Career Success Coach | Driving Career Growth for 6-Figure Professionals | Higher Pay | Better Opportunities | Greater Job Fulfillment | sWorks! Signature Series |

A Global Technology SVP walks into a wealth management firm as their new CIO. 

A Director of Analytics moves from MarTech into a VP role in Higher Education.   

A Director of Sales in Financial Services lands Senior Director at a $200M SaaS company.   

A Corporate Controller launches a Fractional CFO practice serving Series B startups.      

Same experience. Different leverage.      

That's The YES Factor™.      

Senior leaders don't lose opportunities because they lack experience.     

They lose them because the people making the decision can't see where that experience takes the business next. 

The narrative is historical. The decision is about the future. That gap is where strong candidacies stall and where external moves quietly fall apart.      

We build what closes that gap.   

The leverage that makes the decision easy for the people who need to say yes.      

I work with Senior Managers, Directors, VPs, and CxOs to build the narrative that hands the decision-maker exactly what they need to say yes and sell it internally.     

Corp-to-corp. Corporate-to-advisory. Expanded scope, new industry, or building a fractional practice from the ground up. 

The path doesn't matter. The leverage you walk in with does.      

I bring something most coaches don't. 

I've sat on the side of both sides of the table where risk is weighed, scope is defined, and one direction is chosen over another. 

I know what decision-makers need to see. 

I know what makes it take to move forward and what makes them hesitate.     

That perspective shapes every piece of work I do.      

I've recruited across Fortune 100 boardrooms and early-stage startups. 

I've built enterprise sales practices from the ground up. I've been the one in the room deciding who moves forward and why.  

That's not background. That's the lens I bring to every leader I work with.      

400+ corporate leaders supported.   
15+ years on the decision side of hiring.   $50M+ in enterprise B2B sales.      

What this looks like in practice:    

One focused Advisory Session. 

90 minutes plus a written strategic deliverable you can use immediately.      

An ongoing Retainer for leaders who are actively in motion and need a strategist in their corner as the moves get bigger.      

When decision-makers can see what changes because of you, the yes follows.      

The next move starts with a conversation. 

DM me or book a call directly from my profile.      

📍 The YES Factor™ 📧 melissa@sworkable.com

People don’t actually choose the best option.

They choose the one that feels easiest to back.

The human brain is remarkably capable.

It built civilisations.  
It invented aeroplanes.

It also quietly avoids anything that feels mentally expensive.

Because uncertainty creates tension.

Certainty creates relief.

Have you ever watched a room look at two strong candidates and move toward the one that simply felt easier to place?

Not better.

Easier.

That is how many senior decisions actually get made.

Not through spreadsheets.

Through emotional relief.

A large part of my work is making sure that when someone’s experience is evaluated, it doesn’t create friction the room has to work to resolve.

Because when something is effortless to understand, trust builds quickly.

And when trust builds quickly…

Momentum usually follows.

📍 The YES Factor

Melissa Hodgins

The Corporate Leader’s Career Transition Coach | The YES Factor™ | When Decision-Makers See What Changes Because of You, The Yes Follows

She said she didn't have language for it.

Not for what she'd built.
Not for what she'd fixed.

Not for what the organization could do now that it couldn't before she got there.

She had the results.
She had the before and afters.
She had five years of delivering in conditions that would have broken most leaders.

What she didn't have was the ability to see it clearly anymore.

Because when an environment dismisses your work long enough, something quiet happens.

You start confusing being unseen with being unworthy.

Those are not the same thing.

The work doesn't change because the room won't acknowledge it.
The impact doesn't disappear because the wrong person is looking for a scapegoat.

What changes is the leader's ability to see it.

And that is the part that costs the most.

Not the toxic environment.
Not the impossible CEO.

The slow erosion of a leader's ability to trust what they know they've built.

When I showed her what was actually there, she cried.

Not because anything changed.

Because it was the first time in a long time that someone held up a mirror and showed her what the work was actually worth.

That is what gets lost in difficult environments.

Not capability.
Not results.

The ability to see yourself clearly.

📍 The YES Factor™

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ITIL v3

DeVry Institute of Technology

University of Maryland, College

sWorkable Career Solutions Inc.

Bay Street Staffing Group

Professional Selection Inc.

IQ Hunt Ltd.

Peterson Recruiting Inc., a Donaldson & James Affiliate

Kronos

Compuware

Hewlett-Packard

Career Growth & Future-Ready Coach | Helping Professionals Transform Ambition into Action, Define Unique Value, & Secure Strategic Roles While Building Confidence and Proactively Managing Careers in a Dynamic Job Market.

Put your experience and expertise to work where it matters most—aligning with the needs of the business to drive your career forward.

Success in today’s competitive job market isn’t just about what you know; it’s about how well you position your skills and experience to meet the evolving needs of businesses. My approach is centered on helping you align your unique strengths with what organizations are actively seeking, ensuring you’re not just another candidate, but the solution they need.

✨ What Sets Me Apart ✨
🔷 Strategic Career Alignment: My coaching helps you strategically align your expertise with business goals, opening doors to growth, seamless transitions, or purposeful pivots.

🔷 Fortune 100 Experience: Drawing on my background with industry leaders like HP and IBM, I provide insights and strategies proven effective in scaling the corporate ladder, tailored to your career path.

🔷 Insider Hiring Insights: With 14+ years in recruitment, I have an insider’s understanding of what hiring managers really want. I guide you in crafting a narrative that highlights your value and aligns with employers' needs.

🔷 Real-World Career Success: I’ve navigated multiple career advancements, pivots, and transitions, so I understand the challenges you face. My real-world experience informs my coaching, making it practical and relatable.

My Coaching Specialties:
🔹 Job Search Success: From resume and LinkedIn optimization to interview prep and networking strategies, I help you present a career narrative that aligns with business needs and positions you as the ideal candidate.
🔹 Executive Career Coaching: Elevate your leadership presence by aligning your strategic thinking with business objectives, driving results that matter.
🔹 Career Transitions & Pivots: Whether moving into a new industry or shifting roles, I provide the guidance to make confident transitions that align with your career goals and market demands.
🔹 Career Advancement: We’ll develop a tailored strategy to achieve your desired promotions, salary increases, and overall growth by aligning your aspirations with business needs.

Client Success Stories:
🔷 Anna made the leap from a Director to a coveted VP role with a $55K salary increase.
🔷 David secured a Creative Director role within 6 weeks!
🔷 Lauren transitioned as a VP, Investment Banking into Corporate Development in new Industry!
🔷 Tim landed a SVP, Technology role with the sWorks! SuccessAdvantage program.

Ready to align your career with success? Let’s connect and make it happen.
🔹 melissa@sworkable.com
🔹 www.sworkable.com

sWorks! SuccessAdvantage is a premium coaching program for mid-to-senior level professionals, designed to align your expertise with business needs and unlock your competitive edge. Through strategic positioning, you’ll differentiate yourself, secure high-impact roles, and achieve lasting career success. Whether advancing, transitioning, or pivoting, this program equips you with the tools to stand out as the ideal candidate and maximize your career potential.

sWorks! SuccessAdvantage

Leverage your experience & expertise to land your 'what's next'.

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Stay ahead of the curve and accelerate your career growth by subscribing to my weekly newsletter, packed with expert insights, tips, and strategies to help you become the ideal candidate and land your next career opportunity

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The Corporate Leader’s Career Strategy Coach | The YES Factor™ When Decision-Makers See What Changes Because of You, The Yes Follows

She didn’t know why.

That’s what she told me when she reached out.

Over 20 years of experience.
Real results.
The right roles.
The right industries.

Doing everything right.
Still not getting chosen.

And that’s the part nobody talks about.

It’s not the leaders who are coasting that struggle.

It’s the ones doing everything right who quietly start wondering what
the market is seeing that they’re not.

Here’s what I saw the moment I opened her resume.

She was telling decision-makers everything she’d done.

Not one word about what their business gets next.

She didn’t have a visibility problem.

Her value was invisible.

There’s a difference.

We fixed that inside The YES Factor.

She walked into a CFO’s office talking about his problem.

She got the VP role.

📍 If everything looks right on paper but the decision keeps going
another way, it’s rarely about experience. It’s about what the room can
immediately see.

📍 The YES Factor

More strategic.

That was the feedback after the final round.

He laughed when he told me.

Not because it was funny.

Because strategy is the thing everyone who knows him would name first.

He has spent his entire career making businesses more valuable.

Not just running leaner operations.

Building the infrastructure that let the business enter new markets.

Creating the predictability that let leadership make faster decisions.

Unlocking capital that funded the next stage of growth.

All of it strategic.

None of it visible in the room.

Because his resume talked about what he did.

Not what the business could do because he was there.

The room didn't conclude he wasn't strategic.

The room concluded what it could see.

And what it could see was an operational leader with strong cost savings numbers.

The strategy was always there.

It just never made it into the room.

That is not a strategy problem.

That is a visibility problem.

And it is costing senior leaders rooms they have already earned.

📍 The YES Factor™

Christa never thought she would be here.

A Director role at one of the fastest growing tech companies in Canada.

She almost talked herself out of applying.

Not because she lacked the experience.

Because she could not see how her world connected to theirs.

Jane has been in final rounds four times this year.

Strong feedback every time.

Nothing followed.

She knows she has what it takes.

She just cannot figure out why the room keeps saying not quite.

Mike kept telling people he was agile.

Different industries. Proven he can adapt.

The rooms kept moving on.

He could not figure out what they were not seeing.

Three different careers.
Three different rooms they are trying to walk into.

And eventually the same question shows up.

How do I take what I have built here
and make it land there.

Not a different version of myself.

Not starting over.

Everything I have already built.

In a room that speaks a completely different language.

That question is not a resume problem.

That is Find Your YES.

📍 The YES Factor™

Most senior leaders don’t aim too high.

They aim at what they can see.

And what they can see is usually what they’ve done.

Not what it’s actually worth to the business.  
Not what changes when they walk in the door.  
Not what the organization gets next.

Just the history of it.

So they pursue roles that match that history.

Roles they’re credible for.  
Roles they can defend.  
Roles that make sense on paper.

And they get them.

Which is exactly the problem.

Because capable and correctly placed are not the same thing.

I had a client who was convinced her title was holding her back.

We didn’t change the title.

We changed what she could clearly see about what moved in the business because she was there.

She stopped aiming at roles the market thought she deserved.

She started moving at the level she had already reached.

The shift was significant.

📍 When the business value is easy to see, the level conversation changes quickly.

📍 The YES Factor

Every board conversation mentions AI.
Every investor deck includes it.
Every strategic hiring discussion is looking for leaders who actually get it.

And when decision-makers look at your background
resume, LinkedIn, pitch, narrative
the AI piece is completely missing.

Not because you're not using it.

You're using AI. You're driving results with it.

But you're not making it visible as part of the business outcome.

The M&A integration you led that closed 40% faster
AI powered the due diligence.

The retention spike
AI identified the churn pattern no one was seeing.

The operational efficiency gain
AI removed the bottleneck that had been there for years.

You know this.

Decision-makers don't.

Because it's not in your narrative.

And right now, that gap is costing you opportunities.

The corp-to-corp role that goes to someone who made AI capability obvious in the room.
The strategic seat where they are looking for AI fluency and you did not show it.
The advisory client who needs someone forward-thinking and your narrative still reads like 2019.

From inside your own story, this gap is almost impossible to see.

But it is exactly what decision-makers are reacting to.

And it is costing strong leaders conversations they should already be in.

If you know your track record is stronger than what the market is giving back right now, we should talk.

📍 The YES Factor™

You left corporate to build something of your own.

No more approvals. No more getting your calendar hijacked. No more
brilliant ideas that die in committee.

Finally, your expertise. Your terms. Your future.

Except now you are three months in and the calls are not coming the way
you thought they would.

You are available for strategic advisory work.
You are open to fractional leadership opportunities.
You are leveraging years of experience.

And it sounds impressive. Credible. Senior.

It is also completely forgettable.

Because when someone has a problem that is keeping them up at night,
they do not search for strategic advisor.

They think: Who do I know who has solved this exact thing before?

That is the gap.

You left corporate with a title, a network, and a belief that the
expertise would speak for itself.

And now there is a realization no one knows what to call you for.

Not because the expertise is not strong.

Because the market does not know the one thing you solve decisively.

You are known for being capable of many things.

And general does not get the call.

Here is what shifts it.

Stop describing what you can do. Start owning what you are known for.

Not scope. Not capabilities. Not range.

The problem people called you for when you were still in the seat.

You are the one who makes acquisitions close without imploding.
You are the person pulled in when retention is bleeding and nobody knows
why.
You are who gets called when compliance is about to kill the deal.

That sentence, the exact thing you were known for, is the business.

And the moment that becomes clear, the calls change.

Because people do not buy fractional VPs.

They buy the person who solves the problem that is costing them right
now.

Here is where most leaders get stuck.

From inside a long corporate career, the title is loud.

The reason people pulled you in is quieter.

And that is what the market buys.

That is the work inside The YES Factor™.

📍 The YES Factor | Become the Expert They Hire | Become the Expert They
Buy |

Rooms make decisions before anyone speaks.

That’s not cynicism.

That’s just how evaluation actually works.

By the time someone is sitting across the table, the conclusion is
already forming quietly in the background.

And if something feels uncertain, unclear, or hard to place —

the brain doesn’t work harder to understand it.

It looks for an easier option.

Charlotte (not her real name) wanted VP. Then C-suite.

When we looked at her next move, tech was the right path.

Not because it was obvious.

Because when I looked at what she’d actually built — her results, her
markets, her growth story — it was exactly what a serious tech firm
needs.

But there was a risk.

The room was likely to see: not SaaS.

And once that conclusion forms, strong leaders rarely get the chance to
correct it.

So before she ever walked in, we made that conclusion impossible to
reach.

We didn’t change her experience.

We changed what the business could quickly understand about it.

Her language. Her framing. Her focus.

All of it translated into the vocabulary of their world.

By the time she sat down, the room wasn’t working against her.

It was already moving toward her.

Five rounds. A full case study built around their sales challenges.

She won every one.

📍 The room isn’t waiting for someone to explain their background. The
YES Factor ensures the right conclusion forms early.

He had an answer for everything.

The roles weren’t real.
The company promoted internally.
The interviewers didn’t know how to run a call.

All of it could be true.

And none of it was the lever.

Because every room he walked into already knew he was qualified.

That’s why they called him in.

He still walked in ready to prove it.

Numbers.
Research.
Examples.
Everything loaded.

But the room wasn’t trying to decide if he was capable.

It was trying to answer a different question.

What changes for us if he walks through the door.

That is a completely different conversation.

Prove mode and solution mode feel identical from the inside.

In the room they land worlds apart.

One makes them nod.

The other makes them move.

And most leaders never realize which conversation they were actually having.

That is Find Your YES.

📍 The YES Factor™

I once sat across from the CIO of one of Canada’s largest companies.

He was my client.

I didn’t spend that conversation establishing credentials.
I didn’t walk him through my background.
I didn’t try to convince him I was worth listening to.

We talked about the business.

About the customer.
About what was possible next.

And that conversation reinforced something I see over and over again.

Authority isn’t built by explaining yourself.

It’s built when the room can quickly see what changes because you are
there.

Here is what many senior leaders do when they are preparing for a move.

They explain themselves.

Their background.
Their experience.
Their track record.

All of it logical.
All of it quietly working against them.
And in senior rooms, that is usually where the evaluation quietly
changes.

Because authority isn’t what gets declared in the room.

It is what decision-makers conclude when they can clearly see the impact
of choosing you.

And the moment the conversation turns into proving, the evaluation has
already shifted.

The leaders who get trusted quickly aren’t the ones with the most
impressive answer.

They are the ones who can hold the business problem in front of the room
and move it forward.

That is the shift behind The YES Factor.

📍 The YES Factor

The resume is not about you.

It never was.

Every leader I talk to has spent weeks, sometimes months, making it better.

Cleaner format.
Stronger bullets.
Better numbers.

All of it about them.

What they built.
What they managed.
What they achieved.

Because from where they’re standing, the conclusion feels obvious.

If the room could just see everything they’ve done, the answer would be clear.

And the room keeps moving on.

Another role filled.
Another conversation that ends warm but goes nowhere.

Because the room was never asking about you.

It was asking about itself.

What problem gets solved when you walk in.

What risk disappears.

What becomes possible that was not possible before.

That question has one answer.

And it is almost never on the resume.

Not because the experience is not there.

Because the resume was built to tell your story.

Not to answer theirs.

That is the shift in this work.

We stop building a record of what you did.

And start building the answer to what the room actually needs.

That is Find Your YES.

📍 The YES Factor™

You have been rehearsing the same answer for three days and it still sounds wrong.

"I know I have not worked in this industry, but let me show you how my experience translates."

Every time you say it out loud, you hear it. You are asking them to overlook something.

And the interview is next Thursday.

Here is what is happening in that room that you are not saying out loud.

They are not deciding if you are close enough. They are deciding what their business looks like if they choose you. And if you make them do the work of connecting your background to their problem, they will not do it.

Most people walk into that room explaining their past and hoping someone sees the fit.

You do not have that kind of time.

I had a client in round 3 this week. Director role. SaaS company. 15 years of exactly what they needed. Zero SaaS experience.

She was carrying the same sentence you are carrying right now.

We eliminated it. We did not manage the gap. We made it the reason.

She walked in Tuesday showing them what becomes possible because she is a builder and they have never had one. Not her history. Their future.

Two hours of focused work.  
We changed how she would be evaluated in that room.

She is not hoping they overlook something anymore.

If you have a conversation next week that decides your next year and you are still rehearsing the wrong answer, you are out of time to figure this out alone.

DM me.

📍 The YES Factor™ | Become the Expert They Hire | Become the Expert They Buy |

You already know what the next level looks like.

You’ve been in those rooms.  
You’ve led those conversations.  
You’ve solved the problems that were keeping the business up at night.

And somewhere in the last few months, something started to feel off.

Not doubt. You’re past doubt.

Something quieter than that.

A growing impatience with a process that keeps measuring the wrong thing.  
That keeps asking you to prove what you’ve already proven.  
That keeps putting you in rooms where you have to over-explain what experienced leaders recognise quickly.

That gap — between who you are in the room and how the market is reading you — is one of the most frustrating places to sit.

Because you’re not starting over.  
You’re not figuring it out.  
You’re already operating at the level you’re aiming for.

But the market isn’t reading you that way yet.

And you’re no longer waiting for the market to catch up.

That’s the work inside The YES Factor™.

Making what already moves because of you unmistakable the moment the room starts forming a view.

📍 The YES Factor

At the senior level, you don’t apply for roles.

They come to you.

At least that’s the story everyone repeats.

And there’s enough truth in it to make people rely on it.

The network matters.
The introduction opens the door.

But the introduction is not the decision.

It gets you into the room.

The moment you sit down, the relationship steps aside.

And the room quietly resets the conversation.

One question decides what happens next.

What changes for the business if we move this forward?

The person who made the introduction cannot answer that.

Only you can.

And the leaders who walk in expecting the relationship to carry that answer are the ones who leave wondering what the room didn’t see.

The network is not the strategy.

It’s the entry point.

What the room already believes you will change is the strategy.

Those are not the same thing.

📍 The YES Factor™

Time isn't money.

Time is worth more than money.

And most senior leaders don't realize how much of it slips away during a transition.

Money can be recovered.
Time cannot.

Yet here's what I see every week:

→ Months spent refining a resume that isn't opening the right doors
→ Hours spent networking without a clear narrative to anchor it
→ Weeks spent pursuing roles that were never the right fit

All effort.
No leverage.

And it adds up faster than you'd think.

Every month without the right positioning quietly costs you:

→ Income you could already be earning
→ Momentum that becomes harder to rebuild the longer you wait
→ Opportunities going to someone no more qualified — just easier for the room to say yes to

Here's what shifts when time starts working for you instead of against you:

→ You lead with a narrative that makes the decision easy
→ You walk into conversations with leverage, not hope
→ You stop chasing and start choosing

The leaders I work with don't have more time than you.

They simply moved from tactics to strategy sooner.

Build the positioning that makes decision-makers say yes faster.

Because time isn’t just money.

It’s the cost of every week the right opportunity can’t see you clearly yet.

Something to think about.

#TheYESFactor

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