What is one sign that someone should see a career coach?
From “if you’re passed over for a promotion” to “job-hopping,” here are 14 signs that someone should see a career coach.
- You’re Stuck and Can’t Find a Path Forward
- If You’re Passed Over for a Promotion
- An Unsuccessful Interview is a Sign to Reach Out
- You’re Not Making Progress Despite Consistent Effort
- Your Professional Brand Needs Work
- Pursue a Career Outside of Your Current Industry
- Job-hopping
- When Clarity Sounds Like a Foreign Word
- You Aren’t Getting Any Traction in Your Job Search
- You Feel Like You Have Too Many Interests
- Find My Profession Career Blog
- Have You Lost Interest in the Company
- Keywords Are Essential
- Limited Advancement in their Current Role
You’re Stuck and Can’t Find a Path Forward
It is a wise decision to see a coach when you feel that something is not working out with your career and you cannot put your finger on it. It is important that you avoid making the same mistake repeatedly and not continue to make the same mistakes, which leads to frustration and unhappiness. A coach can provide you with an objective perspective, unbiased advice, and fresh ideas. A good coach can help you find your niche, strengths, and aptitude and plan to achieve your career goals.
Ariel Westphal, Marketing Director, Net Pay Advance
If You’re Passed Over for a Promotion
One of the biggest signs that you would benefit from a career coach is if you feel you’ve been passed over for a promotion. A coach will help you to understand: (a) if you really were passed over – helping you understand if you are ready for that role, if you’ve been in your present role long enough, and other factors that go into promotion decisions; (b) if you were passed over – what you can do so that it doesn’t happen again; (c) if you were passed over – and if that’s an indication that it’s time for you to move on to another opportunity. A career coach helps you become your best advocate for yourself, and helps uncover what might be blind spots, for you, in your career or your organization.
Janet Granger, CEO/Marketing Strategist/Mentor/Coach, Two Beagles
An Unsuccessful Interview is a Sign to Reach Out
If you’ve been struggling to find work in your field for six months or longer, it’s time to consult a third-party–especially if you’re losing out during the final interview process. Sometimes workers who look great on paper struggle with making a good impression in-person. So, if you keep losing out after that office or Zoom interview, see a career coach. While HR may be reluctant to share feedback on hiring decisions, a career coach works for you: They can watch or playact the interview process and tell you exactly what you’re missing. They’ve seen it all–ill-fitting suits, lack of eye contact, and worse–and won’t hold back on constructive criticism.
Rob Reeves, CEO and President, Redfish Technology
You’re Not Making Progress Despite Consistent Effort
It’s frustrating to feel like you’re spinning your wheels in your career, and that frustration can be demotivating. A career coach can look at your career progress and aspirations from an outside perspective and see mistakes you’re making or bad habits you’ve developed that you may be too close to see clearly. They can also help you to find opportunities you may not have thought of, or other avenues and strategies to move your career forward than the ones you’ve tried already. Basically, they can help you get unstuck, and that can restore your motivation along with restarting your career progress.
Matt Erhard, Managing Partner, Summit Search Group
Your Professional Brand Needs Work
Your professional brand is one of the most integral aspects of career success. If you need help crafting your resume, cover letter, and other materials, or if you’re looking for tips on how to present yourself in interviews, seeing a career coach may be a good option. A career coach can help you craft your resume, cover letter, elevator pitch, and all other aspects of developing your professional brand so you can be successful in your job search and career development.
Andrew Chen, Chief Product Officer, CommentSold
Pursue a Career Outside of Your Current Industry
If you’re looking to pursue a career outside of your current industry, a career coach may help. They can provide you with some guidance and advice to get your foot in the door. For example, they can introduce you to industry-specific job boards or help you find an ideal mentor to get you started. Entering a new career is a unique experience, but it doesn’t mean you have to do it alone.
Randee Machina, Director of Marketing, Simpli Pleasures
Job-hopping is
If you have been changing jobs frequently over the past few months, a year, or two years, this may be a sign that you need the support of a career coach. Job-hopping is the most obvious sign that the problem is not with the workplace and job responsibilities but with the employee. The reasons for the inability to maintain long-term employment in the same place or the same position can vary. You may have felt a lack of job satisfaction, unfulfillment, or a feeling that you are stuck and have no prospects for advancement. Or you may not have had a specific reason but felt that your current job “isn’t it.”
Whatever your reasons, the situation occurred too often to ignore it. In such a circumstance, you should seek a career coach’s help. The expert will help you identify where the problem lies (employee work ethic, unattainable work requirements, or perhaps job burnout) and suggest solutions to the problem.
Nina Paczka, Community Manager, Live Career
When Clarity Sounds Like a Foreign Word It’s Time to
Typically, someone needs a career coach when it’s difficult to decide what they want to do next. If there are a million different ideas about what their future could look like floating around in their head, a career coach can step in and help. Rather than running the many options through your own head, a career coach will be able to ask the right questions and guide you to confidently figure out what’s next for you professionally.
Kelli Anderson, Career Coach, Resume Seed
You Aren’t Getting Any Traction in Your Job Search
One sign that someone should see a career coach is if they are having trouble finding a job. They may not know how to find the right jobs, or they may not know how to present themselves in an effective way. They may also be having trouble with their resume or interview skills. If a person has applied to several jobs and still hasn’t gotten any offers, seeing a career coach can help them identify and fix holes in their resume that will get them in the door for interviews and can help them present themselves in the best possible light.
Another sign someone should see a career coach is if they feel like they’re not in the right job and don’t know how to change it. If you’re unhappy with your current position and looking for ways to move up, or if your skillset isn’t being used to its full potential, it might be time to get help from a career coach. Career coaches can help clients identify what they want out of their next job so they can start taking steps toward achieving it.
Kimberley Tyler-Smith, VP, Strategy and Growth, Resume Worded
You Feel Like You Have Too Many Interests
It may be the case that you have too many interests and need to focus on one or two at a time. If you’re pondering a career change and you’re unsure about what it would be like to do something else, try it out first. A career coach can advise you on short-term volunteer, internship, or freelance opportunities to give you a better feel for what you want to pursue. Additionally, a career coach can get you in contact with people in the positions you see yourself in so that you can ask questions and get familiar with your potential new career. Talking with these professionals will help you learn as much as you can before you make any big decisions.
Dakota McDaniels, Chief Product Officer, Pluto
Find My Profession Career Blog
When you are about to start a job search and you don’t know what you want in your next role, you may say to everyone, “I’m open to anything!” But that’s not true. Everyone has limits and standards; no one does “everything,” even if they’re a jack-of-all-trades. You realize this when someone approaches you, takes you at your word, asks you to do something unusual, and you really don’t like it. But you were the one inviting it by telling people, “I’m not sure what I want to do next. I’m open to anything!” That’s when you should seek out a career coach and look for a very large flashing sign with neon lights to guide you.
Kristina Ramos, Reverse Recruiter, Find My Profession
Have You Lost Interest in the Company
A few years ago, I had lost passion for the company I was employed by, so I hired a career coach. Anyone who is generally disinterested in their work should do the same. We all need an objective opinion to solve problems like this. Make sure it’s someone outside of the company to keep rumors from spreading. After speaking to them, I saw that I needed to build my own company. A few years later, I can say that my coach was definitely right.
Jared Day, Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder, Nuleev
Keywords Are Essential
If you don’t know how to analyze a job description for keywords and key phrases and customize your resume to each job description, you might need to hire a career coach. We all know that you should be networking your way to your next opportunity, but sometimes you need to apply online where you don’t have any connections. Your resume format and content need to be matched with keywords and key phrases from the job description, and a good career coach will know how to instruct you on how to do that.
Lynne Williams, Executive Director, Great Careers Groups
Limited Advancement in their Current Role
One sign that someone should see a career coach is if they feel like they are not advancing in their current position. A career coach can help you identify the skills that are needed to advance in your field, as well as provide guidance on how to acquire those skills.
Deborrah Ashley, LinkedIn Consultant – Personal Branding, Level Up Executive Branding
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