Common Questions
Answers from Laura Simms, career coach and founder of Your Career Homecoming. Creator of The WHOLE Method, a proprietary process developed since 2011. 450+ clients coached. Featured in US News & World Report and elsewhere.
About the Your Career Homecoming Program
Is Your Career Homecoming based on some kind of assessment system?
Q.
a.
No. The WHOLE Method and the Your Career Homecoming program is the proprietary work of Laura Simms (me), developed, iterated, and refined since 2011. It was born out of my own career crisis and frustration with traditional resources, and has been informed by working through this process with over 450 clients.
The assessment industry is enormous and most people assume a "real" career process has to start with one. (Or if you've tried them, you've had the frustrating experience of why they're inadequate.)
Assessments can be useful because the can give you vocabulary for patterns you already sensed. They can validate something you suspected about yourself. What they cannot do is tell you what to do with your one life.
I've had clients arrive with binders of test results: Myers-Briggs, CliftonStrengths, Enneagram, DiSC, Highlands Ability Battery, Kolbe, Predictive Index, Hogan, Big Five, Holland Code, StandOut, VIA Character Strengths, Working Genius, you name it. They've given clients information, but not direction.
Here's the structural problem: assessments sort you into categories and then map those categories to lists of careers. That works reasonably well for an 18-year-old choosing a first direction with limited self-knowledge and a wide-open runway. It falls apart for a 35 or 58-year-old high-achiever who has already built a career, grown beyond it, and is trying to figure out what comes next. At that stage, you don't need to be sorted. You need to be seen and protected from playing small.
You also can't assessment your way out of the specific bind my clients are in. The high-achievers I work with are highly adaptable. They can shape themselves to fit almost any category a test drops them into, because that's exactly the skill that got them into the career they're now trying to leave. An assessment result filtered through a lifetime of shape-shifting is just another version of what you think you should want.
The WHOLE Method works differently. It's a sequenced process that starts with the substance of who you actually are, not a profile. We get clear on what you have to offer, what you need in return, what you've outgrown, and what's been true about you for a long time that you've been overriding. From that foundation, you narrow to a small number of real options, do targeted fieldwork in the actual world, and choose with clarity.
It's 8 weeks of structured work (I mean? an assessment could never), five sequential steps, and direct coaching with me every step of the way. The framework is laid out in the free masterclass, and the full story of how I developed it is here.
If you've already done the assessment circuit and you're still lost, that's normal. You're in the right place.
Is this just for women?
Q.
a.
We work with all genders. Our clients are high-achievers, and these are the behaviors that help them succeed.
What if I’m an early career high-achiever?
Q.
a.
If what you find here resonates, shoot your shot. We love working with exceptional exceptions. The masterclass is the place to start to make sure you need what we do.
Is this for people who want to be an employee or people who want to start a business?
Q.
a.
Both. You don’t need to know which direction you want yet.
Will I work directly with Laura?
Q.
a.
When the business is bigger than just the founder, sometime clients pay the price. Not here. We have an outstanding team to help support you, but Laura continues to coach each client directly.
Do I have to quit my job at the end of 8 weeks?
Q.
a.
Heavens no. You can (some have), but this process gives you the clarity to implement change on your timeline, taking into account the complexities of your particular situation. In your final one-on-one session, we will help you craft your transition plan.
How do you help clients account for the uncertainty that AI creates when choosing a career?
Q.
a.
We use an inside-out approach. We start with the substance of what you have to offer and what you need, not by looking around at job titles or trying to predict what AI will do next, and then cramming you into whatever's left.
First, we get clarity on who you are, what you have to offer, and what you need in return. AI doesn't factor in yet - you do.
Then, once you've narrowed down to your top two or three options, you do targeted fieldwork: talking with people actually doing that work to learn how AI is shaping the role, where opportunities are disappearing or emerging, and what the real landscape looks like right now.
That's how we address AI in the short term of your career choice.
Long term? We're teaching you a process for aligning what you have to offer with how you can serve — through any market shift, any technological change. So no matter what happens with AI or anything else, you'll always have the skill of matching your capabilities with roles that exist and need filling.
Is this a MLM where you lead everyone to be a coach?
Q.
a.
No. I have no financial incentive for what you choose. Some clients do choose to go into coaching, consulting, or become a service provider, and if so that’s because it’s the best choice for them. I do not have an affiliate partnership with any coaching school or certification program. I do not have an upsell offer where I train people to start or scale a coaching business (though I have a lot to share with clients when it comes to setting strong foundations for a business).
Questions About Career Change for High-Achievers
How do I know if I should change careers or just change jobs?
Q.
a.
Most high-achievers assume that if they're unhappy at work, the answer is a new job. New company, new boss, new title, fresh start. So they update the resume, take the recruiter call, accept the offer, and find themselves six months later in the same dread they were trying to escape.
That's because the fog wasn't about the particular job; it was about the overall career.
Here's how to tell the difference: if you can imagine doing your same function at a different company and feeling genuinely energized by it, you have a job problem. The work itself still fits you. What needs to change is the environment, the leadership, the compensation, the team, or the workload.
If you've already done that and the dread keeps coming back, you have a career problem. The work itself no longer fits who you've become. No new title or signing bonus is going to touch that.
The reason this matters is that the wrong diagnosis leads to expensive, exhausting moves in the wrong direction. I've worked with clients who spent years and tens of thousands of dollars on the wrong solution before they got clear on what kind of change they actually needed.
If you speak with our team in a Threshold Session (complimentary once you've watched the masterclass), the first part of that conversation is diagnostic. Before we ever talk about if we can help, we get clear on what you're actually trying to solve. That's the only way to choose a direction worth choosing.
I'm successful but unhappy in my career. What does that mean?
Q.
a.
It means you're in one of the most disorienting positions a high-achiever can be in, and you are not the only one (I talk with people who look like they have it all together but are secretly miserable every week).
Let me start by saying: a lot of our clients worry about being ungrateful because in many ways, other people have it worse. Here's what I've learned after having over a thousand one-on-one conversations with unhappy high-achievers: If you can fully acknowledge the blessing of what you have and you still want something different, that's not being ungrateful; that's being unfulfilled.
Wanting to be fulfilled is not selfish, wrong, or too much to ask for. In fact, being fulfilled in your work creates the conditions that allow you to do your best work and be of the most service. There's nothing selfish about that.
Let's look at how you got here:
The script most of us were handed goes like this: work hard, earn the credentials, climb the ladder, and the satisfaction will follow. So when you do all of that and the satisfaction doesn't come, the natural conclusion is that something must be wrong with you. You should be happy. You have everything you said you wanted. Why aren't you?
Here's what's actually happening:
Iteration 1: The version of you who chose this career is not the same person as the one living it now. You picked this path with the information, identity, and priorities you had at 22 or 28 or 35. You've grown since then. Life and your wants and needs have changed. It doesn't fit who you've become.
Iteration 2: It doesn't feel like you ever made an intentional choice because you always did the next expected thing in front of you. You achieved at some generic version of success or acceptability, and now you're waking up to question what would actually feel worth it.
That gap between who you are and what you're spending your days doing is impossible to ignore: a promotion that prompts tears because the window to change feels like its closing, the fact that you don't know yourself anymore, the other life goals that fall behind because your work life isn't solidly satisfying.
None of that means you made a wrong turn back then. You made the best choice you could with what you had. It also doesn't mean you have to torch what you've built to find your way back to yourself. There's a real path through this, and it doesn't require a crisis to walk it.
What it does require is the willingness to stop performing the answer and start finding it. To get honest about what you actually want, what you have to offer, and what you need in return. To bring yourself back home to yourself.
That's the work we do at Your Career Homecoming.
How do I figure out what I actually want to do for work?
Q.
a.
My answer here is specifically for high-achievers because that's who I work with, and the challenge of pivoting from a place of success looks nothing like the challenge of choosing a direction when you're just starting out.
When you've already built something, the stakes are different. You have a salary you've gotten used to, network built around your current field, maybe a family that depends on the income. Your identity is wrapped up in what you do. Walking away from any of that without a clear destination feels reckless, so most high-achievers stay put waiting for a clarity that never comes.
The advice you'll find when you start looking doesn't help much either. Same old stuff of follow your passion, make a list of your transferable skills, update your LinkedIn, take an assessment. Most of it is tactical, surface-level, and resume-focused. None of it reaches the actual problem, which is that you no longer know who you are at work or what you actually want from it.
I know because I went through it myself. When I was in my own career crisis, I kept thinking in terms of subject matter and activities I might want to do. Maybe I could teach or do web design. That's such a one-dimensional way of thinking about a career, which has to do so much more than give you an activity you enjoy. A career has to fit your nervous system, your values, your finances, your relationships, your energy, your sense of meaning, and the version of yourself you want to be ten years from now. Picking an activity off a list will never get you there.
The standard outside-in approach has you scrolling job listings (could there be anything more depressing?) and trying to cram yourself into something that already exists, even if the description sounds miserable. The inside-out approach teaches you the substance of what you actually want and what you have to offer, so you can search differently. Sometimes it means you don't have to search at all.
Our client Emily came to us declaring she absolutely had to leave healthcare after years in the field. We worked together to get clear on the substance of what she wanted and what she had to offer. Turns out, “healthcare” was fine and it was other things about her work that needed to change. She ended up speaking to the CEO of her hospital about creating a new role that served her and filled a real need for the organization. They built it with her. She got a raise, and she has the work-life balance she wanted. No going back to school. No drawn-out job search. Years, energy, and potentially thousands of dollars saved on what could have been a wild goose chase.
That's what the WHOLE Method makes possible. It's an 8-week structured process, five sequential steps, and direct coaching with me. The full framework is in our free masterclass, and it's the first step for anyone considering working with us.
Questions for Laura
How did you develop your process?
Q.
a.
This work was born out of a deep personal crisis and has become my life's work for over 15 years now. Short answer: a paradigm shifting ah-ha moment followed by years of iteration. You can read the complete story here.
Do you still love your work after so many years?
Q.
Questions for Laura
a.
I genuinely do, and I am as fascinated by it as ever. I attribute that to two things: 1. I made the right career choice, 2. I put a lot of structure in place to stay energized and resourced. I want to teach you how to do both. Scroll down to the “How I stay energized as a breadwinning entrepreneur (without burning out)” section of this article to learn what I do.
Do you care?
Q.
Questions for Laura
a.
Yes. Very much so. I know the pain of feeling capable of more but utterly lost. I also know the other side: grounded, joyful, present. Helping people make that change is one of the greatest joys of my life.
What feels like home to you?
Q.
Questions for Laura
a.
Early mornings by the fireplace while the rest of the house is still asleep. Shearling lined slippers. Being chosen by an animal. Jack & Coke: savored on its own, preferably on a porch. The smell of old books, gun powder, and wet raccoons (not entirely pleasant, but unmistakeable). Treasures collected from woodland walks, thrifted velvet armchairs, patina. Live bluegrass, calloused fingers on guitar strings, fall leaves underfoot. Deep conversations with people devoted to changing their lives.
The sensible stuff's not working?
start the masterclass
- Therapy
- assessments
- career coaching
- brainstorming
- informational interviews
- Listing your values
- Self-awareness
Learn our method to choose a fulfilling career, even if the stuff that "should" be working for you hasn't.
