FAQ

What is Voco?

Voco is a community dedicated to transforming your career and how you feel about it. that gives you control over your career by helping you understand what you want from work, and connecting you to other people who can help you get there.

It combines networking with the goal-setting philosophy of coaching and the long-term encouragement of mentoring. Voco's algorithms match you with relevant people from a diverse range of sectors and backgrounds. You connect and support each other to achieve your goals, whatever they may be.

Voco provides structured and smart content and coaching exercises to help guide your personal journey, while tracking your sentiment towards your career as you go.

How does Voco support people?

Voco reimagines career support by unlocking the power of peer conversations.

We carefully match individuals with relevant peers for structured, purposeful conversations about your jobs and careers, taking the hassle out of building a career support network.

We provide 'talking points' and agendas ahead of time to ensure easy and effective conversations, as well as deeper dives into career-thinking to support the Voco journey. Our conversation guides have been carefully crafted to help build coaching skills, as well as to clarify challenges and opportunities, and for matches to find common ground quickly.
‍
Voco provides a safe, confidential space to connect with others from our community, and to dedicate time to exploring new ideas about work. Voco members learn from each other’s real-life work challenges, and offer new perspectives and insights to help one another reach their goals, together.

Voco’s peer conversations enable everyone to easily build a trusted network of unbiased advisors; while simultaneously helping to build each other's confidence, overcome limiting factors such as imposter syndrome, and refining their own expertise as they advise and support others in return.

Who is Voco for?

Voco is for anyone who wants to be the best they can be in their career - particularly emerging and aspiring leaders. While we believe everyone deserves support, we have found that Voco's peer-centric approach works best when people have some work experience behind them, and are looking for a collaborative, mutual exchange of insights and perspectives geared towards supporting their journey, as opposed to a more directive form of support such as traditional mentoring.

Why does Voco match peers?

We take a peer based approach to matching, to make sure members meet people whose real-world experience is both relevant and recent, and who can empathise with each other on an equal footing.

While traditional mentoring - where there is a significantly more senior mentor and a junior mentee - can be very effective, it can also create power imbalances or reinforce hierarchies at work.

Studies have shown that support from peers can offer more in terms of shared equity and expertise, as well as increased empathy. In addition, peer-based relationships tend to be more effective when people progress to more senior roles, and last longer than those in traditional mentoring pairs (source).

Can Voco be used to match people within organisations or existing communities?

Absolutely! Voco's data-driven matching and curated conversation structure can be used to help build a peer-led learning and development culture within organisations, or to unlock expertise and drive connection within existing communities.

If you're interested in working with us to design a specific solution for your audience, please drop us a line at hello@joinvoco.io

How are Voco members matched?

We use the information provided during our sign up questionnaire to carefully match members with likeminded members who have relevant experience, empathy for each other's challenges, complementary values and expertise, and who can offer a diverse and objective range of perspectives and ideas. Our matching process is data-led and based on behavioural psychological theory.

We provide icebreakers, thought-starters and discussion topics to help guide conversations. Together members support each other to make measurable progress towards their goals, whatever they may be.

After an initial conversation, members will be asked if they want to continue to have conversations with that connection and if they both say yes, we'll connect on an ongoing basis. Members can also opt to meet new matches at any time.

Can I try it for free?

Voco's community revolves around commitment and mutual respect, so we charge an annual subscription to make sure everyone's on the same page.

However, if your personal circumstances mean you simply cannot afford to join, please email us at hello@joinvoco.io to discuss options.

Who else is a Voco member?

Voco members are experienced professionals from a wide range of sectors and levels across the globe, all united by their commitment to taking control of their careers. They might be career changers searching for more purpose; business founders looking for specific advice; established leaders seeking to smash through glass ceilings; or rising stars navigating the challenges of new leadership roles. Voco members are generally ambitious, both personally and professionally, and are looking to progress further by working together with others.

Our membership currently includes people from organisations such as Facebook, Ogilvy, HuffPost, MSI Choices, Lego, AMRA Music, Ipsos MORI, Unbabel, OVO Energy, the Clinton Foundation, M&C Saatchi, IPG MediaBrands, Unmind, Universal Music, Harbr and the NBA, as well as start-up founders, freelancers and consultants.

How much does it cost to join Voco and what do I get?

Founder membership of Voco is currently free for a limited time only.
‍
As a founder member, you will have the opportunity to help us build the Voco community. You will have access to a tailored onboarding experience to help you understand your motivations, goals and challenges, and you will be introduced to other members who have complementary profiles.
‍
We will help you set goals, track your progress, help you build your personalised community of advisors, and provide structured content and expert career advice to help guide your journey and encourage effective conversations with your Voco matches.
‍

How does Voco work?

Voco provides you with smart tools and intelligent analysis - usually reserved for expensive executive coaching and team building - which help you get a better picture of who you are and what you want from your career. We then match you with likeminded individuals to forge meaningful, useful connections. Together you advise, coach and mentor each other to make measurable progress towards your goals, whatever they may be. Voco matches you with people who have empathy for your challenges, who have complementary values and expertise, and who can offer a diverse and objective range of perspectives and ideas.

You will be initially matched with a relevant peer for an introductory conversation. After that chat, both of you will decide if you want to continue talking and working together - and if you both agree, you can continue to schedule conversations and can share relevant information with each other to help make progress. If either or both of you don’t want to continue together, then you will appear in each other’s Voco Network - a wider personalised community of career contacts that can be accessed at any time. You can request a new match every week, or at less frequent intervals depending on what works best for you.
‍
Your Voco journey will be supported by tracking, feedback and learning to help you maximise the impact of your conversations and the progress you make.

What is expected of Voco members?

Voco is a career community, so active participation and engagement is critical. Put simply, the more members put in, the more they get out. We fully believe that everyone has something to offer and something to learn, and so we encourage everyone to see themselves equally as seeking support from, and providing support to, other members.
‍
And advising others can be hugely helpful in helping people see their own careers or achievements in a new light, in building confidence and in addressing challenges such as imposter syndrome.

What about senior people? Are they mentors?

Every Voco member connects on an equal footing for a mutual exchange: there are no mentors and mentees.

Even the most successful leaders have something to learn from others, so we encourage everyone to approach Voco with an open mind and make valuable connections that could spark something amazing.

How many matches can I have?

You can choose to match with a new connection every week, or at less frequent intervals, depending on what works best for you. After an initial conversation, you will be asked if you want to continue to work with that connection and if both of you say yes, you can continue to connect on an ongoing basis.

How many ongoing connections can a member have?

Voco members create their own personalised community of advisors, composed of the people they feel they can build meaningful relationships with. Think of it as a personal Board of Directors, with different people bringing different skills and expertise to help each other make progress.

Members are free to switch up their connections at any time - we always ask that they are respectful of other people's time and commitment however.

What if I want to continue to talk to someone but they don’t want to?

The decision to build a meaningful peer-mentoring relationship needs to be mutual in order to be effective, which is why both of you must agree to continue. But not every match will result in a longer term commitment to work together, and that can be for a variety of reasons such as changing priorities or lack of time so don’t be disheartened - this isn’t a dating site!

How do I set my goals?

We believe that goals should be driven by empathy and authenticity; so while salary increases, new jobs and promotions are great, measurable outputs; what you’re really aiming for is a positive change in your sentiment towards work. So getting a promotion might be one of the steps towards your stated outcome, rather than the destination in itself. We'll help you set the goals that feel right for you, and introduce you to other people who can help you smash them.
‍
Finding the right Voco members to work with will help you define the actions that can support your outcomes; and consistent engagement and measurement of your sentiment towards your progress will provide genuinely useful feedback on the things that really matter to you.

How much time do members commit to Voco?

We don’t specify the amount of time you should commit to Voco, but active participation and mutual respect is what makes our community effective.

On average, we know that members who commit around 30 minutes a week to Voco - either through having a conversation with another member or by reflecting on their goals and ambitions - make the most progress.

Ultimately, Voco is designed to be flexible and to fit in with your life, and we're on hand to guide you through your journey, providing useful tools and methodologies to structure your experience.

How much does Voco cost?

Voco membership for individuals is £30 a month.
‍
To discuss corporate membership of Voco please schedule a demo call to discuss how we can support your team. Alternatively, ping us an email at hello@joinvoco.io and a member of our team will get in touch.

Why is Voco called Voco?

What's in a name? Good question! Voco is derived from a Latin term that means to 'come together' or to 'invite'. We liked this sentiment as we think Voco is all about inviting people to come together to talk about their career journeys. Join us!

Frequently Asked
Questions.

Ready to meet your matches?

Want to learn more?

Frequently Asked Questions.

Ready to meet your matches?

Want to learn more?

Frequently Asked
Questions.