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PUT ME IN COACH, I’M READY FOR A NEW
CAREER
The elite Olympic athlete has a trainer
that motivates, analyzes and inspires. The concert pianist has a mentor to
direct, demand and encourage. So, in helping guide your career, who works
with you?
The answer for many of us is, well, no one. Most people think that the
career path is a solo journey that’s left entirely up to each individual.
Training, teaching and mentoring is only available for athletics and the
arts. Well, the growing field of career coaches would beg to differ.
A career coach is simply a person who helps you achieve your goals in the
working world. They explore opportunities that you either haven’t thought
of or are too busy to deal with. And in today’s society, time has become a
precious commodity.
“Career coaching is an interactive process of exploring work-related
issues, leading to effective action,” says Marcia Bench, author of Career
Coaching: An Insider’s Guide. “The desired outcomes of career coaching
include enhanced self-awareness, clarity about life purpose and goals …
and overall betterment of clients’ quality of life.”
Quality of life. That’s the key. When a coach can make a difference in
improving your career, your life comes along for the ride. And in this
life, it’s extremely unlikely you will have the same job for an entire
career. Gone are the days where workers started with a company after
college and stayed until retirement. As companies focus more and more on
the bottom line, lifetime loyalties to its employees are a thing of the
past, and vice versa. With outsourcing, mergers and cutbacks, today’s
labor force understands that their jobs are more tenuous than ever before.
This has resulted in workers taking a proactive approach to careers,
leaving a lucrative vacuum for the career coach to step in and offer
assistance.
The areas a career coach focuses on are defining options, enhancing your
current human relations skills and formulating strategies for job hunting.
They test and assess clients to identify potential careers, help with
decision making skills and create effective cover letters and resumes.
If you’re going to hire a career coach, rates typically run between
$50-$150 an hour, there are several fundamentals to make sure of before
plunking down your hard earned cash.
First, make sure the career coach has professional credentials, is
knowledgeable in career development theories and has plenty of references.
Don’t go with anybody who promises you the moon. If a career coach
guarantees that you will end up with a better career and more money simply
by using their services, move on to the next candidate. Finally, make sure
the career coach has a clue about your industry. If you sell software,
find a career coach who has experience helping others in that same field
and attempt to get feedback from those clients.
The career coach should also understand labor trends. If you ask the
question, “What are the fastest growing occupations in the United States?”
A good career coach would know that. According to the U.S. Department of
Labor, home health aides and data communication analysts are the two
fastest growing industries.
You’re going to have a relationship with this person, so make sure you
feel comfortable with the career coach you hire. Retaining a career coach
isn’t like hiring a plumber. This is a personal relationship you will have
to maintain for a specific time period. You don’t want to select someone
who you either can’t get along with or have no confidence in.
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Writers
Profile
Teena Rose is a columnist, public speaker, and
certified/published resume writer with
Resume to Referral. She’s
authored several books, including "How
to Design, Write, and Compile a Quality Brag Book,
20-Minute
Cover Letter Fixer, and
Cracking the
Code to Pharmaceutical Sales.
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