In today’s job market, feeling stuck, burnt out, or just ready for a change is common.
But when it’s time to seek support, the options can be overwhelming: Should you go at it alone or hire a coach, a counselor, or check in with your company’s career center?
There are benefits for all your options, but some parts may have more return on your investment than others. We dive into the different layers of professional support available, emphasizing why investing in your career development is about much more than just getting the next job.
Understanding your support options
Many individuals don’t engage with career professionals, but as soon as they get support they start seeing near immediate progress. Why?
Most of career development can be done alone, you can show up to work, and slowly and hopefully get promoted faster. BUT, that’s not always going to work in your favor. This is where career professionals really support your growth, and make the process of matching your ambition easier and often faster. Why?
Career professionals know the tricks, traps, and trends that’ll work specifically for you. BUT, you need to know what type of support you need, and be aware of incredible career marketers that will take your funds and leave to back where you started. For example, resume writers are great but most are using AI to revise your resume, if the volume of resumes (based of reviews) seem too good to be true, perhaps they aren’t giving the best service to their clients.
Here’s some base statistics:
- Average job search is roughly 6 months of full-time search (30 hours a week)
- Average promotion is roughly 3 years of experience
- Average 17 years of experience is needed for executive level roles
- Average 30% of our adult life is dedicated to our professional development
These aren’t bad, but many of us are qualified to advance in our career faster when we have a robust strategy that can help. BUT it hard to know who’s there to support, what type of services you need, why you need one, where to find the best one, how to actually engage with their services. Many professionals assume that all career support is the same, but there are distinct differences in approach and credentials:
Career Marketers: Nearly a scam, designs strong marketing campaigns to get to signed up for a course/certificate to help you get more out of career. Often nothing personalized, just generic information that is designed to look impressive, offering support that might not be fully informed about your industry, your personal strengths and career trends. BUT, their website, ads, social media is a whole different level. Be aware
Resume Writer: Provides reviews and edits to your resume, often using AI based platform to write your resume. There should be personal consultations, at least 2-3 sessions with you to tailor the resume to your lexicon, your unique propositions, your industry. Certified resume writer have more training and can offer more personalized support – work with them whenever possible. Be aware of high quantity reviewed resume services, they are not providing the structured support needed to get your resume to the next level, it may work for the next job, but that’s not promised – usually using a template that looks different. Avoid artistic resumes, they don’t work. Here’s an article on how you can create your own, easily.
Career Advising: Think school settings, most career advisors offer good generic career advice can is helpful to nearly everyone – they usually work in college, high school settings, where they might be supporting over 400 individuals at a time. So you might not receive the best personalized support. Career advisors provides generic advice that can benefit a wide population. For instance, tips on how to structure cover letter, networking, or creating a brand statement, etc. They are good when you’re getting started.
Career Coaching: Anyone can be a “coach”, there isn’t any official certifications needed to call yourself a coach – so stay informed and investigate their qualifications and expertise before hiring them. That said, Career coaches offers a more personalized support for career development, a coach can help you tailor your resume or prepare for interviews in a specific field, and help you develop skills needed to support your career developmental journey. They are more nuanced and experienced to help you develop higher level skills, strategies, resumes, etc. They are a good option, when you’re able to find one that has the background and experience to back up what you need. ICF certified coaches offer a strong foundation and a good start to your career journey.
Executive Coaching: Similar to career coaching, there isn’t any specific qualifications needed to call yourself an “executive coach”, so stay informed and investigate their qualifications to support your career journey – ICF certification can offer a strong foundation. The term is often overused for marketing purposes, because it sounds better than career coaching, and offers “higher” value due to marketing terms. Executive coaching is best when working with Director level or higher because they often partner with the organization and the individual to ensure they are in alignment, individual Executive coaching services are available to help people enter into the executive-level roles. Be aware of marketing use of this term, similar Leadership coaching, Career transition coaching, etc.
Career Counseling: Regarded as the most qualified / certified individuals to support your career development. They have to complete at least a Masters degree in counseling, psychology, to be considered a career counselor. Career counselors often have a background in mental health or therapy—and specialize in professional development. They support your goals from recovering from professional trauma (burnout, layoff, anxiety, mental health challenges, etc.) to career coaching to develop your leadership style/skills so you can lead your department. Career counselors have greater impact because they can help you recover from career and mental setback (unlike career coach) and support you in your professional development (like career coaches). Often career counselors are qualified for career coaching, advising, and counseling, with a central mission of helping people.
The sheer number of options can be overwhelming, but know that ICF certified coaches can offer a foundation for coaching, everything after that is marketing and individual’s experience. Going for a Career Counselor is often the best option because of their academic credentials, mission of helping people, expertise to become a career counselor (certificate from University), and in-depth knowledge of people and organizational development.
Shameless plug: I started with coaching friends in 2009, than completed by Counseling Master’s degree and worked in the mental health and family counseling, then returned to corporate and worked in professional development speciality. Joined higher education as a career counselor/advisor, started coaching executives and mid-level leaders. In 2020, joined an organization to support career changers and executive and leadership development. Overall, having 15+ years of experience in nearly all levels of the career progression from High School students to CEOs. Thus, I have advising programs, coaching, counseling, and executive coaching.
Regardless of what type of support you choose, get working with a objective professional can help tremendously. Take advantage of the FREE consultation provided be all coaches and counselors, schedule at least 3-5 calls before you commit to one professional, and it’s okay to change professional support as you grow and need support.
Navigating internal resources
Addition to the several external coaching/counseling support available to support your professional development journey, many organizations offer internal career centers. However, it’s common for employees to hesitate, fearing that seeking help could jeopardize their position or signal they are looking for another job.
This hesitation often stems from a lack of trust in HR or the organization’s cultural health. It’s a valid concern, particularly in a market where job security feels uncertain. However, remember that career centers can advocate for employees. Investing in employees is often seen as helping the organization as a whole, as a happier employee typically performs better.
They may even help you transition internally to a role that better aligns with your additional talent, when a role you joined isn’t the best fit for you. If you lack trust in your current company, seeking professional help from outside the organization is a must. You have to trust your team, your organization because the fear of their support team using the information against you could valid if it’s not a healthy work culture.
Career professional myths
A common misconception is that career coaching or counseling is solely about getting a job.
While supporting you in getting a job is important, it’s only 10% of how we help. The other 90% of support comes when you have stability of work, and you’re navigating to the next levels of your career, how to manage office politics, executive functioning, team dynamics, leadership and communication, avoiding burnout, leading through imposter syndrome, etc.
Maintaining momentum is what makes coaching/counseling support crucial to making the whole process easier.
Sadly, we see people go into a “stuck” cycle. Get a job, stop coaching, work for 2-3 years, leave, get a job stuck for 2-3 years, and so on.
On-going check-in with a counselor/coach every 3-6 months can do wonders for your professional development. Not only within your current organization, but for your entire career. You’ll get promoted faster, you’ll navigate the workspace with executive presence, you’ll be invited to leadership meetings and discussion, and how you recover on the weekends can also support your professional development.
Avoiding the career ceiling, we get stuck in the same-level of work, just at a different organization/company. Many professionals unintentionally create a self-imposed ceiling, feeling they’ve hit the highest they can go. An objective professional can help you break through this mindset and realize your potential for exponential progress. This is why some employees get promoted faster and know how to get make the most out of their career, and others get stuck.
There’s no end to the coaching relationship, it is essential for effective career guidance. Career coaching relationship shouldn’t be for years on end, often times most clients see significant progress within 12 sessions, and then follow up every 3-6 months for 1-2 sessions to recalibrate. Personally, if i’m not seeing engagement with a client I will stop sessions after 4 sessions because they might not be ready to support their career progress due to other priorities that’s unshared. You shouldn’t have an endless sessions with your coach – if you’re not seeing change after the 2nd session you might want to reconsider who you’re working with.
Note: the changes might not be monumental after 2 sessions, but a different perspective, homework, pragmatic steps that highlight it’s working towards your goal, etc.