BEING YOU - Career Coaching

“It is my pleasure to write this recommendation for my Career Coach Dan Underwood.

Looking for a professional advice how to improve your job search strategy and land more interviews?

Search no further because I would like to introduce an expert in Career Development Coaching Dan Underwood.

Having never experienced any professional coaching before, I was amazed at the benefit of this challenging process during our 4 sessions. It was a lot of hard work – but it was worth it.

The experience was excellent all round.

Firstly, I learned how to best present myself and I created my beautiful Portfolio that summarises my experience, showcases my professional accounting key skills, and demonstrates my Passions. 

My Portfolio is now a massive advantage to show my true talents, and value.

Also, I completed a new CV which is now a perfect, fixed document and allows the recruiter to make a quick judgement on my professional statement.

Secondly, I can analyse myself and start looking at myself in more optimistic light.

Finally, I have been provided a wonderful service working together with Dan and he really helped me to get a deeper understanding of myself as Marina, future career goals and life purpose.

Dan Underwood is extremely knowledgeable about the career process and I could not have done it without him.

My highest recommendation.“

— Marina Gladden (Professional Personal Accountant)

“Before our first coaching session I was unsatisfied with my CV due to previous feedback. This led me to consider changing its contents to fit a more ‘normal’ template. However, after speaking to Dan for the first few minutes I was pleasantly surprised at his excitement in hearing about my experiences and hobbies that was on my current CV.

During the phone call Dan’s words were motivating and encouraging, I made pages of notes based of his guidance and was excited for our next session.

For the second coaching session I had prepared some work previously set out by Dan from the last session. This included Artwork, Face Charts, Written Work and Personal Experiences. What seemed to me like everyday actions Dan took as significance interests and I slowly started to realise I was collecting all my achievements into one area.

Dan was able to understand and help me summarise 19 years’ worth of information into a couple documents.

However, Dan was also doing another job besides helping me with my CV he was sharing his words of guidance and advice and quickly I seen him as a mentor. I was writing notes about how we have shared the same judgment in our similar points in life and quickly got the nickname of ‘Young Dan’.

Session three was the most impactful. With Dan’s continuous help and guidance everything started to come together, I felt my work was being showcased in ways I could only dream of in the beginning. It may not seem like a lot to most, but these two documents have my current life’s work in them.

And as Dan kept reminding me, don’t let your age define your quality of work. People will say you are too young, but you just have to show them differently.

I will carry this and much more advice Dan gave me throughout my career.

For our final session I used this to reflect on how much I had grown in our short time working together. The key area that I found I’d improved over the four sessions was confidence, which was something I thought I had however speaking with Dan along side the work during the sessions made me realise that I lacked confidence in my ability to showcase my work. I worried about my writing, spelling and coming across as arrogant.

And I was easily able to identify how Dan himself helped and that was just simply by listening and be genuinely invested in helping me. I feel he went beyond his duty to support me and in return I wanted to do the same by putting the same effort into my work.

Now I can say that I’m most confident in this piece of work.”

— Amber Buchanan (Aspiring Professional Makeup Artist)

“I would like to say how helpful and supportive I found you as a person, both professionally and personally. 

Your approach was exactly what I needed to enable me to bring my vision to the foreground and act upon my dreams. 

Your approach was positive, responsive and based on being creative in sharing translatable experiences from your world of work, that emulate my own. 

As well as showing understanding for my position, vision and experience, you engaged with me in relatable experiences to show me what you have achieved throughout your career."

Thank you.”

- Calum Ramage (Renewables Energies Professional)

“I found the sessions very helpful to get into a more positive mindset about my situation as being on UC can become very negative feeling.

It was very different to talking to my work coach as I felt I was genuinely listened to and understood as an individual about my goals and my needs.

The sessions helped me to get out of the rut that I was in with interviews as it had become an expectation to be unsuccessful with them, but fortunately I was offered a job that I wanted which I feel was benefited by my positive mindset that developed from these sessions.

To be listened to and to have my concerns validated and taken on board was very valuable to me, especially being in lockdown as it was a connection with another person that I wouldn't have got without the sessions.

This programme was a great help for me.”

- Jessica Beaton (Professional Youth Worker)

“Dan I can’t thank you enough for all your help, you have really opened my mind up to a different way of looking at my future career, I hope I can put all your advise to good use.”

- Sharon Davidson (Administration Professional)

“Your kindness and willingness to go all out for your clients is evidenced in how you dealt with them and spoke to me regarding any concerns or just updates on their progression.”

- Brenda Buchan (Partnership Adviser - Department Work and Pensions)

“I would recommend Dan to anyone and always use Dan's work with me, as one of the best demonstrations of effective mentoring time.

It's rare that you come across a standout character like Dan. I had the pleasure of meeting with Dan four years ago after finishing my work with Future Framework. Dan sat down with me helped me with my professional development. 

Dan's ability to analyze and review real life situations was unlike any I’ve seen before and made a dramatic impact on me straight away. After a 2-hour coaching session, I had a lot of data points, learnings, and items to take away and review. This audit was incredibly powerful for my personal development.

As a coach, team member or a leader; Dan earns my highest recommendation.”

— Francesco D’Alessio (Host & Creator of Keep Productive)

“Dan is amazing at understanding people and un-layering the various masks we wear in everyday life, to get to the core of who we are. 

The mentoring sessions I had with Dan a few years ago, really helped me overcome my own limitations and gave me the confidence to go out their in both my professional and personal life and excel, far beyond I could ever imagine.”

— Rakhee Shah (Director of Strategic Partnerships)

“Dan really helped me see how I was portrayed through my CV and cover letter which I hope will aid me in writing them in the future.

The feedback Dan gave me I have found to be constructive and comprehensive.

Dan took the time to really delved into me as a person and I would like to thank him for questioning me and making me really think about myself. I actually feel now that I understand myself better as before I had not need to explain myself to anyone, therefore I had not thought about it too much. 

Dans mentoring I found challenging, however I feel like I learnt the most from it and think that Dan is are an invaluable mentor to both me and the other students at the university.”

— Sarah Kinsman (MBBCh Graduate Entry Medicine at Swansea University)

“Dan welcomed me with a smile and positive body language, did not rush through the things, paid attention to my answers, and were willing to share his experiences. These gave me a good impression of him.

Dan is very enthusiastic and encouraging. I felt that he really want me to relax and maximize my performance. He really read every single word of my CV. I felt that he understand my CV better than me and are keen on getting to know the real me.

Overall, it was a very pleasant experience.”

— Rebecca Jie Tong (BA Hons International Business Graduate (Plymouth University)