Career Design Associates Hosts Executive Search Consultant on
“Work and the Art of Reinvention”

Saturday, September 15, 2007 – 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon. Career Design Offices in Garland

Garland, Texas, September 1, 2007 . . . CDA presents a special meeting, free of charge, on Saturday, September 15, 2007 featuring Nancy Keene, Director at the Dallas office of Stanton Chase, speaking on the current workplace and how we reinvent ourselves. The program is part of CDA’s ongoing career education seminars.

“Nancy introduced me to the term ‘Platinum Rolodex’ and she is a great example of a highly successful consultant who is well-researched, well-organized and well-connected,” says Dr. Helen Harkness of CDA. “Nancy understands the art of planning her work and working her plan.”

Work and the Art of Reinvention

Nancy Keene says, “We live in fast-changing times. Our world is being re-defined by a ‘tsunami’ of new technologies, business models, demographic mix and economic shifts.”

So she asks some of the following questions:

• Are you living in the past – or laying the groundwork for the future?
• Is your organization attracting the talent today to be competitive tomorrow?
• What does it take to be ready and relevant in an era of rapid revolution?

“Gaining the vision and skill-set to re-invent, re-package and re-deploy is critical,” says Keene. She explains that skills “currently at the forefront” for career maintenance are creativity, flexibility, market knowledge, a global view – and a strategic plan. Not to mention, she reminds us, the right relationships.

Helen Harkness says, “Don’t miss this unique, ‘front line’ view on talent and work in a new era. Nancy will share a view of the current talent market, her own reinvention path and a road map for others to employ.”

The meeting is Saturday, September 15, 2007, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, at the Career Design Offices in Garland, located at 2818 South Country Club Road, 75043. There is no charge, but an R.S.V.P. is requested. Please email CDA at options@career-design.com.

About Nancy Keene

Nancy Keene is a director in the Dallas office of Stanton Chase International, a top-ranked, global retained executive search firm. Her career base is in marketing, public relations and business development and she is a former client of Dr. Harkness.

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Career Design Associates Hosts Corporate Banker turned Personal Financial Planner

Saturday, September 8, 2007 – 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon. Career Design Offices in Garland

Garland, Texas, August 30, 2007 . . . As part of the company’s continuing workforce education seminars, CDA presents a special meeting featuring financier-turned-personalfinancial-planner Michael Fanning. Fanning will discuss his personal career transition from one of merely going through the motions to loving his job.

“Mike Fanning spent years carefully considering where his passion for helping people would connect with his need for a profitable living to support his family,” said Dr. Helen Harkness, President of CDA. “He made an intentional decision to move from serving large corporations to individuals, thereby impacting people one-on-one.”

About his current role, Fanning says, “I have thoroughly enjoyed my new work because I am constantly learning and get to help people with their individual financial decisions. It is hard for me to believe that I can enjoy my work, come home with a positive attitude, and have people thank me for my effort.”

Michael Fanning began his career in Manhattan in 1983 on Wall Street as a fixed income institutional salesperson with junk bond king Michael Milken's firm Drexel Burnham. He worked his way up to Senior Vice President and worked there until Drexel's bankruptcy.

At this point, he began his working relationship with Dr. Harkness, and continued working for 12 years at Lehman Brothers, designing financial strategies for some of the largest corporations and organizations in the world, including companies such as Exxon, as well as state funds and large insurance companies.

“With Helen's help, I changed my career direction to the personal or ‘retail’ side of the industry, and work now with a large firm as a financial planner. I continue to work in that position, and I love it.”

Fanning is about one-third of his way an MBA, and will sit for his Certified Financial Planning degree in the late fall of 2007. He says, “I love the intellectual stimulation of going to school and still have the idea of teaching business and personal finance sometime in my future.”

“The lesson from me for Dr. Harkness’s clients is that you might not make the same money you used to, but there is hope that they can be much happier and more satisfied in their work.”

The meeting is Saturday, September 8, 2007, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, at the Career Design Offices in Garland, located at 2818 South Country Club Road, 75043. There is no charge, but an R.S.V.P. is requested. Please email CDA at options@career-design.com.

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Career Design Associates Hosts Breakthrough Meeting
for Women Re-Entering the Workforce

Saturday, July 21, 2007 – 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon. Career Design Offices in Garland

Garland, Texas, July 10, 2007 . . . As part of the company’s continuing workforce education seminars, CDA presents a special meeting featuring numerous guest speakers on Saturday, July 21 for Women Re-Entering the Workforce.

“Two-thirds of the women who opted out of the paid job to rear children want to return later,” said Dr. Helen L. Harkness, President of CDA. “While they may encounter some very real barriers – sexism, ageism or simply a bias against returning mothers – it is becoming less difficult.” It is not the automatic “career suicide” as seen in the past. Workplace attitudes toward re-entry and extended leaves are becoming more flexible. Careful career planning and job search know-how are critical for women making this transition. A plan focusing on one's individual success criteria – Glass Balls vs. Rubber Balls – is necessary and must be followed by the action steps to achieve these.

“We’re fortunate to have a number of women from our client list who have re-tooled for new careers, and their experiences will make this event quite meaningful for any woman interested in attending.” Women clients who have completed this transition will be present to communicate their success and the pleasure and the pain of this journey. Presenters include author/artist/performer Kittie Beletic and counselor Bridget Carlson.

Kittie Beletic is the author of a recently released picturebook entitled What Color is your Dream? The picturebook follows the real-life course of a wish from whim to successful fruition. Kittie is co-founder of Repertory Theatre Company in Dallas (now in its 20th season) and president of Shoebox Theatre. The mother of two grown artists, Kittie has art studios in both in Dallas, TX and upstate New York. Known locally through her vocal career, her voiceover and on-camera work, and her authoring of more than 50 musicals and 500 songs.

Bridget Carlson transitioned from homemaker, housewife and Jazzercise Instructor to a Personal Coach and Consultant specializing in AD/HD and Relationships. She took her knowledge from her life experience, education and skills to her career as a coach and consultant. Her motto is “Don’t Try To Do It Alone”.

“Our speakers and our attendees are here to learn, but also to confirm that the career transition from housewife to workforce is difficult, but doable,” Dr. Harkness continued. “This meeting provides an informal opportunity to meet and learn from others who have been successful in the process.” All women CDA clients and their friends who are planning a return to a professional career after homemaking are invited. In reinforcing the importance of this meeting, Dr. Harkness reminds us that “Our goal is stimulate, encourage and provide information to thrive in this chaos of change step.”

The meeting is Saturday, July 21, 2007, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, at the Career Design Offices in Garland, located at 2818 South Country Club Road, 75043. There is no charge, but an R.S.V.P. is requested. Please email us at options@career-design.com.

About Helen Harkness

Helen Harkness, Ph.D. has been a re-careering guru for nearly 30 years. Her company, Career Design Associates, which sponsors these programs, has helped more than 10,000 professionals and students define their first or next career. Dr. Harkness has served as an adjunct professor at Southern Methodist University and is teaching Career Development at the University of Texas-Dallas for UTD's Executive and Professional Coaching Program.

To contact Dr. Harkness for an interview or to learn more about her work, call or e-mail Career Design Associates, Inc.: (972.278.4701) / options@career-design.com. The initial consultation is always at no charge. Dr. Harkness suggests you first read either The Career Chase, Don't Stop the Career Clock, or Capitalizing on Career Chaos to gain a better understanding of the underlying concepts in her methods.

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Career Design Associates Hosts Coaching Expert
Judy Feld in One-Day Coaching Introduction

What Does It Take to Become a Coach?

Garland, Texas, March 27, 2007 . . . Coaching can be an exciting, fulfilling, flexible and lucrative profession, and may be a career-transition option for many successful professionals. As part of her ongoing Career Choices Workshops, Dr. Helen Harkness of Career Design Associates focuses her next event on Coaching as a career.

As part of her ongoing Career Choices Workshops, Dr. Helen Harkness of Career Design Associates focuses her next event on Coaching as a career. To find out if coaching is the right career choice for you, join Dr. Harkness at a four-hour interactive seminar featuring coaching pioneer Judy Feld.

According to Dr. Robert Hicks, Director Executive & Professional Coaching, Dr. Harkness brings to the program “a perspective that has anticipated changes in the workplace and an upheaval in careers that many other have not foreseen. Dr. Harkness offers our executive coaching students her insight both as a career researcher and as one of the first executive coaches in the U.S.”

A former executive at a Fortune 100 company, Feld will share her experiences in making this significant career transition, and answer your specific questions as part of a thorough and entertaining presentation. Some of those questions will include:

• How has the coaching profession evolved in the last 15 years?
• What are the various categories of coaching: Executive, Corporate, Business, Professional, Career, Life, etc.?
• What education and credentials are available and beneficial?
• What is the income potential? How long does it take?
• How do coaches market their services?
• What does the future hold?

“Coaching is something that has always been a part of what I do,” says Harkness, “but the new focus on it as a discipline is something of a double-edged sword. Judy has been around the block and back as a coach, and I trust her judgment and insight into this rapidly expanding field.”

Helen Harkness, Ph.D. has been a re-careering guru for nearly 30 years. Her company, Career Design Associates, which sponsors these programs, has helped more than 10,000 professionals and students define their first or next career. Dr. Harkness is currently serving in an adjunct teaching capacity at the University of Texas-Dallas, and teaches a class in Career Development Coaching in UTD's Executive and Professional Coaching Program.

Ms. Feld will share resources from her coach's notebook, discuss the UTD Program, and provide examples of strategic alliances for coaches. Her website is http://www.coachnet.com.

You may get more information about the UTD, Judy Feld and Dr. Harkness at http://som.utdallas.edu/coaching. You may also learn more about Dr. Harkness at http://www.career-design.com/about_HH.html.

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Dr. Helen Harkness Selected as Guest Lecturer
In Executive and Professional Coaching Program at UTD

Garland, Texas, January 2007 . . . The University of Texas at Dallas and Dr. Helen Harkness – the first “career guru” and a noted author, lecturer and consultant on “re-careering” and career satisfaction – announce that she is now a guest lecturer for The Executive and Professional Coaching Program in the UTD School of Management.

Dr. Harkness, who began studying the effects of change on careers and individuals in the 1970s, will be teaching students located across the country through UTD’s distance learning technology, enabling Dr. Harkness to utilize the types of advances in technology that she has anticipated – and usually predicted – throughout her career.

According to Dr. Robert Hicks, Director Executive & Professional Coaching, Dr. Harkness brings to the program “a perspective that has anticipated changes in the workplace and an upheaval in careers that many other have not foreseen. Dr. Harkness offers our executive coaching students her insight both as a career researcher and as one of the first executive coaches in the U.S.”

About The UTD Executive and Professional Coaching Program

The Executive and Professional Coaching Program is designed for working adults and utilizes the very best in distance learning methodologies, making it convenient, efficient, and geographically independent for busy professionals.

The Executive and Professional Coaching Program serves:

• Professionals interested in business and executive coaching as a profession.
• Internal coaches upgrading their skills.
• Certified coaches and other professionals desiring continuing education.
• Managers who wish to acquire the skills of coaching to increase their leadership capabilities.

The instructional platform used to teach the distance learning classes is “Elluminate” which allows participants to access “live” classes, via their website. You will be able to talk to your classmates and instructors, download power point slides, etc.

The UTD program is conducted in accordance with the standards of the ICF, and shortly will be designated as an accredited coach training program by the ICF. The UTD website is found at http://som.utdallas.edu/coaching.

About Helen Harkness, Ph.D:

Dr. Harkness has authored three books on career management and change, and operates Career Design Associates, a consulting business that provides the information, strategies, and resources for adults to change careers or enhance current worklife situations in this time of change and chaos. The work of Dr. Harkness through Career Design directly reflects and integrates her own multidimensional career. She is a successful entrepreneur in business and investments, a former academic dean/provost, college professor and director of human services.

You may also learn more about Dr. Harkness at http://www.career-design.com/about_HH.html.

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