Could helping others achieve career satisfaction be the very career that makes you feel fulfilled? Here are five reasons you were born to be a career coach.
The world is undergoing rapid change, and with it, the nature of the job market. Careers that were relevant decades ago are becoming redundant, while new opportunities have emerged to take their place.
Of course, career satisfaction is an important element of living a happy and fulfilled life. Hence why so many people struggle with the decision, whether it be a graduate pondering their next move, or an already-established professional wondering if it’s time for a change.
The world needs career coaches
This is where the services of a career coach can be of significant value. If you are pursuing career satisfaction, here are five reasons why helping others achieve it may be the path for you.
1. You enjoy helping people
In his article on Forbes, Demetrius G. Cheeks, Director at Global Corporate Services, describes the joy of seeing a client go from feeling “completely disenchanted with their career or job prospects” to “feeling freshly inspired and motivated to move forward with new ideas”.
A career coach can significantly improve the emotional wellbeing of their clients, by helping them find a job that caters to their values and provides them with a sense of fulfillment. If helping others make progress in their personal development appeals to you, you can achieve that through the role of career coach.
2. You enjoy learning
The role of career coach requires knowledge of the job market, as well as the field of professional coaching, so the profession straddles the line between the two industries. Darius Harris, owner of Career SkyRocket LLC, writes on Linkedin: “This is actually one of the most enjoyable parts of career coaching to me since I love learning and like to teach others.” He adds that career coaches have to keep track of the job market, which constantly changes.
This means a lot of reading and a lot of learning. If you like the idea of gathering information and striving toward expert knowledge of the job market, while at the same time developing your ability to deal with clients effectively; then the challenges of career coaching will be well within your capabilities.
3. You’re a good listener
As a professional coach, your job is not to direct the client, but rather to help them come to their own conclusions. This means you need to be good at listening, so you can sufficiently absorb the information the client is giving you and use it to collaboratively explore the options available to them.
Asking the right questions is an important part of listening as well. If you’re good at responding to conversation with insightful questions, you’ll be well equipped to help the client cut through the clutter.
4. You’re pragmatic
Career coaches deal in practical advice, not unhelpful platitudes like “you can do anything if you set your mind to it”. If you like helping people draw up a plan of action that includes concrete steps they can take in achieving their chosen objective, you’d be well suited to career coaching.
This includes methods the client can use to narrow down potential career paths to those that would suit their skills and interests, as well as steps they can take to establish themselves in an industry or career that they want to pursue.
5. You’re patient
Everyone has their own career journey and it won’t always be a walk in the park! As a coach, you’ll be walking alongside your clients, sharing their triumphs, their disappointments and their (sometimes scary!) experiences of change. Coaches need to be ready to build self-confidence and encourage flexibility. Above all, career coaches know that everyone has their own pace and it understandably might take some time before someone is ready to dive into a new world.
So don’t expect overnight success. Many clients will require a lot of patience on your part before you begin to see progress but the rewards will be well worth the wait.
Becoming a career coach
If you want to become a career coach, the first step is to acquire the necessary training. As Karolyne Williams, former Head of Coaching at SACAP, says: “The marketplace is wiser these days and seeks to separate the well-trained and experienced coaches from the fly-by-nights. They do this – at least initially – by looking at the coach training received.”
SACAP offers a range of coaching courses, all of which are International Coach Federation (ICF) accredited and COMENSA aligned. These courses also offer workplace experience, providing the opportunity to develop your coaching skills and apply the methods mentioned above in a real-world environment. For more information, enquire now.
Could helping others achieve career satisfaction be the very career that makes you feel fulfilled? Here are five reasons you were born to be a career coach.
