Coaching for Senior Job Changers

2023 is a tough, fast-changing and borderless market for top-level talent at all levels, from the Board to middle management: C-suite, C-1, C-2, C-3, senior executives, and career changers. Some are facing their first interview in years; many are facing their first Zoom interview or Teams interview Zoom. Are you ready? Or are you getting in your own way?  

Board or Partner roles are all about the correct balance of challenge and support. But who challenges and supports you? Who can you trust to tell you the truth? To be in your team? I can help you stop career sabotage with robust, honest and constructive feedback underpinned by a systematic interview preparation and storytelling process you can trust.  

Want to become a Partner, get promoted or join the Board?

If you're already in a senior position, you may not remember the last time you were in an interview. Even if you can, a lot has changed since then and your story needs updating and telling well! The stakes are higher now. How is your online game? The competition is stiffer, the process is tougher. Coming second sucks.

You might consider yourself to be the front runner. Others may agree with you. But, you don't know who the shiny, polished external candidates are, where they come from, what they could add to the mix.

Whether you are fighting to become a Partner; seeking promotion or even appointment to the Board; changing career or company; returning to work after maternity leave; or struggling to jumpstart your career after redundancy... professional interview preparation and storytelling coaching could give you the edge, get your head in the right place to transform your life. And your income. 

Personalised Executive Coaching

Boardroom Battles

Some of my work involves boardroom battles, succession wars and campaigns to become Managing Partner. These can be tough when you do not know who to trust – boardroom politics can make Westminster and Washington politics look tame. Having an independent outsider, executive coach, sounding board and confidant could be just what you need.

AGM & Select Committee Preparation

I help CEOs prepare their content and delivery for internal and external speeches and Q & A sessions. including AGM speeches; CFO's prepare for analyst briefings; and have helped a senior VP of a global corporate prepare to face a cranky House of Commons Select Committee. I help prepare you with both what you say and how you say it. 

Discreet Executive Coaching

Some of my clients are able to put my fees through Business Development or Personal Development budgets. Others prefer to keep the coaching away from office gossip and we meet off-campus or online and they pay me directly. I fit in with you and your individual circumstances. All my coaching is tailor made to ensure maximum results.  

Becoming a Partner

I work with Associates and Senior Associates wanting to make Partner in law and accountancy firms. These high-stakes interviews are life-changing, bank-balance-changing and binary – either you make Partner or you miss out for another year. If you miss out twice you may as well change companies. (You need a good story for that too!)

Performance Improvement Plan

If you have been made redundant or fired, you have a sensitive, nuanced and very important story to tell. Fewer senior jobs, more applicants including global candidates and an increasing focus on youth over experience means you must make every interview count. Telling your story and particularly "that story" honestly and without bitterness is hard. You have to stand out – or your competition will get ahead of you. But you also have to fit in – to play their game and to play it well. I can help you with this. (You might be able to get your company to pay for this through their Outplacement budget - ask your HR department.)

Returning After Maternity

Having a child is an amazing and transformative event. But, although it absolutely damn well shouldn't, it can have a hugely negative impact on a high powered career. Whether you have been "away" for 6 months or 6 years, getting "back in the zone" and getting "back up to speed" with your industry is a tough, and tiring, ask. Where to start? I love using my Circles, Squares and Stripes©️method to help Mums get their mojo, spark and self-belief back - and interview coaching them for those daunting multi-stage interviews back into senior roles.  

My 1-2-1 interview coaching for senior executives includes:

  • Preparing you for every filter in the interview process - to stop you being filtered out in a multi-stage interview process. 
  • Identifying your USP, identifying and articulating during each interview stage what you could bring to the corporate table.
  • Helping you compellingly and tightly communicate your qualifications, experience and potential during the interview.
  • Reviewing your CV and Linked In profile – this Linked In and CV audit is an essential part of interview preparation.
  • Overview of best-practice pre-interview research.
  • Work on voice and image projection for your interview. 
  • Interview preparation role-play with video play-back as well as review of image, voice projections etc.
  • Bullet proofing you for all those tricky interview questions which are now more important than ever. After the session and having done your homework you will be on the road towards being “Paxman-Proof & Paper-Free”. 
  • Preparing you to resist the urge to jump at the initial offer and calmly negotiate your new package. Some of my clients have achieved uplifts of 14% - 28% on allegedly "final" offers.
  • We will also use my new DARCK+©️ process to create your own storybook. (Better than the STAR Interview technique.)
  • Storytelling for interviews - the secret to answering situational and competency based interview questions.
  • Working on the "Brand of You" - you're probably great at selling a service or product, but not yourself. 
  • Developing a "Reseller Kit" - you need to recruit internal advocates who promote you through the interview process.
  • My Filtered OUT interview books 
  • Filtered OUT - The Workbook has 45 of the most commonly asked Interview Questions - plus Elon Musk's two favourite interview questions. In this book I explain what they are looking for with each question, offer guidance on how to answer the question and then there is a page for you to write in your answers to these questions. This is effectively an interview preparation programme that you can do in your own time. A question a day or 5 questions a day.  
  • Filtered OUT gives guidance on how to prepare for interviews, including telephone interviews and interviews by Zoom or Teams. 

Peter provides excellent advice on how to assess one’s strengths and weaknesses, to craft an appropriate message and how best to communicate it. Well worth the investment! Great Results, Personable, Expert

PARTNER
Paul Shea
Beechbrook Capital

Peter is results focused, a good communicator, works very well at senior level and is easy to work with. An excellent coach for top level presentations. Great Results, Expert, High Integrity.

Angela Bowland
VP Strategy & Marketing, CSC

Very pleased to say that I have this afternoon been offered the job. Thanks for your help, it really was invaluable!

General Counsel
U.K. National Regulatory Agency

I was invited to join the partnership! Which of course I accepted! It was an incredible feeling, with a flood of relief and excitement. It has been a fantastic few days - tomorrow is officially my first day as a partner. My wife and I discussed how pleased we are that I spent a day with you and how I needed it to feel in control of the process. The partners who interviewed me said how strong my interview had been. I also wanted to say that the training has helped me enormously in other areas of the job as well.

PARTNER
Partner
Magic Circle Law Firm

Peter was an OUTSTANDING and no-nonsense coach. He showed me how to sell my experience at an interview. The interview. For THAT job. Investing in Peter’s coaching obviously worked because I was successful and am absolutely over the moon with my new role. He also guided me through the process of negotiating my salary up which saw an increase of over 35%. I would highly recommend using Peter if you are seeking a new role.

Head of Public Affairs
FTSE 100 company

I have been working with Peter and benefiting from his knowledge and skills for nearly 10 years. He has helped me with general communication skills, presentations and speeches at all the key stages in my career – all of which have been pivotal to my personal professional development which has brought me to a senior management level within a German, M-DAX listed PLC. Although we have often worked face to face, he is always available on the phone and by email and is always happy to work evenings or weekends – often at very short notice – which is exactly when I need him! 

Group Company Secretary
German PLC

Book & Pay for Flat Fee Executive Coaching Session

You are investing in a bespoke series of 7-8 sessions delivered remotely by Zoom

Plus... homework review, advice and counsel in-between sessions. 

This coaching and counselling package helps your prepare for every filter in the interview process including interactions with headhunters; preparing your covering letter and CV; auditing and editing your online presence; online interview preparation; presentation prep, Q & A prep; negotiating your remuneration package.  

This interview coaching course is for accomplished senior executives preparing for internal or external interviews.

Tell your story with the Circles, Squares and Stripes© storytelling method underpinning the MessageCraft® process.

You book and pay for the full session when you book your first slot via Calendly, and you then pick the subsequent slots to suit your diary - also via Calendly. Calendly makes rescheduling really easy when life intervenes with your diary.   

All coaching to be completed within 45 days unless otherwise agreed.