So, if you read my post last month, you may have decided to invest in your professional growth and hire a career coach. Good for you! Professional coaching can bring many wonderful benefits including a fresh perspective, unique ideas from someone who operates in the career search space every day and ultimately increase your confidence regarding future career decisions.
We have put together 3 self-guided questions for determining your personal criteria when selecting a career coach. These questions are followed up with expert tips for selecting the best coach for you based on your personal criteria:
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Consider where you are today in your career. What would you like to change? Are you ready to take on an advanced role that utilizes all your won knowledge, wishing to make an entire career change or consciously deciding to scale down your career. As they say, you have to first know yourself, to improve yourself. Only after you have clear vision of where you want to go next, can you locate the coach to help you get there.
This goes back to more introspection. Do you respond well to someone who is super action-oriented or would you prefer someone who will delve into the emotional reasons why you are seeking a change before you have an action plan? Are most of your decisions based on logic or emotion? Once you have answered those questions, you can develop a criterion of what type of coach is going to work best with your personality and unique decision-making style.
Just like shopping for any consulting service, you will want to have a sense of your budget prior to securing the services of a professional career coach. Factors such as credentials, expertise, education and years of experience all play a role in the coaching fees. In addition, whether they meet with you virtually or live influences the structure of pricing, as well.
Now that you have a baseline criteria checklist for yourself, we have a few general criteria items to look for when ready to hire a career coach:
Remember, coaching is an important relationship. Make sure a connection exists between you and the coach you choose. You remember that teacher that just made you want to do your best or that supervisor that knew just exactly how to keep you motivated when you felt overwhelmed? Model that relationship with your coach for the most meaningful results.
Finding the right career coach can change your life and kick the next phase of your career into high gear. So, go ahead and decide today to invest in the your most important asset – you!
You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.
Mae West
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