A one-stop shop tailored service platform for Chinese students who come to study and work in the UK
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CAREER
COACHING A personal coaching pathway,
designed to provide continuous
support during your study
03

Coaching – unlocking a person’s potential to maximise their performance

When you enrol in any of our coaching programmes you will work with a coach, who will use their experiences to help you gain those insights that will accelerate your growth and development. The coach will help you decide what you want in work and life and how to achieve it.

Working with a coach has proved to be particularly helpful for students as they plan their future education and training.

Our innovative coaching programmes are designed by Jeff Greenidge and Jonathan Gallie. Together, they lead a strong team of fellow coaches whose work is in high demand in the UK.

The following courses are available for our international students

• Career Clarity

• Thriving in the Uk

• Career Confidence

Our Coaching Programmes…

Career Clarity – for pre-university students (15+ ) and new graduates who are considering what to do next.

Career Clarity trains you to manage your thoughts, moods and perspective to achieve greater results and become resilient against the “wear and tear” of daily student stress.

Programme includes :
⬤ Psychometric assessment (PA)–provides a realistic starting position for discussions about your future.
⬤ Six individual coaching sessions include discussing PA results & setting goals, raising aspirations & target-setting, subject & career pathways and creating habits.
⬤ Four small-group workshops that will cover a range of key issues including world of work and the pathways forward; subjects of further study, career information, a comprehensive directory of higher courses and institutions and help to write your personal statement One workshop will focus on providing your parents with the knowledge and skills to support you throughout your journey.

Thriving in the UK – for students who have decided to apply to the UK for an undergraduate or post-graduate course.

Thriving in the UK – will support you during the first two years of UK university and help you to develop the habits, attitudes and behaviours that will help you thrive in the UK.

Programme includes :
Year 1 :
⬤ Eight individual coaching sessions to help you achieve greater balance in your life by understanding the factors that influence your well-being and creating new habits and behaviours to bring this about. Area of focus depends on discussion between you and your coach. You are in charge of the timings of these coaching sessions. Some students start them whilst they are still in China.


Year 2 :
⬤ Five small-group online interactive workshops covering finding a job and volunteering, building your social network, assessment centres and how to handle them, time management and finding balance within your life.
⬤ Five individual coaching sessions, tailored to your needs and timed for your benefit. The coaching will help you make the most of your academic studies, keep you fully engaged in your work and also develop some of the ideas discussed in one or more of the workshops. You will certainly gain life-long career and life skills and have started to build your network of contacts.

Career Confidence – for students in their final year of study in the UK and who wish to take up the option to stay in the UK for two years after graduation for employment or internship. Deciding on your chosen career in the final year of your university course is one of the most important decisions you will make in your lifetime. Your coach will help you identify your best-fit career and enable you to launch it with personalised strategies and resources.

Programme includes :
⬤ Four Knowledge-based sessions delivered via small group workshops. These will cover your job search, assessment, interview and brand. The workshops will help you gain a better understanding of your strengths and areas for development and leave you with a clear road road-map to your career
⬤ Three hours of tailored one-to-one coaching to:
     o identify career goals & network to employers & recruitment agencies
     o create winning habits, including your visibility
     o build resilience and a support network
You will leave your university course with a clear idea of the career that’s best for you together with a step-by-step plan to help you get there.
FAQs

Career Coaching

1. Do coaching programmes help all students?
Each person holds so much power within themselves that needs to be let out. Sometimes they just need a little nudge, a little direction, a little support, a little coaching, and the greatest things can happen.
2. Why are coaching programmes successful?
Coaching develops Self Awareness, Self Confidence and Self Leadership and a decrease in self-limiting thoughts.
3. Are coaching programmes good value for money?
80% of people who receive coaching report increased self-confidence, and over 70% benefit from improved work performance, relationships, and more effective communication skills. 86% of companies report that they recouped their investment on coaching and more (source: ICF 2009).
4. Why won’t my coach tell me what I should do?
Socrates, one of the greatest Greek philosophers, always asked students questions and challenged them to question their own knowledge, assumptions and beliefs. To help students gain insights, coaches ask questions. Answering your own questions boosts confidence and self belief.
5. Will I have the same coach for the whole programme?
In normal circumstances yes.
6. Will my English be good enough to work with a coach?
Our coaches are used to working with clients who are non-native English speakers.
7. Do you have any Chinese speaking coaches?
Yes, we currently have one Chinese speaking coach with plans for more to join in the near future.

Benefits

You will gain clarification of your skills, interests, personality and other factors that can provide insight into the sort of job/career you would like to pursue. You will also have the practical steps that you’ll need to take to make this a realistic and achievable goal such as checking out your CV and your job interview ability.

You will be coached to make outstanding job applications and improve performance at interviews, as well as getting help to expand your professional network along the way.

Student testimonials

"During the first of my 5 weekly sessions of career coaching, Jeff, my coach, asked me to tell him more about myself; He also told me all about himself and I soon felt comfortable talking to him and telling him about the challenges in my life. These were centred on the need to change my way of learning as I started my IB course. There was one thing that I noticed, Jeff never told me to do anything, he only asked me questions. When I got to the point where I couldn’t talk any more or he had a question for me, he would catch up and ask me more about one specific point. Through our discussion, I learned how to organize my day, how to improve quickly as I found my own way of learning, prioritizing, asking myself about relationships with friends at school. Look at the bigger picture of knowledge, put bits and pieces of knowledge together. It’s the methods and thoughts in these sessions that I found most valuable. I now know how to ask myself questions, how to reflect on my own"
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Coach perspective
✓  Raising awareness
Everything that Silin’s coach did was focused on raising Silin’s own awareness and self-knowledge.

✓  Taking Responsibility
Silin already had all the knowledge he needed to be successful, all he needed was the courage to take ownership of his decisions.

✓ Building Confidence
Coaching gave Silin the space to learn and he developed the self-belief to work things out for himself supported by his coach. Confidence that we can is so important in achieving success.

✓  Focus on solutions
When we came across a problem we focused on the solution and the problem became manageable and Silin now has the tools and new habits to focus on solutions.

✓ Accepting Challenge
By challenging Silin to aim higher than he thought he could it was easier for him to achieve his objective.

✓  Creating new Habits
Silin was challenged to use his energy to take action and adopt new habits that are actioned focused.

"I had 5 Career coaching sessions with Mr Jeff.Jeff helped me to set up a general objective for the next 5 years. Subsequently, we broke it into several phased objectives which I could accomplish accordingly to achieve my ultimate goal. He also provided me with a checklist for self-assessment on work relations, time management, performance and personal management. For each aspect I was asked to find out the most urgent problems requiring to be solved and Jeff in turn advised me. I was welcome to raise any questions during each session. Impacted by the Covid-19 breakout, I had to accomplish my masters degree online, which was quite different from face-to-face sessions. Jeff helped me to quickly adapt to it by offering advice like how to prepare for an online presentation and efficiently understand lecture slides. In conclusion, the career coaching programme helped me a lot. And I think every student who seeks to study abroad could hopefully benefit from this programme."
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Bowen ZHANG

Jan 2021

Coach perspective

Ask It! Don’t tell it!

Working with Bowen , an experienced student, the coach did not give direct answers or act as the expert; but he used questions to tease out the objectives, actions and new habits from Bowen.

Self-Awareness

With Bowen it was crucial for him to learn how to recognise his own strengths and areas of improvement. Everything that the coach did was focused on raising Bowen’s own awareness and self-knowledge to help him move forward, identify his goals and make changes.

Learning from experience

Bowen learned, grew, and changed when reflecting on past events and analysing what went well and what didn’t

Insights

Bowen uncovered new and different ways of seeing his world and in this way gained new insights which led to him discovering more options.

Student testimonials

“I uncovered that I am much more confident that I previously expected. By engaging in webinars, you realise that your personal qualities are tools which are important when finding, or within, a job. For example, I always thought that being an introvert was a weakness, yet by using my experience through my voluntary work and part-time work, I can show that my personality and competencies are vital to present in finding a job."
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LauraBarnes

“I was challenged to identify certain tendencies which sabotaged my capacity to perform at my true potential. Once I realised my areas of strength and improvement, I was prompted to incorporate this knowledge in deciding on what industry to go into. Career coaching has not just given me confidence, but justified confidence, which I can now take with me going into the future.”
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Alex Watson

(John Moores University)
“I felt so demotivated and worthless in job hunting before I was given the chance to join YourHorizon really opened up another reason for me to keep going amidst the current situation. As a result of these wonderful few months with YourHorizon. I have secured myself a job in my country, Malaysia, as an equity research analyst in one of the nation’s biggest asset management companies.I would like to send out my highest gratitude to everyone in YourHorizon for believing in me and for your guidance and support through the program."
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Rahul Ahmed

(Manchester University)
“My coaching sessions allowed me to re-evaluate my career aspirations. Previously I was underconfident in my CV and therefore did not present my skills and experience in the most positive manner. Being able to assess my professional strengths, weaknesses and interests enabled me to realise the sector I would be most suited for. I am now confident in the industry I aim to enter and, together with my coach, I have determined solid next steps to take towards reaching that goal."
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Natasha Day

(University of Exeter)
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