Questions we hear most often

Each week addresses a distinct element of career transition: skills audit (week one), transferable competency mapping (week two), professional narrative development (week three), and strategic networking in the Portuguese market (week four). Each week involves group sessions with your cohort and individual work between sessions. Each week also produces a concrete document — a skills inventory, a competency map, a professional narrative, and a networking strategy — so you leave with tangible outputs, not just reflections.

We keep cohorts small deliberately. The group needs to be large enough to generate genuine cross-industry perspective — the dynamic between someone from banking and someone from construction is part of what makes the programme work. It also needs to be small enough that every participant receives meaningful attention and the group develops real cohesion. Contact us for current cohort size information.

The programme is designed to run alongside professional commitments, but it does require genuine engagement. Group sessions take place at scheduled times during the week. Individual work between sessions is integral to the process — the group sessions build on work participants do independently. People who engage seriously with the between-session work get significantly more from the programme than those who treat it as a passive experience.

Sessions take place in person in Lisbon, at our office and at partner venues. In-person delivery is a deliberate choice — the group dynamic that makes the programme work develops more effectively in person than online. If your situation makes in-person attendance difficult, contact us to discuss what's possible.

The programme is conducted in English. Our facilitators are fluent in both Portuguese and English, and programme materials are available in both languages. If language is a consideration for you, mention it when you contact us — we can discuss what works for your situation.

The programme isn't about making a decision to change careers — it's about developing clarity about what you have, so that whatever decision you make is informed rather than reactive. Many participants come in uncertain about whether they want to change, and leave with a much clearer picture of their options — which sometimes includes a clearer appreciation of what they already have. The programme doesn't push you toward any particular outcome.

No — in fact, longer tenure often means a richer skills inventory, which makes the audit and mapping process more productive. The challenge with very long tenure is sometimes a deeper sense of identity investment in a particular industry, which can make the narrative work more challenging. But that's work the programme addresses directly.

The industries we mention — construction, education, banking, hospitality — are the ones we encounter most often. The programme is not limited to those industries. The methodology works for any professional with substantial experience in one sector who is considering what comes next. Contact us to discuss your background and we can talk through whether the programme is a reasonable fit.

No — and in some ways, it's better if you don't. The programme is designed to help you develop clarity about what you have before you make decisions about where to take it. If you arrive with a fixed destination in mind, the programme can still be useful — but the most valuable work often happens when participants are genuinely open about where the clarity might lead them.

No. We are not a recruitment agency and we have no employer partnerships. We don't place people in jobs and we don't earn commission or referral fees from any employer. Our work is to help you develop clarity about your professional value — what you do with that clarity is entirely your decision. The absence of recruitment relationships is deliberate: it means we have no agenda for where you end up.

It's structured differently from most career coaching. Traditional career coaching tends to be one-to-one, open-ended, and driven by the client's agenda session to session. Our programme is group-based, has a fixed four-week structure, and works through a specific methodology with defined outputs at each stage. Some participants find it more useful than coaching; others use it alongside coaching. It's a different tool for a different purpose.

Not directly. The programme helps you develop a clear, well-articulated understanding of your professional value and an understanding of how to begin building professional presence in new sectors. What you do with that — including whether and how you look for specific roles — is your decision. We're not a job search service.

The programme is relevant to anyone trying to understand what they have and how to position it — which is foundational work whether you're looking for employment or considering independent work. The skills audit and competency mapping are equally useful for someone thinking about entrepreneurship. The networking module has a different application in that context, but the underlying work is the same.

Contact us directly — by email or phone — and we'll let you know about current and upcoming cohort dates. We run programmes on a rolling basis and can give you specific dates when you get in touch.

The programme produces four documents — skills inventory, competency map, professional narrative, and networking strategy — that participants take away and use as they see fit. Some participants continue to stay in contact with cohort members informally. We don't have a formal alumni programme, but we're available for follow-up questions by email.

Contact us and we'll have a straightforward conversation about your situation. We'll tell you honestly whether we think the programme addresses what you're looking for — and if it doesn't, we'll say so. There's no pressure involved in that initial conversation.