What Is Career Coaching?

Coaching is a wide-open field … relatively untapped, personally enriching, eternally important, with great profit potential.

Career coaching pairs two disciplines—professional coaching and career management — into a powerful and productive relationship where coaches help people create a career filled with purpose, fulfillment, financial rewards, and fun.

Career coaches provide a firm foundation of support and an exciting incubator setting for people who are developing, transitioning, or managing their careers. The coaching relationship can encompass…

	focus		assessment
	inspiration		information
	perspective		structure
	support		action
	tools		humor

Career coaches are a safe harbor for their clients during a time that is often fraught with fear and stress. In a list of 42 major life issues, these five career-related items ranked in the top half of major life stresses:

#7	losing a job
#9	retirement
#14	readjustment in business
#17	career change
#21	change in responsibilities

Who Needs a Career Coach?

Clients who are good candidates for career coaching are those who …

	want more from their career—whether greater purpose, challenge, advancement, or income
	need help clearing the decks of obstacles and behaviors that keep them from making change happen
	want a foolproof plan for identifying their marketable skill set, how it applies to different industries, and how to tap the hidden job market
	feel stuck in a stalled career, with inadequate financial reserves to quit their current job or pursue additional training
	are qualified for new opportunities, but keep losing out because of an anemic resume or milquetoast interviewing skills
	want to jump start a stalled career, whether with a current employer or in a new setting
	are frustrated with living the career goals of someone else (a parent, spouse, friend)

How Are Coaching Services Delivered?

Career coaches can deliver services via

	individual coaching (by telephone, in person, by email)
	group coaching
	onsite training
	outplacement workshops
	keynote presentations

Without question, telephone coaching is a popular and effective medium for coaching. It¹s not unusual for coaches and clients to live in different states, different time zones, and even different countries. The benefit? Clients aren¹t limited to searching within a 30-mile radius for a career coach who is a good fit for their personality and situation … coaches can work efficiently from any location, leverage their time, AND have an unlimited market base of potential clients.

The length of the coaching engagement depends on the client¹s goals. Most clients can see major progress in two or three months; others require six months or more to accomplish their goals.

What Do Coaches Get Paid?

Coaches typically base their fees on the number of sessions to be conducted per month. Although fees vary, an average range for weekly sessions ranges from $200 to $500 per month. Sessions typically last from 30 minutes to an hour.

Coaching for corporate clients commands higher fees due to the intricacies of working with a more complex organizational structure.

Experienced coaches who make healthy six-figure incomes have usually developed some type of passive income stream. Participating in affiliate programs, writing books, offering group telecoaching, and creating and selling products are several examples of passive income.