I Followed My Own Advice and Consulted a Career Coach
It turned out to be fruitful, showing me a way forward
In the previous article, I mentioned an evidence-based strategy to craft a fulfilling career. There was a gentle nudge towards the end to consult a career coach if you’re still feeling stuck.
Well, guess what?
I followed my own advice and did it. I consulted a career coach.
Why couldn’t I figure it out on my own?
You see, I did all the exercises recommended by 80,000 Hours and came up with a few insights. However, I had five different options or paths that I could take to move my career forward. Or have a career change if that’s what was required.
And I felt paralyzed. Should I pick the first option or the second? Or would a combination of the second and fourth options work better in the long run? Analysis-paralysis indeed.
But that was not just it.
Somewhere, I didn’t trust that I did the process right and arrived at the best possible paths. Talk about self-doubt!
This is where the coach comes in
So, I decided to consult a career coach as I wanted another perspective.
Now, when it comes to career coaching, there are different types of coaches. A quick search on ChatGPT showed me ten types of career coaches.
But I’ll simplify it here and say there are predominantly two types from my experience.
The first is the coach who helps you with the action steps to get the job or career you want. These include resume writing tips, upskilling techniques, interview preparation guidance, soft skills training, etc. In the country where I live, most coaches, coaching centers, and training institutes focus on these aspects. Also, they tend to be very generic and traditional in their approach. I have had plenty of these types of coaching before, and they didn’t help much.
The second type of coach focuses on helping you find your best-fit job or next-best career move before proceeding to the action steps required to get them. Their approach is more personalized, and they are aware of new-age, offbeat paths too. This is the rarer type from my experience and the one I was searching for.
Keeping this in mind, I got on LinkedIn and searched for the term “career coach” (still generic, I know, but I had to start somewhere).
After a quick scan of profiles, I found a coach whose content resonated with me. Her profile bio said, “I help millennials overcome self-doubt, find clarity & achieve career growth.”
Yup, I was a paralyzed millennial hit by a blizzard of self-doubt, and this was what I needed at that point. So, I went ahead and booked the free introductory call option.
We got on the call, and after asking me a bit about my career history and the problem I was facing, the coach suggested I take her ‘Phase 1’ coaching, which included two self-discovery sessions. The description sounded promising.
But I had a nagging pain that was bothering me.
I asked her, ‘Have you worked with clients who are more inclined to the creative side? And would two sessions be enough to get clarity? I can be a bit unconventional.’
She replied, ‘Yes, I have coached clients of multiple types, leadership levels, and areas of interest and in most cases, two sessions would be enough. Don’t worry about that.’
I had this sense that she got it — what I was seeking and where I was coming from. So, I was convinced and signed up for her coaching package.
Voila! I found my best-fit path
As a first step, the coach wanted me to do a self-discovery exercise with prompts to write answers to. A video session (around 90 minutes) would follow this, and then a second video session later.
And, after just two sessions of self-discovery, I was confident that I found my best-fit path.
I arrived at five options again, but this time the combinations were clearer. Three of my options could be combined to carve out a unique path. I saw the common thread, and my coach validated it. Awesome!
After struggling for the past year or so to find a path forward, I finally arrived at a solution that made sense.
Thus, consulting the career coach helped me find my way in the career maze. And yes, content creation is one of the skills I’m looking to build career capital in, so my writing on Medium helps too. It’s all coming together now.
So, the takeaway is that sometimes you have the answers within you, but getting external feedback from an expert may give you that added confidence to march ahead.
