Olympic and pro athletes hire coaches and trainers to help them reach the top of their abilities.
Talented singers hire voice coaches to help them become better, stronger, and more skilled.
CEOs regularly consult with business experts, mentors, and personal coaches to help them stay at the top of their fields.
If all of these talented people invest in themselves with coaches or trainers who focus on them and their performance, why shouldn’t you?
Here’s something else: You went to school in order to gain the knowledge to do your job well. You do your job better than someone would without that training—right?
But let’s be real here…how good are you really at all the things necessary for your career, such as networking, interviewing, giving your elevator pitch, telling an employer why you’re valuable, negotiating a compensation package, or even working the office politics necessary to climb the ladder in your company?
Most people don’t like doing these things, but can still agree that they are essential for success. You need them to secure job offers, get promotions, and climb the ladder.
We all have weak points that we need help with.
You may read career advice and make a point of studying it, but you probably have some unique situation that would benefit from an expert opinion. Yes, you could work with a mentor (and you should) but a coach gives you a fully unbiased, objective sounding board. Plus, coaches work with clients all the time. Their experience could give you better solutions in less time.
If you agree that you could use the expertise of a career coach, you may worry about the cost. Coaches aren’t free.
Here’s what I would tell you: Yes, a coach does cost, but the ROI is almost always much more than you can imagine.
For instance, I recently worked with someone on negotiating a salary package. He really wanted the job, but the salary was less than he really needed. He was terrified to counter offer because he didn’t want to lose the role. In one hour, we worked out some things he could ask for and gave him a way to present it. He ended up with an offer $50,000 higher than the original. That was certainly worth his investment in coaching, wasn’t it?
Another job seeker couldn’t find the right job on his own, and was about to settle for a job that made less than he had before. When I showed him how to find hidden jobs, he contacted the hiring manager for one that was only 10 miles from his house. He got the job (which paid the same as before). That was a $20,000/year gain for him, for as long as he has that job.
Coaching almost always gives people immediate results as well as increased confidence going forward. That translates into all kinds of benefits throughout your career.
Career Confidential has created a new coaching program made up of handpicked experts in a variety of fields, with a variety of rates (which means coaching may be less expensive than you think).