Thinking of hiring a career coach but not sure what it’s all about?
Do you have big aspirations and feel like there’s just something missing?
Feeling stuck at work?
Perhaps hiring a Career Coach can help you find that missing piece or break free.
But what must you know before hiring a career coach?
1. What do a career coach do?
In general, a career coach helps working professionals identify and achieve their career goals. They offer guidance on job search strategies, resume writing, interview preparations, pay negotiations, insights to market trends that will increase your chances of success.
That’s not the kind of career coaching that I specialise in because I prefer to go deeper to create a lasting change. I love helping high-achieving professionals discover their ideal life vision, one that gives them a clear direction for life.
A vision that excites them, that they will enjoy pursuing. A vision that when achieved, will give them immense satisfaction, fulfilment, meaning and joy.
When you feel like something is missing at work,
or when you feel bored or stuck in a rut,
out of balance,
or when you are in a job transition,
the next step is not to rush into looking for a new job, a new company or a new industry.
The first step is to Pause and Get To Know Yourself.
Ask yourself:
- What do you want?
- Why must you get it?
- What are your strengths and weaknesses?
- What are your transferrable skillset?
- What’s the meaning of your life?
- Why do you do what you do?
- What sparks your joy?
- What makes you feel alive?
- What’s important to you in your career? In your life? In your relationship?
- How can you align what you love and what you can do for a living to live a happier, more satisfying life?
Let’s be honest. There is no way we can fully compartmentalised our work from life, or separate our relationship from work. Work makes up a big part of our daily life, and unless you have the heart of a steel, relationship can have a huge impact on our work, right?
So it’s important that we gain clarity on the ideal life vision that we would love and adore, one that encompasses the key areas of our life – ie. career, relationship, personal growth, financial, etc, that are aligned with our passion/interest, value system, strengths, and purpose because when we found this, we will never feel lost or stuck in life again.
It’s just like a wheel of life that is balanced. We can move forward in life faster, easier and happier in life because we know for sure where we are going, why we are going there and even when the going get tough, we won’t easily give up.
That is the kind of career coaching I do, my Rainmaker’s Career Coaching.
Its similar to the Ikigai, the Japanese concept of finding your purpose in life. Ikigai can be described as life purpose, life worth, motivation, or finding joy through purpose. It’s what gets you out of the bed every morning and keeps you going.
How else can the Rainmaker’s Career Coaching benefit a high-achieving professional like you?
- You’ll bring out your authentic best self, identified your strengths and innate gifts to share it with the world.
- You’ll build your inner strength, like bulldozing the self-doubts and fears, building rock solid confidence to:
- Pursue the path that you desired deeply but long forgotten
- Have the courage to finally do something that’s aligned with your true self
- Take on new projects, ace that interview, grab that promotion you deserve or start your own business.
- You’ll gain accountability and support to stay focused and achieve your goals.
- You’ll have someone whom you can bounce ideas with, guide you through your mind-maze, expand your perspective, and show you your blind spots so that you can stop making the unnecessary mistakes.
- You’ll create work-life balance that increases the quality of your life.
- You’ll become a better leader at work and at home.
- You’ll gain greater satisfaction and meaning in your careers.
2. How do you choose a career coach?
Here are the important things you need to know and do before hiring a coach:
i. What outcomes do you want to create as a result of working with a career coach?
Eg. Interview skills? Resume writing? Pay package negotiation? Job searching strategies? Career transition? Career direction? Finding your Ikigai? Networking skills? Communication skills? Interpersonal skills? Presentation skills?
ii. How much budget are you willing to invest in your development and engage a career coach?
Are you willing to invest at least 10% of your monthly income?
Every coaches are different, be it their personal and professional experiences, their certifications, accreditations, awards, branding, track records, coaching style, personality, energy, vibes etc. Hence the coaching fees varied widely.
In general, it can range from $50 to $250 per hour. There are new coaches who charges below $50 or even giving free coaching to gain experiences or collect coaching hours for their coaching certifications. There are also seasoned coaches who charges 10k and above.
Bottomline? Find the sweet spot between a coach whom you can afford and one who can help you achieve some of the outcomes you want.
If you can’t afford to hire a coach who is 10 to 20 steps ahead of you, then perhaps you can hire a coach who is 5 steps ahead of you?
iii. Do your homework
Before you commit a big sum of money to invest in your coaching journey, it’s important that you do your research to get a sense of the coach. You can read up about the coach and the recommendations online, follow the coach on his/her social media/website to consume the free contents available, or ask for referrals from the people you know who had a good coaching experience.
iv. Synergy
Synergy is about finding the right fit. This goes both ways. A Coach would choose to work with someone who is coach-able and committed. Whereas as a Coachee, you should choose a coach whom you feel you can trust, whom you can feel safe to open up your ‘black box’ for resolution.
Some coaches may be more patient, more direct, more empathetic, more aggressive, more gentle, or more bold, etc. Choose a coach whom you feel comfortable speaking with.
v. Have a trial experience
Some coaches give a 30 minutes free coaching/meeting/exploratory/discovery call, while others give a special or discounted fee for the first session. Ideally you would want to have a meeting with the coach to have a sense of his/her style. It is important that you select a coach who understand your needs because it requires a big commitment – be it time, money, efforts, etc.
3. How can you prepare and get the most out of your coaching session?
i. Always bring an open mind and an open heart
We can’t fill up our cup when its full, can we? When you bring an open mind and an open heart into the coaching session, you give yourself an opportunity to expand your mindset and perspective. And when that happens, it will open up more choices on the issues that you felt stuck or limited before. Which means, you’ll feel much more in control and empowered to make the decision you need to move forward.
ii. Trust the process
Our mind is designed to protect us from danger, but not everything that is new, unfamiliar or different means danger, right? Throughout your coaching journey, your coach may take a certain action, do a certain process or introduce a certain strategy or tools that feels new, unfamiliar, different or even uncomfortable at times.
Despite that, its designed to get you to a better place. If you are in doubt, always clarify with your coach before proceeding with the session or process.
iii. Always be prepared for your session
Yes I know you are busy. Many of us are busy too. But what is more important than you? There will always be people asking for your time and attention. But if you don’t prioritise yourself, then how can you BE better? DO more? GIVE more? If you only have an hour or two to work on yourself, then give it your best.
Before coming to the session, know what is the problem you want to be coached on or the issues that you want to improve further with your coach. Also, complete the coaching tasks that you’ve agreed to do.
iv. Take massive actions
During your coaching session, together with your coach, you’ll create a plan and strategy to deal with your problems. Outside of the coaching session, you’ll execute the plan and take actions. This is where you make a real difference.
The results are for you to create. Just imagine this, you can hire the best coach in the world to coach you on how to get a six pack body, but you can’t hire him/her to do your push up for you isn’t it? If you want that six pack, you still have to do the push up yourself, agree?
Conclusion:
In summary, working with a career coach can bring out the potentials in you, be it for career advancement, fulfilment or happiness. When you choose the right career coach who understand your needs, it will not just elevate your career but also your life.
Due to the recent massive tech layoffs, people keep talking about job security. People start to feel out of control. But you don’t have to be one of them. The truth is, you can take charge of your life. You can bullet-proof yourself and stay relevant when you grow yourself.
You are probably already aware that there are more and more high-achieving professionals hire a career coach to stay ahead of their peers, aren’t you?
Bill Gates said this in his Ted Talk,
“Everyone needs a coach”
And if you are still curious of why everyone needs a coach even after reading this post, then the next step is to experience what coaching really is.
Besides, you can only read so much about how to swim right? Once you’ve read enough, it is time to jump in and experience it for real. Soon you are going to be amazed when you found the hidden gems within you.
Don’t take my words for it, proof it yourself.
And if you are ready to experience it, I’ll be happy to hop on a call with you. Just Book My Time Now.
And if you are still wondering if you are ready for coaching, you can Take This Survey.
Hi I’m Rainy Rainmaker – Making You Rain Your Power so that you can elevate your career and life faster and easier [ without anxiety, fear or stress ]
🤝Connect with me ➡️https://www.linkedin.com/in/rainyrainmaker/