I’ll help you manage your career with more ease and confidence
I work with curiosity, professional grounding, and understanding
About me - Helen Varley
Knowing the theory means I can understand your situation more quickly, recognise what’s likely to be significant, ask better questions, and bring in perspectives that help us make real progress. And having a range of tools and approaches to use means you’ll get bespoke support that works. We’ll get to the heart of things quickly, focus on what you need, and leave what you don’t. It’s efficient and effective.
I'm professionally trained to help you move forward
The important bit
My Qualifications
- Registered Career Development Professional (RCDP), Career Development Institute (CDI)
- CDI Qualification in Career Guidance (QCG)
- Postgraduate Diploma in Career Management (Distinction)
My Qualifications
- Registered Career Development Professional (RCDP), Career Development Institute (CDI)
- CDI Qualification in Career Guidance (QCG)
- Postgraduate Diploma in Career Management (Distinction)
When I support people with career transitions, I’m not only working from theory and training - I’ve also changed direction plenty of times.
I’ve worked in the private, public, and third sector. In management in a growing education start-up, leading teams and programmes for charities, doing careers work, consultancy, and building my own careers practice. This range of experience helps me tune into different career backgrounds and support people who want to go in a slightly (or wholly) different career direction.
I’m well-acquainted with change!
I’ve never had a career plan or destination in mind. I’ve built mine one step at a time. Although I didn’t know where I was going, I can look back and see the path I built along the way. Themes have emerged - people and their potential, strategic thinking, understanding problems, and designing solutions that work. Things I still love learning about and working on.
Finding career threads and a coherent story can really underpin career confidence and direction. Working at that myself makes me better at supporting clients to find and tell their story, and use it as a guide when they can’t see where they’re going.
I’ve built my career step by step
It's also good to know...
I’ve never had a career plan or destination in mind. I’ve built mine one step at a time. Although I didn’t know where I was going, I can look back and see the path I built along the way. Themes have emerged - people and their potential, strategic thinking, understanding problems and designing solutions that work. Things I still love learning about and working on.
Finding career threads and a coherent story can really underpin career confidence and direction. Working at that myself makes me better at supporting clients to find and tell their story, and use it as a guide when they can’t see where they’re going.
I've built my career step by step
I don't have it all figured out either!
Every job I’ve had was good - until it wasn’t. I've left roles when the thing that drew me in disappeared, when I’d grown out of it, when the environment stopped feeling right, or when it was affecting my health and my life.
Twice I made the same mistake - taking a job I knew wasn’t right to get out of the discomfort of not knowing what came next. I paid for it both times.
At times I've felt lost and uncertain and my confidence has taken a knock. Before I did my careers training I needed support to find my way - shout out to Hannah at Momentum Careers Advice! Those stretches were uncomfortable. But when I’ve been able to sit with uncertainty and use it, it has always led to better things.
Careers inevitably involve periods of uncertainty. If you’re in one at the moment, working together can make it less daunting and more productive. Using it could be quietly transformational.
"It has occurred to me just how brilliant it was to meet you at that point in my life when I needed guidance and support. I am now happily working and enjoying it a bunch, so it all worked out for the best."
"Things are getting better and better and I feel like I am a different person from a couple months ago. The consultations I had with you helped me to have very clear views of what I wanted to do and what I was looking for."
What clients say
