Why Career Coaches Are Worth It for Your Future

If you’ve ever been stuck in the job hunt for longer than you care to admit, working with a career coach can be a valuable investment for getting where you want to be. Better yet—working with the right career coach lets you do it for free and make the right moves to expedite your search for the career of your dreams.

But are career coaches worth the time investment? We think so. Here’s everything you need to know about working with a career coach, plus what you can expect and signs you may need one.

What Does a Career Coach Do?

Career coaches help people improve or change their careers through the advice and guidance they provide. Many career coaches have their specialties, but some of the things they can do include:

• Helping people develop their personal brand for the job market
• Identifying career goals
• Guiding people with career transitions
• Developing and cultivating soft skills
• Closing skill gaps
• Training people on how to navigate interviews and develop the assets they need in the job search
• Positioning people to advance to leadership in their careers

Many career coaches provide their services for free through the help of programs like SkillUp and other local organizations. They help job hunters capture the attention they deserve from hiring personnel so they can land gainful, long-term employment.

Signs You May Need a Career Coach

You Feel Stuck in Your Current Job

One of the biggest indications that you could use the skills of a career coach is that you feel like you’re stuck and don’t know how to get unstuck. It may feel like a dead end with no room for growth, or like trying to leave will end in a lateral movement for your career.
Career coaches specialize in providing a different perspective on your work and asking the questions that guide you onto the path you want to take.

You Need Help Creating a Strong Resume

Crafting resumes is an art form—one that you should never do completely by yourself. Even if you’re just having someone proofread it before you start using it, you should never send out a resume without having another person review it first.
A career coach can help you craft a resume that helps you stand out from the masses and shows any employer that you’re the perfect candidate for their position. These resume-building professionals can help you find ways to highlight your experience and concisely tailor it to the job you’re looking for. With their help, you’ll capture the attention of hiring managers and be able to work your magic in the interview.

You’re Not Sure if You’re on the Right Track

This is more common than you might think—some people get so caught up in the menial or day-to-day requirements of a job that they can’t see where their end goal fits into it. A career coach can provide an outside perspective and help you set goals that will set you back on track.

Occasionally, they can also help you determine which credentials will help you reach those goals. Whether it involves getting a new certification that will advance your career or finding a new career to explore altogether, your coach can help you get where you’ll be happiest.

You Want to Develop Confident Interview Skills

Just like developing the perfect resume, interviewing is a skill all its own that can take multiple tries to master. It’s far too easy to get tripped up over uncomfortable questions, especially if you’re already nervous.

A career coach can help you navigate practice interviews so you’re more prepared for any potential loopholes. They also make it easier to finesse your answers to those difficult questions in ways that show you’ve learned from all your career experiences in ways that will benefit them—whether the experiences themselves were positive or negative.

With the help of a career coach, you can easily address every possible pitfall an interviewer may have so you can prove your skills are an asset to their company.

The Power of Career Coaching

Finding a career coach provides a personalized opportunity for professional development that could make the difference in finding the job you’re looking for.

You’re not just another product of many coming off of an assembly line in a factory. By working with a career coach, you’re collaborating with someone who sees you as an individual with skills and experience.

For example, we’ve worked with our fellow career enthusiasts at InsideTrack since 2021 to help people pair up with career coaches who help them embark on a journey toward their career goals. Over 10,500 people have used SkillUp’s free career coaching services to turn their skills into a thriving career.

One of those over 10,000 people was Afia Chrappah. Always hungry for knowledge, she used our career coaching services to assess her existing skill set and understand how to use it in a new, lucrative career path. She used her strengths in active listening and communication to break into project management and develop an all-new career mindset.

Free Career Coaching Options for Everyone

Everyone has different needs while they’re trying to figure out their career path. That’s why we offer multiple options to connect with a career coach. Some of the ways you can receive career coaching include:

• One-on-ones through Empower Work
• Group career coaching sessions through SkillUp
• Localized career coaching
• Virtual coaching sessions
• Trade- or work type-based coaching
• And more!

We also understand the importance of having access to local resources, so we work with career coaches in your region who are familiar with your area’s challenges and opportunities. For example, we have specialized options for job-seekers in Northern Nevada through Western Nevada College—this program and others like it connect you with someone who understands your needs from a local perspective.

No matter what your career situation may look like currently, there’s a career coach out there who can help you chart your course for free.

Career Coaching with AI

At SkillUp Coalition, we’re constantly exploring new ways to support learners and help them find the career for them. At this time, we’re experimenting with the potential of generative AI as a career coaching tool. We want to see how effective AI can be when it has the data and research to support it.

With the help of AI, we hope that your career coach can provide even more personalized insights that help you on the path to success. It’s another tool in our toolbox that can help you understand more about your professional strengths and work on those durable skills that are traditionally harder to train.