How to find a Career Coach or Career Consultant
Thinking about finding a top Career Coach? Do you want to get ahead in your career but don’t know how to secure that promotion, or land the job you’ve been dreaming about?
Do you need help to fast track your career?
Before you look for a career coach, decide what you want to get out of a coaching relationship.What is it that you hope to achieve and do you actually need a Career CONSULTANT or do you need a Career COACH?
How do you choose the right Career Coach or Consultant?
In this interview I explain what you need to ask a coach before making your decision.
What is a Career Consultant?
You need a Career Consultant if you want to be guided through the specific process of how to secure your next role, whether that is a job promotion, an internal or external lateral move, or a completely new role in a new organisation.
A Career Consultant will help you update your resume, prepare you for interviews and the negotiation process as well as advise you with recommendations on where you may need to up-skill and which skills may be in demand for the direction you are targeting for your next job.
What is a Career Coach?
A Career Coach does all of the above, however, focuses on you as an individual, your hopes, your dreams, your aspirations and what is holding you back from achieving the success you deserve in each aspect of your life. A coach takes the time to really understand what makes you tick.
A coach will help you to discover what’s really important to you. If you’re feeling unclear as to what you really want in your life and your career, a good career coach will help to discover the REAL YOU.
Through coaching you often experience ‘AHA!’ moments that arise from a powerful coaching conversations and things start to fall into place. This feels enlightening and empowering.
All of us, deep down, know what we were born to do, but often that knowledge has been blurred by life events, and consequently we may feel a little lost, or confused.
Once you gain clarity about the values that drive your decisions, what you WANT in your life and career, what you CAN do, what you are WILLING to do, then, through a combination of coaching and practical guidance and recommendations, the career coach may then put on the career consultant hat to guide you to set a plan of action to reach those goals.
How does career coaching work?
I work as a Coach, and a Consultant, depending on what YOUR needs are. Being able to read between the lines of what is being said, and what is unsaid, and understanding why, is one of the key differentiators when I work with you.
How I can help your career
When we work together I will help you to:
- Assess your talents, abilities and true potential
- Become more self-aware
- Define your career goals
- Manage your career according to an effective action plan
- Deal with your emotional side in your professional life
- Boost your level of confidence
- Create a powerful resume, cover letter and marketing materials
- Craft a strong positioning statement or pitch
- Create a LinkedIn profile that attracts opportunities
- Understand the most effective job search strategies
- Prepare for your networking meetings
- Prepare for job interviews
- Develop strong negotiation strategies and more …
Whether you’re looking for a Coach or Consultant, do your research and ask for recommendations. Find out if they have credibility and experience as well as success stories. Look for a coach who:
- Has many recommendations (recent ones as well as consistent reviews) from happy clients on LinkedIn and many positive Google Reviews – ask if you can speak with past clients **
- Offers a complimentary discovery session so you can ask all your questions before you make your decision
- Has a compelling website with comprehensive information and updated blog posts
- A strong LinkedIn profile that captures your attention (so you know they understand effective marketing strategies which will help you too)
- Is certified by a professional coaching body (such as the ICF – International Coach Federation, of CDAA – Career Development Association of Australia)
** When you reach out to former clients, ask these questions:
“What is this coach like to work with?
Do they follow up?
Do they keep you on track?
Do they keep you accountable?
What results did they support you to achieve?”
What’s important when choosing a Career Coach
The most important thing to do is to choose the coach with whom you feel most comfortable, and have a good rapport.
If you don’t have a good rapport with your Coach, it’s not going to work.
Your Coach will challenge you to step out of your comfort zone and face your fears, and you’ll develop a very close professional relationship so TRUST is essential.
I have clients whom I have worked with who have benefited from an intensive series of coaching sessions when they were going through a career or life transition. And now that they’re into their new careers, perhaps every six months or eight months, they’ll come back to me for a top up session to be coached on specific new challenges that have come up.
These follow up sessions may be to focus on their communication skills at work, leadership skills, securing a salary raise, or how to deal with conflict in the workplace and more.
Because we’ve developed a strong rapport, and we have worked well together in the past, the relationship is strengthened as we create more wins for my client.
Your Coach is there for accountability to make sure you take action to create the life or career you desire. And they’re your Champion when things get tough.
A good coach will work with you and celebrate your successes! When you’re feeling down, they are there to pick you up, and help to empower you to keep going in the right direction despite the challenges that inevitably occur in life.
I hope this article helps you to make the right decision about whom you will trust to be your trusted advisor, champion, coach or consultant.
Here are a few examples of how I have helped my clients to take control of their careers, and, where required, make a successful career transition (you will find more client testimonials in the
Recommendations on LinkedIn:
Since my first consultation with Jane, I have regularly sought her guidance. Her value can be summed up as follows- “she reinforces your belief in yourself”. Recently I successfully transitioned my career from industry to consulting. At one of the lowest points in the process of the transition, I sought her advice and she was able to lift me out from that point and focus me back to the task and the great possibilities that were within my reach. – Wyndham Cramer
When I went through a redundancy, I was concerned about looking for a new job at my age. Jane was so supportive through the entire process and her coaching was invaluable. Jane helped me to get the first job I applied for. – Gwen Noakes
Jane has been crucial on my journey of identifying my career anchors, my strengths and my values and has been an incredibly insightful soundboard, accountability partner and cheerleader for my future professional growth. In my experience Jane has also taken a real care in the work that she does – she’s professional, considered, articulate, organised and brings a real energy to navigating careers and career aspirations. – Lorenn Ruster
I had the pleasure of working with Jane on many occasions over the past several years as my career coach and mentor. I am so grateful for her passion, positive encouragement and ongoing commitment to helping me to improve and getting the most potential out of myself. Most recently i was going through my own career crossroads and she has been so professional and dealt with my transition with a lot of care. She have helped me through the whole process from developing my positioning statement, resume development, LinkedIn profile, through to interview techniques and negotiations. I thank her so much for helping me in achieving this big milestone and great new job that I’m thrilled about. – Albert Tan
Are you ready for career success?
Take the Career Success Quiz and find out if you’re ready for career success. It only takes 2 minutes and you receive your results, analysis and recommendations to improve immediately
