A career coach is simply an individual who holds expertise in career planning, resume building, negotiation, and interviewing skills. His main goal is to impart these skills to his client to sail the boat of his life. The coach makes the client well trained to face the challenges the chosen career would throw. The skills and techniques imparted by a career coach come in handy when facing real-world problems. Many individuals do not necessarily need a career coach, but it is always better to have one. If you go looking for a coach, you might come across a lot many who wouldn’t be as skillful.
Here’s a list of characteristics you should look for in a great career coach or instill in yourself if you aspire to be one:
– A career coach needs to be realistic.
There is no real help in sugar-coating words and painting life in the colors of spring. It would only develop false expectations in an individual. Thus, a career coach should put forward the actual cards. It is always better for an individual to know the real depth of the water before diving in.
– He/she must challenge you.
If a coach can push you to your limits enough times for you to bounce back and take on your career as yet another challenge, he has done his job right. Nothing productive really comes out of a situation unless you look at it as a chance to prove your worth. A great career coach would always want his client to go a little beyond, a little further than where he stands.
– A career coach should encourage you.
Apart from pushing you extra hard, a career coach should be sensitive enough to understand when to let you rise on your own and when to pick you up. Not every ditch that you fall into, can you get out yourself. A coach who can help you at this moment with a word or two of encouragement is indeed leading you in the right direction.
– A career coach should have the foresight of your career.
There isn’t really a point to have a career coach if he cannot see beyond what you can. In layman’s terms, a career coach would be a person who can see your life through your eyes but his lenses. That is to say; he is more foresighted than you are. Only then would he push you in the right direction. Being foresighted also means having a vision. Thus a great career coach would always devise plans to help you achieve the vision.
– A patient career coach is the best.
It is very, very important for a career coach to be patient and be a good listener. Unless you have patience, you cannot listen, and unless you can listen, you cannot observe. And observation is one master key to understand another person’s functioning. From as impeccable a character as Sherlock Holmes to as normal a person as your career coach, observation is one little skill that never fails. If a coach is patient enough to take the time and understand his client, he is invested enough, not to lead you astray.
– It is a plus point if he/she is experienced.
For a client who is deciding upon which career to choose, it is always the better option to borrow some experience. And a career coach who can lend you his experience is sure to guide you in the right direction. There could be many more skilled and educated career coaches out there. Still, the experience is one too heavy a quality to beat. Many career coaches could be so much more skilled and well equipped with newer tactics, but some classic moves always come in handy.