Robert Day joined In Touch in late 2018, and dived straight into our hugely popular Accelerator Coaching, a comprehensive coaching programme, designed to give you the insight and clarity needed to move forward in your career transition. Read our latest success story to hear what Robert gained from the programme, how he has reassessed his career journey and why he feels a great CV is the key for any senior professional looking to transition to a portfolio career.
Who is Robert Day?
Robert has a professional career spanning nearly 40, specialising in international business, finance, project management and mentoring. He has previously worked for Marconi, IBM and Ernst & Young and is currently the Head of Immigration services for Santa Fe Relocations where his extensive experience in both finance and operations has helped grow the business to be a market leader.
Why did Robert decide accelerator coaching was for him?
Robert found himself in unfamiliar surroundings, holding a senior position in a company undergoing a merger and felt it necessary to reassess his circumstances. He explains, ‘I needed to see where to position myself. This was a new world to me and when I spoke to Emily from your sales team, she suggested Accelerator would be the best fit for where I currently was in my career’.
Having mentored others throughout his management career, Robert realised that he had fallen in to the same trap as many other senior professionals. When you are ‘so busy helping others that you don’t have time to spend on yourself, you often need someone else to step in and force you to take a look at yourself,’ he says.
Robert was matched with In Touch executive coach, Alison Edmonds for his accelerator session, which saw a dramatic but welcome role-reversal for him: ‘I really enjoyed it and she asked some really salient questions that made me think. Fundamentally, I received what I’ve always done for others, someone reflecting me back.’
Robert describes a ‘really good rapport’ between himself and Alison which allowed him to realise that though he had answers to many of the questions she asked, they weren’t necessarily the right ones. He felt that ‘it was great for someone completely independent to ask you those big questions as it makes you question if that’s really what you want?’.
Alison honed in on Robert’s individual experiences during what he felt was a ‘very unique conversation – the only one that will ever be like it.’ The Accelerator programme is ‘personal to each individual’ and their situation, as Robert’s experience attests.
Why did you decide the Platinum CV service was right for you?
As Robert didn’t have a conventional interview for Ernst & Young or Santa Fe, a CV has been an unnecessary and neglected facet of his professional toolkit for quite some time. However, realising that he would need a brand new, specially tailored CV to apply for non-executive director roles in the near future, he chose the In Touch Platinum package to create a CV that would he says, ‘position him and play to the strengths needed as independent director’.
He adds, finally, that the role of a professionally written CV in ‘reinventing yourself is massively important. There’s a reason why this kind of service and skill is so closely guarded and holds such value’.
What is next for Robert?
Having got so much from Accelerator, Robert is considering joining In Touch’s Gold or Platinum Coaching programmes in the future. Having received ‘great feedback’ from Alison, he realised that he had much to work through and that the strategic actions, or as he jokingly calls it ‘my homework’ from Accelerator are ‘the stepping stones to non-executive roles and further coaching’.
‘I’m only just beginning to position myself ready for those future career moves and don’t want to rush anything’, Robert says, ‘but coaching helps you to develop and gives you the tools to be even better. It’s up to me to take those things forward and make the most of them. A career is like a pyramid, and eventually you get to the last brick at the top – but I’m not quite there yet.’
