Change Your Approach If You Want Different Results
Face it, the approach most people take to figure out the career puzzle doesn’t work. That’s why so few college students graduate on time. And why over 60% of people in the workforce wish they were doing something else.
We take a drastically different approach. Instead of using cheap, quick or outdated tools, we use some of the most reliable and valid assessment instruments available. We collect information in 4 key areas, then compare your results to similar information that’s been collected from top performing professionals in over 200 job titles.
But the fact that we use the best tools is not as important as the fact that we help you understand how to best use the information from the tool. The biggest problem with assessments is that most people don’t understand or know how to use the information that comes from them. That would be like selling a scalpel to someone untrained in its use – it would likely cause more damage than good.
That’s why we don’t sell only the assessment. We have found that just putting the tool in someone’s hand will not keep them from charging off in the wrong directions and wasting so much money on classes that will never be put ot use. Instead, we walk you through our process to help you turn the information into knowledge that you can use to make better career and life decisions.
We are thorough, comprehensive, and process driven. We also leverage over 25 years of business and professional experience, and show you not only how to put all the pieces of the puzzle together, but where to start so you can complete it faster.
‘Quick and Easy’ Leads to Unhappy Endings
Why do yo think that more than 60% of working people wish they were doing something else? And why do most college students change their major multiple times, extending graduaton dates up to two years? The answer is simple. They never take time to figure out what their natural gifts are. Too many people spend years of trial and error hoping to stumble upon a career that is a good fit with who they were gifted to be.
The Alice in Wonderland Approach
To get the answers to the big questions in life, you need to ask the right questions, and in the right sequence. In the book, Alice asked the Cheshire Cat what road she should take. The cat replied by asking her where she wanted to go. Alice said she didn’t know. The cat then told her that if that was the case then any road would take her there. This approach is how many people choose careers, colleges and majors. If you aren’t specific about where you are going, any road can take you there. The harder questions are, “Where do I want to end up?” and “What am I uniquely gifted to do?”
When you start with the hard questions, everything else becomes easier. When you start with the easy questions, everything gets harder.
Framework That Leads to Better Decisions
We use comprehensive, time-tested tools and then teach you a proven process for using them, which enables you to make better decisions about your future every time you find yourself at a major fork in the road.
Our Approach – It’s a Process, not an Event
We teach a system that starts with gaining a thorough understanding of your strengths. Knowing yourself is the first step in deciding what you are created to do. Most assessment instruments focus only on personality or interests – which are quick and easy – but by themselves are seldom reliable or valid predictors of whether someone can perform a job.
Start Early!
The earlier you start understanding as much as you can about yourself the better, because the consequences of making poor decisions can be huge. It is best to start before applying to colleges, because this is when a young adult has the most options available. If you have missed that point, it’s not too late. But you the sooner you understand how you are wired the easier it is to get on track.
This may come as a surprise to you, but colleges simply do not care what a student wants to major in, or how many times they change majors, or how long it takes them to graduate. Colleges spend their time and effort getting students in – not getting them out! And their results prove it – just check out their graduation rates. One of the primary reasons for these abysmal numbers is that students change their majors, often multiple times.
We help parents and students understand not only how they are gifted, but more importantly, how their gifting relates to career options. Then they can choose a major, college or career that makes sense and increases the odds of being successful in that chosen field.
Changing Majors or Choosing Your Major After Starting College
Most colleges provide so little help here it might be better if they didn’t try at all. When I went on college visits with my son I asked one of the private liberal arts schools that we visited (a school that charges $40,000+/yr tuition) how they help students select a major. They were using a $25 assessment tool that takes less than 30 minutes to complete and measures things that research shows are both unreliable and invalid for predicting job success.
Imagine asking parents to invest $160,000 for a four-year education and then using an ineffective $25 career interest tool to help students choose their career! Needless to say I was glad my son didn’t end up there.
Interviewing and Selecting the Best Job Options
As college students prepare for graduation and begin interviewing for jobs, many will have the opportunity to choose among multiple options. Having a thorough understanding of your gifts, skills, behaviors, and interests, and be able to interpret how these will likely impact your job success and satisfaction can be one of the biggest advantages you can have when interviewing. Not many jobs are the perfect fit, so being able to choose the best fit among all your options based on your individual strengths is critical to starting your career in the right direction.
Job and Career Changers
Career change is inevitable for most people. The days of going to work for one company and staying there for your entire career are nearly extinct. How many middle aged people do you know that are still with the company they started with out of college? Chances are the number is small.
The latest research forecasts that students entering the workforce today will change jobs 10 – 15 times before they reach the age of 38! Whether your change is because of your decision or someone has made it for you, we can help guide you toward something that will be more in line with who you are gifted to be.
