Career Coaching: How to Achieve Career Goals with a Career Coach?
- Ryszard Skarbek
- Oct 16
- 7 min read
Career coaching is an effective method for supporting both professional and personal development. If you're looking to create your own career path, seek new challenges, or prepare for a promotion, working with a coach can be highly beneficial.
In this article, you will learn what career coaching services are, what benefits they bring, and how they can help you develop your career.
What is career coaching?
Career coaching is a process that helps clients analyze their development potential, plan careers, develop essential skills, and define goals. Through coaching, clients gain a deeper understanding of themselves, discover their predispositions and inner motivations, strengthen their self-confidence, and receive ongoing support.
Who is a career coach, and how can they support you?
A professional career coach is a specialist who helps clients manage their careers. Key elements of this collaboration include precisely defining what the client wants to achieve, establishing a specific action plan, and supporting the client in implementing that plan and overcoming any challenges. A career coach can help them expand their potential, develop agreed-upon competencies, strengthen their self-confidence, and make important career decisions. In some cases, they also assist in preparing for job interviews during the recruitment process.
What does the coaching process look like?
Working with a career coach involves regular coaching sessions. These sessions help clients define their goals, explore options, develop strategies, and stay motivated.
The coaching process involves regular meetings that can be divided into the following main phases:
Determining client needs and clarifying goals.
Summary of the current situation and starting point.
Analysis of client resources and review of possible options.
Selecting the preferred option and developing a strategy/plan to implement it.
Regularly checking progress in implementing the plan, maintaining motivation, overcoming difficulties, and celebrating the achievement of intermediate goals.
Closing the process, summarizing the effects, and retrospection.
What are the benefits of working with a career coach?
Career coaching brings tangible benefits to both individual clients and businesses. For those who utilize this form of collaboration, the most important benefits include:
Increased self-awareness and self-confidence.
Becoming aware of your talents and predispositions.
Knowing your personality type.
Comprehensive analysis of realistically available options.
Setting a path that is consistent with your values, needs, strengths, and personality profile.
Establishing a specific plan that you will consistently implement.
Preparation for recruitment interviews.
Continuous support from the coach in implementing the plan.
Comprehensive assistance in career change or promotion.
Working with a professional coach helps you consciously manage your career and plan your future. But not only that! You can also experience other positive changes, such as increased self-esteem, decreased anxiety, increased energy, improved work-life balance, and even increased job satisfaction.
When should you decide on professional career coaching?
Here are some tips from everyday life that will help you make a decision when in doubt:
In your daily work, you feel a sense of stagnation; you feel like you are standing still.
Showing up at the company is a source of great stress for you.
You can't name five of your strengths.
You don't know what to do in life, and you have trouble defining your expectations.
Your job doesn't give you a sense of satisfaction; it's just an unpleasant duty.
You would like to change something in your professional life, but you don't really know how.
You don't want to change your job, but you're having trouble finding your way in the current situation.
You have doubts about whether the path you have chosen is the right one.
You are considering changing your professional profile and are interested in learning about the available opportunities.
You would like to design your career path, but you don't know where to start.
You want to increase your value on the labor market.
You are preparing to look for a job elsewhere, maybe even abroad.
As a result of a longer break from work (e.g., due to maternity or care leave), you are afraid to return to work.
During your long break from work, a lot has changed for the worse at your employer, and you probably wouldn't want to go back there, but you don't believe you could find a place elsewhere, and you're also worried about your financial security.
You have lost faith in yourself and your abilities, you are tired of your current place, but you are afraid of changing jobs.
You are increasingly thinking about taking a longer break from work.
You struggle with chronic fatigue.
You're up for a promotion and you're afraid you won't be able to handle it.
What competencies and skills does career coaching develop?
In addition to the benefits mentioned above, the collaboration between coach and client also develops the following skills:
Interpersonal communication.
Building relationships.
Active listening.
Work efficiency and time management.
Motivating the team.
Managing your boss.
Building a personal brand.
Can coaching help with career change and advancement?
Yes! The process of career change can be challenging, but career coaching can support clients in making decisions, discovering new paths, and strengthening motivation. A career coach helps with job transition preparation, job market analysis, and broad-based personal development.
21st Century Challenges: How to Deal with Burnout?
Work-life imbalance is a disease of our times. The VUCA world is becoming increasingly fast-paced and unpredictable. Burnout syndrome can happen to anyone. It's a physical and emotional condition that develops from prolonged exposure to stress in the work environment. Its symptoms are individual and may vary slightly depending on the person suffering from it.
The most common symptoms include chronic fatigue, lack of motivation to work, memory and concentration difficulties, and sleep disturbances. It is estimated that up to 30% of employees in Poland experience these symptoms annually.
If you're struggling with these issues and don't know how to overcome them, a business coach can help. This service is constantly growing in demand and is always tailored to the client's individual needs. And the effectiveness of coaching is exceptionally high.
The presence of loved ones is essential.
One of the best ways to improve your well-being is to talk not only to a coach but also to family, friends, or a trusted colleague. It's good to break the isolation that often affects burnout sufferers and share your experiences. You may find that your emotions are particularly difficult – perhaps it's worth seeking help from a psychotherapist?
Work plan - small change, big difference.
If you're deciding to pursue a career in your industry, a good solution might be to try changing your workflow. When you plan your daily tasks well, you'll begin to feel less stressed. Together with a coach, you can choose the order and manner of completing your daily responsibilities to improve your well-being. This will provide you with additional motivation.
Furthermore, coaching can help you develop mature assertiveness. A good motivational coach can make a big difference in this area, especially one who has experienced similar challenges themselves. This will help you communicate your needs much better, set boundaries more effectively, and use feedback more consciously and calmly, all while reducing stress and pressure.
Don't be afraid to act.
One of the things a good coach can help you with is changing jobs and settling into a new company—sometimes it's the only and best solution. Don't hesitate to take advantage of it and seek the help of a specialist.
This can also apply to returning to work after a longer break. For example, returning from maternity or parental leave. During this break in your professional life, significant changes may have occurred at your workplace. Perhaps you yourself have begun to view life, yourself, and what truly matters to you differently. Only maintaining the right balance guarantees true satisfaction with life as a whole. Therefore, coaching benefits clients not only in the workplace.
Coaching and career counseling: differences and similarities.
Career coaching and career counseling have much in common, but they differ in their target audience, method, and purpose. There are also different types of counseling, for example, for teenagers or students entering the job market.
The coaching process typically involves individuals already employed, often in management positions. The coachee focuses on asking questions rather than offering direct advice. Rather, they help the coachee look within, guided by the guiding principle that they are the best source of solutions and opportunities. They are with the coachee through the change process from beginning to end, and this can range from a promotion within their current company to a change in employer or even starting their own business. The most commonly used method is the GROW ( Goal, Reality, Options, Will ) model.
Career counseling is primarily focused on helping you secure a specific position. It relies on recommendations and advice based on the current job market situation. It also includes assistance with CV writing and tips on how to best prepare for and present yourself at interviews.
What types can be distinguished within professional coaching?
The type of coaching depends on the client's needs and profile. Various criteria can also be used. Often, the same Polish terms have slightly different meanings, especially since they are translated from English.
If you would like to learn more, we write about it in detail on a dedicated subpage titled Types of coaching.
Diagnostic tools that can help leaders and managers: Extended DISC, Insights Discovery Team, and more.
A good way to accelerate your development progress is to use diagnostic tools. They can help you refine your self-image and often identify traits you weren't aware of. Such tests can be performed independently or as part of a training program organized by your company's HR department.
There are many proven tools available on the market. However, it's important to understand the differences and when to use them. For example, behavioral tests like DISC or Insights Discovery are not personality tests, although they are commonly referred to as such.
It's important to understand the differences in approach between personality profiling using the Big Five method and tools based on Carl Jung's concepts (e.g., MBTI ). Tools like the Gallup or Reiss Personality Test should be used only after understanding your personality profile.
We write about this extensively on our blog in the post How to choose a personality style test?
Summary: How to achieve your career goals and realize not only your professional potential, but also accelerate your personal development?
Career coaching is an effective method for professional growth and career planning. It brings tangible benefits, such as a sense of empowerment and control over one's future, increased self-awareness, a career plan that aligns with one's predispositions, and accelerated development of essential competencies.
A career coach can accompany the client through a comprehensive process, from planning their professional future to achieving their established career goals.
See also:
Mentor: Who is that?
How does business coaching work?
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