Despite the innumerable advantages of working with a career coach, the concept of career coaching is still in its infancy.
A career coach is a specialist that works hand-in-hand with you, as a career professional to assist you with navigating your career, and making decisions that would allow you to flourish.
A career coach understands the trends in the workforce, among talent seekers and employers, and will use this knowledge to ensure that you are up to date on relevant skills, hard and soft, required to excel in your chosen career.
In this article, we have highlighted five ways a career coach can take you to the next level in your career.
1. Clearly Outlining SMART Career Goals
When asked ‘What is your career goal?’, it could be easy to make a one-line sentence on what you want to accomplish in your career. Sometimes, it can be difficult.
Working with a career coach would first help you determine that personalized and relevant career statement. They would also help you flesh out the statement to a full-fledged SMART goal.
SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. It is a well-known and used format to create working goals for individuals and organizations. These goals include timelines and key performance indicators that can be tracked to ensure that one remains in line with them.
A career coach can help you as a professional to outline career goals that work.
2. Create a growth-focused and personal Career Plan
Maybe you have an interest in several industries or you want to try your hand at many different things. A career coach can help you align all these together to create a personalized career plan that would help you grow.
You can work hand in hand with a career coach to know what your 5-year or 20-year plan should look like. A good career coach would help in creating a plan that contains actionable steps, Plan-Bs, and timelines. While this plan should be flexible and does not need to be strictly adhered to, it creates a guardrail of sorts to ensure that your career remains a fulfilling one.
3. Making sure you stay accountable
You have a list of goals you want to achieve and if you worked with a career coach to set those goals then they are SMART goals that are clearly outlined.
While setting SMART goals provide a clear statement of where you want to go and when you want to get there, putting in effort and time helps you achieve this.
Working with a good career coach will ensure that you stay on track with your career goals as there will be quarterly evaluations to check what you have achieved so far and the effort you have put in. If it seems like you have fallen behind because you are not putting in the work, a career coach can guide you back on track.
4. Improve your employability
Another way a career coach can help you is by ensuring that you build soft and hard skills that are relevant to your career path and make you more attractive to employers.
A career coach would also ensure your CV and resumé are up to date and highlight your competencies and strengths while encouraging you to use other resources like social media to put yourself out for opportunities.
A career coach can also help you prepare for interviews making certain that you are able to communicate how efficient in a role you would be to a prospective employer. A career coach would also ensure you do not short-change your value and settle for lesser than you deserve.
5. Stable Source of Career Advice
The workforce is full of uncertainties, especially with global situations. The world is recovering from the pandemic, there is economic instability caused by several factors including the Russia-Ukraine war and job security has drastically reduced.
A career coach would help you find a footing and always provide you with advice when you are unsure about what to do. However, it is important to note that a career coach can only advise you. You need to make the major decisions by yourself as you are responsible to yourself.
We frequently create content that you’ll find helpful! When we’re not doing that, we’re interviewing inspiring Leading Ladies who are eager to share their experiences with us!
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