Hello, I’m Leslie Rose McDonald, founder and President of Pathfinders. I conceived the idea for Pathfinders in 1991 after experiencing my own painful job loss from my Human Resources management role (twice in three years due to mergers and acquisitions). My personal story was the inspiration for what has now become the area’s premier provider of services for professionals in transition.
I was stunned at how someone like me, who was not only successful in my professional role, but also who had immense emotional resiliency, could be as vulnerable as I was when I lost my job. My self-esteem, normally healthy and positive, turned into self-doubt and depression. I had no idea how much my job and title were a part of my life and sense of identity until it was stripped away.
I realized that if I was impacted this way, others would most likely have a similar experience and need not only grounding and encouragement, but reliable professional guidance and resources with which to become re-employed as quickly as possible. The end destination needed to be a good fit for their personal and professional goals, whether is was traditional re-employment, or a form of self-employment / entrepreneurship. My mission had emerged!
I saw my own personal experience of job loss from a high technology company as a foreshadowing of what was on the horizon: more white collar jobs shifting or being eliminated as the business world adapted to emerging technologies and global competition.
Our initial service offerings included individual outplacement services for all professional levels, as well as groups that ranged from small departments to whole facilities. Additional offerings included relocating spouse / partner services to assist “trailing” professionals in their re-employment efforts in a new and unfamiliar community.
Today, we are the only full-service outplacement provider in the greater central New York area that offers professional facilities with fully equipped office space, a job search and business lending library, and on-site support from our competent and caring consulting & administrative staff.
As we entered the new millennium, the market started to shift from employer-driven to employee-driven. It became evident that our clients and other businesses would soon need a specialized professional partner to assist with employee and leadership development and retention efforts.
Anticipating these needs of the business community and playing to the strengths of our team, Pathfinders “re-invented” itself and evolved from predominantly career transition services to adding comprehensive coaching, consulting and facilitation services as well:
We now support the full spectrum of needs in the talent management life-cycle: Attraction – Assessment – Selection – Engagement – Development – Transition.
To enhance the expansion of our services and resources, Pathfinders became affiliated with Career Partners International in 2006. This has allowed us to provide full and consistent service to our clients through a network of trusted colleagues in other parts of the US and around the world.
We know and live by the value of relationships:
Our business has grown predominantly from repeat and referral business from our very satisfied clients who have come to trust who we are and how we work. They know that Pathfinders represents integrity of services, and we are proud of the relationships and reputation that we have built over the past 20 years. Pathfinders continues to maintain relationships with hundreds of businesses and client alumni throughout the United States and Canada. These clients range from small and mid – sized businesses to large enterprise and Fortune 500 customers and span many different industry sectors.
Who we are
We are a values-based team of competent and caring consulting / coaching professionals who facilitate and support healthy individual and organizational decision-making.
What we do
We model business success by living our values, giving great service, and being profitable
How we do it
We practice and promote integrity in all of our actions and relationships.
We exhibit competence and professionalism in all of our endeavors.
We focus on and acknowledge the positive in others and ourselves.
We embrace and practice the concept of life long learning.
We respect and accept others, valuing their unique perspectives and contributions.
We seek out and nurture relationships that align with our purpose and values.
We choose trust over fear.
Our Philosophy
Our philosophy is quite simple: we believe that people essentially want to do well and contribute positively to the organization that they work for. We believe that most everyone has good intentions about the work that they are doing. If things are not going as they should, there are identifiable competency, motivational, personal/coping issues, or communications and interpersonal skills that are lacking. Once identified, these are frequently trainable or coachable.
