Blair's Story

Blair joined Thrive in 2022 and as an experienced HR manager, he's offered career transition programs and outplacement services to departing employees in the past, however, he's never participated himself. Discover how career transition services helped Blair land his new role in just 3 months and learn more about his experience working with Thrive.

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Can you tell us about your previous job?

My previous job was as an HR Manager at a large credit union in Alberta. My career at this credit union spanned 23 years, with the last 17 years in Human Resources. During my 17 years in HR, I gained experience in training and development, recruiting, employee engagement, performance, compensation, benefits, and wellness. My last role was HR Manager of Compensation and Benefits, overseeing all aspects of compensation, payroll, benefits, and wellness, as well as leading a team of HR and payroll professionals.

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Have you ever been through an outplacement process before?

Being a Human Resources professional, I was familiar with outplacement services, and have arranged them for departing employees, but I have never personally used them myself. Thrive was my first foray into outplacement services, and my overall experience exceeded my expectations. I was pleasantly surprised by the personal and individual touch that I received at every point of the program. I was expecting a one-size-fits-all program, but it was far from that and was quite the opposite. The career counsellors and professionals at Thrive took the time to get to know me, understand my needs, were empathetic, and provided tailored advice to me.

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How did Thrive help you in your career transition?

After departing my previous organization due to restructuring, I was devastated and completely lost on the next steps. Being a Human Resources professional myself I felt like I should expect or know how to feel, what to do, and overall, how to handle this transition. However, being on the "other side" of job loss was more challenging than originally thought, and it became apparent that I could not do it alone.

Through Thrive I accessed the one-on-one "Ask a Career Coach" multiple times, resume review, ordered personal business cards, professional head shots, LinkedIn review, countless webinars, and psychological counselling. All the above programs were personalized, insightful, and are highly recommended. Together they created a robust plan that kept me engaged in my career search. The "Ask a Career Coach" sessions were particularly helpful for me since I am an individual that is very people orientated. The coaches were tremendous at listening and asking the right questions. They not only provided advice, but through their efforts they helped me to arrive at my own well thought out decisions.

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Would you recommend Thrive?

I would highly recommend Thrive to any individual going through a career transition. I honestly believe the services I accessed along with the Thrive community of professionals played a huge part in me moving forward. This includes enabling me to think clearly about the next steps in my career transition, moving forward with confidence, and enabling me to find rewarding employment in a short period of time.

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Thrive is on a mission to help people progress their career forward and we are proud to support a community of driven professionals. If you are interested in learning more about our services, book a demo today or contact our team for more information at support@thrivemycareer.com