Services

Review Walter Akana's packages below for mid-life people who want to explore a new career direction, uncover their personal brand for career and business success, and begin to make plans for their retirement. Then, contact Walter for a no-risk complimentary assessment and recommendation of reasonable next steps. Package components may be purchased as a tailored program or on an a la carte basis.

Career/Life Review of Your Own Situation

It doesn't work to leap a twenty-foot chasm in two ten-foot jumps. - American Proverb

Are you poised at the threshold of change? Are you ready to make the leap? How do you know?

No matter how it happened, you may be at the point where you believe you need to change something in your career or life – or both. Perhaps you have been trying to make some changes yourself. You may have asked family or friends for advice. Still, you are not getting the results you want. Sounds like a good time to talk with a professional who can ask questions to uncover some of the dynamics of your situation and make specific recommendations for next steps.

Own Your Career Exploration Package

The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them. - George Bernard Shaw

This service is for people who want to explore an entirely new career direction. It comes with 12 months of Premium services from Jibber Jobber Career Tool Set.

Have you become what you wanted to be when you grew up? It’s amazing how many adults will say they have not. While most will tell you that the career they chose has been rewarding, many will say that they do not want to do what they’re doing forever. For many other people, the opportunity to continue on their current path may seem to be a choice that is out of their hands.

So, if you had to start your career again, what would you do?

Ultimately, you will need to find the circumstances that represent the best fit for you; that is, work that you can do well and enjoy doing. This will require looking internally and looking externally. In looking internally, your aim is to uncover the array of personal assets you can draw on and use in your new career.  You will also need to look to the outside world to find attractive career circumstances that provide the best fit for you.

By taking advantage of the Own Your Career Exploration Package, you will get:

• A complete life portfolio review to help you identify and articulate your competencies, likes and dislike, interests, personality dimensions and patterns, values, and other attributes.
• Proven career assessment instruments (Myers Briggs Type Indicator and/or Strong Interest Inventory) including reports and support materials.
• Interpretation of assessment results and identifying your key strengths and attributes.
• Support in crafting a career vision statement that reflects who you are, the people and purpose you most want to serve, work you love and will strive to master.
• Six exploration and discover coaching meetings over a three-month period, including e-mail support.
• Written materials and tailored exercises, including a bibliography of great career transition resources.

Your Own Personal Branding Package

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else. - Judy Garland

This service is for people who know they will be making a career transition and want to use the power of personal branding to achieve their ideal next position. (An entrepreneurial version is also available.)

In your work life, do you ever feel that you need to “play the game” and stifle you own best qualities? Do you, like the Wizard of Oz, maintain a façade? Do you ever wish your career could be more fun and you could just be yourself?

Let’s face it, the world of work, over much of the twentieth century, has demanded conformity, compliance, and company loyalty. The trade off, of course, was something called “job security.” Well, if you or someone you know has ever “been downsized,” then you know a lot has changed.

A trend toward a new world of work has meant companies now prize innovation; and talent is now defined by creativity and unique qualities as much as it is by skills. As well, in a trend toward egonomics, we give increasing importance to recognition of our individuality, our unique strengths, and the value we bring.

The new model for career success exists at the intersection of these two trends, and that model is: Personal Branding.

By taking advantage of the Own Your Personal Branding Package you will get:

• A copy of Career Distinction: Stand Out By Building Your Brand (or an appropriate Client Guide).
• Discovery exercises to help you gain insights that are key to developing the self understanding that forms the basis of an authentic brand.
• Access to 360Reach, the leading web-based personal brand assessment that helps you get the real story about how you are perceived by those around you.
• 360Reach summary report and one-hour telephone interpretation session.
• One year’s membership in the Reach Branding Club where you will have access to 10 on-demand webinars covering the 1-2-3 Success! Personal Branding Process, weekly self-directed activities, teleseminars, and ability to post a profile for networking opportunities.
• Development of a Personal Branding Statement, and coaching on the development of branded career communications, including resume or bio, cover letter, and elevator speech.
• Two 60-minute coaching session per month for a three-month program (shorter programs can be arranged).
• An online identity assessment, with recommendations for establishing and managing your online identity to reflect your brand and improve your chances of employers finding you.
• E-mail support to address questions and concerns that arise.
• An option to book additional sessions, if needed.
• Reduced rate on a soon-to-be-added program on building a website, online portfolio, or blog, with access to the experts of Brandego, the established leader in sophisticated web portfolios and career blogs.

Own Your Job Search Package

It is the job that is never started that takes longest to finish. – J.R.R. Tolkien

This service is for people who launch a campaign to find a new postition. It comes with 12 months of Premium services from Jibber Jobber Career Tool Set.

Do you believe that with a resume, cover letter, and a CareerBuilder account your job search is ready to go? Or do you believe that it been so long since you’ve looked for a job that you wouldn’t know where to begin. Do you think that your ability to achieve success in the job market is solely influenced by the economy, or age discrimination, or the government?

Well, then, it’s time for a reality check.

The fact is, no single element of your job campaign is responsible for success in finding a new position. Not your resume. Not your cover letter. Not the internet. Not even who you know.

Success in your job campaign is the result of orchestrating multiple tasks and communications to achieve your objectives. Kind of like work. In fact, a job campaign is a job. And as in a job, you will need to use the right tools and follow the right processes to produce results such as relationship building, targeted communications, successful interviewing, and acceptable job offers.

By taking advantage of my Own Your Work Job Search Package, you will get:

• A complete, in-depth work experience review that results not only in a vibrant resume that shows your value and accomplishments on paper but also serves as the foundation upon which you will build your job campaign communications.
• Guidance and support in building a job campaign communications package that includes tailored cover letters, a search rationale, and variations of your positioning statement.
• Creation of a job transition plan that will guide your efforts in going after attractive positions in attractive companies – even if they don’t have current openings!
• Meeting structures that guide you in what to say after you say, “Hello.”
• Guidance on effective use of other methods of search, including working with recruiters and using the internet.
• Coaching on strategies for networking to build professional, mutually beneficial relationships that can open doors for you.
• Interview coaching that prepares you to answer predictable questions, ask intelligent questions, and transform the meeting from inquisition to conversation.
• Written materials on resume development, communications, and networking.
• Support in evaluating job offers and determining compensation negotiation strategies.
• Up to ten telephone work sessions and coaching meetings over a three month period.
• E-mail support to address questions and concerns that arise.
• An option to book additional month-by-month support, if needed.
• Guaranteed Success Incentive: a pro-rated refund of unused services if you land a job prior to the end of the three-month service period (less a nonrefundable engagement fee).

Your Own Life Style Improvement Package

Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today. – James Dean

This service is for mid-life people who are beginning to think about a long-term plan for life.

All in all, you probably have a good life. Sure there was that thing with the boss last week. And you know you have to spend some more time at the gym or with your kids. But it’s a good life. And oh yes, you’ve got that long weekend coming up; but no real plans, so you’ll probably lay low. Well, okay, maybe your life could use a little attention.

Just as it’s easy to drift into and through careers, it can be easy to simply drift through life. And as good as it is, there is always the hope that things can be better. Frankly, surfing the ups and downs that life brings your way is not the same as truly owning your life. Owning your life means that you are in charge of your experiences and taking the initiative to explore and choose from among options.

As you approach or enter mid-life the need to create options takes on greater urgency. Whether you want to think about it or not, your “retirement years” loom on the horizon. Yet the quality of those years will be directly affected by the choices you make today.

Choose the Your Own Life Style Improvement Package and you will get:

• A LifeOptions online assessment, with a personal report of your standing on 20 separate lifestyle and attitudinal factors covering six arenas of living that serves as a blueprint for planning your future.
• The companion book, What Color Is Your Retirement? by Dr. Richard P. Johnson.
• A complete set of 20 exercises that will serve as your program homework and help you begin to consider and establish new options for your life.
• Six coaching meetings aimed at creating a plan that will reflect your goals and immediate next steps in generating lifestyle improvements.
• Ongoing e-mail support to address questions and to develop ideas.
• A written Threshold Life Plan, providing a coaching summary that encompasses your goals and immediate steps, and includes additional content to motivate you and prompt you to think more deeply about how you want to live your life.
• Package components may be purchased as a tailored program or on an a la carte basis.

Own Your Future Retirement Readiness Package

The future ain't what it used to be. – Yogi Bera

This service is for mid-life people who are beginning to create the foundation for the next phase of their life.

If you’re like many people, your vision of retirement is probably the tradition dream of time for family and friends, daily relaxation, travel, interesting hobbies, and senior citizen discounts. In short, a life of endless leisure. Okay, snap out of it! Let’s do a reality check.

Like the future, retirement is not what it used to be. Even as ads for investment products feature photos of exotic places with relaxed nearly senior couples, fellow mid-life individuals (a.k.a. “Boomers”) are rejecting the traditional notion of retirement in favor of creating their own futures. Futures that will include meaningful work, along with an array of life options that challenge traditional retirement notions.

The term “active retirement” is a moving target that varies as much as the individuals who aspire to that future. Yet, an active and satisfying third age (as retirement is increasingly called) will require attention to building a solid foundation now. For example, research has shown that people with wide social networks (read: lots of friends) remain healthier – or recover more quickly from illness – than people with small social networks. Also, for example, people who exercise positive self-care, including proper nutrition and exercise, better maintain their stamina and physical resilience over the long term.

Bottom line: Just as you need to make financial investments early in life to secure your future, you need to make early investments of time in living to enjoy the nest egg you worked so hard to achieve.

The Own Your Future Retirement Readiness Package is designed to help you examine your retirement readiness so that you can begin now to develop a foundation for the future; you get:

• A Retirement Success Profile online assessment, with a personal report of your standing on 15 critical factors that will impact the success of your retirement.
• A companion book, The New Retirement, by Dr. Richard P. Johnson.
• Select exercises that will serve as your program homework and help you focus on areas of concern that will need investment of time now to better prepare for the future.
• Six coaching meetings aimed assessing your investments in the six areas that make up your circle of life and determining goals and immediate actions; you will also work on developing a personal mission statement that will be the unifying theme of the next phase of your life.
• Ongoing e-mail support to address questions and to develop ideas.
• A written Threshold Retirement Life Plan, providing a coaching summary that encompasses your goals and immediate actions, and you personal mission statement, along with additional exercises to support further reflection as well as prompt additional actions.

If you think one or more of these options may be right for you, take a first, no-risk step and contact Walter Akana. He'll set up a complementary assessment and recommend reasonable next steps.