The Benefits of Hiring a Professional Career Coach

A professional coach is a person that helps individuals, groups of people or organisations in a range of different ways. They could advise on how to progress in your career, important life goals and specific areas of your life where you need help, such as in your relationship or your fitness regime. Coaches generally specialise in a particular area, such as careers, fitness or relationships. In this article, we talk about the benefits of hiring professional career coaches.

Set achievable goals 

One great benefit of a professional career coach is their ability to help individuals set goals to progress in their careers and accomplish what they want to achieve. Often people struggle to see the bigger picture when looking at their careers. It may seem impossible for them to look forward to the future because they are overwhelmed by all of the work they have to do right now. A career coach can see past the current challenges and help individuals set goals for the next few years. These goals will be realistic and achievable based on the information that the career coach has gathered.

A plan to achieve the goals 

Setting goals is just one part of the picture; in order to achieve these goals, a plan must be in place. Career coaching can help with this plan, breaking it down into easy steps so the individual clearly understands what they need to do next to work towards their goals. For example, a career coach could suggest the individual ask for a meeting with their superior and request more responsibility at work, giving specific examples of the duties they believe they can handle. This step will help them towards promotion in the future and, ultimately, a better role in the organisation. This type of plan can be incredibly valuable and pave the foundations for career advancement.

Accountability 

It’s often easy to make plans which will help with career progression; the difficulty lies with following through with these plans and taking appropriate action. Regular meetings with a career coach can help with this aspect of development as the career coach will ask about the individual's steps to progress in their plan. Being accountable to another person can help some people feel more motivated to follow through and make changes rather than just talking about them. 

Tracking progress

Similar to how feeling accountable can help motivate people to take action in their careers, tracking progress can do a similar thing. Career coaching can highlight to an individual how little or how much progress they have made in the last 5-10 years. This is something that people don’t often think about on a day-to-day basis. When faced with the reality of their career progression, it can give people the motivation and drive to keep going or to step things up to ensure more development and change happens in the near future. A career coach will also help track progress from when you started working with them until you finish, so you can see what you can achieve when you stick to your plan.

Unexpected obstacles

Career coaching isn’t simple; each individual has their own challenges and obstacles they need to overcome. A professional career coach has the skills and knowledge to be able to help individuals overcome unexpected obstacles that may impact their career progression. For example, if there are no opportunities for advancement at the company where the individual works, they may need to consider finding a new job in another company. The coach may advise the individual to learn new skills relevant to their industry to get the best role possible. Here are some other tips on how to overcome unexpected workplace challenges.

Hiring a professional career coach can provide numerous benefits, such as setting achievable goals, creating a plan to achieve those goals, providing accountability, tracking progress, and overcoming unexpected obstacles. Career coaches help individuals see the bigger picture and break down their goals into manageable steps. Having regular meetings with a coach can keep individuals motivated and focused and help them stay on track with their career goals. Career coaches also have the skills and knowledge to help individuals overcome unexpected obstacles, such as a lack of opportunities for progression.