Career Coaching Will Change Your Life. Here’s How

Maya B. is a Life and Career Coach at Nobel Coaching & Tutoring. Here she explains the basics of career and business coaching, the role of the career coach and how you can benefit from hiring one, and also shares her personal experiences.

Q: What does a Career Coach do?

M: At the beginning of the coach-client relationship, the coach works with the client to set goals and define how to measure them. This is important because at some point we, both client and coach, have to be sure we’ve achieved those goals.

Apart from that, the role of the career coach is to regulate the whole process, to make sure that the goal isn’t going to be harmful for the client. For example, if a client is working extremely hard and is suffering signs of burnout syndrome, the coach isn’t going to accept any goal that pushes them into working even harder and burning out even further.

Also, the coach creates a safe, supportive environment for the client.

Q: How does the Career Coach do that? 

M: When we want to develop or work on something, we usually have some blind spots, some kind of magic circle we tend to stick to. The role of the career coach is to get you out of this magic circle and to point out those blind spots. How does the coach do that? By asking a lot of questions – questions that you haven’t asked yourself.

Q: Can someone’s Career Coach also be a Life Coach, or should the two roles be kept separate?

M: Our work life is an integral part of our everyday lives and it’s not really easy to put a clear border between the two. Accordingly, there’s no need to make it a different process; it would be a pretty artificial thing to do.

Also, it can be very difficult  to work with two coaches at once – when you’re dealing with something so interconnected, it should be with one person.

Many career coaches have experience in life coaching. And this is what you should be looking for – somebody who can help you with both.

Q: What are the benefits of Career Coaching?

M: There are many different benefits, but they always depend on the goal you’re working towards.

We often have clients who want to develop their own business, so we’re going to provide support for that. Then, we have clients who want to make a change and they’re worried about it, so we help with that. We also have people who just want to advance and move up to a higher position in their company, and so we analyze what’s happening in the company and with this person and help them align the two.

Sometimes it ends up with the client deciding to leave the job they had. Because the only way that you come to the realization that you’ve made the wrong career choice or you chose the wrong company is to start asking searching questions.

ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS WITH MAYA!

Q: Who can benefit from Career Coaching?

M: Basically, everyone who works. Anyone who wants to work on their professional life, on work-life balance, soft skills, or to make some changes in their career.

However, you don’t even have to be currently working! Especially if you’re job hunting, if you’re in between careers, or if you’re a young professional who’s trying to figure out what you want to do. Even if you’re a student and you just want to see what your major subjects should be. This is also work and where a career coach can provide a lot of support.

I’ve also worked with a housewife who wanted to start a career. She’d spent the majority of her life working in the home and taking care of her kids. Then, at some point, she just wanted to examine her options.

 Q: So anyone who needs advice, from student to CEO, can benefit from working with a Career Coach?

M: Yes, that’s true. However, I wouldn’t say advice, because that could be misleading. The career coaching process is about offering support for the client. This means clients are going to set their own goals and they are going to work on that. It’s not like somebody comes to a session and just gets a lot of advice.

Q: Does a Career Coach tell people what to do and why?

M: If we did that, it would imply that the career coach had a position of greater importance than the client and that’s not true – it’s a relationship of equals. So the answer is no.

I, as a career coach, offer support and help where I really can help, which means that I’m more knowledgeable than the client in certain areas. Still, the client is the one who does all the work and makes all the decisions. We’re often faced with a client who’s come to get a decision from us. But it’s your life and it’s your work – you can’t count on the coach to make it for you. You have to learn to make decisions for yourself.

Q: When is the right time to get a Career Coach?

M: Sometimes people wait until the problem becomes overwhelming, because of some perceived stigma. But the coaching process is pretty much straightforward and can really help overcome many challenges you have in your life. Accordingly, you shouldn’t wait until the problem becomes too big and too stressful. We can work best when we have the greatest area to work on, which means you should consult a career coach as soon as you notice something that you want to change.

Also, the coach can help even if you don’t have any specific problems but simply want to achieve some kind of advancement in your work life.

Q: What are the advantages of hiring a Nobel Coaching & Tutoring Career Coach?

M: All Nobel’s coaches have certificates and counseling psychology education. This is important because more often than not you’re going to get into deeper processes. Also, most of us have multinational experience, which allows us to see your situation both locally and globally. By choosing a Nobel coach, you’ll find someone in whom you can confide, who understands you, and will help guide you forward.

And all of that in the comfort of your home or office. Career Coaching is online, so you don’t have to spend your valuable time in traffic.