Strengths‑led career consultant for experienced professionals and leadership teams.
There’s more in your experience than your current role may be using. Let’s work out what that means for what comes next. You may have outgrown your role, be ready for promotion, or simply know that your current work no longer makes the best use of what you bring.
I work with professionals and organisations to understand strengths, uncover underused capability, and make clearer decisions about what comes next.
I’m a career consultant, coach and Strengthscope® Leader Practitioner with more than 15 years’ experience in career development. Based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, I work across the UK, Ireland and beyond.
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Career Consultant Belfast - Consultative Strengths Support for Your Career
I work with experienced professionals who feel something isn't quite right in their role, helping them understand how they work best, where their strengths are being underused, and what needs to change for work to feel like a better fit.
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
You might be questioning whether to stay or move, preparing for promotion, struggling to be recognised for what you bring, or trying to understand why a role that once worked no longer does.
For organisations, the question may be different: where is capability being underused, who is ready for more, and what needs to change for people to perform better?
Case Studies
Claire - Financial Services Team Leader
Claire was managing a team of twelve in an environment where accuracy was non-negotiable. Two underperforming team members were taking up more time and energy than the rest of the team combined, and she had reached the point where managing the people was starting to overshadow the work itself.
We started by diagnosing what was actually happening, rather than just talking around it. Over six sessions, the focus shifted from managing symptoms to addressing the underlying issue: how she could hold clearer standards and have more direct conversations without feeling she had to become a different kind of leader. She now addresses issues earlier, the two team members are performing to standard, and she is back to managing the work rather than constantly managing around problems.
David - Team Member Considering Leaving
David came to me as a strong performer who had quietly disengaged and was seriously considering leaving his organisation. The issue was not capability. He had grown, but his role hadn't grown with him, and he struggled to see where he could create the most value next.
Over three sessions, we worked through his strengths, contributions, and where he was likely to fit best. We looked at the parts of his work that gave him energy, where his strengths were being underused, and how those strengths could translate into greater responsibility or a different role. That gave him the clarity and language to have a proper development conversation with his manager rather than simply resigning. He chose to stay in a role that better reflects what he now brings.
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.
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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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