Client outcomes

“Working with Nicola supported my career goals in two significant ways: it helped me regain confidence and optimism about finding the right job for me, and it kept me focused on opportunities that were within my range of interest / passions and ideal working conditions – both crucial for a successful job search.

I’m grateful for Nicola’s support and professional guidance throughout the process. I’m delighted with my new job, and when I look back, I think I would not had the confidence to leave my previous position without the guidance that her coaching offered.”

“I wanted help making a career pivot from technology to education. Nicola asked questions that challenged my thinking and her insightful summaries of issues we discussed led to a breakthrough in terms of weaving together the different strands of my work experience and expertise. Nicola’s academic background was a great help, especially as she understood a lot of the issues I will be facing in my new field. I now have a clear path forward to move confidently into this new field, as well as a set of actions to follow.”

“I wanted to gain clarity about my long-term career goals. Before working with Nicola, I found it hard to believe I could do something that I am really passionate about and earn enough money to sustain the kind of life I want. I am still exploring this, but I feel more hopeful; I have become clearer about what really drives me and interests me, and have the confidence to pursue it further. I particularly enjoyed being challenged about my unchecked assumptions and exploring possibilities I’d never thought of before.

I have been enjoying my new job in the new sector – a sense of joy, achievement and purpose as I anticipated, but also challenges and realities I did not anticipate which gave me invaluable insights to learn from and reflect on.

What would I say to someone hesitating about investing in coaching with Nicola? Definitely give it a go! No matter how far you go in the process, you will learn something new and the journey is totally worth it.”

“I invested in coaching to seek clarity, guidance and strategies towards career change plans. Nicola was calm, patient, attentive and asked precise questions that helped me work out my responses and thoughts without feeling pressured. She was warm and made me feel comfortable to talk. The whole experience was excellent and very helpful.

As a result of working with Nicola I now have the confidence and clarity to pursue my goal. I have enjoyed my coaching session. Thank you Nicola for your professionalism and excellent guidance. I am looking forward to working with you again.”

“I can’t recommend Nicola and her Licensed Firework Career Change Coaching highly enough! Having previously worked with two other career coaches, I was beginning to feel stuck in regards to my career transition. Then I started working with Nicola, and everything changed.

From our very first session, Nicola brought an exceptional level of structure, focus, and clarity that I hadn’t experienced before. She helped me dig deep and really understand what drives me in my career, what I’m passionate about, what motivates me, and importantly, where I had skills gaps that were holding me back. But she didn’t stop there; Nicola helped me map out exactly how I could bridge those gaps in a way that felt achievable and aligned with my long-term goals.

What sets Nicola apart is the Licensed Firework Career Change Programme she delivers. It’s not just coaching, it’s a highly structured, strategic process that gives you direction and momentum. After spending over two years feeling stuck in a career transition phase, working with Nicola helped me get focused.

Within just four months, I’ve now secured my new role in the education projects sector, a space I’m incredibly passionate about for its transformative power beyond the classroom.

If you’re considering a career change and want a coach who is both insightful and practical, who brings both compassion and accountability, Nicola is the one. She’s brilliant, and I can’t thank her enough!”

“Working with Nicola has been such a valuable experience. She helped me to make sense of my varied background and skills, pulling together a clear story to move forward with. She asked questions that really made me reflect and consider what I really wanted the next move in my career to be. She created a roadmap for me which helped to keep me on track and put one foot in front of the other during a very stressful time. I’m so grateful for her support and would highly recommend her to anyone navigating their next career step.”

“I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life next! A friend of mine suggested coaching. I just felt that I was a jack of all trades, I’ve experience in so many different areas and no one real ‘expertise’ (OR SO I THOUGHT!).

I wasn’t sure where to look next for a job but I knew I wanted to leave my previous job (for various reasons).

I liked that the hour was well planned out by Nicola, I felt like we got through a lot. I also liked how approachable she was with emails etc, and I know that she would reply if I had any further questions.

I’m now seriously considering starting up a venture on my own – it might not be overnight but I will start thinking about it properly. I had a lot of fear around that. Also, it has made me realise that I don’t necessarily have to automatically go for jobs that involve people management just because I consider myself a leader.

I’ve decided now that a real non-negotiable for me is using my voice (presenting/public speaking) for social change, I need to have that in any job I take.

Nicola won’t tell you what you should do with your life, rather she will ask you questions that guide you and spark ideas.

I would also encourage people to take their time with the process, like I did. I got the pre-session exercise immediately and had lots of time to think about it, and I think that helped immensely.”

“I needed to get through the untamed jungle of possibilities and decide on a path to follow so I invested in career coaching with Nicola.

The guidance and structure was really helpful. I liked having a format and process to follow because it gave me hope that it would help clear up the murkiness. I appreciated the notes from each session and the experience has been positive.

Nicola’s reliability, calm and confidence made the process feel doable.

I’ve identified a good place for me to start (coach certification) and to be able to justify the decision in concrete language using my blueprint, a one-page visual summary of what I’m looking for from my career going forward. This is immensely helpful when the doubts creep in, or other shiny opportunities pop up.

I finally have a direction!”

“I needed to get clarity about next steps, and have the structure and accountability that coaching could provide so that I could shift my career in a new direction.

Nicola’s understanding, experience, and the way she could pull out key themes, pieces of information in ways I hadn’t necessarily thought of were immensely helpful. There were so many “yes, that is it” or “Oh I hadn’t realized that, but you’re right” moments.

This session has validated that ‘connection’ is key to me: it’s a skill, motivation, and value that I’d like to dig into more. I gained useful knowledge about the career change process, how it takes time, and that values, and testing your ideas are a key part in the process.

What’s more, I realised that you don’t have to wait until you’re ready to engage in the career change process - engaging is what will ensure I’ll be ready when the right opportunity comes along.

A genuine thank you Nicola for your kindness and understanding – I really enjoyed our session and you have given me a lot to think about!”

“I decided to invest in an Ideal Career Coaching Session to get help with the direction I wanted to go in next with my career. Nicola asked great questions that were thought-provoking, which gave me a clearer view about what I value in a career. I have more confidence as a result to make some small changes in the short-term. I’m also more hopeful about my future career. Thanks for everything Nicola, it was great working with you and I look forward to hopefully working together in the future.”

“I decided to invest in coaching to help gain some clarity on my career. What I liked best were the helpful reflections, prompts, and questions that really focused my thinking. I now have some good questions - and a better structure - to think about what I want out of my career. Honestly, I can’t think of anything that would have improved the experience.”

“I felt like I wasn’t happy with my job but I couldn’t figure out why exactly that was the case. There were way too many thoughts going on in my head for me to identify the problem at hand.

The questions that Nicola asked me have helped me think through what I was struggling with.

As a result of our work together, I’ve explored the different avenues that I could take in my career and I have learned something from each of those explorations - this was great. I’ve also identified my strengths and values which helped me clarify what some of my goals are, even outside of my career.

I really can’t remember being this excited about my future career since leaving college. I think this is amazing!”

“I was in a rut, had left my job and the pandemic had left me feeling unsure about where I wanted to go next.

As a result of working with Nicola, I have clarified what motivates me: that purpose, having a team and crucially having fun are really important to where I work. I am exploring a very different avenue of work to what I was thinking about 6 months ago and understand better how some of the work and careers I was considering weren’t a great fit for me and thus didn’t feel right.

The best thing about coaching was having an insightful, caring, motivated and expert person to talk to. It was really motivating and the sense of accountability of having a call booked and having a deadline really worked for me.”