Gerard Cunningham, Director - TDK Electronics Ireland Limited
Our expectation of Harmonics was that they would help our employees consider their options at a time of uncertainty and disappointment in their careers; to identify a range of opportunities for the future; and, finally, to help our employees to prepare for the future thoroughly and with confidence.

Harmonics provided an excellent service to TDK and we were very satisfied with the results. In the first instance, Harmonics provided direction to the company when we were facing a redundancy process for the first time by recommending well-structured and transparent outplacement programs. At the same time, Harmonics were flexible and responsive enough to accommodate modifications to the programs to meet our requirements.

Most importantly, Harmonics excelled at the level of the counseling to our staff. Our employees engaged actively in the process and had confidence in the counselors. As a result, they emerged from the process with greater confidence than before, had a good understanding of their options for the future and were well prepared to pursue their preferred options. Overall, the feedback from our employees regarding the process was very positive.

To summarise, Harmonics were well organised, experienced, professional and creative in helping our employees focus on their best career opportunities for the future.

Donal Sullivan – Managing Director, Tyco Safety Products
Our expectation of the outplacement program was that we could support the needs of 300 plus employees as they transitioned out of our employment, into a very depressed jobs market.

Our experience has been excellent, it was a positive intervention, by a skilled team, whose sole motivation was to bring about the best outcomes for the employees, be that return to work, further education, career change or other option.

The result has been excellent, with the population feeling they were assisted firstly in coming to terms with the impending change, then having the time and tools to examine and understand options and possibilities and find solutions tailored to their own needs. The team constructed by Harmonics and the skill sets they brought to the table, matched the diverse nature of our workforce and connected with them in a very positive meaningful way.

Harmonics offered a professional solution, customized to our specific need, delivered by a great caring team, who were very flexible, knowledgeable and passionate about enabling positive outcomes for individuals.

Theresa Murray - HR Director, O2 Ireland Ltd

As part of a recent change programme that entailed some redundancies, we engaged Harmonics to provide some change management support to our line managers and one to one career counseling/outplacement support to the impacted employees.

We found the change management workshops were invaluable in equipping our line managers with the skills to communicate consistently and compassionately with their teams.

The outplacement counselors that were available on site were really appreciated. This helped to reduce the level of anxiety about the outplacement process and enabled Harmonics to tailor their approach to the individual.

Feedback from the one to one career counseling sessions have been very positive, the depth of support from Harmonics on making the exit from O2 as smooth as possible. John and his team were excellent throughout the whole process, providing solid advice & guidance and responding with great efficiency to our every request. They were a pleasure to work with.

Therese Gilligan – Sales & Marketing Director
Harmonics somehow manages to turn a potentially daunting experience into an enjoyable self-affirming exercise, as you map out your strengths and career opportunities you discover you've got a first class ally with you each step of the way. Investing in improving your chances of success is always money well spent, never more so in this case.

Eamonn O’Flynn – Head of Operations
The programme provided a really well structured journey where they broke my emotional attachment to O2 and really gave me confidence (hope) that I would find a role/ business that would meet my expectations. The journey was challenging at times but made me focus and take responsibility for my future. I had time to reflect of my achievements using very well thought through exercises and understand what type of roles & cultures would suit my development going forward. The coaching element and advice were key throughout the process and the lessons on how to build my CV proved to be hugely valuable.

Overall a superb programme and I would encourage any person who leaves a big corporate like O2 to go on this programme. It has given me a number of tools and techniques to manage my career going forward and allows me to match my career requirements with potential organisations. I also now understand the benefits of engaging highly skilled coaches to help leaders at all levels to develop their careers. I plan to use Harmonics to provide leadership and outplacement programmes in my new organisation.

Sarah McDonough – Head of Insights
I had the pleasure of working with Harmonics when I decided to make the leap from corporate world to starting my own business in early 2009. Although I had wanted to start my own business for a long time, my coach helped me to go from idea to action. My coach is a very personable, direct and supportive business consultant who focused on transforming my service from a CV to a business profile. She is a highly action orientated person and brings a wealth of experience and talent to every meeting she manages. She takes a personal interest in every person she works with and brings a highly professional yet personable approach to every scenario.

Lisa O’Dwyer – Head of Business Segments
I found Janine a pleasure to work with, a consummate professional and excellent at her job. She challenged me but in a highly respectful manner and used all the tools at her disposal to really understand my motivators and values and then to identify and target my career opportunities. She also has excellent contacts and a great network in her field.

Brenda Jones – Sales Manager
I found this service invaluable for moving on to my next position. I was able to articulate exactly what I wanted from my new role. The sessions were thought provoking and made me think laterally and I have not looked back once.

Mike Mulligan – Product Manager
I can honestly say that the programme with Harmonics is definitely something that has been of great value to me. It allowed me to get perspective and look at what my values are and what I am really good at. My current role reflects many ideas that I developed in working with them. A large portion of the credit is not just the process itself, but my Coaches approach. Her style was very much about adapting to what works, not just walking through the steps. She would listen if that is what was needed but likewise she would give an opinion when asked and that can be just as valuable.

Paul McGovern - Sales Manager
Working with Harmonics has truly been a life changing experience for me. The coaching sessions consistently provided me with an opportunity to step back and discern the true nature of my life & career situation. My Career Coach was never pushy, but always challenging and helped me become clearly aware of where I am, where I really want to go, but most importantly, what I need to do to get there. My Coaches style provided me with a gentle but effective accountability mechanism to keep me on the track and I am so happy with my decisions and outcomes as a result. The only way I can describe a course of coaching sessions with Harmonics is like a long over due spring clean for my life and career.

Patricia Wilson, Marketing Manager
I was introduced to Harmonics as my outplacement Consultants/Programme in my recent Redundancy.
As a marketing professional, I was initially skeptical about what value outplacement would have but I am happy to report that I found it extremely helpful and my Consultant/Coach has been an extremely important part of my search for a new career.

For me the 1: 1 support provided by Harmonics was the invaluable part of the programme. They kept me on track, helped me retain my confidence through that time and was a great help in being objective and realistic about my previous experiences.

The support in making my CV as good as possible by continually pushing me (in a very tactful and diplomatic manner) was much appreciated - giving me examples to work with and questioning my choice of words all made for an excellent CV that has been complimented.

Many thanks to Harmonics who managed to get the very difficult balance between pushing and pulling exactly right.

Lars Bendix-Dueysen – Category Manager Mobile Internet
As a result of working with Harmonics, I was able to paint a clear picture of my future career path that I should follow. Openness and positive thinking were encouraged while exploring new career opportunities. The programme was extremely supportive and Harmonics were 100% committed and willing to go the extra mile to make sure one will be in the right position. I can only recommend Harmonics to anyone who is seriously wants to adjust their career path, their coaches are excellent.

Niamh Donnolly – Senior Product Manager
Janine was my career coach through an extremely challenging time both professionally and personally. In fact, I would consider Janine my guardian angel. She coached me through some difficult decisions and gave me the confidence and tools to go for a career I had always wanted to do but really did not know where to start. With her knowledge and expertise, she quickly gained insight into what makes me tick and helped me identify and use skills to the best of my ability to go for a career I had always wanted. Without her, I do not know would I have had the courage to make the change. Janine is a complete professional, passionate and respectful at all times and goes beyond the call of duty

Martina Keogh - National Office Based Team Leader
Harmonics are consummate professionals – my Coach had the added benefit of being some one who connects easily with people and got to the heart of career issues quickly. She adapts her approach with different types of people to get to a successful result and the experience for the client is one of partnership the whole way through.

Superquinn Participant
Having done a C.V. course on May 7th in Superquinn Ballinteer, with a girl called Penny, I felt I had to write to you. I have worked in Superquinn Walkinstown for twenty-seven years since leaving school.

Having found going out to look for a job rather daunting and totally not knowing how things are done, I did exactly what I learned step by step. I sent a C.V. to Marks and Spencers ,went for an interview last Tuesday and it went perfect, I was told there and then I was successful, I could not believe it.

I will be leaving SQ later this month, a little bit sad but looking forward very much.

I will always keep what I learned from your company, my daughter is going into sixth year and I know she will benefit from this to. (2/9/09)

John Kennealy – Manager of Operations

New position: Hamilton Electronic Operations Manager - I signed a contract with Simplex Grinnell of Canada last Weds 27th. 6.5months, 3 round trips to Canada, 8 interviews with 17 people later….it's been a journey!

I am starting on Monday the 9th of Nov so my last day here at Tyco/Sensormatic is Thurs 5th. Thanks again for all the help in getting me ready and helping me through this process. Your coaching was a significant element for me in letting my true self-shine through. In preparing the materials, organising my pre interview approach, in getting me to see things from the interviewer's perspective and above all in believing in myself and my abilities.

I am eternally grateful. If you ever need my assistance with anything, or are looking for a cheap place to stay while traveling to southern Ontario, you know where you can find me. I'll forward my contact details one I am established.

Rosaleen Perry, Training & Development Manager - Superquinn
We availed of the services of Harmonics to assist us with a major restructuring project, which involved closing one of our stores and making 400 colleagues redundant. It was important to Superquinn to ensure that we gave our colleagues the best possible service in terms of outplacement support to give them the skills and confidence to find employment once they have left the business. We met a number of companies who offer this service however, one company in particular stood out from the crowd – and that was Harmonics.

What was different about Harmonics was the fact that they not only gave examples of their experiences working with other organisations but they were able to provide examples of the materials that they use to achieve their results. They are not about just sending participants away with a typed up CV but they are giving them the skills to identify their strengths and the courage to build on them.

The approach that we used with Harmonics was that as a starting point we ran a series of one-hour information presentations to the colleagues who were eligible to apply for the Voluntary Severance package. These presentations allowed those colleagues to address any questions or concerns that they had about the process and enabled them to make the best possible choice to suit their personal circumstances.

The next stage of the process occurred once colleagues had applied for the process whereby they attended a one-day Self Marketing workshop. These workshops allowed the participants to identify not only the skills that they use on a day-to-day basis with their job roles but also those latent skills that they enjoy using in their spare time as hobbies or pastimes enabling them to think outside the box in terms of their future career.

The feedback from these sessions was excellent and many of the participants were really impressed at the level of service that the company had provided for them. A colleague who had worked in the company for over twenty years wrote in to say how the session had given her the skills to find a role in another premium retailer. She believed that she would not have found the confidence to achieve this without the training she had received from Harmonics.

We found our experience with Harmonics to be a very positive and fruitful one and we would have no hesitation is using their services again.

David Keeling, Managing Director
It has been very good for me to put the time and effort into developing myself. My coaching through Harmonics has helped me dealing with the challenges in the workplace and has given me different insights.

The Team intervention allowed us to get to know each other a bit better and through understanding each other better, conflict was reduced.

The quality of Harmonics facilitators from a team point of view are very good, the 1-1 coaching intervention is good at challenging me. Harmonics are very people focused, clear, concise and trustworthy.

Peter Murphy – Former Training & Development Manager, Mater University Hospital
In my capacity as Training, Education and Development Manager with the Mater, I worked with Harmonics in developing a ‘Strategic Career & Management Development Coaching Programme’ for Senior Managers.

Harmonics approached the programme in a passionate and flexible manner. They challenged at individual and group level while never undermining ones values or beliefs. They instilled a sense of teamwork while exploring each individual’s uniqueness, values and skill sets. Importantly they developed an environment which supported the personal emotions which surfaced.

A key aspect of the programme was the one on one coaching. The success of this element was directly attributable to the quality of the coaches and the professionalism they exhibited. Each participant benefited from the genuine interest in their personal and professional development, as displayed in each coaching session.

Words I would choose to sum up Harmonics would be: Professional, Challenging, Passionate, Flexible and Focused.

Anne Reap, Mater University Hospital
When I was introduced to Penny I had no idea what coaching entailed, though I had read of the new approaches of H.R. in bring people to the next level of management.
The background of the coaching sessions was I had been promoted to another level of management, and I was struggling with the position. It seemed every decision I was making was the wrong one, and getting very stressed about it. I knew I needed to change but was fearful that I would not be able to bridge the gap of what was needed, but I was open to change.
The sessions with Penny I can only describe as been AMAZING. They opened up a whole new world for me, both in the way I deal with people and how I perceive situations as they arise at work. Penny has given me the tools and the skill to deal with the tangible and intangible situations that arise.

As I mentioned I was fearful going into the sessions, Penny as a coach I now realise with great skill make me feel at ease so by the time the first hour passed I was then looking forward to having the next session.

Bernard Farrell – Chief Executive Officer
The Harmonics “Team Communications Day” assisted greatly in helping to build bridges between merging companies within a Group. It was instrumental in breaking down barriers both perceived and real.
Subsequent to this intervention, a number of inter-company work groups were formed with clear project objectives which are well on the way to completion.

The Harmonics facilitators successfully delivered a tailor made solution which was honest and challenging and motivated individuals/teams in difficult situations.

The results were excellent and I would have no hesitation in recommending Harmonics to other companies.

I have worked with John in Harmonics in both a private/personal capacity (2006) and corporate capacity (2008). Although the objectives of both exercises were very different – the results were both consistently excellent and I would have no hesitation in recommending Harmonics to other companies.

Key words I would use to describe Harmonics; Integrity & honesty, Tailor made solutions, No nonsense, Strength in Encouraging & Diplomatic. Their advice is always considered, wise and judicious; they have the ability to deal with all levels of a workforce from shop floor to Boardroom. They provide excellent “after sales service”....i.e. just because the course/training is finished – does not mean that you can’t revert for further advice/encouragement

Mary Sweeney – Head of Careers
I've been impressed by the quality and professionalism of services delivered be the Harmonics team under the direction of John Fitzgerald.

John is a very skilled coach, equally effective when working with groups and individuals. His coaching skills and expertise are complemented by a genuine interest in the well-being of the client and a good sense of humour. These qualities ensure an enjoyable, insightful and productive coaching interaction.

Private Client - Head of University Department

The 1:1 sessions with Harmonics provided the opportunity to reflect not only on my career but on other aspects within my life.

With the guidance of the facilitator, I was able to explore the impact of my behaviours on others and myself within an objective, non-judgmental environment. This self-exploration was not always comfortable or easy, but at the end of the series of sessions, I had a greater insight into my behaviour and strengths.

I would recommend this process to any one who feels they need guidance to optimise their potential and/or are looking for a change in direction within their life.

Private Client - Sales & Marketing Director

‘Having spent 20 successful years in the Food Industry, I secured the services of Harmonics to enable me evaluate my next career move. The quality of the coaching was outstanding, unlike the services on offer from some other companies it was very personalized and tailored to my needs. The outcome was that I moved industry segment and moved back to Ireland! The change of industry segment is exhilarating and I am in no doubt that the dynamic support from Harmonics was the catalyst.

Harmonics is a thoroughly professional company staffed by exceptionally talented people. They demonstrate immense pride in what they do; this is evident in their determination to go that extra mile to meet the client’s objectives. Harmonics cares about its clients and this was exhibited in my case in the amount of support and follow up I have received following my final coaching session’

Declan Staunton
The Harmonics Career Health Check programme helped me enormously to change from working in a multinational environment to starting my own business.
The set-up of this programme, which involved for me three intensive one to one sessions over a yearlong period, really allowed me the opportunity to identify my core values and to set the direction for my future career.
It reignited the “fire in my belly”! The high quality, intensive one to one coaching with John helped me to believe in myself and my ability to work for myself. I have really enjoyed working with Harmonics and found each session truly inspiring, energising and worthwhile.

In a business start-up situation, the advice given by the experts is to so “surround yourself with uplifting and positive people”. John and his team have provided the initial uplift and will continue to provide advice as I grow the business.

Key words I would use to describe Harmonics; professional, positive, respectful, passionate and innovative.

Private Client - ‘Manage Your Own Career’ Participant

Pat Hennessy was very positive and passionate about his work. He gave me great encouragement and made me focus on what I want to do from now on. He also helped me to identify the actions I need to take in order to do this.

I had a pre-conceived idea of what the course would be like before I attended. I was surprised the direction the course took me – whereas before I did it I thought my status, my salary and my working relationships were very important, after completing the course I realised none of these were really that important at all. Managing my career now means managing what I want to do for myself, both professionally and personally and getting satisfaction from that will be better for me.

Vickie Maye – Former Editor
I wouldn't have the job I have now without Harmonics. Professional, yet personable, the Harmonics team held my hand the whole way. From deciding whether the job I was applying for was right for me, to writing my CV, to the interview itself, Harmonics were right there with me.

Even on the morning of the final interview there were phone calls to calm my nerves. Their support was never ending. They helped me to realise my strengths, encouraged me not to be afraid to talk about them. I felt focused, determined and confident in myself after every meeting with them.

John, Pat and Fanchea were simply outstanding through the whole process, handling a stressful situation with the perfect balance of both professionalism and good humour. More than anything, I was left with the feeling that they really cared about me and my future.