Alison Bannister Career Coaching is a career development and small business support service led by Alison Bannister, a qualified Career Coach and Small Business Advisor with over 15 years’ experience across employment services, education, and entrepreneurship.
Alison specialises in working with Defence partners and their families, offering personalised one-on-one support that addresses the challenges of managing a career with Defence life. Beyond the Defence community, Alison Bannister Career Coaching supports young people, job seekers, and aspiring entrepreneurs. Through individual coaching and community-based programs, clients gain clarity, build confidence, and take practical steps towards meaningful employment or self-employment.
Alison's approach is warm, down-to-earth, and deeply focused on the individual and practical outcomes. Her work has supported hundreds of individuals to gain employment, launch businesses, or re-enter the workforce with renewed purpose.
At its core, Alison Bannister Career Coaching exists to ensure that no one has to choose between their lifestyle and their career and that every client feels supported and equipped to create a working life they love.
Alison is a proud provider of the ADF Partner Employment Assistance Program (PEAP) and delivers personalised support to Defence partners across Australia. Her services include resume and LinkedIn development, interview preparation, small business mentoring, addressing key selection criteria, and building confidence to return to work or pivot careers.
She understands the unique challenges Defence partners face: disrupted career paths, frequent relocations, and limited local opportunities. In response, she hosts monthly ‘Career, Coffee & Catch-Up’ sessions in conjunction with Marilla Community Centre in Rockingham WA, providing free, informal career support in a safe, supportive setting that helps reduce isolation, builds connection, and gives partners confidence, clarity and direction. Alison walks through and explains PEAP and local services available to partners leaving them with a clear understanding of the support they can access, practical next steps, and a renewed sense of possibility about their career or business journey.
Her impact extends across the country, with many clients securing meaningful employment or establishing flexible portable small businesses. One Defence spouse shared:
‘Thanks Aly – That’s 3/3 job offers you have helped me with – in 3 postings.
Love ya work, Jill M. xxx’
Alison proudly works with ‘the most resilient, tenacious, ballsy women on the planet.’ Each with a different story. Each with a different challenge.
Her mission is simple: to ensure Defence partners feel seen, heard, supported and equipped to build sustainable careers and businesses that fit their lives, wherever Defence life takes them.