Strengths‑led career consultant for experienced professionals and leadership teams.
You know what you're capable of. I make sure the right people do too.
You have the experience and the ability. What you're missing is clarity, a clear plan, and someone who can help you see what you truly bring so that you can go after the right opportunity, not just any opportunity, with real confidence.
I'm a career consultant who uses strengths-based diagnostics to cut through the guesswork and get you there faster. 15 years in career development. Belfast-based, working across the UK, Ireland and beyond.
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Career Consultant Belfast - Consultative Strengths Support for Your Career
I partner with high-achievers who feel something isn't quite right in their role, offering deep insight into their unique working patterns and the shifts needed for fulfilment. If you’re an experienced professional feeling stuck or under‑used, here’s how we’ll work together to move you forward.
Career Road
Vocation and Purpose
We identify what isn't working and why, using your natural strengths to find the clarity and alignment you need to move forward with confidence.
Strategic Step
Detailed Roadmap
Leave with more than insight. We build a practical, personalised plan for your next career move or professional step, with a focus on long-term growth.
Capability
Commanding Presence
Improve how you communicate, lead, and show up in the moments that matter, so you make a real impression in your current role and beyond.
Pro Plan
Expert Choices
Make better calls at work by understanding your core strengths, values, and what you are genuinely optimising for in your professional life.
Two ways to work together
Choose the kind of support that fits where you are right now.
Not ready to book?
Start with the free Leadership Start-Up Kit.
Start with the free Leadership Start-Up Kit.
Five practical tools to help you understand your role, lead your team, and use your strengths more effectively as you step into leadership.
This is a free resource for anyone new to a leadership role, or finding their feet in one, who wants a clearer sense of where to focus first. Work through five short tools covering your leadership mandate, your defaults under pressure, the strengths you already bring, the shift from doing to leading, and understanding your team before you try to change it. It lands in your inbox as soon as you request it.
Enter your email below to get started, and you will also receive a weekly dose of honest thinking on work, leadership and what comes next.
You can unsubscribe any time.
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For senior leaders who've just stepped into the role and are still finding their footing.
Ascent: Four months. One clear direction.
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The moment you start, your leadership starts shaping the room.
Your team takes its cues from you before you've said a word. How you handle the first decision, the first disagreement, the first moment something goes wrong, becomes the story they tell themselves about what kind of leader you are. They're not waiting for a speech. They're watching for a pattern.
That's the weight most new leaders underestimate. It's not just your own performance under scrutiny, it's that everyone around you is forming their sense of direction, safety, and standards from how you show up, often within the first few weeks.
Working With Paula
"I would highly recommend Paula for advice and guidance. She reconfigured my CV, bringing it up to date professionally and efficiently. I also received great advice and assistance with my LinkedIn profile."
— Enda M
About Paula
Drawing on fifteen years of experience across employability programmes, public sector organisations, further education colleges, and charities, Paula established Donnan Coaching Services in 2023 to help professionals find clarity and build confidence in their careers.
Now operating as Paula Donnan Advisory, Paula works as a career consultant in Belfast, supporting both individual professionals and organisations through strengths-led consulting and development.
Paula also works as a freelance associate coach for Executive Connexions and as a partner for Neurodiversity Spark. A certified Strengthscope practitioner and Level 5-qualified Coach and Mentor, Paula is an active member of the Association for Coaching. Her approach is practical, evidence-based, and built around the individual, ensuring every client achieves meaningful and lasting professional growth.
Certified industry expertise
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"I know you're an excellent career coach, but what I didn't expect was to get offered a fantastic job just two days after our session. The meeting, your advice, everything was spot on."
— Rehab F
"Paula is wonderful to work with and has provided insightful feedback and assistance whilst progressing in my career journey. I've found her to be direct, honest and trustworthy."
— Rachel C
Quietly Capable: Building Career Confidence at Work
You've probably got a habit you don't even notice you have: getting through the hard bits at work and moving straight on to the next thing, without ever stopping to register how you did it.
The meeting that went better than you expected. The difficult conversation you handled without making a mess of it. The moment someone challenged you and you held your ground. Most people let all of that pass by unremarked, then wonder why their career confidence never quite catches up with their competence.
I've helped hundreds of people reconnect with who they are, confidently, and rebuild their faith in themselves along the way. I want that for you too.
Building career confidence isn't about pep talks or forced positivity. It's about actually seeing, clearly, what you already bring, so it's there for you the next time it's tested.
If this sounds familiar, and you're ready to build your career confidence properly, get in touch for a chat.
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