3 Reasons to Work with a Career Coach
Whether you’re just entering the workforce or have been advancing in your career for a while but don’t quite know where to go from here, navigating the corporate world can be a challenge for anyone. It’s particularly difficult when you have to face these obstacles alone—friends and family can provide invaluable emotional support, but they likely don’t have the industry knowledge and experience to offer the advice you need to move forward. That’s the reason career coaches exist.
Career coaches can play many roles. They can serve as mentors, advisers, and cheerleaders, helping their clients identify obstacles, face their fears, and take the necessary steps to advance professionally. An experienced career coach can deal with clients from various backgrounds, providing whatever help each of them needs to move forward.
Whether you’re struggling with your job search, preparing for interviews, or grappling with a difficult career-related decision, a trained coach can guide you, motivate you, hold you accountable, and provide you with the tools and resources to advance your career. From job search strategies to networking skills, they will analyze your specific situation and help you draw up a plan to realize your ambitions and grow both as a person and a professional. They’ll consider your individual strengths, weaknesses, goals, and circumstances, working with you to create a plan perfectly tailored to your needs.
Through regular sessions, brainstorming exercises, and honest feedback, career coaches can help you develop healthier habits so it becomes easier to stick to your plans and schedules and meet your deadlines. Not only does a good career coach help you set measurable, realistic goals that propel you toward your desired destination, but they also offer insights and advice so you can work more productively and help you identify problems when you fall short.
If you’re feeling stuck and unmotivated because you don’t see the results you’ve been expecting, your career coach will also be there to remind you of your goals, achievements, and merits and to inspire you to keep pushing and working through the tough times. They’re like your personal cheerleader, always there to provide encouragement, support, and a gentle nudge in the right direction.
If you can already visualize all the benefits a career coach could bring to your professional life, reach out to our team of experts and set up a session with a career coach. If you’re still not sure whether career coaching is right for you, let’s go over three reasons why you should consider availing yourself of this service.
1. A career coach will help you create a plan to advance your career
A major benefit of working with a career coach is the chance to create a career plan tailored specifically to your goals and needs and designed to help you advance your career. It’s not necessarily easy to draw up a solid plan yourself—you may set overly optimistic, unrealistic goals, or you may not know what steps to take to move toward attaining your goals.
A coach can narrow down your options if you’re unsure which path to follow or suggest a step-by-step plan to reach the finish line if you aren’t sure how to get there. They aren’t psychics who hold all the answers, but they know how to ask all the right questions to take you to the answers you had all along but couldn’t tap into.
A career coach can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses, figure out what tools and skills you need to acquire or improve to become a more competitive professional, and overcome any obstacles standing in your way. If your goals are vague, they’ll help you flesh them out and see clearly what you want and how to achieve it. Basically, they’ll be there to guide, support, and motivate you to take decisive steps and accomplish the things you’ve been dreaming of accomplishing. It’s up to you to realize your dreams, but they’re always on the sidelines, offering encouragement and guidance through the trials and triumphs.
Their experience means they have a wider perspective and can point you in directions you might not have considered, broadening your worldview and urging you to explore different paths, all while keeping you grounded. That said, don’t expect them to pamper you—their job is to tell you the truth and help you navigate the real world. Sometimes, they might have to tell you things you don’t want to hear, and although they’ll phrase them as gently as possible, you have to be ready to accept what they’re telling you. A career coach will ensure the path you’re on will lead you to success—all you have to do is be honest with them and willing to work hard and implement their advice.
2. A career coach will help you make tough decisions
Many people who hire career coaches are taking a new path, searching for a new job, or aiming for a promotion, and they need someone to guide them through the decision-making process, interviews, and salary negotiations. In many cases, career coaching clients are at a crossroads in their professional life, and they need expert guidance to take the next step.
If you’re feeling stuck in your job or unfulfilled in your career but are scared to go in a new direction, a career coach can mentor and prepare you for the tough choices you’ll have to make and the decisive moments that can make a major transition either fail or succeed. They will take a close look at your choices, performance, experience, and goals and offer an honest opinion of your career plans. They can help you determine the best new career path and the most effective way to make the transition.
Career coaches are objective observers who want you to succeed and will help keep you focused, grounded, and motivated even through the toughest challenges. Whenever you have doubts or worries, you can bring them to your career coach, and they can offer a well-informed, professional opinion on your situation, helping guide you to the decision that works best for you.
3. A career coach will help you define your professional brand
In the age of social media, having a clearly defined brand is essential for professional success. This matters not only when you’re searching for a new job but also when you’re building up your network or looking to earn that next promotion. Your personal branding is what helps you stand out and be a more competitive candidate, whether you’re looking for your first job, a big promotion, or a change in career.
The way you present yourself, your reputation, your online interactions, and your personal narrative are crucial in building your brand and the way potential employers see you. A big part of that process is assessing your professional value and what you bring to the table as a leader or an employee. It can be difficult to build your personal brand from scratch, which is why it’s so important to get help from a professional—it will ensure a clean, polished, and consistent brand across your social media platforms and real-life work.
From helping you overcome impostor syndrome by highlighting your achievements to teaching you about salary standards, a career coach can lead you to the top of your field by helping you build your brand. Their experience also means they know what employers are looking for, so they can help you tailor your brand to meet the needs and exceed the expectations of hiring managers.
Keep in mind that while career coaches are versatile professionals who can help you in many aspects of your work life, they’re not there to do the work for you. Their job is to guide and encourage you to assess yourself and your work in order to grow and improve and to help you achieve your goals, but it’s still up to you to do the work. It’s just that the work gets a lot easier when you have a skilled career coach cheering you on from the sidelines.
To learn more about working with a career coach, check out our professional services for job success.
