New Directions Career Center (NDCC) offers cutting-edge job searching and self-promotion techniques for individuals experiencing career transition and links you to hiring employers in Central Ohio.  We help you find a vocational identity through a curriculum incorporating self-exploration, confidence building, career exploration, goal setting and planning and advanced self-marketing skills.  We help you create your own vision of long-term success while instilling hope and sparking momentum to make your goals a reality.

NDCC supports you in discovering who you are, what you want, and creating a detailed plan to meet your current needs while progressing towards long-term employment goals; so by the time we help you with resume writing and interviewing, you believe in the value you bring to the table and can more confidently communicate that value to potential employers, plus are equipped with new tools to navigate your job search!

Unlike other career development organizations in Central Ohio, NDCC employs Licensed Professional Counselors (LPCs) as part of the team that creates and delivers our programs and services. We believe that through their advanced training, counselors are better equipped to recognize the mental and emotional challenges that accompany poverty, job loss, long-term unemployment, and career shifts.

Based in wellness concepts, our services offer holistic, comprehensive career development content that prepares you to enter or re-enter the workforce while emphasizing the importance of self-care and personal growth to mitigate the effects of toxic stress. Through self and career exploration topics, you will get to know your authentic self while conducting career research to identify careers that are personally fulfilling and financially sustaining.

NDCC works with individuals in various career transitions, from pre-GED to PhD, from 18 to 80+, and really is a center for all women.   All too often, if you are a woman in transition you are being moved against your will or without your control. You feel alone while the world just moves around you.

Perhaps you just experienced an unexpected loss, such as a divorce, death, or layoff at your job. Perhaps you have experienced abuse, addiction, or poverty and are wounded from your traumas. Perhaps you are transitioning to a new phase of life – adulthood, “empty-nesting” – and need advice from someone other than your family and friends. Or, maybe you’re just stuck and don’t know how to move forward.

You might feel hopeless, frustrated, stressed-out, and overwhelmed. You might struggle with confidence and making decisions. You might lack support and resources, whether that’s money from a lifetime of underemployment or time and energy from taking care of everyone else while your needs were pushed aside.

Regardless of your circumstances and experiences, know that you are welcome at New Directions and we are ready for you to join our sisterhood of support!

We offer our programs on a sliding fee scale to ensure we can work with everyone, regardless of one’s ability to pay.  We are always happy to reduce or waive fees if it would create a financial hardship and will determine your fee assistance during your initial orientation.

New Directions provides transportation assistance (gas cards, bus passes, and free parking) for eligible participants while they attend class.  Childcare assistance is available to eligible women participating in the New Directions 10-day and 16-day programs. To officially determine if you are eligible for assistance, all you have to do is attend an orientation.

The Center’s funding comes from a variety of sources including funding from the city of Columbus, grants from numerous community, corporate and family foundations; individual gifts from friends of the Center; fees for service; and fund-raising events conducted by the Center and by other groups that wish to support our mission.

After completing one of the Center’s core programs, we offer a series of experiences to keep you moving in the right direction.  In combination with our other Graduate Services, you are able to work with the Center’s Employment Consultant who helps with job searching, resume writing, interview preparation, identifying employment leads that match your individual qualifications and career goals, and making connections/recommendations to hiring employers.

Additionally, our monthly Meet the Recruiter sessions connect job seekers to hiring employers in Central Ohio, providing opportunities to get insider-information about their hiring process and available jobs, while allowing employers to put a face to your name in case you apply for a job with a company represented.

In 2020, over 75% of program graduates actively seeking work or looking to begin educational programs after their NDCC graduation found new employment, started school, or both!