Praise

One-on-One Coaching

  • Melissa, it was really nice talking to you. Thank you for your sharp insights & answers, very helpful in this (fun) storm.

    — Philippe Dubost, Creator of the Best Online Resume Ever | February 1, 2013

  • I hired Melissa to assist me in building a Resume for International Student Marketer of the Year. She blew me away with her passion and understanding for Career Coaching. Here is how - immediately after our phone call she sent me exercises to learn what set me apart from my competitors. Then, we spoke for almost 3 hours on the phone where she asked me deeper questions about this content. Finally, she used all of this info to provide a resume that was HIGHLY targeted for RESULTS and IMPACT. I sent out the first draft to 12 of my most trusted mentors and received "WOW" results! If you are considering doing this alone. Wait! Call Melissa and just talk out your plans. She can and will provide you with the same great results that she provided me!

    — James Bois Smith, former Specialist E-4 in the Army National Guard | December 11, 2011

  • Melissa is a creative, thorough and insightful career coach. Her preparation and innate understanding of my needs exceeded all my expectations. In helping me prepare for interviews, Melissa helped me express my personal mission and hone in on the unique talents I can offer that set me apart from my peers. And articulate these skills a way that resonated with the organizations where I wanted to work. Not only did she prepare challenging and relevant questions, but she gave me innovative ideas to propose to potential employers to meet their needs. Most notably, she suggested that I offer to prepare a presentation for Master’s candidates on my field experience for a contact at an academic institution during an informational interview and it was a hit! Working with Melissa built my confidence and gave me the tools I needed to conduct a stellar interview. I would work with her again in a heartbeat.

    — Jessica Rodrigues, Independent Consultant for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation | March 21, 2012

  • Melissa’s career coaching was inspirational for me! Her coaching questions provided clarity to my career dynamics and how to formulate a career strategy. Melissa is keen with targeted questions and conversation to unveil what is most important to me as a leader and as a person! Without question, I would recommend her! I am certain I will request her career coaching assistance in the future!

    — Kimberly Gibbs, Sr. Manager of Base Supply Chain & Logistics at American Airlines | June 29, 2012

  • I'm excited to say that I am now part of Melissa's success stories. We worked together for only about two weeks and in that time she transformed my whole approach towards navigating the job market. The most impressive aspect of her work was how thorough she was when evaluating each and every one of my past experiences. Afterward, she re-drafted my resume and found ways to highlight all of my achievements in a truly inspiring manner. She provided me with a strategy on how to work my Linkedin network and then she gave me thorough interview prep, specific to the job that I was interviewing for. Since graduating two years ago, I continually sought to become a part of the JP Morgan Chase team and thanks to Melissa's guidance, I finally had the right approach and was more prepared than ever. I was ultimately extended an attractive offer and so it is with great pleasure that I say that my investment in her career coaching paid 10X. Actually, I feel like she set me up to help me meet my future goal of getting into a top business school. Melissa's career coaching and guidance is invaluable.

    — Jimmy Figueroa, Sourcing Manager at JPMorgan Chase & Co. | March 23, 2012

Workshops

  • Melissa Llarena’s Making LinkedIn Your Ultimate Career Advocate workshop at the LGBT Career Fair was so popular I was glad the fire marshal didn’t stop by.  The room was packed with people not wanting to leave, there was not enough of Melissa to go around and I can only hope she will come back and share more.

    — Kristen Kentner, Corporate Relations Officer for the LGBT Community Center in NYC | October 25, 2012

  • I am really happy that I was part of the seminar presented by  Ms.Llarena in our W!se Institute program. Her overall presentation on the variety of ways individuals may use the internet to earn maximum life time earnings was of great interest to me. Ms.Llarena  pointed out the usage of various internet media sources as I have never thought of before. Her presentation was very informative and proved great professionalism. I was really impressed with Ms.Llarena's interaction with the students and the use of the activity that would tie up her presentation to the class. Her knowledge of  finance is tremendous and I hope she continues to share that content with other students in the near future.

    — Mirsad J., Student at the High School of Economics and Finance | March 12, 2013

  • Melissa was incredibly accommodating and easy to work with while producing excellent results. Melissa came to lead a behavioral case interview workshop at the Latina Empowerment and Development Conference held by Latinas Unidas de Harvard College and worked with the organizers to create a program that would interest those attending the workshop. Because it was a smaller workshop she was able to specialize her presentation so that it was especially relevant to those in the room. The attendees were captivated by her presentation and every attendee mentioned in the recommendation form how much they enjoyed and learned from her workshop. The workshop that she held was right before lunch and even though lunch was being served, the attendees pleaded that she should continue. They kept asking questions way past the workshop ended because of the interest they had and how much value they found the workshop. Many of the attendees listed her workshop as their favorite part of the conference and one even commented that we absolutely need to bring her back next year because her advice and insight for interviews is crucial for the job market. Not only did her presentation energize the attendees, her broad range of expertise was helpful and she specialized the content of the workshop to what the attendees wanted. I would definitely recommend Melissa and look forward to working with her in future conferences.

    — Jennifer Rodriguez, Student at Harvard University and Treasurer of Latinas Unidas de Harvard College | March 29, 2012

  • We were delighted that Ms. Llarena accepted our invitation to serve as presenter for the Jobs for America’s Graduates Career Development Conference at Monmouth University, New Jersey. Her presentation on financial literacy to high school students was more than informative.  Students remained engaged as she shared relevant anecdotes and facilitated collaborative group work to aid students in recognizing financial belief systems, where they emanate, and how to adjust one’s thinking about spending and saving that will result in a good quality of life beyond high school. Her experience in working with various audiences was evident, and her professionalism in working with our conference team was welcomed and appreciated. We hope Ms. Llarena will continue to share essential knowledge with our students in the future.

    — Sandra G. Strothers, Ph.D., JAG New Jersey Conference Chair | July 26, 2012

  • Melissa presented a workshop this June as a part of the Wasserman Center for Career Development’s programming for NYU alumni. Her presentation focused on “Strategies and a Road Map for Those Actively Seeking to Transition out of the Financial Services Industry”. The Wasserman Center received a lot of positive feedback from alumni who found the presentation to be both insightful and motivating. Melissa was an enthusiastic and reliable presenter.

    — Tara Schwartz, Assistant Director, Career Development Counselor, NYU Wasserman Center for Career Development | June 18, 2012