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Naomi Rothwell-Boyd, February 17 2023

What Can a Career Coach Do for Me? Find Out These Benefits

Have you ever asked yourself, "what can a career coach do for me?" If so, then it's time to take a closer look at the potential benefits of working with one. It's understandable to consider if it's worth investing in career coaching.

A career coach can provide valuable guidance and insight that will help guide your job search or career change journey. A career coach can help you define your abilities and identify your ideal career path. Let's look at what they can provide in more detail.

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What Should I Expect From A Career Coach?

A career coach is a professional who helps job seekers and professionals navigate their careers. They can equip you with the tools to recognise potential, plan your trajectory and hone capabilities required for success. A career coach can be invaluable in aiding you to recognise your aptitudes and shortcomings, establishing aspirations, constructing a strategy for realising your career goals, and cultivating the skills necessary to reach them.

Career coaching isn't just about providing advice; it's also about holding you accountable for taking action towards achieving your goals. Your coach will ask questions that challenge you out of complacency or inertia so that you stay focused on reaching success faster than if left alone. They'll also give honest feedback when needed as well as celebrate successes along the way.

Expect your career coach to interrogate you on the current state of your job, what sort of employment would be purposeful for you, and other topics relevant to making a successful transition into another position or sector. Your coach may also suggest resources such as books or websites that could help guide your decision-making process.

Why Not Go It Alone?

Many people find it unnecessary to seek assistance in plotting their career path, believing they can manage the task independently. After all, why pay for help when you can figure out the answers yourself? But this can often be a mistake. 

Time Savings:

Trying to plan your career path without professional assistance takes time. You must examine various occupations, ascertain the skills necessary for each, and create a plan that will help you in achieving your goals. A coach can be invaluable in cutting down the amount of time it takes to plan your career trajectory, as they are already equipped with knowledge on which paths may yield quick results.

Objective Perspective:

It’s hard to be objective about our own careers because we’re so close to them emotionally and intellectually. A coach provides an outside perspective that helps us see our situation more clearly – something we often struggle with on our own due diligence efforts alone. They also provide insights into how other professionals approach their careers that may not have occurred to us before now or even thought were possible.

Accountability:

When working solo, it’s easy for procrastination or lack of motivation to set in as we try and make progress towards our goals - especially if those goals seem too far away or difficult at times. 

A good coach keeps us honest by providing regular check-ins where we discuss progress made (or not) since the last meeting - giving us the push necessary when things start feeling overwhelming or impossible again.

Asking friends or family members for advice on your career plans can be difficult, as they may not have the qualifications to provide unbiased feedback based solely upon facts and data. 

Time:

A career coach can save you time by providing targeted advice on how to best move forward in your job search or career transition. They can tap into resources and connections inaccessible to most, swiftly recognising potential openings and giving tailored direction on how best to take advantage of them.

Career coaches understand how employers evaluate candidates so they can help ensure that your CV stands out from the competition. Additionally, they may be able to provide insight into industry-specific topics such as salary negotiation techniques or ways of networking with key players in certain fields.

Focus:

It’s easy for someone attempting a career change without help from a coach to become overwhelmed by all of their options and lose focus on their goals along the way. A good coach will keep you focused on achieving success while also ensuring that any decisions made are well thought out rather than rushed or ill-advised ones based solely off emotion or desperation.

Making a successful career transition requires hard work and dedication over an extended period of time - something which is difficult for many people who don’t have external support systems like friends or family members who understand what they’re going through during this process. 

Having someone there who understands where you want to go professionally, but also has realistic expectations about what needs done in order get there, provides valuable motivation throughout this journey towards success.

If you're considering a career change, it can be difficult to do so without the guidance and support of an experienced coach - why go it alone when there are professionals who understand how to help you navigate this process? A coach can be a great aid in keeping you accountable and on the right path when contemplating a career change.

Key Takeaway: A career coach can save you time, provide an objective perspective and keep you accountable; making them a valuable resource for anyone looking to navigate their career path.

How Does A Coach Keep You Honest?

When you invest your own money in a career coach, it can be a powerful motivator to show up for sessions and do the work. After all, nobody wants to waste their hard-earned cash on something that won’t help them reach their goals. Having an objective outside coach also helps keep you honest with yourself about what needs to be done in order to achieve success.

Family and friends may be well-meaning when they proffer advice or cheer, yet their perspectives are not always impartial nor do they invariably furnish useful feedback. A career coach is trained to ask questions that get at the root of any issues holding you back from achieving your desired outcome. They will also challenge any limiting beliefs that are preventing progress and hold you accountable for taking actionable steps towards your goal.

A career coach can also provide valuable insight into how other people perceive your strengths and weaknesses which can help inform decisions related to job searches or interviews as well as how best to present yourself professionally online or during networking events. This type of feedback is invaluable because it allows you the opportunity to make adjustments before entering into important conversations with potential employers or business contacts.

Having someone who is not emotionally invested in the outcome of your situation provides clarity on what needs improvement without being judgmental about mistakes made along the way. Your coach will take time getting acquainted with who you are so they can better understand where there might be room for growth and development within specific areas such as communication skills, leadership abilities, problem solving techniques etc.

This kind of personalised attention helps ensure that progress is steady over time while providing much needed support throughout the process of making a successful transition into a new field or industry if necessary.

A career coach will challenge you to stay dedicated and inspired as you strive for a successful job transition, ensuring that your goals are kept in sight. With their help, you can gain insight into what is expected of you in order to reach success.

Key Takeaway: A career coach provides valuable insight and accountability to help individuals reach their goals, offering unbiased feedback, personalised attention and strategies for success.

What Do Career Coaches Expect Of You?

When it comes to working with a career coach, there are certain expectations that need to be met. Career coaches anticipate that you'll take charge of your own progress and decisions, rather than relying on them to do the work for you. Career coaches will provide assistance and counsel, yet it is up to you to take the necessary steps in order for your ambitions in the workplace to be fulfilled.

It’s important for job seekers or professionals looking for a career change to understand that a coach is not going to “babysit” them through their transition process. A good coach will help guide and advise you on how best approach the situation but they won't do all of the work themselves. It's important that clients put in effort into making sure their goals are reached by taking actionable steps towards success such as researching potential jobs, updating CVs, networking with industry contacts etc

A great way of staying honest with yourself when working with a career coach is setting realistic goals and deadlines which can then be tracked over time. This helps keep both parties accountable so progress can be monitored regularly throughout the coaching period ensuring objectives are being met within an agreed timeframe.

It is critical to have periodic evaluations throughout each session, in order for both the coach and client to communicate any matters or worries that may have arisen since their last encounter. This also provides an opportunity for feedback on what has been accomplished thus far, allowing further progress towards achieving desired outcomes from coaching sessions.

Finally, it is essential that clients remain open-minded throughout their journey as this will allow them access to more opportunities than if they were closed off from different ideas - even if these ideas don't seem feasible at first glance. Working together collaboratively ensures maximum success when transitioning between careers.

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Conclusion

A career coach can do a lot for you when it comes to navigating a career change. They can help keep you on track, give guidance and counsel, ensuring that your choices are sound for the long-term. They are unbiased and objective with their feedback, with no competing incentive other than to see you succeed. 

So if you're considering making a big move or just want some extra support during this transition period, ask yourself: what can a career coach do for me?

Author: Naomi Rothwell-Boyd

Naomi is the founder of Tribe And Seek and an EMCC and CIPD accredited career coach specialising in career change. 

Her career advice comes from her work alongside ex-olympic athletes supporting corporate clients like Kraft Heinz, and creating leadership courses at the Duke Of Edinburgh's Award.

She also left a previous career in international development consulting behind, where she led UK corporate fundraising at Habitat For Humanity.

Written by

Naomi Rothwell-Boyd

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