Our career consultant – Carsten Sudhoff

What does Newcareer offer?
Newcareer has a modular approach. It is a three-step process that starts with positioning. Then our clients learn to sell their professional goals convincingly or to communicate them through storytelling. The third phase focuses on market entry, networking, interview preparation and finally negotiating the employment contract with the new employer. What we also bring to the table, of course, is experience from thousands of consultations with clients at all levels, in all functions and in all industries. So we have learned a lot over the last few years. What sells, what CV sells, what structure sells, what content sells? For example: many people feel that their own performance was not really measurable because, for example, they did not have a sales function but a back office function. BUT one can derive the economic added value for the company from any job and write it in the CV and communicate it convincingly in the interview. Learning this, emphasising it and offering it to a new employer is certainly one of Newcareer’s great skills.

What do you offer?
I offer the whole spectrum, but with a focus on communication training. Getting to the heart of linguistics is certainly another core competence of mine. Apart from that, I advise our clients on how to position themselves. What positions do you have? Which job suits you? How can you build a bridge to the new job? That’s where I offer my network, like all my other colleagues, so that our clients can find their dream job.

Why are you a consultant with Newcareer?
There are an increasing number of individuals who are not satisfied in their current job. They don’t know exactly what other job opportunities might be out there and how to get there. This is certainly a nice opportunity to apply my experience about the different employers or industries I’ve worked in and help people find an exciting new job that fulfils them. It’s a great business because clients come to us with some reservations, maybe even a bit scared or sad. At the end of the process they are all happy and that makes me extremely happy as a counsellor.

What do you expect from your clients as a consultant? What should they bring with them?
It’s important that you don’t just rely on what you already know, but that you open yourself up to things that you might not know. I know that’s a big question, but that’s exactly what we do at Newcareer. We don’t just place the same profiles in the same roles, but the trick is often to ask yourself, where else do the transferable skills fit? I would like the clients to be open and play this mental game. Where could the journey actually go? The best moments for a counsellor are when clients look at you with wide eyes and say “Wow, I never thought of that before. Yes, that’s a great idea”.

I would like my clients to take an even bigger step when it comes to networking. They should open up, be confident and also feel the desire to connect with people you don’t know. Even if it can feel uncomfortable at the beginning, but in the end it leads to the goal.

What makes your profession exciting? Would you also recommend this profession to others?
Absolutely! It is a creative profession where no two clients have exactly the same background or the same needs. In this respect, every client is a new case, a new beginning, a new path and a new end.

What makes a good counsellor?
At the beginning of the process, the combination of listening and having compassion is crucial. Also not letting up on the pressure, especially when the client is facing more difficult decision-making processes. Not letting up on the pressure to be sure that one’s ideas will actually lead to the goal and that one has to guide the client persistently and gently. Also important is the ability to recognise where the client is in their professional life and then certainly networked thinking. It’s a cannibalised term that many use. It means understanding what makes individual industries and functions tick, how the individual levels within organisations work and then building a bridge to a new job for the client from that knowledge.

Is there anything else you want to give your clients?
When you know you’re looking for a new job and you feel you won’t find that new job on your own and you don’t know exactly where to look for it. Or if you have been out of a job for a while and have been looking for yourself for several months or even several years. In that case, it’s better to come to us right away and not wait too long. Because it takes a certain amount of time to learn the skills to apply successfully. Statistically, it takes about six months to get a new job. This means that the sooner people come to us, the less suffering there is on their own path and the faster they get to the hoped-for and desired new career goal.