Julia Wuench, CEO and Founder of The Authenticity Guide coaching a client
Julia Wuench, The Authenticity Guide
Looking for a self-help or professional development coach can be a daunting task. You want to find someone you connect with and who can help you accomplish your goals. Like any other relationship, sometimes it can take a couple of different tries before finding the right person for you. The global pandemic altered the professional lives of millions in the workforce; while some lost their jobs, others started to rethink their current positions. Wherever you stand on the spectrum, a career development coach could be the positive catalyst needed in navigating your next professional move.
If you are unsure of what a career development coach is and how they can help you, they are best utilized in situations of:
- Feeling unfulfilled, uninspired or bored in your current position.
- Identifying obstacles of feeling “stuck,” being in a rut or reframing a negative mindset.
- Uncertainty, doubt, stress and anxiety in your career path and its trajectory.
- Lacking the confidence to apply for jobs, thrive in interviews or switch career paths.
- Discovering your talents and skills and where they can be best realized.
- Setting achievable, realistic goals and accomplishing them.
- Seeking supportive, insightful and unbiased advice and tools to propel you forward.
- Holding yourself accountable for your actions and inactions.
- Transforming your life to achieve your highest potential possible.
While there are many different characteristics to look for when hiring a career development coach, these are the two essential qualities to seek out:
1. Empathy: The experience of empathy is vital in all human interactions, especially when sharing vulnerable, personal issues with a career development coach.
Psychologist, Mark David, has defined four different types of empathy. The first is “perspective-taking,” this cognitive empathy is a tool for putting ourselves in someone else’s shoes to gain their perspective. The second is “empathic concern,” a form of what we refer to as “empathy,” our ability to recognize, understand and sympathize with another person’s feelings while not taking on their emotions. The third is “person distress,” which is when you are personally affected by another person’s extreme distressing emotions and can feel them firsthand. The fourth is “fantasy,” often experienced through fictional situations, such as books or other created mental images.
Empathy is an essential component for your chosen career development coach to uphold and practice within your sessions to create a safe and nurturing environment for change and growth.
2. Expertise: A simple Google search will reveal that career development coaches are a dime a dozen. It’s imperative to do your research to find one with seasoned expertise, legitimate coaching certifications and glowing client testimonials. Mainly, focus on their years of experience and what their past clients have to say, as these will be the most telling for your future partnership.
Even the most outstanding career development coach cannot do the work for you. They help to bridge the gap to move you forward, but you hold the power to make the necessary changes in your life.
