Monday Job Seekers Connection: From Overwhelmed to Action: Taking Small Steps Toward Your Career Goals

Start your week with a community of other job seekers who support, encourage, motivate, and learn from each other through their job searches. Job Seekers Connection energizes and inspires participants by sharing valuable strategies and techniques from professional career coaches, recruiters, and Human Resources representatives.

This week's presenters: Anne Grieves and Amy Avergun

Topic: From Overwhelmed to Action: Taking Small Steps Toward Your Career Goals

This dynamic session is designed for job seekers who feel stuck, overpowered by options, or overwhelmed by the gap between where they are and where they want to be in their career journey.

Discover how to cut through the noise and focus on what truly matters: the next decision you need to make and how to make it with clarity and confidence. Rather than thinking many steps ahead, you'll learn to identify and take actionable "ridiculously small steps" that create real momentum—whether that's identifying three specific contacts to reach out to, joining three relevant LinkedIn groups, or tailoring one resume to one specific opportunity.

This interactive session introduces practical, easy-to-use tools that will streamline your job search process. With guidance from experienced facilitators, you'll work through common obstacles that keep job seekers from moving forward: perfectionism, uncertainty about where to start, ineffective networking strategies, and the challenge of tailoring materials for each opportunity.

Whether you're just beginning your search, mid-journey and losing steam, or feeling completely stuck, this session meets you exactly where you are. Through a combination of structured guidance and hands-on work time, you'll create a personalized action plan that breaks down your larger career goals into manageable, confidence-building steps. Leave equipped with a new strategy, practical tools, and the clarity to take your very next step forward.

About the presenters:

Anne Grieves is a dedicated career coach and certified Gallup CliftonStrengths coach who finds fulfillment in supporting individuals, groups, and teams as they strive for professional success. Currently, she serves as Associate Director of Career Design at Northeastern University while maintaining a private practice, committed to ensuring career development resources reach anyone in the career exploration and job search journey.

Anne's coaching philosophy centers on providing clients with essential tools and insights to explore new possibilities and make positive changes in their lives. She creates inclusive career services that recognize and build upon each individual's distinct talents and experiences.

Recently, Anne has expanded these tools to include AI literacy, recognizing it as a powerful equalizer that extends her reach across all disciplines. As someone with a liberal arts background, she now effectively coaches bioengineers, data scientists, pharmaceutical researchers, and policy analysts by leveraging AI to bridge knowledge gaps and ask informed questions. 

Amy Avergun  is a seasoned instructional designer and facilitator who has spent her career designing and delivering workshops on a wide variety of leadership topics, such as taking charge of your career, collaborative innovation, high-stakes conversations, and fostering teamwork.

She started her career as a career counselor and her purpose is to help people play to their strengths while doing work they love.

Amy was the Director of Product Development for Zenger Miller, an award-winning international training company for 11 years. In that role she led a team of talented people through all phases of product development—research, design, development, pilot testing, video production, and launch.

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Advance registration is preferred for all Ed Portal programs and events. Walk-in attendees may not be admitted.

Parking is limited around the Ed Portal so we recommend taking public transportation.

Public transportation options:

We are about a 15-20 minute walk from the Red Line Harvard Square station or Green Line -B Harvard Avenue station.

Several MBTA buses also stop near the intersection of North Harvard Street and Western Avenue: #66, #86, #70.

Parking information:

If you choose to drive to the Ed Portal please be prepared to utilize the two-hour on-street parking surrounding the Ed Portal or to park at Artesani Park and walk 10-12 minutes along Western Avenue to arrive at the Ed Portal. A limited number of parking spaces are available in the rear of the Ed Portal building on a first come, first serve basis. You may only use parking spaces in the rear of the Ed Portal building outlined in orange paint.

To help protect visitors and staff, members of the public are asked to stay home if they are unwell or have experienced signs of illness* in the past 24-hours.

If you require an accommodation for a disability, please call the Ed Portal ahead of time at 617-496-5022 or e-mail us at edportal@harvard.edu, and we will do our best to assist you.

* Signs of illness include: fever, chills or feeling feverish; a new cough (not related to chronic condition); new fatigue; muscle or body aches; sore throat; new nasal congestion or new runny nose (not related to seasonal allergies); nausea or vomiting; diarrhea.