Nielsen Career Consulting

I worked with Sheila for several months this past year as I was struggling to not only pinpoint my next career move, but even articulate what it was that I truly wanted.
It felt really overwhelming to tackle all this uncertainty. In her extremely patient and empathetic way Sheila was able to systematically uncover essential elements about myself as a professional, making me feel more empowered and on top of the process of figuring out a career.
She has an abundance of wisdom and materials to help break down confusing and too often unspoken processes involved in making career decisions, networking, overcoming obstacles, etc.
I know I will use the materials and conversations we shared as a way to prioritize my focus and time throughout my career.
I highly recommend going to Sheila if you are struggling at any stage of your career.

I worked with Sheila when I was at a confusing and critical crossroads in my career. I was leaving my firm, interviewing with another, and struggling with feeling that I could never be fulfilled by a career in law. Sheila helped me work through my situation and realize that I was in the wrong place both geographically and professionally. Because of her, I took the leap to leave the practice of law altogether, work on a side-​business and passion project full-​time, and move cross country. Two years later, I am the most fulfilled I have ever been and can’t thank her enough for her invaluable perspective and advice!

Sheila is an extraordinary professional resource and confidant. She was recommended to me by another attorney who was considering alternative business career options and is now much happier. As an attorney with a business background, I was looking to make a move to a more integrative role. Sheila gave me invaluable long-​term guidance as well as immediate job search and interview advice. Before I knew it, I had a big interview and subsequently a job offer in my current field (long before I imagined it would happen). I would recommend Sheila to anyone.

Sheila Nielsen came to me highly recommended by two co-​workers. One sought her out while still in law school and considering dropping out of the program. Sheila helped her sort through what she liked and didn’t like, gave her suggestions on paths that would best suither, and this girl is now a superstar at work. If only I had been lucky enough to have that guidance during school! The other was a lawyer who left the practice to get a masters in education. These two examples, plus their rave reviews of her skills, led me to believe that the cost of seeking career counseling from Sheila would be one of the best investments I would ever make– she clearly wasn’t prejudiced one way or the other on keeping her clients in practice of law! Having practiced law for quite some time, she’s obviously very familiar with the ups and downs
Her work centers around attorneys and helping them find the best career path, either within the law or outside of it. She offers more than career counseling– including what I would probably describe as training for the often socially incompetent people who fall into this profession (I know just as many painfully awkward lawyers as I do smooth talkers). But since my experience with her has been with counseling alone, I’ll limit my review to that
She is incredibly thorough in getting you to open up about what you do and don’t like, both about your job and in other areas of your life (talking about your hobbies and interests as well). You work through exercises that essentially give you a chance to describe your ideal work and life. She identifies trends in what you say that you probably don’t pick up on, or perhaps actively try to ignore (guilty as charged). She has given me suggestions that I would never have thought up for myself, and insights about myself that I would have tried to not pay attention to if I was not forced to view them up close. (many of which mean I’m a terrible fit for my current position– well not shocking but at least nice to know I’m not imagining it!).
The bonus that I would think makes her counseling different from general career counselors is her legal experience– she knows what is out there and has practiced in a few different areas of the law. Now my law school didn’t really encourage nontraditional paths– pretty much the only career support you got was the push towards big firms) so her knowledge in this respect is invaluable to me. I wouldn’t have the first clue of how to find something different.
Perhaps most importantly to me, she provides an objective outside opinion– even if you know deep down that you’re on the wrong path and all you need is to hear it confirmed out loud, this can make a big difference. For me, it has been extremely hard to deal with the expectations of the people around me, making it almost impossible to productively bounce ideas off of anyone. It seems like when you’re in the position of facing decisions, everyone’s got an opinion, and everyone’s opinion is different (not to mention based on their own notions of what would be good, not really yours!)
I’m still in the middle of my work with her and will have to come back and update this accordingly as I finish up, but for any others in my position, I truly think its worth the time and financial investment