6 Ways a Career Coach Can Support Your Professional Advancement
Whether you’re just entering the labor market or have been working your way up for years, it’s normal to run into obstacles that prevent you from taking the necessary steps to advance your career and achieve your goals. This is an inevitable part of career success and life in general, and those at the top are there not because they didn’t face challenges but because they overcame them.
However, you may not always know how to tackle the challenges you’re presented with, and if that’s the case, there is no shame in asking a professional for help. If you’re applying for a new job, aiming for a promotion at your current company, or launching your own business venture, a career coach can help you identify and overcome the obstacles standing in your way and work through any feelings of self-doubt, confusion, or fear. In essence, they’ll help you deal with whatever is preventing you from moving forward with confidence and purpose.
Career coaches won’t serve you solutions on a platter but guide you to finding them yourself. After all, only you can truly know what you want and what’s right for you, yet it can be difficult to tap into this knowledge without the gentle guidance of a career coach. They ask the right questions, offer advice and suggestions based on their professional expertise, and analyze your specific situation from an objective point of view to help you put things in perspective. They work with you more than for you.
They’re also great at holding their clients accountable, keeping track of deadlines, and motivating coachees to keep working towards their goals, which can be invaluable for those who’ve lost their passion for their job or are suffering from imposter syndrome. Again, career coaches are not there to do the work for you but to help you be the best version of yourself so you can excel at your job.
No matter where you are in your job search or your career, you can get career coaching over the phone from our team of experts, who will help you overcome all types of hurdles and move toward a more successful and fulfilling professional life. We have experienced career coaches in a wide range of industries, so we’re sure to have the right expert for you.
So, how can a career coach help you advance professionally?
1. A career coach can help you identify obstacles you can’t see
In both life and work, the first step toward overcoming obstacles is identifying them. After all, you can hardly solve a problem if you don’t know what it is.
If you feel stuck in your career or job search but you’re not sure what’s stopping you from moving forward, a career coach can help you identify the problem and guide you to a solution. In some cases, the solution may be right under your nose, but you’re just not in a position to see it—at least until a professional tosses the right questions at you. People tend to have blind spots when it comes to their own issues, and a career coach is trained to identify obstacles, inconsistencies, and missing links that you’re too close to see for yourself. Sometimes, these problems have easy, obvious solutions, and all you need is to see the issue.
2. A career coach can help you identify your needs
Just as we usually require help to identify the obstacles in front of us, we can also use some help to figure out what we need to feel empowered to take that next big step to advance our careers. You may know what you want, but if your vision is blurry and vague, it’ll be difficult to determine the right actions to take to achieve your goals.
It’s easy to get caught up in everyday affairs and lose sight of your priorities and the bigger picture. A career coach can help you devise the best plan for you and your career so your actions become less reactionary and more purposeful. They identify the root of the problem, determine what requires immediate attention and what’s preventing you from moving forward, and guide you toward understanding how to fulfill those needs. Not only will this help you achieve your ultimate career goals, but it’ll also boost your confidence in your day-to-day performance since you’ll be able to sense the meaning and purpose behind your actions.
3. A career coach can help you find solutions
Identifying your problems is great, but it’s only useful if you follow up with solutions and actionable plans. Sometimes, it’s easy to accomplish this on your own—all you need to do is recognize the problem. Other times, however, the solution isn’t as obvious.
A career coach will ask if and how you’ve tried to resolve these issues before offering more pointed suggestions to help you find a solution. They’ll help you figure out what has and hasn’t worked in the past, what actions and behaviors are preventing you from achieving your goals, and what other possibilities exist to address the issues. As they walk you through these questions and take you on a trip through your past, you may discover the ideal solution on your own.
When it comes to finding solutions through reflective brainstorming exercises, you’re much more likely to succeed with the support of someone like an experienced coach, who can help you create a step-by-step plan to move forward and realize your professional dreams. Their extensive experience in the professional world means they know which strategies tend to work in which situations. With their help, you can devise a plan to remove the hurdles in your career path.
4. A career coach can help you visualize your success
Sometimes, the obstacles preventing us from achieving our goals are in our own heads, and visualizing ourselves fulfilling our dreams can be instrumental in helping us believe in ourselves and getting over our mental roadblocks. If you’ve lost your passion for your career, for example, it’ll be difficult to have the discipline and determination you need to keep moving forward. Alternatively, you may not have a clear enough idea of what you want, and you certainly can’t strive to achieve a goal if you don’t know what it is.
Expressing your passion and visualizing your success can give you the confidence to find the right path to your personal and professional growth. It’s a lot easier to do it when you have someone rooting for you, reminding you of your achievements, and encouraging you to dig deeper and push harder—especially when they have years of career coaching experience informing their insights.
5. A career coach can help you overcome your fear of failure
For many people, fear is the greatest deterrent, the main thing that keeps them from moving forward and exploring their talents and possibilities. The fear of failure is especially powerful in the professional realm—the stakes are high and making a mistake can have serious consequences. However, if you always play it safe, you’re not likely to achieve the goals you’ve outlined for yourself. The answer is to take carefully calculated risks.
Taking measured risks and giving yourself the chance to fail also means you’re giving yourself the chance to succeed. A career coach can be just the person to motivate you to bet on yourself and work through the obstacles in spite of your fear. They can also help you take calculated risks, maximizing your chances of success and minimizing the likelihood of failure. Moreover, a career coach can boost your confidence so you can take on such challenges with a forward-looking mindset.
6. A career coach can help you set your goals
You can’t work toward your goals if you don’t have any. Sure, they may be floating around in your head as vague ideas, but you need to turn them into concrete, measurable, realistic goals to make sure you stay on the path to success.
Building a roadmap to keep you focused on achieving your goals is among the top benefits you can derive from working with a career coach. They’ll help you prepare a clear plan that will test your accountability, consistency, and drive so you can stay focused on the tasks at hand as you work toward your goals and objectives. Keeping track of your progress and setting deadlines for yourself is essential for professional success, and your career coach will be there to make sure you follow through on what you promised yourself. Not only will they help you set viable goals—measurable, realistic, and appropriately challenging—but they’ll also provide valuable insights to help you reach those goals and identify problems and solutions when you fall short.
Whatever kind of help you need, a career coach can guide you toward identifying the obstacles that keep you from advancing your career and creating a game plan to overcome them. Check out our professional services for job seekers to learn more and set up a session with a career coach.
