How to Know When the Time is Right to Hire a Career Coach
Posted on April 02, 2021 by Jeff Rothman, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.
Working with a career coach isn't right for everyone, but how do you know when it's time to look for one?
Before becoming one, I knew very little about what career coaches did or why I’d ever want to hire one. If I knew then what I know now, I would have realized I was a prime candidate for coaching,
You see, I felt stuck. After 30 years in the recruiting industry, I was ready for a change but didn’t have any idea what I wanted to do next. I was stuck in my career bubble and couldn’t see what might lay outside of it. Instead of seeking help, I tried to figure it out on my own. The results weren’t good.
If you’ve found yourself in a similar situation, then this blog post is for you.
What is Career Coaching?
Career coaching is a dynamic relationship where coaches partner with their clients to guide them through their transitions to more meaningful and rewarding careers. They do this by helping people to:
• Clarify an inspiring, meaningful vision, purpose, and goals for their career
• Elicit solutions and strategies for achieving the same
• Link their strengths, interests, passions, and experiences to work that aligns with their values and has economic/market viability
• Identify discover previously unseen possibilities
• Test their ideas in a supportive and non-judgmental environment
• Develop an achievable plan, and overcome limiting beliefs and circumstances that have kept them stuck or stifled
• Reconnect with their self-confidence and motivate them to take action.
When Should you Consider Engaging a Career Coach?
Consider working with a career coach when you need to:
• Gain greater clarity on the future direction of your career and build strategies for getting there
• Get unstuck from a dead-end job or one that’s unchallenging or unfulfilling
• Rejuvenate a job search that’s going nowhere
• Rebound from a career setback and land your next job in a hurry
• Cultivate, grow, and mobilize a thriving professional network so you can uncover job opportunities that would otherwise remain hidden
• Reenter the workforce after an absence
• Build a memorable career brand that helps you stand out from the crowd, gets you noticed by the right people, and helps you land more interviews
• Interview with greater confidence and success, whether you’re sitting across the desk or camera from the person who will decide your fate
• Overcome the challenge of pivoting to a new career by helping you identify your superpowers—the ones that resonate in other industries and roles
• Identify strategies for making a job or career change at age 50 and above.
How Do I Know It’ll Be Worth the Investment?
Much of that depends on you. A career coach can’t do the work for you or promise that you’ll land the job of your dreams. But if you’re willing to challenge yourself and put in the work, you’ll take away much more than one of the external wins listed above. That “much more” is internal—an increased awareness of yourself, knowledge of how to get what you want, and the capacity to become more than you dreamed you could be.
