Can I buy a gift certificate for career coaching or a workshop registration?

Yes! Just email Emily to let her know the name of the person to whom you’d like to give this gift, and what you’d like to give, how much you’d like to spend, etc.

Do you offer discounted rates for individual coaching or workshops?

We don’t offer discounted prices for individual coaching, but if you are on a budget and want to take one of our workshops, just let us know and we’ll register you for $28 for any individual workshop. Please see Services & Pricing.

Are you a life coach?

While Emily is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach, and thus has expertise in coaching individuals on all aspects of life, she has chosen to focus her work as a Career Coach and Executive Coach. This being said, often when someone needs career coaching, their life circumstances and their personal ecosystem are very important to take into consideration. Therefore, we do always learn about a client’s personal life, especially the factors most relevant to one’s career strategy.

However, Emily is not a therapist or mental health counselor. She often makes referrals to mental health professionals when there are signs that indicate it might be beneficial for the client to seek that type of professional help.

Are you an executive coach?

Yes. Emily serves clients as an Executive Coach. Her work with executive clients focuses on enhancing leadership skills, improving performance, and achieving personal and professional goals through tailored guidance and strategic development.

What makes you different from other career coaches?

There are six primary differences between our approach and the approach of other career coaches:

1. Elizabeth has been developing and then refining Blue Bridge’s coaching methodologies for 25 years, and through three recessions, so our approach is informed by a tremendous base of experience with thousands of clients over the course of more than two decades.

2. We administer our own career assessments, rather than using syndicated career assessments. Elizabeth developed the assessments about 10 years after she started working with clients and they’ve proven to be exceptionally helpful in pointing people in the right direction.

3. We don’t require clients to commit to a certain number of hours or a package of services.

4. Perhaps because we each have MBAs and read widely about economic and employment trends, we seem to have a particularly good grasp of the options people have when they are trying to map themselves to the economic landscape.

5. We have expertise in marketing, which turns out to be a very helpful skill set for career coaches, who help you market yourself!

6. We are intensely practical and realistic. If we don’t think something is feasible for you, we’ll tell you. No magical thinking here.

Having said all this, it’s important to note that we know other career coaches in whom we have 100% confidence. At times when our practice is full, we refer people to those terrific coaches and they have excellent outcomes with those coaches.

Do you guarantee confidentiality?

Yes, we guarantee confidentiality in our individual career and executive coaching. However, for workshop participants who choose to share anything with the group during any of the sessions, whatever is shared will, of course, not be held in confidence.

What is the job market like in 2024 and looking ahead to 2025?

In any economy, job-seekers have to be at the top of their game, in every way. Skip one little step in the process (not sending a thank-you after an interview, for example) and you may not get the offer.

The biggest difference we see — even in a strong job market — is that job-seekers have to spend more time on strategy – researching what’s growing and what’s shrinking, for example – so that they match themselves most effectively with areas that need more candidates.

We also see changes in networking, because of the switch from in-person to virtual events. Job-seekers still need to expand their professional network, to expand the scope of their search and obtain introductions, but it’s harder to do that on Zoom and in breakout rooms! Not impossible, but definitely harder.

Do you work with people outside of Boston and the Puget Sound?

Yes! We see clients from all geographic locations in the U.S. Email, phone, and Zoom work really well for coaching engagements.

Do you offer a free exploratory conversation, to see whether we would be a good fit?

While we do not offer free, exploratory phone calls at no charge to prospective clients, individuals who want to learn more about our approach can either a) sign up for one of our Tools for Transitions workshops ($28), or b) schedule, say, a 15-minute call to gauge fit, in which case Emily is happy to schedule that call and will invoice you for one-quarter of her hourly rate of $195, or $48.75.

Where do you meet with individual clients?

At the moment, Emily is meeting with clients via Zoom or phone only.

Are there any fields or career paths you don’t feel comfortable coaching in?

No, over the years we’ve been lucky to have the opportunity to work with everyone from a stand-up comedian to an equine portraitist to a CEO, and we enjoy working with all career paths.

Is there a particular type of client you work best with?

Not really. We love all our clients! They are all ages, in all different fields/industries, and their obstacles are all different. There’s nothing we love more than meeting with a new client and learning about their path and their needs. People who contact us are highly motivated to improve their careers, and their determination and persistence – with just a bit of guidance and support – carries them into their next chapter.

Do you administer career assessments?

Yes! We ask clients and workshop participants to complete our two career assessments before working with us. If you’d like to take our career assessments, please just contact Emily and she’ll send them to you, at no charge or obligation. They take 30-60 minutes to complete and will give you a highly specific idea of your favorite skills, the content and subject matter you like to learn about, and your values. Knowing these things is the first step in career transition and of course must be followed by strategic thinking to “map” you to the economic landscape.