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When people want to lose weight and want to get in shape, they hire a trainer. In other times when people want to change their diet they engage the services of a nutritionist. However, when people want to advance in their career they rarely think of having a career coach.
Career coaches could not be more important especially in the face of re-opening after Covid-19 layoffs. 1.7 million Kenyans were made redundant according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. Many of these people will need guidance and career counseling on how to get back into the workforce strategically and successfully.
Career coach and counselor, Donna Sweidan spoke to Forbes and said that the core virtue of career coaching is to help people assess their professional situations with a greater degree of empathy, compassion, honesty and curiosity.
The following are some pointers that show why you need a career coach.
Relevance
A coach has gone ahead in the industry and has gained foresight through years of experience. This therefore places them at a position where they can advise you on remaining relevant for many years to come. For example, salespeople who were used to doing things the old school way now are studying and learning how to use CRMs so as to be relevant to the times.
Keeps you accountable
Often when we have a successful run in our career we tend to forget the aspect of discipline. As a result we become more comfortable and take some things for granted. When we were starting out we would be extra keen with our work. We ensure that there are no glaring mistakes or even unnoticeable ones such as missing punctuation marks.
A coach evaluates your output and measures if you’re making progress on your growth curve. They hold you accountable by correcting you but also commending you when you show resilient growth.
Secondly, when you set goals for your career and targets to achieve, a coach ensures that you are consistently taking the necessary steps to reach those goals. That is why it’s important to meet your coach regularly so that they can ensure that your progress is steady.
Balance of life
Many times when work starts engrossing us too much we tend to focus too much on it and leave other important aspects regressing. Other aspects such as the social life, family and others take a hit when we deprioritize them in favor of work. This equilibrium is famously known as work-life balance.
Since a coach has already gone ahead of you, they can help you achieve the elusive balance. It can also be hard because when you do what you love, you don’t want to stop. But that will make other areas of your life experience stunted growth.
The coach gives you practical steps on how you can set time for everything you need to do and even get much needed downtime. When we work relentlessly, back-to-back without rest, our bodies tend to slow down due to fatigue. Ultimately productivity is affected negatively.
According to the National Safety Council, 69% of workers feel fatigued at work.
According to Intelex Community, fatigue not only causes one to feel tired but it also can cause accidents, absenteeism and reduce productivity.
A genuine career coach can help you prevent fatigue and always perform at optimum levels when you partner with them effectively.
Keeping your mental health in check can also be a benefit of engaging a coach. You may not see your mental health spiraling downwards due to the busyness of life and work. But if left unchecked, it could have some adverse effects on one’s well being and career.
Having a coach ultimately helps you see through these blind spots and have a wholesome, fulfilling career.
Motivation
One of the benefits of having a professional coach is getting a needed dose of motivation. When you receive many rejections, it gets incredibly tempting to give up. Maybe you have applied for jobs and you keep receiving negative reviews. Other times the targets you set seem too far to reach and you want to give up, cave in and quit. The coach will remind you what you stand to benefit when you stick it out patiently through the whole process to the end.
Some progress takes time and patience is key because Rome was not built in a day. The work of a coach is to celebrate every milestone you make and encourage you to cross the next checkpoint with confidence.
Additionally, there are times when unseen emergencies hit in life. For example life altering accidents or terminal medical diagnosis, loss of a loved one and other grave adversities. These occurrences have the potential of breaking one’s spirit and neutralizing all the zeal, drive and motivation that a person had before they took place.
A career coach will help you make the right decisions, even though they are hard and painful so that despite all you can keep pushing. When the going gets tough, they say the tough get going.
They prepare you for interviews
Career expert and writer Lindsay Tiger says the higher you go in the career ladder, competition gets stiffer. Therefore, when you go for interviews, a coach guides you on how to make a stellar performance. That’s why it is highly beneficial to choose someone from your industry. A career coach who has wealth of knowledge about your industry could show you what the interviewers are looking for.
They also know the managers and authorities in the field. And with that backup information, why wouldn’t you succeed?
HR Consultant Dr. Amy Cooper Hakim says that a professional coach helps you answer interview questions and express your experiences articulately. That is the combination that will set you apart among other deserving, qualified candidates and land you the job.
Conclusion
Getting a career coach who fits your goals and needs is not easy. But with help from professionals such as Coach Leah Muli will listen to your needs and give you the support you need ti propel you to success. Analyze your career goals and where you are and get the career coach you need.