Feeling stuck, unfulfilled, or simply ready for something different? Our career change counselling and planning services give you the clarity, confidence, and concrete strategy to make your next move with intention, not just impulse.
The idea of a career change can feel both liberating and overwhelming. You know something needs to shift, but it's hard to tell whether what you're experiencing is a genuine signal or just a bad month. And even when you're certain it's time to move, the question of where can feel paralysing.
"The goal isn't just a different job.
It's a working life that actually fits who you are."
At Spinnaker Directions, we bring structure and depth to what can otherwise be a lonely, confusing process. Our counsellors are experienced careers professionals who combine evidence-based assessment tools with genuine human insight to help you make sense of where you are and where you could go.
We work with mid-career professionals, senior leaders, people returning after a break, and anyone who suspects that the path they're on is no longer the right one. Our process is rigorous, confidential, and built entirely around you.
Our process is structured but flexible, and designed to meet you where you are and move at a pace that suits your situation.
We begin by building a full picture of your career to date: your history, your strengths, what's driven satisfaction and frustration, and what you're carrying into the next chapter. Nothing is assumed; everything is explored.
Using validated tools and structured conversation, we help you understand your core values, motivators, and natural strengths so that any direction we explore is grounded in evidence, not wishful thinking.
We identify a range of realistic directions, some familiar, some you may not have considered, and examine each one honestly: the opportunity, the fit, the feasibility, and the pathway to get there.
Clarity without a plan is just a pleasant conversation. We work with you to build a concrete, prioritised action plan covering everything from skills gaps to networking strategy to timing.
Career transitions rarely run in a straight line. We offer ongoing check-in sessions to keep you accountable, troubleshoot obstacles, and adjust your strategy as the picture evolves.
Our flagship offering is a structured, multi-session engagement covering discovery, assessment, options mapping, and action planning. Ideal for anyone ready to commit to a genuine, considered change.
Individual sessions with a senior careers counsellor for exploration, reflection, and guidance. Available as a single session or ongoing series guided by your situation and needs.
A focused, single-session review of where you are and where things might go. Perfect if you're not yet sure whether a full programme is what you need, or just want an expert sounding board.
Using validated psychometric and career assessment tools, we build a detailed profile of your strengths, work values, and motivational drivers to inform any serious career decision.
Specialised support for leaders navigating the particular complexities of senior-level change: identity, visibility, portfolio careers, board roles, consulting, and more.
For professionals re-entering the workforce after a career break: parental leave, caring responsibilities, illness, or time abroad. We help you re-frame your experience and re-enter with confidence.
Successful on paper, but feeling hollow. You can't quite name it, but something is missing, and has been for a while.
Redundancy, restructure, or a life event has created a window of possibility. You want to use it well.
You've outgrown your current role but aren't sure of the next step or how to make the leap without stumbling.
You know your current field isn't for you anymore. The question is what else your experience and character could do.
Some of the questions we hear most often before people get in touch.
You might be able to, and many people do eventually reach clarity on their own. But there are real costs to doing so: months or years of rumination, decisions made from anxiety rather than strategy, and the risk of jumping sideways into something that doesn't actually solve the underlying problem.
What a good career counsellor brings is structure, objectivity, and acceleration. We ask the questions you haven't thought to ask yourself. We reflect back what we hear in ways that cut through the noise. And we bring knowledge of options and pathways that most people simply don't have access to on their own.
Many of our clients describe their first session as the most useful career conversation they've ever had, not because we tell them what to do, but because we help them hear what they already know.
It depends on what you're trying to work through and what kind of change you're contemplating. A Career Audit is designed to give you an honest read on your situation and some initial directions can happen in a single session. Our full Career Change Programme typically runs across four to eight sessions over a period of two to six months, though we tailor the pace to your circumstances.
For major transitions, such as moving into a new sector, stepping back from a senior role, or rebuilding after a career break, it's worth allowing time for the process to breathe. Rushed career decisions rarely stick. That said, we always work with urgency in mind if your situation requires it, and we can build a programme that reflects your timeline.
No, and if any career adviser claims to be able to do this definitively, you should be sceptical. What we can do is something considerably more valuable: help you reach your own well-informed, deeply considered answer.
Our role is to give you better information about yourself, a clearer view of the landscape, and a robust framework for making the decision. We'll surface options you may not have considered, challenge assumptions that might be limiting you, and help you test your thinking rigorously before you act on it.
The decision is always yours. Our job is to make sure it's made with clarity rather than guesswork, and that when you take the step, you do so with genuine conviction.
Absolutely. Everything you share with your Spinnaker Directions counsellor is treated with complete confidentiality. We do not share client information with third parties — including employers — under any circumstances, and our counsellors operate under a strict professional code of ethics.
This matters, because the most useful career conversations tend to be the honest ones, and honesty requires trust. Many of our clients are working through things they haven't been able to discuss with colleagues, managers, or even close friends. You can speak freely.
We work across a broad range of career stages, though our sweet spot is professionals who are far enough into their careers to have had significant experience and to have formed their own preferences, and real frustrations. People in their 50s and 60s often feel the sting of ageism in the workforce, but have so much to offer the world, and we find great joy in helping them to explore the next act of their working life.
We have particular depth in supporting mid-career professionals making significant pivots, and senior leaders navigating the particular challenges of executive-level transitions. That said, we're happy to have an initial conversation with anyone exploring whether our services are the right fit for their situation, so don't hesitate to get in touch regardless of where you are in your career.