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Redundency coaching offered to help Executives and Directors

Executives and managers facing redundancy are being offered free training and coaching to help them prepare for career changes and future work.

The University of Sunderland are offering 36 free places on the Associate and Fellowship Scheme, which normally costs £1,500, over the next six months.

Funding has been supplied through One North East, with the course aiming to provide “proactive, practical support.”

Head of Flexible Learning at the University, Pauline Wonders, said: “It is often difficult for senior managers to think about their next career move, particularly if they have been with one organisation or profession for many years.

“One-to-one coaching carried out by people with expertise in career planning can help identify new opportunities and training needs to help realign the career plan for a positive future.”

The scheme will consist of three one-day workshops along with individual coaching spread over a three-month period.

Mike Cockburn, programme manager, said: “It’s the opportunity to do something different and go down another track, although when redundancy first happens the opportunity side of it is not quite so obvious to people.

“The role of the coach is to help the individual extend the range of their thinking, so there are all sorts of things you could do; the most obvious one people look at is the same kind of job in the same kind of organisation, but if that hasn’t worked in the past then maybe looking at other opportunities is a good idea.

“You could work in a different field or industry, but more broadly than that, you can set up your own business, your own franchise, you could do a university course, even a year out. There are a million and one things you can do really.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .