#28

After working for 10 years in the family hotel business I wanted to find something else to do. I knew Maria because she had successfully helped one of my children with her university applications. We first started working together to establish what my next career step would be. Maria listened carefully to my points and helped me clarify my values, motivations and strengths. This process helped me clarify what my ideal next job would be. In my case this was working as an officer in an educational setting. We identified the skills necessary for those roles and identified two areas I required further training to be successful in my applications. Maria then worked with me to prepare a successful CV, application, cover letter and reference for an officer role at the Institute of Education (the world’s leading centre for education and applied social science) . I was invited for an interview in the UK and although I had not done a competency interview before Maria was really skilled in teaching me how to prepare for the interview, use the job description to anticipate the questions and more importantly how to answer these questions effectively. I was very well prepared at the interview and was able to answer all questions effectively. While waiting for an answer at the Institution of Education I was offered a job in an education institution here in Greece and decided to stay and work here. Maria has excellent coaching skills and is very knowledgable of different career paths and recruitment practices in the uk. I strongly recommend her to anyone wanting to identify their next career step, pursue postgraduate studies or apply for jobs in the UK.