Why Do People Hire a Career Coach?
Career Coaching is one of the fastest growing services across the world. There are increasing numbers of professionals who are seeing the benefits of working with a Coach but in some professions coaching is still yet to be used.
Social media is a massive facilitator for Career Coaching. Coaches can successfully build their brand with clever marketing, and can gain credibility in their area of expertise, as a result .
Even with the extensive coverage of coaching on social media there are those who wouldn’t consider using a Career Coach or indeed don’t know how Career Coaching works or how it could help.
A recent Career Success Survey that I sent to all my connections on LinkedIn and Facebook produced some interesting results.
From dozens of respondents, 57% indicated that they did not currently have a career path and needed help with setting their plans for a successful future. We set plans for our holidays, for buying a house or car, then why not for our future?
52% wanted help to be successful with their next job application having received setbacks in their recent job searches.
45% wanted a more senior role, more leadership responsibilities but did not see that happening in the short term. Their movement up the corporate ladder was restricted by either lack of opportunity or lack of leadership skills, experience and readiness.
40% wanted to gain confidence in their abilities to achieve.
These relatively high percentages demonstrate that there are gaps in support available to meet specific career development needs of these people.
Further questions in the survey focused on what prevented survey participants from using a Career Coach.
The main reasons were:
- Expensive – not really when you consider the cost to your career and life without support.
- Don’t understand how coaching works – Coaching is bespoke to your needs, supporting you to achieve what you want in your life or career.
- Not sure if I need a coach – There is a simple solution, talk to a Career Coach and test the waters.
- Don’t understand how coaching can help – Coaching will help you to acheive what you want. The emphasis in on you.
- Difficult to find a coach – there are many selling their skills on social media. It is important to find the right one to suit your needs.
- Don’t know what I don’t know – this is the case for all of us, however, this is one of the most important ingredients of successful coaching – building understanding using solution focused questions that scaffold understanding and awareness.
Why do people hire a career coach?
People hire a coach to kick start their career.
When you’re ready to move forward in your career but you just keep getting knock backs, it’s time to bring some new perspective to the process. Think, ‘building your brand’, when applying for the next job – it’s not just about getting a CV together. It’s about marketing yourself and having everything in place to stand out from all others wanting the same as you. It’s not about sitting back and waiting for the vacancies to magically appear, but about being proactive in finding what you want and setting out to get it.
People hire a coach because they realise that they can’t do it on their own.
Isn’t it true to say that goal setting seems to succeed less when you make promises to yourself? Your coach is your accountability partner, challenging you to plan and develop your goals while holding you accountable to achieving them.
People hire a coach to bounce ideas and to provide objective feedback.
Nowhere else do you find somebody solely dedicated to acting as your sounding board, without judgement, not engaging in fault finding, but totally focused on you and your goals. Your coach becomes your critical friend – one who provides honest and valuable feedback. We aren’t here to massage your ego, but to guide you in strengthening of your purpose.
People hire a coach to overcome their inhibitors and fears.
A coach can help you to identify inhibitors that are preventing your progress and provide strategies to overcome these. Success in managing your inhibitors is incredibly empowering. You can then successfully demonstrate your true capacity to prospective employers.
People hire a coach to work with someone who’s in their corner.
When you realise that you can’t do it on your own. When you’re tired of doing the same things the same way and receiving the same results. When you feel like you’re stagnating while others are achieving more. Coaching can be your answer. Coaching will provide you with a one on one partnership focused directly on you, the achievement of your goals and your dreams.
Coaching isn’t confronting, threatening, judgmental or one size fits all. Coaching is a one on one partnership totally focused on you and your needs. It is within you to achieve success. A successful Career Coach can help you to achieve it.
I hope this has been a help to you if you are considering using a Career Coach. If you would like to discuss this further you can contact me [email protected]
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