Why You Should Hire a Career Coach

You’ve sent out (insert big number) of job applications.

I once worked with a client who hired me only after applying for 80 jobs within the last month. She’d received precisely three replies. That’s 2.6 jobs a day, every single day, for a month. And only received three replies. You can imagine his mood and level of frustration by the time she got to our doorstep.

Now, we were fortunately able to work through what was going wrong (her resume was not aligned to her target job field, and She was doing zero networking through the search process) and we constructed a new plan. This helped her start landing interviews within two weeks of our initial meeting.

If this sounds remotely like you, stop what you’re doing and think about enlisting a coach who understands how this works. So many job seekers don’t understand how, specifically, the process works today. They know nothing about ATS systems that typically reviews applications before a human ever lays eyes on it, no less how to strategize around the so-called resume black hole.

A career coach—particularly one who understands the recruitment process inside and out—can help you understand the game, and enable you to avoid the endless rounds of “apply now,” “apply now,” “apply now” that so many of us endure. They’d help you find your target field and get appropriate resumes into that field.

Help You Establish a Career Path, Not Just a Job

Career coaches are trained to get to know you as an individual first, then a professional second. I ask about who you are and what you love before we get into career discussions. The reason for this is because many people choose their careers based on earning potential, discovering later on that they are unhappy, unfulfilled, and miserable. A career coach is there to take your personality, qualifications, and passions, then help you to find a career that is challenging, promising, and fulfilling. I want you to follow your passions…. not the money.

Keep You Accountable

Like a good personal trainer, a good career coach wants you to reach your full potential and attain your goals. Therefore, a career coach will be there to motivate you, track your progress, and check in on you to ensure that you’re doing what you should be doing to get where you want and need to be in your career. By having that accountability, you are less likely to stray from your intended career path and more likely to work harder to reach your intended goals. Every client I have is required to sign an accountability contract.

Your resume isn’t as impressive as you think

If you’ve seen one of those Internet memes showing an athletic Daniel Craig in a tailored suit running smartly in a scene from a James Bond movie with the caption “What you think you look like when you’re running” accompanied by the picture of an out-of-shape man in running shorts wheezing as he jogs, with the caption “What you really look like when you’re running”, you get the idea.

The power of your resume lies not just in the message but in how you communicate it. Just because you’re impressed by your own work experience and education doesn’t necessarily mean others will be too. The more competition there is for a job, the more imperative it is for your resume to jump out of the pile, but that requires a merciless assessment of how your resume will play with recruiters and an objective edit with the aid of a good coach. Given that your resume may be the only communication from you that many employers will ever see, it better be strong enough to get you an interview. I do this through resume word clouds that ask “Is this the story you want to tell?”

A career coach can help you develop a solid job-search plan.

Do you know what your value is to a prospective employer or client? Do you know how to best describe and pitch yourself? Do you know who the most important contacts are in your database? A career coach will assist you with the answers to come up with a strategic plan of attack to get hired. Your coach will ensure that you are telling the right story through your bio, resumé and LinkedIn profile.

I will also help you sort through various possible opportunities (open positions, networking events, conferences, existing contacts, new contacts and the like) and prioritize the ones that could generate the most results. Having a plan will aid you in blowing past the inevitable discouragement of knocking on doors day after day. And if your plan gets fuzzy, your coach will encourage you, helping you face the next day.