If you are open to change, the HTYC team is very well equipped to help guide you towards a more fulfilling career path I would highly recommend the HTYC experience. I was very impressed with how thorough the intake process was to ensure the right fit. I enjoyed the personality tests but it was working with a coach one on one that really helped me make significant progress in this journey. I worked with Liz, whose openness and thoughtfulness was very much appreciated. Liz challenged my preconceived notions and guided me to find other ways to look at my work situation. I did not quit my job or drastically change my career but I made enough important changes that allow me to enjoy my work much better today than I have for many years.

Outstanding program to partner with on my transition journey After spending almost two decades in one industry and at one company, I was successful and “comfortable” but felt that it was time to make a change and look for new challenges. I was an avid listener of the HYTC podcast and after about a year, I finally reached out to the HTYC team to start my career transition. What I really enjoyed about the HTYC experience is the holistic view of the career transition and looking at the transition as both a personal and professional change. I started the career change journey with “an ideal” industry in mind but still had doubts about if I was going to be able to make that transition. The structured modules and exercises were helpful in giving me a systematic way to approach each step of the change. The career change can be a long process and what worked for me is going through each of the modules and going step-by-step. It was especially helpful for me to organize my time and goals. The HTYC team is incredible, and they really are on this journey with you---from onboarding to my sessions with my coach to continued communication throughout the process. The onboarding process gives you an opportunity to express what you’re looking for, and you are given coach recommendations that best align with you and your goals. My coach kept me motivated, helped me fine-tune my messaging, and provided candid feedback and encouragement. She challenged me to step outside of my comfort zone while being my authentic self. I’m happy to report that I ended up transitioning into the exact industry that I was hoping to join from the beginning, and joined a company that I am very excited about. The skills and tools that we worked on are ones that I will bring to my next role and apply to my career going forward.

Coaching gave me the framework I needed! I was young in my career but knew I wanted to make a change. HTYC taught gave me a great framework and coaching to navigate my career change but also taught me a lot of valuable skills I know I will continue to use as I grow in my new career. HTYC was both challenging and rewarding. If you find yourself feeling unfulfilled and doom-scrolling on job sites for new opportunities, consider HTYC's career change bootcamp and coaching to give you the tools you need to make a meaningful career switch!

Putting Advice into Action I had an opportunity to take some of the advice I received from Phillip as part of my coaching in the Fall of 2022 and put it into action. I actually got a call back from a job I interviewed for 2 months earlier and didn’t get. I guess I did really well in the interview and they put me on a shortlist for any future openings (which is often the case in the public sector). Since I had already interviewed, things were going to progress straight to the initial offer. To make sure I was ready, I consulted my ideal career profile and assessed my current working situation (which wasn’t great) to determine my salary range. Since public sector salaries are generally governed by policies and collective bargaining agreements, I anticipated that the initial offer would be quite low. In fact, it was $20,000 less than what I was making at my current gig! Since I was desperate to get out, I might have just went along with the initial offer, fearing that they might rescind the offer if I tried to negotiate to a higher salary. Thanks to my chats with Phillip and the modules recorded by Scott, I knew the importance of being honest with myself and what my bare minimum to shift jobs would be (despite my desperation!). Despite REALLY wanting out, I knew I'd also be miserable if I took this gig and was earning less in an inflationary economy! By being intentional and planning ahead, I was able to establish a range that would allow me to get a bump in salary (even when factoring my performance raise at my previous job) without putting the recruiter off. I presented this to them in an honest and transparent way by letting them know where I was now in my current salary range and where they’ll need to be for me to accept the offer. In the end, they met me at the lower end of what I proposed. Nonetheless, by doing the work in advance, I was satisfied with the result because it satisfied two important criteria I established: getting out of my current job and getting a salary bump. Having that knowledge from HTYC really gave me the confidence to approach this situation in a systematic way. Without it, I may have taken a significant pay cut out of desperation or compelled them to rescind the offer because my demands were too high. Salary negotiation is just a microcosm of what you’ll learn at HTYC! When you take the time to set parameters for your ‘ideal job’ (location, salary, commute times, etc.), the ‘overwhelm’ that can accompany these kinds of decisions is reduced significantly!

Accountability, support, and great tools Career coaching is largely what you make of it, but here's why HTYC worked for me. The Intake Process: Phillip was very helpful with distilling my goals in coaching, determining which coach on the team was the right fit for me, and outlining the process and objectives I would reach in coaching. Coaching Sessions: I worked with Jennifer, and she's great. An active listener, and made sure our sessions were customized to meet my goals and where I was at throughout the career search process. It was clear that each coach has the ability to tweak the program to their individual style and the client's needs. We didn't follow the Career Change Bootcamp program to a T, because I was seeking coaching for a long-term vision for my career, rather than an immediate job change. In working with Jennifer to articulate my career goals and needs, I was able to recognize when I was time to leave a job that wasn't serving me, and I did end up finding a new job 6 months after coaching started. Online tools: For those who prefer more structure, the online modules for the Career Change bootcamp were helpful, with easy to follow videos and worksheets. I didn't use all of the tools, but many were helpful in the beginning. I especially liked working on identifying my Strengths. The Podcast: obviously not required for purchase, but I loved listening to clients' stories, while going through my own journey.