services
I support education and work transitions through four comprehensive programs. I also offer coaching and application support services on an hourly basis or can tailor a program to your specific needs. I begin with a half-hour free consult to learn more about you and your needs.
my approach:
4 simple steps
After a 30-minute free consultation, I send you a brief proposal that sets out a service agreement, timing and budget. If you sign an agreement and submit a 50-percent deposit on the full budget, we start working together.
The Service Agreement covers:
- Focus of service – resilience, education, or work transition
- Program or hourly and associated rate
- Nature of services – coaching, writing support, skills training, resource provision
- Expectations – your role, my role
- Timing of service delivery (in relation to goals and deadlines)
- Limits of service
In our first meeting together, we need to get to know each other so that I can best support you.
The Foundation meeting grounds us both, by:
- Allowing us to share how we prefer to work and tools to help us stay organized and communicate
- Uncovering challenges that hold you back and strengths that help you make progress toward your goals
- Establishing realistic goals that target education, work, personal, financial, lifestyle and geographic preferences
- Gathering information about you that supports your resilience and/or transition. This might include:
- Stories that feature your strengths, values, personality, interests and goals
- Relevant past and present experiences
- Formal assessments if desired (additional fee for cost recovery) including Strong Interest Inventory, Myers Briggs Type Inventory, Emotional Intelligence (MSCEIT and EQi), VIA Character Strengths
- Grades and test scores if applicable for education admissions
Sometimes clients know exactly where they want to target their efforts be it for education, work or life transitions. In which case, we can skip this step and go right to engagement.
On the other end of the spectrum are clients who are at the beginning of their transition journey or uncertain of their next steps. They therefore need time and support to research their options.
The main goal of Exploration is to build a long list of future options, clarifying for each option:
- Desirability
- Likelihood of success
- Eligibility or competitiveness ingredients
- Timing, process and requirements
- Networking considerations
Engagement is all about applied skill building in relation to building resilience, presenting in writing, and presenting in person.
Building Resilience
The journey to your goals is more like a marathon than a sprint – a marathon that can continue over many weeks until you reach the desired endpoint.
If you’ve been forever putting off your life, work and/or education goals, you can benefit from a pre-course to build self discipline and self confidence. To build optimism, manage the many tasks along the way and maintain your focus despite setbacks, we engage in three categories of resilience building:
1. Mindset training. Mindset training is about identifying the mental blocks that keep you stuck. Learn techniques to build a positive mindset and mental toughness.
2. Strengths work. Exploring and owning your strengths – from your signature character strengths to natural personality traits, interests and values – builds self awareness, self esteem and self efficacy. Your confidence in these self attributes moves you to focused action and allows you to engage more authentically with others.
3. Relationship, mission & meaning. The exploration of relationship, mission and meaning early in life sets the stage for realizing our full potential throughout our lifetime. Most of life’s challenges have a relationship component. Having a purpose in life gets us over the humps. Doing work that has personal meaning to us energizes us.
Presenting in Writing
As a general rule, applications for education or work require some form of written submission. To achieve a quality submission, we engage in three important skill-building tasks:
- Review/critique your draft documents related to your specific transition.
- Work together to strengthen your writing, focusing on audience, purpose, structure and relevant details.
- Enhance format and layout; correct for grammar.
Depending on whether clients are making an education or work transition, examples of documents include:
Education Transitions |
Work Transitions |
| Personal statement or essay | Letters (or emails) of introduction |
| Resume or Curriculum Vitae (CV) | Resume or CV |
| Online profile | LinkedIn profile |
| Writing samples | Slidedeck for presentation |
| Letter for special consideration | Business proposal |
Presenting in Person
Some applications for education and most applications for work require an in-person interview and/or presentation component. Advanced preparation and rehearsal help you focus your “pitch”, cultivate relationships with your audience and manage inevitable performance anxiety.
The process of preparation and rehearsal with me typically includes:
- Clarifying your audience of your upcoming in-person event – i.e., 1-1 or group interview, presentation, networking event
- Clarifying the anticipated style of inquiry/interaction of your event – i.e., formal or informal, single meeting or full day, backgrounds of people you’ll interact with
- Review resources to prepare and rehearse
- Engage in practice interview(s), presentation(s) or networking scenario(s) to identify strengths and weaknesses
- Conduct focused self assessment
- Receive focused evaluation, insight on mannerisms, and corrective strategies
education & work transition coaching programs & fees
15-WEEK RESILIENCE BUILDING FOR CAREER TRANSITION
Program fees:
$1,800 + HST
Program overview
Foundations of Resilience
W1. Program Fundamentals – Mindfulness, gratitude, self care
W2. Resilience
W3. Mindset – fixed & growth mindset
W4. Mindset – cognitive accuracy and flexibility
Self awareness, esteem & efficacy
W5. Character strengths
W6. Signature strengths
W7. Personality, Interests & Values – Assessments
W8. Applying assessment information from a developmental perspective
Applications of resilience
W9. Grudge & gratitude
W10. Empathy
W11. Slowness & savouring
W12. Positive relationships
W13. Effective altruism
W14. Meaning & purpose
Closure
W15. Final report & roadmap to the future
8-WEEK EDUCATION TRANSITION: Universities Research Support
8-Week Research Support Program ($1,800 + HST)
Intended for students in Grade 11 or earlier or for uncertain individuals returning to University who want to carefully research options before applying
W1. Welcome: reviewing program overview & timing, roles, tools and task management, homework, communication
W2. Self exploration & discovery: sharing peak experience stories and completing targeted self assessments
W3. Goal setting & decision criteria: exploring education & career options and targeting a long-list of university/program possibilities
W4. Long-list targets: learning to navigate university websites and find relevant information resources
W5. Eligibility realities: clarifying minimum courses, grades, test scores, citizenship requirements
W6. Application realities: clarifying supplementary application needs (resume, personal essay, references, interview or audition)
W7. Campus life realities: discovering relevant aspects of city & campus life, extra-curricular activities and experiential learning possibilities
W8. Short-list targets: reviewing starting goals and criteria to rank universities and programs – dream, target, safe
Program final report: 8-week program concludes with a presentation to student and family members of final recommendations on best options for success and ways to ensure optimum competitiveness to meet goals.
8- or 12-WEEK EDUCATION TRANSITION: Universities Application Support
8- & 12-WEEK EDUCATION TRANSITION: Universities Application Support ($1,800 to 2,500 + HST)
Intended for students in Grade 12 pursuing competitive university programs or for individuals pursuing graduate or professional studies after their first university degree; program is tailored to each individual based on initial consult to determine which of the topics below are applicable.
W1. Welcome: reviewing program overview & timing, roles, program tools and task management, homework, and communication
W2. Self exploration & discovery: sharing peak experience stories and completing assessments if applicable to explore education & career options
W3. Goal setting & decision criteria: creating a long list of university/program targets and preliminary criteria to narrow down options
W4-5. Eligibility & Application realities: reviewing up-to-date admission and application requirements for targeted universities and programs; making specific inquiries as necessary
W5-10. Application preparation: over a period of weeks, drafting/editing/refining application forms and supplementary documents, and organizing references.
W8-11. Interview preparation: over a period of weeks, rehearsing common interview questions and answers
W12. Final applications: Submitting final applications
8- OR 12-WEEK WORK TRANSITIONS
8- & 12-WEEK WORK TRANSITION: ($1,800 to $2,500 + HST)
Intended for inidividuals seeking full-time work; program is tailored to each individual based on initial consult to determine which of the topics below are applicable.
W1. Welcome: reviewing program overview & timing, roles, program tools and task management, homework, and communication
W2. Self exploration & discovery: sharing peak experience stories and completing assessments if applicable to explore career and work options
W3. Ideal Job & Job Search Strategy: crafting an ideal job description and job search strategy to target relevant prospective employers and job roles and most effective means of self marketing
W4-7. Self Marketing Tools: over a period of weeks, draft, edit and refine written components for job search: resume or CV, cover letter templates, LinkedIn profile and social media notices
W8-11. Networking & interview preparation: over a period of weeks, create and rehearse elevator pitch, practice cold calling, learn about the most common interview questions and practice strategies for providing compelling answers
W12. Action plan: Learning to manage an active job search campaign using recommended apps and tracking tools
4-WEEK RETIREMENT TRANSITION
4-Week Retirement Transition ($750 + HST)
The transition between full-time work and retirement can be both exhilerating and troubling. Leaving behind our work identities can spark joy or fear, or a combination of both. As we do when travelling to a new city or country, we can experience the exhileration of being free to explore and the challenge of navigating the new and different. Yet we can also feel lost, confused and out of place, wondering even why we chose this destination. We sometimes struggle to find the right balance between activity and rest, work and play, me time and social interaction. Without the structure of the work life we’ve exited, we can flounder, feeling unfulfilled and rudderless.
This 4-week program invites participants to do an inventory of their past, reminiscing on all the experiences that gave purpose and meaning to them. From this inventory, they will create a vision board for how they want to live the next decade of their life, to cultivate physical, mental, social and psychological health.
HOURLY RATES
My fees generally start at $175 hourly.
For emergency support (turnaround w/i 48 hours), I charge $250 hourly. All rates are subject to HST.
I wanted to express how lucky I feel to have been paired up with you during this graduate school application process – from your personality that was so well suited to mine to all of the dedication and energy you put into helping me.
You went above and really made sure you got to know the kind of person I was when we met in person. You pushed me outside my comfort zone and really rode it through with me, just like you promised. I will never forget you and this experience. I truly could not have competed this graduate school application without you.
contact ruth
LOCATION
Serving the GTA
and beyond
BOOK A FREE CONSULT
Make an appointment to chat with Ruth for a half hour free
ruth@ruthlouden.com
