We thought Figuring Out was a perfect name for a service that says what it does on the tin!

Our number one aim is for you to achieve your true potential in your personal and professional goals, and as a team our job satisfaction comes from helping our clients feel confident, assured and clear about who they are and what they can achieve.

We question and you talk to help you unravel your thoughts, and identify options that you could take. We are independent to family and friends so we have no ulterior motive, we want what is best for you!

Figuring Out is a sister company of Striding Out, a support network for entrepreneurs, and it was through Striding Out that it became clear there was a real demand for the services we offer.

Firstly, we were working with clients who were unhappy in their career and looking at self-employment as an alternative option. It was clear they were not 100% sure of what they wanted to do, so we used career coaching to help identify their interests, and then help organise work placements for them using our network of entrepreneurs, so they could try out new careers on a temporary or part-time basis. As a result some of them went on to secure work with the companies long-term.

Secondly, we were supporting Striding Out businesses to find high-calibre employees to help grow their business. We were working on a contract basis for organisations such as WestFocus, a consortium of seven universities across South West London to help recruit students for social enterprises and small businesses

The Team

Heather Wilkinson is the founder of Figuring Out and Striding Out, a support service for entrepreneurs. Heather is an experienced freelance consultant in the world of enterprise, training and employment for government-led and academic organisations, and she is also a trained NLP Practitioner and Coach.

At the age of 23 she had career coaching and experienced the value of it as a tool to help people take the steps they need to make to achive their true potential. It helped her to realise her values and that was to provide services to help others feel more confident in themselves.

Heather has a particular passion for social entrepreneurship and she is engaged in coaching a ethical entrepreneurs and individuals working in the sector. In 2006, she won the ‘Social Enterprise Mentor of the Year’ Award by Edge Upstarts, for her commitment to the sector, nominated by Social Enterprise London.

Heather is a Full Member of the Association for Coaching.

Fiona Biggins, Career Coach and Career Preparation Expert

Fiona is a qualified coactive coach with 10 years commercial experience gained in the recruitment field. Her background is working mainly in the investment-banking sector, (on-site at Deutsche Bank) and in the management consultancy sector (on-site at Deloitte). She has a strong track record in all aspects of the recruitment cycle including: business development, direct candidate sourcing, stakeholder management, supplier management and assessment centre design & management. She understands what makes best practice recruitment and is up to date with current recruitment trends and legislation.

Fiona also has a real passion for working with young people, seeing them gain confidence and direction in their lives. She has been a volunteer mentor for the City University undergraduate mentoring scheme. And more recently has volunteered to work for the Step 4Ward Mentoring Programme run by the Barnet Education Business Partnership www.barnetebp.org as a mentor to a year 11 student at East Barnet school. She is currently a volunteer Youth Educator for youth charity Envision http://www.envision.org.uk/ working in schools and colleges.

Fiona has recently become an Associate Certified Coach after studying with the International Coach Federation (ICF) approved training school the Coaches Training Institute (CTI), including passing their prestigous Certification Programme  

She received her NLP Practitioner Certificate in July 2006 and also has a Certificate in Counselling Theory, Integrative Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy (CIHP). In addition she holds an International Business Degree.

Her approach is to harness her professional recruitment expertise with coaching skills to open up new perspectives, identify values and goals and to devise strategies for change with her clients.

David Gilchrist, Work Placement Co-Ordinator and Career Preparation Expert

 David’s specialisation is in the field of recruitment,career preparation and coaching, particularly relating to students and recent graduates.

He works for corporates such as LogicaCMG, a top twenty global IT services company, where he acted as a graduate recruiter. He works closely with university careers advisory services, and contributes time to university mentoring programs, such as West Focus’s “Reach” programme and the University of Manchester’s “Manchester Gold” programme.

David specialises in delivering career/life coaching services to Figuring Out Members. He is a fully qualified Pegasus Certified NLP Practitioner, and continues to explore the power of self reflection and personal development through physical activities and the medium of one of his main passions.