With unemployment at a 16-year high of 7.6 per cent and job opportunities very scarce, what job seeker wouldn't want to hire a career coach-someone who can help him quickly land a job in this bear market?
Career coaches and the clients who use them say coaches can give job seekers a competitive edge in a number of ways: They can help job seekers develop unique personal brands that will differentiate them in a crowded market. They can help job seekers mine the " hidden job market" for unadvertised positions.
They can also help job seekers articulate their strengths and passions in professional communications (e.g., résumés, cover letters, "elevator pitches" and mock job interviews) that will grab hiring managers' attention.
Need a job?
Because recession-weary job seekers are looking for all of the above assistance, career coaching services are experiencing a surge in demand, says Kim Batson, a certified career management and leadership coach who works with IT leaders.
"As soon as the economy started tanking last September, the [coaching] industry experienced a couple of weeks of quiet, but then the floodgates opened in November, December and January," says Batson. "Because a lot of people have either been laid off or they want to prepare themselves in case something happens, we are seeing an uptick [in demand]."
But hiring a career coach isn't right for everyone. For one thing, career coaching services tend to be pricey. They can range from US$125 to $500 per hour or from $375 to $3,000 per package, according to Laura DeCarlo, president of Career Directors International. So if you're unemployed and money is tight, you have to carefully consider whether spending money on a coach is worthwhile.
Protecting your career
What's more, the service is not a quick fix. "This is not a situation where the coach waves a magic wand and gives you magic insights and everything is all better," says Curt Rosengren, a career coach in Seattle who specializes in matching people with professions. "If what you're really trying to do is buy a solution, the solution comes from the work you do."
Here are eight signs that may indicate you're ready to hire a career coach and three signs that indicate you're not.
8 Signs You're Ready for a Career Coach
1. You're bored or frustrated with your job, but you don't know what else to do for work.
2. You're looking for a new job and sending out résumés, but your job search efforts are not bearing any fruit: You're not getting calls in response to your résumé; you're not being asked in for job interviews; you're not receiving offers.
3. You need help crafting a résumé or cover letters, and help presenting yourself in job interviews.
4. You're not moving up the career ladder, despite your hard work.
5. You need help differentiating yourself from other job seekers.
6. You need someone to hold you accountable for achieving your career goals.
7. You're willing to explore new ideas and to look inside yourself for answers.
8. You want to be successful, and you want to accelerate achieving your career goals.
Laid off?
Open Minds Required Alec Smith, 42, began looking for a career coach in December 2008 because he wants to become a CIO. He currently works as an IT consultant, implementing ERP, CRM, EDI and job-costing solutions mainly for the distribution industry. Smith says he recognizes that a career coach has expertise-specifically in résumé writing-that he lacks but needs to move into a CIO position.
Smith realizes that not everyone is as open-minded about hiring a career coach. When he told some colleagues that he had hired a coach, he says they couldn't understand why. "Write your résumé and move on," he says his colleagues told him.
It's not uncommon for IT professionals like Smith's coworkers to be skeptical of career coaching. Kim Batson, whose coaching practice and methodology is geared toward left-brained, analytical IT professionals, says many of them perceive career coaching as too "touchy feely."
Move up the ladder
Smith thinks his friends, who are also IT consultants, were dubious of his decision to use a career coach for résumé writing help because implementing big, complicated enterprise systems makes them feel they can do anything.
Rosengren, a career coach in Seattle, adds that hiring a career coach is hard for people who subscribe to the idea "that we're all supposed to have it figured out on our own."
"If you are closed-minded about hiring a career coach, you may not be ready to move on," says Smith. "You may not be motivated enough, or maybe you're gun-shy, or you don't feel confident enough."
Hiring a career coach, Smith says, shows a commitment to one's personal and professional development. "When someone hires a coach, they're investing in their careers 100 per cent," he says. "
They want to excel and [they realize] quite honestly, they can't do it by themselves."
3 Signs You May Not Be Ready for a Career Coach
1. You think a career coach possesses all the answers and will find a job for you (as opposed to helping you find a job).
2. You're not willing to do the work involved, which can include self-assessments, self-examination and networking.
3. You're a control freak or have trouble opening up to others.
CIO.com