheers for all your help re the CV process - I'll just have to make sure I keep it up to date.... so maybe you'll be hearing from me again next year some time!!
Matt, Project ManagerHi Melita, I thought you might like to know how I got on in the recent job search.
I came second in the Otago search: they offered the position to someone else, and said that if that person turned it down, they would offer the job to me. After feeling a bit disappointed, I am now quite fine with this--the job was good, but it would have involved more compromise in the teaching writing area than I think I would have liked at this point. Anyway, it was gratifying to be considered appointable, and to have made it so far in what I know was a very competitive field.
I also got an interview for a senior lecturer position in children's literature at Queensland University of Technology, in the school of education there ... My feeling is again that I was thrilled to be interviewed, and if nothing else, I've expanded my contacts in the field. The interview for this job was in the same week as the Otago interview, so it was a very big week indeed.
On Monday I put in an application for a lectureship at Monash university--again, another long shot, as it is in a Communications Department. I was struck by how easy it was for me to apply for the QUT and Monash jobs: having the revamped CV and a cover letter ready to go (though of course I revised them to suit the required criteria) was really helpful. I may come back to you for a refresher in a year or two!
So, thanks again for your help this September--it paid off.
I hope all is well with you,
All the best,
Liz, Senior English Lecturer
Thank you so much for your help in putting together my CV and with the interview. The gentle way that you encouraged me to think about my career, helped me to become conscious of the skills that I never even realised I had. … I felt more confident going in to the interview and the CEO said it was the best CV he had ever seen. I got the job! Debbie, Trainer
Interview Coaching
Thanks for your help with the interview training, I felt much more confident about my achievements and how much I have contributed to company sales in my current role, even before we finished the preparation. The interview went really well, I did everything you said and even got complimented on highlighting my quantifiable achievements! Duncan, Account Manager Hi Melita I'm very happy to report that the interview went extremely well today!!!!!! I had a big smile on my face when I walked out. The first thing the interviewers did was set out the format of the interview (first we'll tell you about what we do, then we will ask you x, y, z, then we'll ask you four behavioural questions, then this and that, and then time for questions and we'll set out the process from here). That was great because part of the stress is not knowing what's around the corner. The initial 'why do you want to work here?' questions went well - very easy to answer naturally. The first two behavioural questions were excellent - both ones I had practised - influencing people and adapting to a change of circumstances (I used climate change examples for both, which was good because they flowed on from one another). And so it went All in all I was very pleased with how it went and they reinforced that it had gone extremely well, and asked me when I would be available to start (saying that - if I get through the next round - they would want me to start asap). Thanks for your coaching - it really helped me pull off a polished performance on the day. all the best Katja, Policy Analyst I think the interview went well. They commented on how well prepared I was and also how detailed and intricate my answers were. I had their full attention for those very good answers, but I felt less confident on a couple of questions. The interview going well clearly shows that I have improved a lot and I definitely feel I will learn a lot from this one.
Barry, Policy Analyst (Deaf) Just wanted to let you know how I got on yesterday at my interview. It went really well, and so long as my medical goes well next week (which I know it will) I am off to Auckland in about three weeks to face the board. To be honest I am a lot less worried about that part. Thank you so very much again, you were so helpful and just gave me that extra boost which I REALLY needed. I would recommend your service any day. Melissa, ex-Customer Service, now RNZ Navy
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