Natalie Tran

Natalie TranSep 16, 2026

“Career ladder” feels like a pretty incomplete way to describe what a good career can look like now. I'm talking about Monday to Wednesday CFO fractional and Thursday to Friday Gallery Owner/Director. Watching my client build this portfolio career has been such a rewarding thing to witness. She didn’t choose one lane and shut down everything else. Then there’s an AI Product Owner who is currently developing a wellness business idea that’s been sitting in the background for a while. It’s early stages, but that’s the point. You have to start giving them shape. For many experienced professionals, especially mid-career and beyond, the next chapter doesn’t necessarily have to be another full-time role. It can come from building work around their skills, judgment, credibility and interests. After decades of building experience, they’ve earned the opportunity to ask a different question: What do I actually want work to look like now? More flexibility, self-directed and aligned. And there are signs that more Australians are thinking this way. Randstad’s 2026 Workmonitor found that 34% of Australian workers surveyed said they want a portfolio career, slightly more than the 33% who want a traditional, linear career path. US hiring demand for fractional roles increased 149% year on year from Q1 2025 to Q1 2026. I’m not surprised. Fractional roles can make a lot of sense for mid career professionals who still want to contribute at a high level without necessarily taking on everything that comes with another full-time executive role. They offer impact, variety and a different relationship with work. And when that sits alongside something else that matters to you, it can become a very interesting portfolio. What I love about portfolio careers is that they allow people to use more of who they are. -Deep expertise from their corporate career -Commercial thinking developed over time -Leadership capability that still has enormous value -The desire for freedom, autonomy and a structure that fits real life -Interests and ambitions that may have had very little room in their previous career I’ve worked with more and more clients who are actively choosing this path over returning to a single-employer role. For some, there’s also something appealing about not having their entire career or income, dependent on one organisation. Another pattern I hear is "After going through the exercises you gave me, I am reminded that I'm allowed to have a thriving career beyond my main domain I've been working in for years." Exactly! You are allowed to want this. You’re allowed to be very good at one thing and still be curious about something completely different. Honestly, seeing someone intentionally design their own career structure is incredibly rewarding. The next move can be intentionally designing your own career structure. Have you ever thought about what a portfolio career could look like for you?

Natalie TranSep 14, 2026

September is an important month to get serious about your job search. One thing a decade of transition coaching has taught me: the job market doesn’t move at the same pace all year. If you're in the market right now or looking to make a career move before the end of the year, September is when you get the strategy right and follow a plan. The next few months will move quickly. Before you know it, we're into October, then November, and conversations start shifting towards year-end, budgets and "let's pick this up after Christmas." I'd focus on seven things now. 1. Get clear on what you want first. Start with one to three realistic target roles. Get specific about the problems you want to solve, the level you're targeting and the organisations where your experience actually makes sense. That makes everything else easier. 2. Then audit your positioning. If someone landed on your LinkedIn profile today, would they understand where you're heading? Your headline, About section, experience and activity should connect the dots between what you've done and what you want to do next. Don't make people work it out. 3. Get your branding assets in order- customise your CV for the target roles you want, your personal commercial and a story ready for interviews. 4. Build a target company list. Don't just rely on job ads, identify twenty to thirty organisations you'd genuinely like to work for. Start understanding their priorities, structure, leadership team, recent hires and where your experience could add value. Your job search becomes intentional when you know where you're trying to land. 5. Map the people around the opportunity. For each priority organisation, identify the likely hiring managers, people one level above them, peers doing similar roles, recruiters or talent partners, and former colleagues who can provide an introduction. Focus on the people around each opportunity and build relationships with them. 6. Start conversations before you need something. This is where most people wait too long. Networking works better when the first message isn't "can you help me get this job?" Use September to reconnect, ask questions, share what you're exploring and learn what's happening inside your target market. Some of those conversations may turn into opportunities later. 7. Create a ninety-day job search rhythm. Decide what happens every week. A simple structure might include five meaningful new conversations, five follow-ups, two to three targeted applications, one piece of LinkedIn content or thoughtful market commentary, and one review of what's working. September isn’t about panicking because there are only a few months left in the year. It’s about using those months well. Get the strategy right now, and you give yourself more ways to create opportunities before the year is out and a much stronger starting position for 2027.

Natalie TranSep 7, 2026

I was in the lobby after an event when I saw a familiar face. Someone I hadn't thought about in years. A person who'd been one level above the manager I reported to at a previous role. In that brief moment, two things struck me: First, how small the world really is. That person was part of the final round of interviews for a role I'd interviewed for years ago. Every effort, every connection, every conversation, none of it is wasted. Second, how many career transitions stall because people aren't being proactive enough about exactly this kind of connection. When people ask me why some transitions don't move, I always come back to the same thing. It's rarely about sending more applications. Almost every time, it's about having a more deliberate networking strategy. This is the approach that works consistently for clients: Start by mapping the organisation around your target role. You're identifying specific people who can help you understand the role more clearly and maybe also build a warmer pathway into the business. You can ask your favourite AI tool to find them or run a search on LinkedIn for the job titles you're targeting, then set the initial filter to "People." Then use the "Company" filter to add your target company. Add any other relevant filters. Now you have a focused list of real people, not just a job posting. Think about these people around that role you are targeting: 1. Hiring managers. They're the obvious starting point as they are the main decision makers but if it's not obvious and there may be more than one, so do your research. 2. Peers with same title. They have a read on what the team is really focused on, what comes up in interviews, and where capability gaps exist but aren't yet being stated clearly. 3. Peers in adjacent functions. They hold the practical context that candidates miss. They understand how the team works internally and what relationships influence hiring decisions. 4. The "next level" managers. They may have influence on the hiring decision and may likely be included in one of the later interview stages. Make that shift from "I'm applying for a job" to "I'm understanding this organisation through the people in it" Finally it is also a good idea to do research on former employees in your network. People who used to work at that company. They know the culture, the decision-makers, and in some instances can often make warm introductions. They also understand why people leave, which gives you insight into what's actually happening. Have you tried mapping the ecosystem around a role instead of just applying? What changed when you shifted to that approach?