Sara Sutler-Cohen, Ph.D. is a dynamic and internationally-recognized résumé and career development strategist for established and burgeoning professionals needing assistance along the way to help people move forward with demonstrated impact.
Whether you’re looking to move ahead in your field, re-enter the workforce, change your career, or starting a small business, let Sara help you take your next best step with her proven and effective methods leaving you with Career Toolbox that puts your Best Self forward.
We Focus On:
Résumé & CV Development
Competency-Based Résumés
Cover Letter Writing
CV-to-résumés
And...
Tackling challenges:
Interview Strategies
Addressing gaps in work history
Entering new industries
Redefining your skill set
Résumé Development
Resume writing can be a frustrating challenge. So, too, when it comes to job searches and career shifts; you might experience a lack of confidence, fear of the unknown, or a lack of knowledge/information about industry needs and expectations. To solve this problem, you may have attempted the long and unrewarding process of figuring things out on your own; that rarely works because industries differ, and so expectations are not always predictable.
So many steps feel impossible, too challenging, or frightfully mundane, such as:
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Knowing which skills flow from one career to another (and how to explain these clearly to potential employers)
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How to brand yourself on your Résumé
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Detailing, in brief, your work history
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Matching key points with a company’s mission and values in a Cover Letter
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Developing interview skills that leave people with a bright and lasting impression of who you are, professionally
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Valuable networking that benefits your career
These elements of the career path can feel like massive hills to climb; while they can be, they can give way to exciting times where you have the opportunity for personal and professional growth. Thinking of the process as lifelong learning can make these efforts of yours feel enriching rather than daunting.
Most people—regardless of where they are on the career path—aren’t sure what is expected of them. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the overall process and then fall into a trap and experience a lack of confidence.
You get in your own way, and that can result in settling for a job that doesn’t fit you (or the other way around) and you wind up waiting too long to get your résumé together and either hire a corporate service to do it for you, or slap one together with whatever template you find on the Internet.
Either way, you end up with a document and with choices that don’t set you apart or demonstrate your professional self in a meaningful and transparent way.
I employ a unique and guided approach to résumé design and strategy that:
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Engages people where they are on the career path
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Holds my clients to a higher standard to dig deep
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Create the tools needed to get results
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Place people on a brighter and far more confident path
My methods work because I align my guidance with two decades of experience working closely with leaders in a variety of industries, designing human resource leadership and career building courses, leading professional development workshops, reviewing hundreds of résumés, and having in-depth knowledge of various learning styles.
Whether you’re trying to change careers or level up your position in your current industry, working with me will result in your Career Toolbox to help you to put your achievements, experience, and confidence up front, so people see your Professional Self first, enabling you to take your next best steps on your career path.
Working with Me
My clients are in tech, academia, and the music industry. They are writers, editors, and "recovering" academics. They're single parents, college or graduate students, and entrepreneurs. They range in age from mid-30s to well into their 60s, and at every stage of career (first, second, or even fifth!).
They have one thing in common: they are done trying the same thing for little-to-no results and are committed to trying something new.
What people find in working with me is that our time together is both challenging and enriching. My clients are held accountable to their goals to fit their career needs. Clients come away from our work together with a set of living documents that they adjust in their careers, anytime along their path.
My goal in working in partnership with you is to send you off with a Career Toolkit, which is a plan and course of action that will work for you. I stay in touch with my clients and remain available in perpetuity, but your next best step will always be to gain confidence from our time together so that your persistence pays off and you see effective changes in your professional (and often personal) life. Working with me often means that you build confidence in your self-perception, your engagement skills light up when it comes to your career, your professional relationships deepen, you redefine the meaning and value to your career, and you feel the positive effects of your acheivements.
My goals are simple. I want to help you:
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Move forward from feeling stuck.
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Decrease the stress & anxiety associated with career document writing.
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Do what you love instead of thinking about doing what you love.
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Have a sense of freedom that comes from moving forward, no matter your pace.
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Redefine the skill set(s) you already have to fit into new roles and new careers.
Ready to take that next step? Drop me a line and we'll set up a Strategy Session. Not quite ready, but have some questions? Just ask. My email door is always open.
Values | Philosophy | Approach
Together, we'll create plans using milestones to allow for shifts on the track.
In this game of career building, we need copilots. Cheerleaders. Mentors. Coaches. In working with me, we create plans of actions with intention to help you move forward in ways that serve your personal and professional goals. Writing is a process. So is changing your career, especially if you've been in one for a good long while or if you've shifted perspective for what you've recently trained for. I can help you get through those challenging times so that you build good habits and the confidence needed to take the necessary steps in your career (and most importantly, on your résumé).
My core values are to effect change and be of service to others.
I am a sociologist who has specialized in social psychology and have a critical understanding of how social systems work and how people navigate those systems. With a deep understanding that shifting the course of your career can be daunting, my hands-on and experiential approach to crafting your Career Toolbox includes redesigning your résumé and cover letter, helping you prepare for successful interviews, rethinking your skill set, and helping you to understand industry needs. Whether you're a grad student facing the mystery of "what's next?", a seasoned academic wanting to try something new, a single parent trying to find something that will fit your lifestyle enabling more time with your kid(s), or even just if you're starting out, work with me to put your best self forward. I bring experience and proven strategies that will assist you in taking that next best step in your career.
It can be difficult to make the right decision, and we're all aces at self-doubt. You just might find that working with a résumé coach will help you solidify what you likely already know, and simply refocus and repurpose your goals.
Why Your Best Next Step?
Knowing who you are, what you can do professionally, and where you're at with career change is key to figuring out how best to move forward. Whether you need a chronological résumé or one that focuses on your core competencies depends on what you want to do next; that's where I come in. Together, we'll determine what you need in your Career Toolbox and then work together to create the documents you need to take your career to the next level.