insideKENT Magazine Issue 36 - March 2015 | Page 122
EDUCATION
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
Flying Iguana
Teen Career Coaching to Compliment Careers Advice
Flying Iguana is a relatively new
business in Kent, with an innovative
take on careers advice for teens.
Founded by Claire Foy, just over a
year ago, Flying Iguana looks to
provide one-on-one coaching to
teens around careers not only
available to them, but also most
suited to their desires, not just their
abilities.
advice offered to teenagers in
schools.
Flying Iguana’s three coaching
programmes are designed to work
closely with your child to discover
their ambitions and three pivotal
points of their education: pre-GCSE
subject selection, post selection,
and post exams. In hourly one-toone sessions, Claire listens and
challenges them to open their
minds; she expects them to take
ownership of their own choices,
and allows them the responsibility
of research and discovery by setting
tasks between sessions. Most teens
do not know what a job fully entails,
let alone know what careers are
available to them. Claire encourages
them to unearth this for themselves.
Whilst coaching professionals in the
city for over 12 years, Claire found
many adults were in careers they
abhorred, but felt financially bound
to. They worked to pay bills, and
most were spending more time at
work, than living the life they were
Claire Foy
born for.
Claire found her clients' main desires
were to go back to school and make wiser career choices from the start,
and for their children to choose careers that really made them happy.
“This personal dedication and
respect for their research and
decisions seems to spur on a
passion and drive in my teenage
clients. They are excited to work
towards their new career,” explains
Claire. “Suddenly, the subjects they
As a qualified coach, mother, and stepmum of teenagers, the simplicity of
career 'coaching' teenagers seemed an obvious solution to these desires,
and so Flying Iguana was born. Teen coaching is common in America,
and has proven results in lower secondary education dropout rates. Claire
uses her expertise in executive career coaching to compliment the careers
122
struggle with have a purpose, if no
more than to get them to the next
stage of their career journey.”
Since launching, Claire has coached
teens that seemed unmotivated and
disinterested, undecided or just
bored with school. She has
supported them through finding
their specific path to follow, making
sure it is one that they have
personally chosen and are therefore
much more driven to attain.
www.flyingiguana.co.uk