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If you have college students or young professionals in your life, you have probably heard them say things like, “I don’t know what I want to do with my life,” or, “I have an idea of what I want to do career-wise, but I have no idea how to get there.” Or maybe you’ve just seen them struggle to find a career that they’re excited about.
Young people are entering a job market and workplaces that are more dynamic and complicated than ever. Online job applications mean they are up against hundreds of other people and often never hear back from the majority of the places they apply to. Mass layoffs reduce their job security. These challenges aren’t insurmountable, but young people need help navigating them.
With ProjectYou, a category leader in the ever-burgeoning career-coaching space, college students and young professionals don’t have to face these challenges alone. They can work closely with former senior executives, who have experienced every level of the professional landscape, and learn from their insights and experiences. ProjectYou’s unique offering provides a roadmap for anyone in the first 15 years of their career looking to create a clear path to a professional future they’re excited about.
The former executives at ProjectYou have experience leading at the seniormost levels, from the likes of UPS, Merrill Lynch, Lockheed Martin, GE, and Estée Lauder to name a few. These advisors coach clients in a way that thoughtfully caters to the needs of each individual. As Mark Linsz, co-founder and senior managing partner of ProjectYou told us, “Our advisors are incredibly accomplished, but they also care deeply about their clients.” Each coaching engagement kicks off with an assessment and debrief to strategically explore career opportunities. “Time is then spent on putting together a plan on what you want to do and how to get there.”
ProjectYou boasts an impressive team of advisors that work directly with clients. These executives have spent their careers working at the highest levels of their respective industries.
As treasurer at Bank of America, Mark saw real hope for future generations of early career professionals through rotational programs that fostered career growth. In his words, the individuals in the program led him to “believe that this generation of early career professionals is the greatest generation yet.”
Mark co-founded My Next Season with his business partner, Dr. Leslie Braksick, after leaving Bank of America. Their mission was to provide support to executives seeking purpose in their post-corporate careers and lives. ProjectYou grew out of their desire to work with young professionals and realizing that there is a tremendous void in the marketplace for providing young professionals with the support to help them answer their most critical career questions. After a former client approached Mark and Leslie and asked if MyNextSeason could provide similar coaching for his son who was in his early 30s and at a crossroads in his own career, a pilot of one turned into many more and, eventually, ProjectYou as we know it today. “Our goal in founding [this company] was to support young professionals in finding and advancing a career they love, ” Mark shared.
When people are unhappy in their careers and don’t feel connected to their work, it’s vital to focus on the root causes of their dissatisfaction and create a plan to find something meaningful and fulfilling. Mark says that they, “Encourage clients to take a holistic focus and look at their ‘whole self’ to realize that their interests, passions and the type of work that they want to do don’t have to be mutually exclusive.” ProjectYou works for young professionals because their 1:1 coaching and assessments consider all the elements that make every client unique in their needs and goals. This approach makes it possible for advisors to create an incredibly focused action plan with each client.
Regardless of the ways that engagements are customized and shaped to meet desired client outcomes, there is one essential quality that ProjectYou promotes in all participants. “We support a variety of clients from college to early career,” Mark said. “The one common thread across all of them is the confidence that gets built – whether that’s building out the skills to pursue your next promotion in your current role, or being able to tell your story in a way that helps you crush the interview process – knowing how to do those things well gives our clients confidence and changes their lives.”
Their list of transformed clients and accompanying testimonials is staggering. One such example is Caroline. She had long felt that she never got the opportunities she applied for – clubs, sports teams, and internships. In working with her advisor, she fine-tuned her interviewing skills and learned how to present her previous experience in a concise and compelling way. Coming out of ProjectYou, Caroline came across an amazing opportunity that she was excited about, and ultimately applied. The organization reached out to her and not only offered her the position, but created an expanded role for her. She reached back out to the ProjectYou team and said, “Not only did I feel great about the interview, but I was confident that I had crushed it. I couldn’t help but think it was all ProjectYou giving me that confidence.” This type of feedback is not out of the ordinary.
As the career landscape continues to evolve, many uncertainties remain. However, as the ProjectYou team has seen, when emerging professionals can work with an experienced strategic partner, build confidence, and prepare a career plan that they feel great about, the sky’s the limit.
To learn more, visit www.myprojectyou.com.
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