The word coaching is synonymous with sports teams. A coach can help athletes to develop the mindset to achieve, to set and achieve goals that to many people seem insurmountable, but with focus and clarity, can be met or exceeded. They can help a sportsperson to reach their full potential by planning structured training programmes, providing feedback on performance, and helping them to become more effective.
However, coaching has become more prevalent in other areas. Life coaching has developed significantly over the last few years, with many coaches specialising in niche areas such as health, financial and career coaching to name a few.
To concentrate on the rising demand for employing a career coach, why should you choose a coach to help you to progress in your career?
A career coach will help you in many ways. Like in the description of a sports coach above, they will help you to develop and reach your potential, be successful and achieve results. A career coach will normally work with you on a one-to-one basis and will often offer group workshops, teleseminars and e-books to support you to progress in your career.
A career coach can help you in the following areas:
Career exploration and discovery
You may be unhappy or dissatisfied in your job and feel that there is something else out there, but are not sure what it is. A career coach can help you to discover what is important to you in your job and make sure that it uses your talents, skills, and strengths, and provides you with the reward you deserve.
Understand your strengths and weaknesses
A career coach will help you to develop an insight into your strengths and weaknesses. This will allow you to understand yourself better and support any decisions you make in your career. It will highlight areas you may not have considered before and you can address any weaknesses that may be holding you back or use them to your advantage.
Develop your career vision and design your career
A career coach can help you to structure a plan to progress your career. By helping you to understand your skills and abilities, they can help you to plan your ideal job and how you are going to get there.
Develop confidence in your own ability
You may have a plan for your future, but you may be consciously or subconsciously holding yourself back. A career coach can help you to develop greater confidence in your ability as well as providing you with the support and motivation to help you to achieve your goal.
Provide job search support
A career coach can help you during all stages of your job search. From helping you to develop your CV, to finding the ideal job and then succeeding at the interview, a career coach will support you every step of the way.
Help you to get ready for promotion
You don't need to want to change your career to benefit from employing a career coach. They can help you to get ready for promotion, plan for the next step in your career, and support you to develop your talents.
Support you in the workplace
If you are unhappy at work, there may be many reasons why this may be so. A career coach can also help you to deal with difficult situations or people and become more assertive. You can increase your profile at work, build better relationships and improve your own personal effectiveness.
Make sure that your goals are congruent with other parts of your life
A career does not exist on its own and is part of your overall life. It is important that a career coach makes sure that your career goals fit in well with other parts of your life. For example, if work/life balance is essential for you, they will ensure that you consider this when planning or progressing your career.
Provide you with greater self awareness
Some career coaches will use psychometric tests or other techniques that will help you to develop a greater self awareness of yourself. A greater self awareness will help you to understand yourself better, build stronger relationships, and communicate more effectively.
Support you every step of the way
Like other coaches, career coaches will support you every step of the way.
Their role is to:
- Challenge you and ensure that you commit to making the changes you desire.
- Hold you accountable to the actions you want to take. You will need to report on your results, which means that as well as being accountable to yourself, you need to demonstrate what you have achieved to your coach.
- Question you and challenge your ideas and thoughts.
- Listen to you without any agenda for themselves, which gives you a chance to come up with your own solutions which are right for you.
- Celebrate your successes and recognise when you have overcome difficulties or challenges.
- Keep you motivated even when the going gets tough!
Need a Career Coach? 10 Ways a Career Coach Can Help YouWhat matters most to you typically comes from your values. This is true in your personal life as well as your work. People who value relationships, for instance, often have lots of friends and choose to work in socially-connected environments or as part of a team. Others who value autonomy and adventure generally prefer to work alone, in remote areas or in niche professions where they call the shots.
Knowing what matters to you and what you need in your work, such as time with others or time alone, goes a long way to helping you choose what type of work and working conditions make you happiest, and best able to bring your talents and skills to the task at hand.
The challenge for many of us, however, is this: we are in careers, jobs or professions that don't feel like a choice - we simply ended up here. A friend who gets us an interview where they work; an entry-level job evolves into something we don't particularly enjoy but the money is good; we get comfortable doing something for years and lose our self-confidence, believing we are unable to do anything else. All of this spells one thing: boredom, dissatisfaction or burn out. We need a change... A new job, or better yet, a new career... but where to start?
Typically, many people start looking for new opportunities by perusing the classifieds, looking to find positions that could fit with a particular set of experiences, skills or competencies they have collected over the years. Resumes are updated and sent out, sometimes we are called for interviews and maybe we land the new job, which may or may not be better than the last one. If we are lucky, we're happy. If not, the cycle starts again.
Another strategy is to network: get to know people in your field, make sure they have your business card or phone number and stay in touch with them, lest an opportunity come across their desks that fits with what you do. This strategy has potential as you have developed another source of job opportunities - jobs that are not advertised in any of the usual places. This still involves sending out resumes, and going through the recruitment cycle and again, may get you the dream job, or may not.
In my experience as a Career Transition Coach, the best strategy is to start with the end in mind. If you want to be happy in your work, then start with knowing what makes you happy. Your values will tell you this. Take the time to really understand your values; ask yourself what is really important to you, what makes you feel alive and engaged? Is it work-life balance, so you have time with your family? Is it a strong feeling to make a difference in the lives of other people? Is it about learning and trying new things? Is it about being creative, bringing new ideas to life?
When you begin with your values, you have a head start on everyone else scanning the job ads. First of all, you start with self-awareness, and in really knowing yourself, you set yourself up to make choices that align with who you are. Secondly, with your values clearly articulated, you now have a set of criteria to use in vetting potential job or career opportunities - and you have something to tell your network so they will know which opportunities to send (and not send) your way. Finally, you are looking for work based on who you are as well as what you do. This alone will help you find and keep the kind of work that brings out your best qualities.
Many people say life is short. Yes, it is... but it is also deep. Getting to that depth starts with delving into what is most important to you and using your gifts, talents and capabilities to make a contribution to the world based on your unique set of attributes. Start your job search or career transition with an exploration of your values and you will likely find your life - at work and everywhere else - more satisfying than you imagined possible.
Career Transition - What to Do Before You Even Think About Updating Your Resume