Most people would see the benefits of career coaching only when they are in a middle of a career change – employer change, new job, salary negotiations…
Indeed, career coaching can be very beneficial in these situations. But not only. The role of a career coach can go far beyond helping you find your next job; it can help you plan your career several steps ahead.
This article will discuss some benefits of career coaching and why you should consider using one. I will even propose you a link to find some cheap career coaches.
For the short version, a career coach helps you reach your next career step. Depending on your objectives, which they can help you define, they will define strategies to follow to meet your goal. These strategies can be via questioning, exercises, or even assignments. As for the career goals, they can be various and varied:
Improve soft skills such as leadership, time management, or ability to communicate
Prepare for an interview
Boost motivation
And so on
The benefits of career coaching
You get your very own career plan
It is one of the most apparent benefits of career coaching: you have a professional working alongside you to help you find your true self and your best career path.
Concretely, a career coach will look at your past experiences, professional or educational, and ask you questions to better understand what is driving you and your values. Then, they extend the scope of your opportunities with a holistic approach (using the space, the body, and the mind). Coaching exercises can also be used, such as the wheel of life.
Eventually, with a clearer picture of your personality and aspirations, a career coach can establish the career that fits you the most and the career path you need to follow to reach it. They can also reveal the skills you need to grow to achieve your dream career and help you define an action plan to improve them. Last but not least, all these actions are tailored specifically for you.
A career coach is like your general practitioner, but for your career. And like GPs, you need to feel comfortable with your coach: trust is a critical element in a relationship between a coach and their coachees. If there is a lack of trust, you won’t be achieving much. Therefore, when choosing your career coach, you should favor those who offer the first session for free (many of them do) to get to know each other better.
You get “out-of-the-box” suggestions
Whether you are the kind of person to plan your career or not, one thing is sure: another opinion about your career cannot be wrong. Even better if this opinion is unbiased, because coming from a neutral person.
A career coach can do exactly that. In most coaching sessions, the career coach won’t speak so much. Instead, they will listen to you, asking questions to make you think of aspects you had not considered before. They are an outsider to your career, so they can highlight things you don’t necessarily see because you are so much involved in your career. This can be helpful, for example, when you want to redirect yourself to another job without knowing which one. By focusing on your skills, they may find something suited for you.
You are better prepared for your next career steps
During your coaching sessions, the techniques you learn are not skills used just once. You can learn about writing an outstanding resume, speaking in public with more confidence, promoting your achievements, and arguing for a salary increase with your boss…
I will not write the complete list, but it is easy to understand that this goes beyond your career. First of all, you can reuse these skills in other areas than your career, like negotiating a loan. Secondly, the more you climb the ladder in your career, which I wish you, the more challenging your competition is. Be confident that from a certain level of responsibilities, you will have to face people who have been coached. At this moment, the benefits of career coaching will be obvious.
You are held accountable for your career goals
It is always difficult to commit to making some efforts over a long period, with all the other priorities we have in our daily lives. And when you don’t see the results of your efforts after a while, it can be very depressing. But, unfortunately, that is precisely what You are then left with the idea that something may be wrong with you or your job search methods.
A career coach will help you to stay focused during your job search. Not necessarily by saying that you are the best, whatever you are doing, and the others don’t see it. Instead, they can help you highlight what you did well in your search, challenge you on what you didn’t do well, and what you need to improve to maximize your chances. Ultimately, a career coach can help you keep confidence in yourself. That is the most important when you want to advertise yourself, which brings us to the next benefit of career coaching.
You can improve your brand within your network
It would be best if you did not take care of your career only when you want to change it or looking for something concrete, such as a pay rise, a promotion, or a position at another company. Passive career management should at least include promoting yourself to persons of interest – i.e., people in your professional or personal entourage who could benefit your career in the near future. That is called networking, which is the primary driver of getting a job in most cases (85% of positions!)
But there are multiple ways to network efficiently, and it may not be within anyone’s grasp. For example, you could be someone too shy or not used to speaking in public. So your career coach can be of great benefit, once again, by providing techniques to leverage your network or your LinkedIn profile.
What career coaching can’t deliver
The benefits of career coaching are multiple, as we just saw. However, it is not a silver bullet that will solve all your problems by magic. Like everywhere, a career coach is just a coach to help you deal with your career. Ultimately, you are on the pitch, and you remain the leading actor of your career. Here is a list of things that are out of the scope of career coaches:
career counseling or consulting: a career coach will not tell you whether your salary is within the standards of your industry or your job is about to be significantly impacted by new technology.
Do your homework for you: in general, a career coach will help you find out what is best for you. But you need, of course, to play the game to the end; otherwise, nothing will happen. The exercises you may get from a career coach are not assignments you must complete to get a good mark, they are here because they are supposed to help you, and only you, not the coach, to know yourself better, as long as it is what you want.
Mentoring: Some coaches have a bad habit of drawing on their own experience to propose action plans to their coachees. You should avoid this as much as possible. After all, you pay to talk about yourself; why would you want to listen to someone else’s story, especially someone you don’t even know?
Find your career coach on Jinn
Once we said that, we should consider the main point that is probably in your mind since the beginning of this article. Despite all the benefits of career coaching, it is still costly and probably unaffordable for most people. Indeed, with an hourly rate of around $100, career coaching is a luxury we can’t all afford.
At Jinn, we want to make career coaching available to as many people as possible, so we are working hard to make a career advisor in the form of an algorithm. This algorithm would be based on the information from the career encyclopedia (which you can contribute, by the way) and the user’s profile so that it can provide personalized and relevant advice. With just this tool, some benefits of career coaching would be covered, meaning better career opportunities at a meager cost.
Of course, no algorithm could ever replace a human, as sophisticated as it may be. So for those who would prefer a real career coach, we also have a marketplace where you can purchase any career-related service, including coaching sessions. You can browse for a career coach, pick one, and have your session on the site via Zoom. And, of course, all the other resources of Jinn remain available to you, like the groups, forums, and the job portal.
Wrap up
If you have the opportunity to have a career coach, don’t waste it. No matter your situation, you will undoubtedly gain an advantage of it. Especially if you consider that the vast majority of people do not have this chance, it is a great way to outrank your competitors.
If you are among this vast majority, know that we are working hard to bring you all the benefits of career coaching. It is a lengthy task, but you can already contribute at your level by contributing to the career encyclopedia.
Are you convinced by these benefits of career coaching? Do you consider calling a career coach? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
We believe that a career is more than just a job. A career is the path you take to find your unique skills and passions, and then use those skills to create an impact on the world. We help people find their way by providing information about jobs, skills, knowledge, education and many other topics related to careers. But we also have a Career Advisor that can suggest you the most relevant career for your goals in life. And finally, our platform allows you to connect with like-minded people from around the world who share your dreams or are at different stages of their journey - whether they're looking for advice or want someone with whom they can share ideas and experiences. This way everyone has access to all of these tools at an affordable cost. Read more about us.
Please note:
This action will also remove this member from your connections and send a report to the site admin.
Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete.
Responses