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CareerJoy FAQ

We are the largest independently owned boutique career & leadership organization in Canada. CareerJoy evolved out of a recruitment firm over 13 years ago, recognizing that there was a niche for individuals who would benefit from independent, strategic career advice. Our approach is practical and directly applicable to the current Canadian employment marketplace, rather than a counselling/therapy approach to coaching.

In 14 offices from Halifax to Vancouver, we have worked with over 4,500 individuals and 500 employers from coast to coast in a variety of sectors and industries, from public to private sector & not for profit, so we understand both the employer’s perspective and your desire to be relevant in today’s marketplace, in addition to finding the situation that meets both your professional and personal needs. CareerJoy has the professionalism and network of a national organization, with the personalized customization that individual coaching can provide.

During the course of your program, you will be working one to one with a dedicated certified career coach, supported by a team of specialists in Résumé & LinkedIn Branding, Career Options, and Assessments. Unlike most other career coaching organizations, CareerJoy employs a team approach, leveraging the skills, talents, and network of many unique professionals from different industries and backgrounds, in order to specifically target our clients’ objectives and move them forward in order to turn goals into reality.

Our curriculum incorporates podcasts, videos, recommended reading, webinars, tools, assignments, assessments and other resources that have been curated for each of our specific programs. We recognize some clients have more limited time and need a higher level, structured process, and others want to dive deeply into a self-directed discovery process. Some clients take advantage of the full range of these resources in addition to the assignments, while very busy individuals prefer a more tailored and streamlined approach.

Our clients are not interested in having an average career. They are interested in maximizing their potential, and come from all fields and levels. Twenty-five percent of our clients are students & young professionals, 45% of our clients are mid-level professionals, and 30% are senior leaders & executives.

They call us because, like you, they need help with a specific issue and/or are frustrated in their current position, or are currently in transition and looking for a fulfilling role. They may feel like their career has stalled, or that they have settled for second-best and are itching for more. Many of our clients have shifted their perspective on work and are beginning to view their career as an important part of their lifestyle. In addition to seeking more work-life balance, they want to achieve financial success without compromising who they are.

Here are some industry statistics and a general overview of the value and ROI coaching offers:
• In one study conducted by MetrixGlobal LLC, companies including Booz Allen Hamilton received an average return of $7.90 for every $1 invested in coaching.
• A survey by Manchester Inc. of 100 executives found that coaching provided an average return on investment of almost six times the cost of the coaching.
• An internal report of the Personnel Management Association showed that when training is combined with coaching, individuals increase their productivity by an average of 86 per cent compared to 22 per cent with training alone.

Professionals who received coaching reported improvements in the following areas:
• Working relationships with direct reports (reported by 77 per cent of executives)
• Working relationships with immediate supervisors (71 per cent)
• Teamwork (67 per cent)
• Working relationships with peers (63 per cent)
• Job satisfaction (61 per cent)
• Conflict reduction (52 per cent)
• Organizational commitment (44 per cent)
• Working relationships with clients (37 per cent)

In 20 offices from St. John’s to Victoria, we have worked with over 9,500 individuals and 500 employers from coast to coast in the full spectrum of sectors and industries, from public to private sector & Not-For-Profit/Charitable sectors. We commonly work in the Financial Services sector, Technology, Media, Health Care, Legal, CPG, Manufacturing, Oil & Gas, Marcom, Government/Public Relations, Mining/Forestry, Education, and Administrative sectors/industries.

In addition to having recently won our 2nd National HR Reporter Readers’ Choice award for transition coaching, our client response surveys indicate that 94% of clients are very satisfied with their CareerJoy programs and coaching that they receive. This is a significant jump from industry statistics indicating that 74.7%1 of Canadians who have received coaching are somewhat or very satisfied with their own coaching experience.

In addition to referring peers, colleagues and friends, our clients continue to share their success stories. 93% of clients indicated they were likely to recommend CareerJoy to their friends, family members, or colleagues, and we are making work better for ourselves and our clients every day, in order to increase that number to 100%.

Each client has unique objectives. At the beginning of your program, you will define, with your coach, specific objectives that will help you get exactly what you need out of the process. Some goals include clarity of your skills and how to position yourself in a very competitive market, having a clear sense of career options that are outside and inside your industry, or goals that are more specifically focused on your job search.

At the end of the day, our clients don’t come to us to chat. You are coming to us to make tangible steps forward in your career. Time and time again, we consistently see clients advance into a better work situation, with a higher sense of their own value, and a new level of confidence and control over managing their path.

For some this means a “career revolution” – identifying a completely new career path and transitioning into that, for others this is more of a “career evolution” – adapting within your current profession and reaching the next level. It can also mean shifting organizations into a much better fit in terms of lifestyle, role, values, and income.

The bottom line is that you are making an investment in your career and you should expect results – and so do we. Your success is our success, and we are committed to providing a tangible value for your investment.

Depending on the program you choose, possibly, but we promise it will be worth it. We recognize that not everyone wants to be an astronaut or a zoologist. The results will make sense and be relevant to you and your circumstances. Our model has been assessed by our post-secondary partners across the country, and is one of the key reasons they have entrusted us to work with their alumni.

Often, the fear is that you won’t be happy with the results of the tests and that’s because most tools evaluate on personality and skills and produce a general set of options based purely on algorithms without relevance to your specific situation. We incorporate multiple elements and tools that together are far more sophisticated than Myers-Briggs, Strong Inventory, etc. We use a next generation assessment model that provide a rigorous and accurate understanding of your history, skills, talents, values, lifestyle, and environment.

Our tools and assessments complement each other, and our coaching team provides yet another level of depth during the interpretation of the results, which we believe is fundamentally important to the success you will achieve with your program. The results generate a range of specific career options and your coach is certified to interpret these options so that the end result is that you find the right career that makes sense based on your context, life circumstances, and real-time market conditions.

The majority of our clients have busy professional and personal lives. We have designed our service so that it’s accessible to you, and we can accommodate you in terms of location and time, in order to best work with you and your coach’s schedules. This can be accomplished one-on-one in person at any of our offices in Toronto, Markham, Montreal, Mississauga, Ottawa, Kitchener, Kingston, Halifax, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton or Vancouver. If you are not near our offices, keep in mind that one-on-one distance coaching via phone or Skype is equally effective and more flexible for many professionals. In fact, we coach individuals from a variety of countries all over the world remotely and have had terrific success.

Lives and careers are complicated. There are many critical choices to be made and factors to weigh – most that you probably have never considered. The research of Ron Rensick, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia, uncovered a phenomenon called “change blindness,” where people struggle to see even obvious changes in otherwise identical photographs.

At CareerJoy, we have found that most people undergo a similar struggle in identifying the changes they need to make in their careers and lifestyles. It is often easier to experience that “aha!” moment when you have the benefit of an objective person who can see your issues more clearly. And our team of trained coaches is here to do just that. Additionally, research shows that 94% of business professionals who invest in a career coach advance with less stress, into a better position with more income. Using a career coach isn’t admitting failure – it’s a strategic investment.

We recognize that there are two important elements of coaching. First is the coaching process and framework, the second is the relationship with your coach which is based upon fit and trust. During our initial assessment process, we gather information that helps us understand who would be the best coach for you by identifying the industries/sectors, seniority, location, personality style, and needs.

CareerJoy offers a Coaching Fit Guarantee. Fit happens. From time to time, for whatever reason, the fit just isn’t there. In this situation, we will assign you a new coach, establish where you are at in the process, and if necessary, adjust your coaching program to ensure that by the end of the program, you are meeting your set objectives.

Our career coaches are excited about careers, career coaching, and about working with our clients who come from diverse backgrounds. Each member of our team has relevant and applicable post-secondary qualifications complemented by demonstrated hands-on experience working as a coach.

We have high standards and each of our coaches has been through our CareerJoy coaching process. Our coaches have practical experience in the work world, real life experience in dealing with real issues, and enjoy working one on one with our clients.

CareerJoy is committed to your success and we recognize that your success is our success. This is an important investment of your resources, and in order to ensure that you have the best return on this investment possible, and you are making a significant impact on your career and life, we are happy to provide our 100% Service Guarantee. To ensure we meet and exceed your expectations, we guarantee our service in terms of coaching fit, tools, and resume & branding elements – we will work with you until you are completely satisfied.

We’re committed to our clients and confident in our process, our team, and our ability to help you.

CareerJoy accepts all major credit cards including VISA, Mastercard & American Express, as well as Interac electronic transfer payments from all major bank accounts.

We recognize that this is not necessarily a planned expense, and also offer no-interest monthly payment options.

Yes! Programs can be upgraded or customized at any time. Should you complete a program and wish to go further, we can customize ‘à la carte’ options to suit your needs. Just ask your coach for further details.

The coaching relationship is completely confidential. We recognize that clients may disclose future plans, business affairs and personal and financial information and we will not at any time, share this information with any third party.

Our confidentiality policy is intended to be as confidential as the applicable provincial or federal laws allow. The coaching relationship is not privileged and (while this has yet to have happened) CareerJoy’s records regarding work with a Client can be subpoenaed.

As a starting place, many clients benefit from a complimentary 15-minute “career chat” by phone or Skype with one of our team members to discuss your unique career needs.

This session gives you an opportunity to express your thoughts about your career and to answer questions designed to assess your suitability for our programs. Through the assessment, we’ll be able to recommend the next step that matches your needs. Often, we can offer insights that are immediately useful in your situation and sometimes the assessment is all you need to achieve career satisfaction.

Contact Cynthia on our Client Success Team at 1.877.256.2569 ext 4 or cynthia.hannigan-thaw@careerjoy.com.