Career Positioning Cohort — June 2026

Dates: Wednesday, 10 June – Friday, 26 June 2026 

Weekly Sessions: Wednesdays, Thursdays & Fridays

Time: 5:00 PM CET

Cost: Free

Every week, thousands of qualified young professionals apply for opportunities and never hear back. The skills are there. The visibility is not. 

The Hesed World Career Positioning Cohort is a three-week mentorship programme designed to change that. It brings together experienced mentors from across international development, entrepreneurship, education, and the private sector to work directly with you on the career challenges that matter most.

We built this cohort around the two career challenges we hear most consistently from young professionals across Africa and beyond.

The first: not knowing what your experience actually qualifies you for. You may have real, substantive experience — volunteer work, NGO roles, entrepreneurship, field work — and still feel underqualified. That feeling is more common than people admit, and it costs people opportunities they were already ready for.

The second: a job search that is not working, and not knowing why. Most people are relying on a narrow set of channels and criteria, which keeps the search small and the right opportunities out of reach.

If either of those sounds familiar, this programme was designed for you.

Over three weeks, you will build a clear picture of what your experience actually qualifies you for, learn to communicate your skills in a way that opens doors, develop a strategy for finding the right opportunities, and leave with practical tools you can use immediately in your CV, on LinkedIn, and in interviews.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

This programme is for you if you are:

• A student or recent graduate trying to figure out your next step

• An early-career professional whose job search is not working and you are not sure why

• Someone with real experience including volunteer work, NGO roles, entrepreneurship, and informal work who struggles to translate it into professional language

• Someone considering a career transition into a new role or industry

• Anyone who feels stuck and wants clarity, direction, and practical support

The cohort welcomes professionals between the ages of 18 and 35+. 

Whether you are just starting out or changing direction, there is a place for you here.

PROGRAMME SCHEDULE

Wed, 10 June

Onboarding Call: Welcome & What to Expect

Thu, 11 June

Understanding Your Experience & What It Qualifies You For

Teaching

Fri, 12 June

Office Hour 1 — Open Q&A

Wed, 17 Jun

Identifying & Communicating Your Transferable Skills

Teaching

Thu, 18 June

Finding the Right Career Path for You

Teaching

Fri, 19 June

Office Hour 2 — Open Q&A

Wed, 24 June

Transitioning Into a New Role or Industry

Teaching

Thu, 25 June

Widening Your Job Search & Presenting Yourself

Teaching

Fri, 26 June

Special Session on Sport Tourism + Programme Close

Final Session

All teaching sessions run from 5:00 PM CET and last 90 minutes, except Session 5 on Thursday, 25 June which begins at 12:00 PM CET.

SESSION BREAKDOWN

ONBOARDING — Wednesday, 10 June 2026 | 5:00 PM CET 

Onboarding Call — Welcome & What to Expect 

The opening session welcomes you into the cohort, walks you through the structure and schedule, sets expectations, and gives you the chance to meet the mentors and your fellow cohort members before the teaching sessions begin. Attendance is mandatory for all registered participants.

Led by: Kiki Lawal, President and Founder, Hesed World, and Professor Dr. Octavia Cerchez, President and Director of Research, Geneva Interdisciplinary Centre for Economics and Law

WEEK 1 — Mindset & Self-Discovery | 11–12 June 2026 

Theme: Know who you are and what you bring

Before you can position yourself for opportunities, you need to see your own experience clearly. Week 1 lays that foundation. You will learn how to read your own story, recognise what it demonstrates, and begin communicating it in a way that works for the opportunities you want. 

Session 1 — Thursday, 11 June | 5:00 PM CET 

Understanding Your Experience & What It Qualifies You For 

Most people undercount their own experience. This session helps participants audit their full career story — including volunteer, informal, part-time, and unpaid work — and reframe it into a professional narrative that reflects your real value. You will leave with a written inventory of your experience and a clearer, more confident sense of what you qualify for. 

Led by: Prof. Patrick Maluki, Chairman, Diplomacy & International Studies, University of Nairobi

Office Hour 1 — Friday, 12 June | 5:00 PM CET 

Live open Q&A. No fixed agenda. Bring any questions from the week's sessions or your own career situation. Attendance is encouraged but not compulsory. 

WEEK 2 — Strategy & Career Navigation | 17–19 June 2026 

Theme: Know where you're going and how to get there

With a stronger sense of what you bring, Week 2 helps you build a strategy. You will learn to communicate your skills in language that works, and develop a clear sense of the direction that is right for you. 

Session 2 — Wednesday, 17 June | 5:00 PM CET

 Identifying & Communicating Your Transferable Skills 

Your skills do not disappear when you change roles or sectors, but most people do not know how to carry them across. In this session, you will name, map, and articulate your top transferable skills in language that works for CVs, LinkedIn profiles, cover letters, and interviews. You will leave with a clear, written skills list and practical language you can use straight away. 

Led by: Giovanni Di Cola, Member of the Board, Greycells

Session 3 — Thursday, 18 June | 5:00 PM CET 

Finding the Right Career Path for You 

Career confusion is normal. What helps is a practical framework for evaluating your options using your skills, interests, values, and circumstances, and moving from a scattered set of ideas to a focused shortlist of realistic directions. You will leave this session with 2 to 3 aligned career paths to pursue and a framework you can return to whenever the next career decision comes. 

Led by: Muthoni Njogu, Social Entrepreneur & Transformational Coach (PCC)

Office Hour 2 — Friday, 19 June | 5:00 PM CET 

Live open Q&A. No fixed agenda. Bring any questions from the week's sessions or your own career situation. Attendance is encouraged but not compulsory. 

WEEK 3 — Execution & Opportunity Access | 24–26 June 2026 

Theme: Take action, find opportunities, and put yourself forward

The final week is about doing. You will take everything you have built in the first two weeks and apply it, learning how to make career transitions, find the right opportunities, and present yourself in a way that gets noticed. 

Session 4 — Wednesday, 24 June | 5:00 PM CET 

Transitioning Into a New Role or Industry 

You don't need the exact title or the perfect degree to move into a new field. In this session, you will learn how career transitions actually happen, how to use your existing background as an advantage in a new field, and how to build credibility without starting from zero. You will leave with a realistic, step-by-step transition plan and a clear sense of what to do next. 

Led by: Debbra A.K. Johnson, Risk & Resilience Advisor, ARISE (USA)

Session 5 — Thursday, 25 June | 12:00 PM CET 

Widening Your Job Search & Presenting Yourself 

Most job searches fail because they rely on too few channels and a CV that doesn't do its job. This session maps the full opportunity landscape including jobs, fellowships, grants, consultancies, and scholarships, and shows you how to use LinkedIn, community platforms, and proactive outreach to find roles that fit. You will also look at the CV and profile mistakes that filter people out, and leave with an expanded search strategy and at least one concrete improvement you can make straight away. 

Led by: Hiromi Amano, Youth Engagement Analyst, UNDP

Final Session — Friday, 26 June | 5:00 PM CET 

Special Session on Sport Tourism + Open Q&A & Programme Close 

The programme closes with a special guest session on emerging career opportunities in sport tourism, followed by an open Q&A covering any outstanding questions from across the three weeks. The session ends with a participant spotlight, closing words from the mentors, and a formal celebration of the cohort. 

Special Session led by: Claude Sobry Emeritus, Member, Greycells 

Closing Remarks: Kiki Lawal, President & Founder, Hesed World

MEET THE MENTORS

More information, including mentor photos and full bios, will be added shortly.

Kiki Lawal

President & Founder, Hesed World

Professor Dr. Octavia Cerchez

President & Director of Research, Geneva Interdisciplinary Centre for Economics and Law

Prof. Patrick Maluki

Chairman, Diplomacy & International Studies, University of Nairobi

Giovanni Di Cola

Member of the Board, Greycells

Muthoni Njogu

Social Entrepreneur & Transformational Coach (PCC)

Debbra A.K. Johnson

Risk & Resilience Advisor, ARISE (USA)

Hiromi Amano

Youth Engagement Analyst, UNDP

Claude Sobry Emeritus

Member, Greycells

HOW TO REGISTER:

Join the Hesed World Youth Community on WhatsApp to take part in the programme and stay informed about all updates, session links, and announcements.