Full quotes from Quality Assurance feedback
Rod is a real pleasure to work with. He is a really nice man, although she [the client] hates the word “nice”. He can be quite strong and will say something is not going to work if she does it like that: but he says it in a way that is really easy to understand and take. He has a manner which she likes enormously. It makes for a very comfortable dialogue – and makes it much easier when he wants to be challenging.
Rod brings a mature and committed approach; presumably part of the art is making sure he connects well with the way an individual is thinking; he does this very well.
The depth and breadth of Rod’s experience means that she has real confidence that the advice she is getting is absolutely robust and that she is in good hands. When the issue is so personal and she is looking at change, which is uncomfortable and she feels insecure – it is hugely reassuring that Rod is so solidly confident and expert.
Having a sounding board and brainstorming partner with enormous experience, insight and good judgment on issues around career planning and career shift. A client only looks into these areas every 5-10 years so is infrequently exposed to these issues. Someone who is dealing regularly with them provides very valuable insight and support.
The biggest difference overall has been boosting her confidence. People are never as confident underneath as the front they put on. Rod has helped her think through what she is really good at and has given her that confidence.
The main benefits of the programme are that he has become less judgmental; he is moving away from the behaviours he needed in his previous career, where he needed to come with judgment and describe people mostly in a negative way; and he is learning to keep it short when interacting with people. Having these beacons is very useful.
Rod’s ability to listen and understand a situation is his best skill. He is really flexible and nimble in response to her agenda.
It has been really useful and confidence building. She was very lost in terms of her next career move: she felt trapped, unsure of her skill set and lost a lot of confidence. Rod has helped her map out her future career path.
The good thing about Rod: X’s career is very international. That’s why he works well with Rod because Rod understands international and the cultural sensitivities he has to deal with. It would all be much more difficult if Rod just had UK experience.
The main part - where there is a lot of value – is in having someone with a lot of experience to talk to about things and look at how to approach certain searches and Rod will also play a pivotal role in helping him negotiate offer(s).
It’s a very personal service. Rod is genuinely interested in the case. It’s like the recent Sherlock Holmes series, where Holmes only takes the cases he is interested in.
X is in his mid 40s and feels that Rod, being older, has seen a lot in his life, which is great. He brings a very calm professionalism and is solid.
What has really inspired confidence is Rod’s obvious deep knowledge of how the jobs market works at executive level. He has a real sense of what she is feeling and he can reassure her that it is absolutely normal and suggest how she might want to handle herself. Rod has challenged her and pushed her hard. He really knows his stuff. She has complete confidence that Rod’s knowledge is deep and current. This gives her confidence.
Rod is personable, interested, articulate, insightful, prescient, worthwhile and clearly very well connected.
Rod is a lovely chap. He is very personable and easy to get on with, although their backgrounds are quite different. Rod has a lovely insight and uses some nice analogies and pictures/stories to get his point across.
The benefit is having someone to work with on a project, which is a self centred project. This means it is quite hard to be dispassionate about oneself, so it is good to have an independent person focused on the same goal, coming at it from an orthogonal point of view, challenging what he is saying and asking if he really wants what he thinks he wants. His own views are a bit narrow and he comes away challenged in his thinking,
Self confidence – confidence in himself and in the mystique of interview techniques – has found it is not that mysterious after all. Sessions have enabled him to become more succinct and have tightened up his presentations significantly and have bolstered up his achievements which are worth mentioning. Feels well prepared to get out and sell himself.
The process to date has been extremely useful. She has not had this sort of support before, nor has she been in the jobs market for a long time, and had no clue about how to go about organizing herself to look outside her own company or how to present herself. Rod has done a great job of guiding her through the process. He has made her feel much more confident about her ability to present herself in the market and to secure something.
...and from some mentoring clients ...
He is one very happy bunny. He would happily recommend Rod. He has a very good working relationship with Rod; he enjoys it and looks forward to his sessions. Rod is very good at asking the right questions and surfacing the issues. Even when he thinks there is nothing to talk about, he will recall issues he did want to raise and it all seems to come out in the discussions.
Rod offers a different perspective, he listens very carefully, he hears everything and never misses a chance to pick up on things she may have missed, or not seen the value of, and he brings her back to them and discusses them. Rod challenges her and makes her look at things differently.
It is an open and honest relationship. She thinks Rod is great with someone who is honest about themselves but may be less good with someone who doesn’t know themselves so well – but he probably doesn’t work with many of these as they will tend to be at a lower level in an organisation. She is “completely out there” – verbose – more is more. Rod is probably very good for her because of the contrast. He believes in less is more. She respects all Rod’s experience and what he brings. In fact, she thinks there is mutual respect, which is what feels good. Rod is perfect for her because he is not what she is.