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Career development for experienced professionals and the organisations they work in.
You may have more experience than your current role uses. You might be ready for greater responsibility, questioning whether to stay, or finding that work no longer fits as well as it once did.
I help professionals understand what is happening in their careers and make clearer decisions about what comes next. I also work with organisations to develop the people they already employ, so career conversations lead to useful action.
I’m Paula Donnan, a Career Consultant, Coach and Strengthscope® Leader Practitioner with more than 15 years’ experience in career development. Based in Belfast, I work with clients across Northern Ireland, Ireland and the UK.
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.
What is not fitting
What's Acutally Not Working
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.
what comes next
A Plan, Not Just Insight
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.
how you show up
Lead With More Weight
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.
better decisions
Know what you're optimising for
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?
For Professionals
Working out whether to stay, move, or push for more starts with an honest read on where you actually stand: what you bring, what's being missed, and what's realistically within reach. This is where that clarity gets built, one decision at a time, so you're acting on a clear picture instead of a gut feeling.
For Organisations
When performance stalls or good people start disengaging, more effort rarely fixes it. What's usually missing is a clear diagnosis: where judgement is breaking down, where communication fails under pressure, and what's actually limiting the team. This is structured, evidence-based development built around what's really going on, not a generic leadership programme.
Client Case Studies: From Workplace Challenges to Practical Change
For experienced professionals preparing for executive-level roles, or establishing themselves in one.
Ascent: Four months. One clear direction.
Stepping into executive leadership changes what's expected of you. You're required to think more strategically, communicate with greater influence, and build credibility quickly, often before you've had time to find your footing.
Ascent is a four-month, one-to-one career consultancy built around the StrengthscopeLeader™ assessment. It gives you the clarity, positioning and support to move into executive leadership, or establish yourself in it, with confidence.
Every programme begins with the StrengthscopeLeader™ debrief, which becomes the evidence base for every session that follows. From there, you work through positioning, presence in high-stakes moments, and the decisions ahead of you, closing with your own Executive Career Roadmap to act on. Ascent is for professionals ready to do that work, not simply receive advice about it.
Investment from £750 a month, or £2,800 paid in full.
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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
"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
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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.
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.
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