That is the general idea behind a career consultant/career coach anyway. Before I sat down to create this short career guide, I knew there were career consultants around, but I had barely read anything about a career coach. I hear some of you saying, yes, that's why no one heard about you till now.
If you can find a career consultant/career coach, or at least someone to coach you to success, consider:
1. What is the problem you need solved? (Most common: stuck career going nowhere, need to change careers, resume improvement)
2. Does the person have any experience in your problem area, or is that person just full of fluff, spouting big words?
3. How does that career coach work? What is the coaching style? How much money are we talking about?
4. What does that career coach consider as success? At the end of it, where do you find you yourself? Do you see success?
5. Do you really need to go through the personality tests and all that shebang, spending good money, and still have to pay the coach?
6. Have shared with the coach any external circumstances that is holding you down? (upcoming divorce etc)
7. Do you come prepared with questions, documents etc before every session with your coach?
8. Do you know it will take time?
Pro tips:
1. Say no career consultants/coaches who do group sessions, who run coaching factories so to speak. Find ones who give solo (more expensive) sessions.
2. Ask for free first consultation to test the waters.
3. Set clear goals and expectations with your professional career consultant. Get everything in writing.
4. Coaches/consultants vs. Counselors: Coaches/consultants are for the nitty-gritty things in your career (resume, careers, industry etc). Therapists tend to come from an academic background (e.g. the guides in school or college), or are therapists.
5. Be honest with your coach/consultant. Do not camouflage a spotty past with finessed answers. They your last company laid you off, tell the coach you were laid, not that you left as you were bored.
How you can be your own career coach
- Explain to yourself: Talk to yourself about the problem, how it affecting you, for how long, effects of the problem, how all this came to be...write down all this stuff and go through them later.
- Ask yourself the most cringe-inducing question that someone else could ask you. Then answer them yourself. Again, write everything down.
- Pretend you are giving advice/the solutions to someone else. Again, write everything down.
- Go through all you noted down after some time has passed.
Does it all still hold water? What else is missing? And then, go ahead and make the changes.
Thank you for reading.
This guide is from The Success Manual, which contains 200+ guides to succeeding in business, career and personal life. Get the pdf ebook for $12 only.