Career GPS: Meet Sandy Golinkin… and a Few of Her Success Stories

Maze. Canyon. Fortress. Whatever metaphor you choose to describe today’s job market, Sandy is just the guide to help get you through, over, and in.

From the day we leave home for college, to the transition from school to work, to the moment we realize, mid-career, that it’s time to make a significant change, we are navigating the gaps and barriers between where we are and where we’d like to be, what we have and what we aspire to. As parents, we may be trying to chart our own career transition even as our offspring stares across the abyss at the prospect of his or her first job, with nary a footbridge in sight.

Sandy Golinkin is, among many other attributes, a navigator and a bridge builder. Having reached the pinnacle of success as a magazine publisher of such prestige titles as Lucky, Allure, and Departures, she has founded Raising the Bar, a consulting company designed to help individuals and companies reach a higher standard of excellence.

“Hiring you is like hiring a whole team,” one client marveled. “Listener, connector, coach—it’s astounding all the different roles you can play.”

Sandy’s favored building materials are deceptively simple: dedication, discipline, communication, and preparedness. Not to mention a secret tool that makes every client unique, and uniquely strong: the “wow” factor that, she firmly believes, every one of us possesses, whether we know it or not.

Her primary focus is young people and those forging a new career path, whether right out of school or in the thick of their working lives.

Having spent so many years in publishing, nurturing sales and marketing talent and orchestrating deals across a vast spectrum of industries, Sandy is uniquely qualified to address the shifting terrain of today’s job market, and what it takes to find your footing.

“Back in the day, all you had to do was show up in the right suit with the right credentials, and the keepers of the career-castle would lower the drawbridge for you,” she says with a rueful laugh. “Nowadays, you don’t just have to find the bridge yourself. You have to build it.”

From underclassmen at local colleges to Ivy League seniors, seasoned professionals to bewildered parents, Sandy has helped dozens of clients build the bridges and find the openings they needed to reach their next excellent place.

Read some of their stories here.

Real World 101: Caroline, Regen & Marta

The Midstream Switch: Mark & Elizabeth

Parental Guidance Suggested: Alice, Charles & Stephanie

Raising the Bar, a consulting firm founded by Sandy Golinkin, helps young and mid-career professionals identify, hone, and surpass their career goals.