To Coach... Or... Not to Coach?

I began the return to work process in earnest in January, 2017 by hiring a career coach and a resumé writer who also customized my LinkedIn profile.  The sum of these costs equaled about a week and a half of pay at the job I KNEW I would be getting, so I actually considered myself clever for being so forward thinking. The resume writer?  Was great, I would do it again in a heartbeat.  However, my coaching experience did not go as I had hoped.

I chose a Boston-based coach (local to me) that I found online and read all the positive reviews that she had.  She advertised as being a specialist in turnarounds, career changes and breaks.  Thus, I was happy to take roughly a half hour completing an in-depth onboarding survey so that my coach could best understand what kind of guidance I was looking for: what services would be redundant and which would be added-value.  I felt very good going into it – she seemed enthusiastic, had experience and I was feeling good and confident about my job search.  Though the coach did provide me with some good high level ideas like the importance of ‘Networking’… she gave very few practical suggestions on what actions or interim steps to take to actually make that happen even when asked.  She also was… noticeably absent in ‘touching base’, which isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker, job seekers do need to be self-motivated.  However, this was an area where I had requested guidance and support. I also candidly shared with my coach that I was feeling frustrated by the lack of response I was getting in my job search and that I was hoping for guidance in how to turn the frustration into a positive drive. It was guidance I never got…

Even now I am not sure where things went wrong.  Perhaps I would have been better served to have chosen someone with financial services experience, as that was the industry I had left and was where I was targeting my return. My coach missed a scheduled phone meeting with me and I waited a few days and called her out.  I sent her a detailed email explaining how the service she was providing deviated with the expectations we had agreed upon in our initial call.  She was very apologetic and said that she had let both me and herself down.  However,… things did not change.  There were excuses, family commitments, business trips etc. At the end of the day, as a paying client for a well-defined service, I was very much let down.  Our relationship ended without conclusion, I still have a credit balance with her for coaching services… which I will not be using.

In direct contrast… I worked with a different coach in advance of some live opportunities that reacHIRE sourced.  As referring agent, reacHIRE had selected and compensated the coach so I bore none of the cost.  This was a different experience  - the feedback was candid and practical.  She was able to succinctly advise me on how to handle particular situations (like… do you disclose in an interview that you’re having a hip replacement operation the following week?  Evidently NOT!), how to position my break, experience and skill set to different audiences.  In general, she was a very valuable resource.

I am generally a do-it-yourself type; I did not take a class or have a coach for the GMAT or any of the CFA exams. However, even based on my experience, I think the use of a coach can be a tremendous asset.  The right coach can keep you focused, objective and positive, providing external motivation where needed and internal guidance on how to handle situations that you don’t feel completely sure how to handle.  Doing a cost/benefit analysis can be helpful: how much more can you earn by using the coach or how much earlier can you actually expect to find a job with the coach’s help vs doing it alone - when priced in days/weeks of expected compensation, the decision often becomes much clearer.