As parents of a recent college grad we have learned that, while a college education may prepare a student for many things, it does not necessarily provide them with the knowledge or skills that they need to take that next step. In other words, a college education does not necessarily prepare a graduate with much of what they need to go get that first job. We brought Barbara on board as a member of our son’s job search team and her contributions were vital to the success he enjoyed in navigating the path to his first post-graduate job. Barbara’s coaching and encouragement were important additions as well as the essential foundational skills she taught on networking, positioning yourself as a candidate, and selling to your strengths with the potential employer’s needs always in mind. One of the best investments we have ever made in our kids. In addition to landing that first job, he now has the skills to repeat the process again in the future as the need may arise. Thanks Barbara!
Barbara helped me identify what aspects of my experience should be highlighted to best impress potential employers in a competitive job market. I was completely blind to how much work could be done to improve my appeal and maintain a consistent identifiable presence to job prospects. Barbara is fantastic to work with and very responsive at every step in the job search process. She helped me develop useful skills and methods I can deploy on any future job searches. A truly wise investment in my future. As for the present, I just accepted a job offer for a role where I had several rounds of interviews, both via phone and in person. Barbara worked with me through it all and the work we did together paid off!
I would highly recommend Barb as a resource to anyone who is, like many of us have been, struggling in their job search. Being a fairly recent graduate, finding a job seemed like an incredibly frightening task. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, where to look for a job, or how to market myself. Barb has helped me on multiple occasions, whether it be by editing my resume, fine tuning my objective, brainstorming about what makes me a unique candidate, discussing career opportunities and where I’d best fit in the job market, and overall has given me the confidence that I will succeed in my search, and am valuable to any team. Barb was there every step of the way when I was looking for a job and kept me motivated and excited about the search. She gets to really understand what makes you unique as a candidate and truly cares about you and your success. Barb has been my career mentor, a confidante, a teacher, and a friend, and I am extremely confident in her ability to jump start your career search and help you succeed!
Barbara was off- the-chart great. A+. Money well spent. No Brainer. Can’t miss. Her energy is contagious. Her knowledge and expertise is unsurpassed. Her resume service is on the same level. The modern looking layout and state-of-the-art design will make you look and feel more confident about yourself and your chances of landing a new job. Barbara’s coaching and resume service is a grand slam in my book. She does the hard part of writing and displaying your work history in the most modern, but more importantly, the most effective and professional way. I have already sent two of my former colleagues to Barbara and they are beyond pleased with the quality and professionalism Barbara brings to the table. Her knowledge and passion is infectious. If you don’t come away feeling great about your resume, confident in your abilities and feeling less stressed about the job search grinder, you can only blame yourself. As for using LinkedIn to the fullest as a job search and research tool, I learned more in two one-hour sessions with Barbara than in the previous 5-10 years I’ve been a LinkedIn user. Her knowledge of the site and easy-to-use shortcuts opened up a new part of LinkedIn and job searching I never knew was possible. It has given me direction and I’m better equipped to take on job searching with a more confident and laser focus with Barbara as my guide. I would recommend Barbara’s services to anyone serious about their career and want to be trained by the absolute best.
Barbara EXCEEDED my expectations! She was a fantastic coach! You can feel the excitement coming through the phone! She is not only extremely excited in helping you but she shares all of her knowledge to help you prep for your own success. It is a very empowering feeling having someone not only show you the tricks of the trade – but to have someone who is extremely excited about your future. Barbara is the definition of a coach! Your job is not only a place you go 5 days a week to earn a pay check – your career is where you spend a majority of your time, yes, but it is where you build your skills, set your goals, take strides in self development and it is imperative to find the career that fits you! Working with Barbara forced me to take a look at what I want for myself now and in the future – and what I need to do to get myself there. Her experience in the recruiting industry helped build the project plan for my personal career exploration – giving me tips and tricks that I now leverage every day. The biggest benefit of working with Barbara is the never ending support. Her excitement comes through in all of her emails, calls and texts! She has gone above and beyond in supporting me in my career exploration – from finding seminars to texting me potential opportunities – her support is 24/7! Working with Barbara has been the best investment I have made for my career – and for myself. I feel supported, prepared and excited, all of which I have learned through her! I would absolutely recommend Barbara’s services to others seeking career coaching/job search coaching. I have already recommended her to friends!
Working with Barbara was truly helpful. Not only did she boost my confidence, but she also gave me the tools I needed to be successful in my job search. Barbara is always available and easy to work with no matter your level of experience writing or using LinkedIn and other social media programs you may use during your search. She explains it all! Barbara took my resume and cover letter and completely transformed the two pieces. I feel more confident now sending in my resume and cover letter. I am very grateful for Barbara and all of her help. If you are looking for someone to help you reorganize your resume, cover letter and social media pieces, I highly recommend using Barbara Burke. Thank you, Barbara!
When I was researching and seeking an internship as a college student, I wanted to stand out and make myself look more professional. I wanted to accomplish this with more coaching than just researching tips online. With Barbara’s help I completely transformed my resume and cover letter, and with the coaching session, I was able to learn how to network with future employers and how to communicate professionally. Barbara helped me to create a LinkedIn profile and showed me how to effectively use it for future research and networking! She’s been hands-on with every interview I’ve gone to and has also helped me with the follow-up steps after. Working with Barbara for my future career goals is the best decision I could have made! Through her coaching and guidance I landed an internship my final semester of college and was offered (and I accepted) a full-time job at the same company upon graduation in the Spring of 2018. I consider this a true success story!
I was very impressed with Barbara’s enthusiasm and knowledge in the career coaching/job search space. She is a very talented writer. Her resumes and cover letters are second-to-none. I would highly recommend her to any candidate searching for a new opportunity. Barbara also stays in touch with occasional check-ins or to simply send quotes of inspiration or words of encouragement. Barbara exceeded my expectations!
I hired Barbara to completely overhaul my resume. She transformed it in every way from my version, which I now see, was just a list of all my duties of current and previous jobs. She expertly retooled it so it highlighted my accomplishments which I now know is the most important attribute on an effective resume. She streamlined the format to one that is clear, concise and uncluttered. It’s beautiful. She selected words and phrases that were so illustrative of how I wanted my background depicted. Barbara was able to showcase both my creative side and my management experience. The cover letter she wrote for me was stupendous and infectious. Overall 5 star product! You exceeded my expectations, Barbara!
Barbara was very professional and courteous to work with. My new resume and cover letter look absolutely terrific. She was able to streamline my strengths and present them in a way that I did not think was possible. She knows what she is talking about. I would highly recommend her and her program to anyone looking to update and modify their resume.
Being a young college student seeking internships proved stressful for me due to the fact that I had little experience in the workforce, my resume needed desperate help, and the only “networking” I had ever done was through Facebook. With Barbara’s expertise, I was able to have my resume totally restructured and overhauled along with updating my LinkedIn profile to reflect who I was as a potential hire. Her networking advice and coaching was the foot in the door I needed that resulted in me getting the chance to have interviewing opportunities for large companies. I can’t thank her enough for all she has done for me. Barbara once told me “it’s all about the fine tuning”; meaning that the personal touches and professional follow-ups are the key to standing out and landing these jobs. I believe that Barbara not only can provide you with instant and real-time assistance, but she instills the processes and knowledge to give you the confidence to succeed in the future. The resources she offers is an investment you will want to make!
As a veteran, I found it extremely difficult transitioning into the civilian world of employment. Luckily for me, Barb was there by my side every step of the way. She assisted me with resume building, networking, follow-up emails, and interview preparation. Other than standing in for me at the interview itself, she helped me with just about everything! From beginning to end, Barb lent a caring ear and a brilliant mind throughout this job seeking process. At times, targeting companies with resumes and cover letters seemed monotonous yet Barb was always willing to lend a fresh pair of eyes for a quick review and critique if it was needed. Her expertise and knowledge in the field is extremely helpful, and I couldn’t imagine doing this without her. There comes a point where this process can become tedious and uneventful, but Barb believes in you and instills the confidence you need to get back out there. She invests in you not because this is her profession, but because she genuinely believes in you. Having Barb by my side eased the tension and transformed this adventure into a wonderful learning experience. She is the best at what she does, and I’m truly grateful for all she has done for me. I’m excited to say that as of the writing of this review, I was offered (and I have enthusiastically accepted!) a Financial Planning role at a leading wealth management financial services firm!
Barbara has been amazing. Her insight and knowledge has helped me tremendously. Most importantly she helped me achieve the goals I set out to do, and continues to help going forward.
I would be described as a mid-career changer if I had to categorize myself. I’ve worked in logistics for 20+ years and I sought Barbara’s guidance when I had interest in exploring new career paths. It wasn’t evident to me how my experience translated to other occupations or industries and I wasn’t confident that I would be able to “tell my story” on my resume and LinkedIn profile in such a way that my accomplishments in my current field would be highlighted but not in such a way that I would be pigeon holed into only my current industry. Barbara took the time to understand the essence of what I do and helped me identify themes and characteristics in my work experience that are transferable to a variety of fields. She also helped me open my mind to see that some of the other professionals that I’ve intersected with that work outside my company (such as vendors and suppliers) were very valuable connections that could help be my vehicle to my next opportunity. She provided a holistic approach to helping me market myself. This didn’t come naturally to me so I was happy to have found Barbara to help coach me along. It’s evident that Barbara is in her element helping people find their way in the world of work. I highly recommend her!
Barbara has done a fabulous job of showing me the best way to market myself. My resume and cover letters needed minor fixes and she walked me through that but it was really “self marketing” that I needed guidance. I appreciate that Barbara puts so much value in personal contact with me as a client. This has been so key in her knowing exactly what I am looking for and what will work for my situation. I highly recommend her as a job search coach!
As a senior executive in my field and happily employed, I wasn’t searching for a new career opportunity. However, a conversation with Barbara prompted me to work with her to have her improve my online presence — specifically my LinkedIn profile. Barbara helped me understand that even though I wasn’t looking for a job, a complete and well-written profile adds to my credibility in my field. She pointed out that each time one of my connections views me or someone searches for me online or I add a new connection (a colleague, a client or prospect), they are seeing my personal brand and it’s important to clearly demonstrate who I am professionally. Barbara worked with me on each role I’ve held in the last 30 years and her insightful and probing questions allowed her to synthesize my experience and describe it succinctly yet with impact. What I found impressive about Barbara was the fact that, although she has not worked in my field previously, she was able to ask relevant questions about my background to gain an understanding of how I wanted to convey my experience on my profile. I attribute this to her career as a Recruiter and all of her interviewing experience. Barbara has strong written communication skills and this resulted in my LinkedIn profile being extremely well-written and showcasing my attributes, successes and expertise in my field. I highly recommend Barbara. She’s articulate and intelligent and will help you position yourself online in a professional manner.
Barbara was very helpful and a great coach. She helped me practice behavioral interview questions and gave me very specific and useful advice. She even let us talk and practice for an extra 15 minutes and did not charge me which was very generous of her.
Barbara has given me the inspiration and tools to find the person I know I am. I am a HR Professional with almost 30 years in my profession. I love my profession but over the last couple years I’ve been experiencing some burn out. At 55 I felt like I was at a crossroads with my professional life. Barbara’s most recent blog post on identifying your personal vision of career happiness really resonated with me. I want to experience what I am totally capable of being and doing. I want more! Barbara has been instrumental in helping me reclaim my passion. Not only have I found more meaning in my profession but I have also discovered some deep creativity I possess because of my coaching sessions with Barbara and the exercises she assigned me. I am truly grateful to have crossed paths with Barbara and will continue to solicit her services and advice. Barbara knows what she is doing and I trust her.
