I remember sitting at my desk in my first career with my head in my hands wondering how in the world I was going to make a change. There were a million ideas floating around in my mind, so many that I couldn’t figure out where to start. I did this for several years before realizing I didn’t have to do it alone. Does this sound familiar?
That’s where a career transition coach comes in. Here are 13 of the amazing benefits of career transition coaching!
What is a career transition coach?
First, let’s digest the difference between the words change and transition. Change is an event, often occurring externally and defined by its outcome. Transition is your response to a change, often taking place over a period of time as you adapt to the change.
A career transition coach is there to work alongside you as you prepare for, move through, and fully adapt to a change in your career. A common misconception is that career transition coaches are just there to help you make a big career change. While they can certainly support you in that, they do so much more. There are many transitions you might experience throughout your career, including becoming a supervisor for the first time, retirement, returning to the workforce, moving to a new industry, and more. All of these are scenarios where a career transition coach can be beneficial!
In general, though this may vary depending on a coach’s credentials, coaches don’t provide you with an action plan. They will provide tools, resources, space and support to guide you in creating your own career transition plan. Many career transition coaches will have a framework or approach they use with clients and assessments they incorporate.
13 Benefits of Career Transition Coaching
1 | Establish clear goals for the career transition.
Coaching is a goal-oriented process that centers your goals and aspirations. A career transition coach helps you set clear and specific goals for your career and the career transition you are considering. This is an essential early step that will help you define what success looks like.
2 | Develop your career vision.
Think of your career vision as a description or image of where you are headed – your destination. Just like you wouldn’t leave home on a road trip without knowing what direction to drive in, you need to know where you are heading in your career before embarking on any career transition.
Ready to get started on your career vision? Read this blog post for tips.
3 | Identify your values.
Having your career aligned with your values brings out your best. A career transition coach can support you in naming the values that guide you so that they can be used as a filter to sift through all the potential paths you may be considering.
4 | Claim your strengths.
Your strengths are your career superpower. They are what sets you apart from anyone else and using them daily is your greatest potential for success. It makes sense to design the next stage of your career with your strengths in mind! So often, though, it’s difficult to recognize your own strengths and see how they apply to your career. A career transition coach can help you do just that!
5 | Develop a career transition action plan.
Do you have a million ideas and “what ifs” related to your career transition floating around your mind? It can be overwhelming to even know where to start. A career transition coach can guide you in moving from ideas to action. A coach won’t create your action plan for you, but they will offer tools, resources, and a structured approach for developing your own.
6 | Explore paths forward in your career.
There are many paths that will lead you to your career vision. The process of narrowing down the options and choosing the best path for you requires careful and objective consideration. A career transition coach can be there with you to ensure you are scrutinizing each option and that you don’t lose sight of your career vision along the way.
7 | Monitor and celebrate progress on your career journey.
Going through a career transition can feel lonely at times and it can be hard to see your progress. Others can’t understand the hard work you are doing to move towards what’s next. A career transition coach is there to help you celebrate progress and milestones along your journey. They can also help to hold you accountable for the actions you commit to.
8 | Craft your career story.
One of the biggest challenges I hear from people going through a big career transition is landing their desired role. This is for many reasons, including having less relevant experience than other candidates, gaps in employment, no clear connections between their past experience and their desired role, to name a few.
Unfortunately, most hiring managers are conditioned to look for logical and linear career stories. They want a candidate’s career story to make sense. When you are going through a career transition, you have to be able to confidently tell your career story in a way that makes sense to others. Make the connections they can’t make on their own. A career transition coach helps you craft your career story so that hiring managers can see exactly how your past experiences prepare you for their role.
9 | Guide you in rebranding yourself in your new career/role.
As an extension of crafting your career story, your professional materials such as a resume, LinkedIN profile, and CV need a refresh as well. This includes highlighting transferable skills and experiences, incorporating keywords relevant for your desired role, and showcasing a bit of your personality all maximize your potential for career transition success. A career transition coach can provide tools and resources to rebrand these materials yourself or provide these services for their clients.
10 | Build your confidence.
It’s natural for your confidence to waver during a career transition. When that happens, a career transition coach is a resource to explore what is impacting your confidence and build strategies to overcome them. They are also there to remind you of your past successes, strengths, and the reasons why this career transition is important to you.
11 | Overcoming setbacks.
There will inevitably be setbacks during a career transition. These are opportunities to learn, adapt and build resilience. A career transition coach creates space for you to capture lessons learned during these setbacks, assess the impact, and adjust your plan to ensure you reach your goals.
12 | Provide honest and objective feedback.
Trust is an essential component of a coaching relationship. You need to trust that your career transition coach will offer honest, unbiased and objective feedback or observations for you to consider. They can bring attention to behaviors or patterns of thinking that are getting in your way, missed opportunities, and gaps in self-awareness in a non-judgmental space. Doing so allows you to explore possibilities, address concerns, and make informed decisions about your career transition.
13 | Normalize what happens during periods of change and transition.
Moving through change is a process. A career transition coach specializes in the process of change, including the emotions experienced along the way. They can help you anticipate and normalize what to expect as you move towards what’s next in your career.
Ready to get started?
Unearth Coaching & Consulting offers four career transition coaching packages, designed to match whatever stage of the career transition you are in. Contact me today to learn more and get started.
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