Full Careers
Are "career coaches" worth the money?
I have several career coaches offering to working with me. Most of them ask in the $75/hr range, but some of them offer a package deal. Unfortunately, none of them offer a money-back guarantee. Now, call me a left-brained analytician, but I want measurable milestones and progress. A lot of them seem VERY GOOD at creating a sales pitch, but I wonder how good they really are for my circumstances. Unfortunately, I want someone who is going to guarantee me that his services was what helped me, rather than fortuitous circumstances. Some of them seem a bit hare-brained when they discuss some of their former clients. Maybe birds of a feather flock together. In the past, the best advice I have received was from previous coworkers who knew me and my circumstances. I did not have to spend five hours narrating my life story before we were on the same page. The only drawback was that sometimes I did not want to discuss certain things with my coworkers. What is their success rate for IT?
Public Comments
- Tread very carefully in this market. There is definitely some value to having help with your carerr and I would say paying by the hour is a more safe way to guage it then to pay for a package deal. Especially the thousands of dollars offered by some of the big name firms out there. If someone is willing to coach you for 75 an hour, maybe you can agree to get two hours at a reduce rate. If you don't feel you are getting any benefit then you are only out 150 bucks and you can write it off as job hunting expense. Before working with any of the big firms, check out www.ripoffreport.com to see if they have had any problems.
- Career coaches - you get what you pay for - I don't recommend them for lower and middle income brackets. Personnel research is more beneficial. There are many resources out there for someone getting started, even Yahoo has some good guides. If you are in an upper income bracket and you feel a coach can help, check references and even ask to speak to previous clients.
- I'll offer you this one piece of advice: Find one coach that you like and trust and stick with him/her. The problem most people have with instructors(myself included),is that they listen to too many people. The more instructors you listen to, the more confusion you're likely to get. So like I said, get just one instructor(coach) and stick with them.If it doesn't work out, then switch.
