Do you want to become a career coach and start a new career? We have what you are looking for. This comprehensive guide will help you build a successful career coaching business and help clients achieve their goals.
A survey conducted by the International Coach Federation (ICF) in 2021 revealed that 19% of respondents worked with a career coach at different points in their lives. This means that many people have sought out the services of a career coach to help them in their professional development.
It is worth mentioning that many companies want their Human Resources professionals to be career coaches. So, how can you become one?
In this article, you are about to find out:
- Who are career coaches, and what do they do?
- Does career coaching enjoy high demand?
- What are the main steps you can take to become a career coach?
- How much can you potentially earn?
Who is a career coach?
First, let’s understand what coaching is.
In his book “Coaching for Performance” John Whitmore, one of the pioneers of the executive coaching industry, mentions:
“Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their own performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them”.
-John Whitmore
Coaching for Performance
Career coaching is a process of guidance and support from the coach to the individual to help them grow professionally or change career paths. For example, career coaches help clients to prepare for interviews, get a promotion, become more self-aware, and negotiate job offers.
If someone is feeling stuck or uncertain about their career path, you'll guide them through exploration and decision-making processes, providing encouragement and support along the way. Essentially, you will also act as a counselor.
Your clients may be at different stages of their careers. Some may want to land their first job, while others may want to get better results at the job they are currently pursuing. How do you help them as a career coach? What are your responsibilities?
What do I do as a career coach?
As a career coach, your main responsibility is to help individuals identify their career goals and develop strategies to achieve them. You guide them through exploring career options, assessing their skills and interests, and making informed decisions about their career paths.
Depending on what you want to specialize in as a career coach, your responsibilities will differ, including:
Helping people navigate career transitions
- Advise which career path will be better to take and which one to avoid
- Help with creating CVs, bios, setting up a LinkedIn profile
- Practice skills, such as interview skills
- Create an action plan for them to get where they want
- Assist them in finding a suitable job
- Encourage them to take control of their career
And the list goes on!
Are career coaches in demand?
Yes, career coaches are in demand. Overall, career coaching is a $15.4 billion industry. People are constantly looking for new opportunities; they always want to get better at their jobs. Let’s just take a look at the search volume of keywords, such as
- Career Coaching
- Online career coaching
- Career coach
The search volume of all three extends 10K.
But how do you become a career coach? That is what we will look at next.
How do I become a career coach?
Here is what you need to do to become a career coach. First, get official training on it. Then clarify your niche, figure out what your program is going to be like, market your services and find your first paying clients.
Sounds like a lot of work! Let’s get deeper into each of these steps.
Get official training
“If you want to be a coach, if you want to use coaching skills, and definitely if you want to help people with their mindset and habit change, having some kind of formal qualification and training will really make you stand out.”
CEO of Optimus Coach Academy
One of the most common questions asked is “Do I need a certification to start career coaching?”. The short answer to this is NO. Yet, should you get a certification or run an official training program? YES!
If you are all set on becoming a professional career coach, obtaining a subsequent certification would be a good idea. The requirements or degrees you need to become a career coach vary from country to country.
You may be required to complete a training program and pass the examination. Your program can take from days to months to complete. If you already have a degree in psychology, human resources, or business administration, that will definitely play to your advantage.
Here are some popular training programs for career coaches you want to consider. Before picking one, make sure it is recognizable in your country or at least accredited by the International Coaching Federation (ICF).
- Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC) courses start from 12 weeks, and pricing starts at $1195.
- Certification program offered by the University of Columbia, tuition starts at $8500.
- Global Career Development Facilitator, (GCDF),with course length of 120 hours and pricing starting at $1400.
You should note that getting a certification does not make you instantly successful. The training program teaches you how to coach. Yet, you also need to know how to run a coaching business, which is a completely different story.
Improve your career coaching skills
As a career coach, you will be required to hone your coaching skills regularly. Even if you have completed a one-year immersive career coaching program, working on your skills constantly is still necessary.
First, let’s see what soft skills you should start working on:
- Holding a coaching presence. What a professional career coach does in the first place is to listen. To help your clients achieve their goals you will need to understand what their problems are. And the best way to do that is by listening.
- Being patient, yet responsive. As a career coach you are not required to offer instant advice right on the spot. You should rather take everything into consideration before offering an action plan. This point is totally related to the previous one.
- Asking questions. Questions are a powerful tool helping you to discover more about your client, their wants, goals and expectations. The exact questions you are going to ask usually differ from client to client.
- Empathy. Do you find yourself an empathetic person? It is definitely going to help you on your way of becoming a great career coach.
Besides the soft skills, there are some other skills specific to career coaches. For example, you should have a great understanding of the following:
- Career ladder
- Career trajectories
- Modern day careers
- Finding and preparing for the job
- Developing and sharpening skills
These skills will not be as necessary if you choose a more general specialization, such as that of a life coach or a business coach.
Niche down
The reason you want to niche down is to figure out:
- Who do you serve?
- What transformation will you help them achieve?
Finding your specific niche is the first step of Cindy Makita-Dodd’s C.A.R.E.S. framework. Here C stands for Clarifying your niche. Cindy has built her 6-figure career coaching business, and here is what she recommends:
“Ask yourself, who am I better equipped to serve? Maybe you climbed the corporate ladder fast, and you want to help others in your industry do the same. Maybe you have conducted thousands of interviews in the HR space, and you want to help career professionals sharpen their interview skills and land jobs faster.”
-Cindy Dodd,
Career coach, Co-founder at PEMA
So, your goal at this stage is to understand what pain point you are solving for your client and when they can address you. The most common niches in career coaching you might want to specialize in include the following:
Career transition coaching
- Job search coaching
- Leadership development coaching
- Performance Coaching
- Career development coaching
- Student and graduate coaching
- Entrepreneurial coaching
- Personal branding coaching, etc.
Take you time to find out what you are better at and what your clients may be needing the most. And now we are moving to the next step on your way to become a career coach - developing the program.
Develop your career coaching program and set the price
Now, it is time to develop coaching materials. As a coaching program, it must remain flexible. However, you must still have a certain structure, session plan, and of course, materials and assessments to utilize throughout the program.
So, write down an approximate plan for the program and also create goals for each session. Make sure that the program you developed at the end contributes and allows participants to achieve the mentioned learning outcomes and goals.
And how long should your coaching program last? We recommend you start with a 3-month program package.
There are certain career assessments you can include in your program.
- MAPP career assessment. It provides a unique assessment profile to find a suitable career, in case your client is not aware of what field they want to start/change their careers.
- Career resources questionnaire. This questionnaire will help individuals (e.g., those who want to grow professionally in their career) identify their strengths, shortcomings, and challenges that stand in the way or promote their chances of professional growth.
There are many other assessments, and you may also create your own. Keep in mind to keep track of clients’ progress to be able to provide them with constructive feedback, which will essentially allow them to grow further.
Now, the most important question comes in: how do I price my career coaching program in a way that doesn’t price the fine line between charging too much and charging too little.
There are three main ways to set up a price for your program:
- Hourly rate, where your clients pay by the hour
- Monthly rate, where a client is paying you a fixed amount of money every month
- Package-based, meaning, where the clients pay for the whole program
One of the most recommended ways to price is by charging for the package. The reason for this is that your clients will perceive it as an exchange of their money for the result and not just your working time.
And if you are thinking about what can be the perfect price for your program, we will disappoint you by saying the perfect pricing doesn’t exist. What Mick Rutjes, a life and spiritual coach, recommends you do is just pick a price you feel most comfortable with.
As a beginner career coach with no prior experience or any certification you might even start with charging nothing for your services. To give you a better idea, you can offer hourly sessions ranging from $65 up to $250. And if you are charging for the whole package, the prices can start at $1000.
Make your services and stand out
The next step is to do market research to find your target audience.
In order to complete proper market research, you can:
- Complete surveys & interviews
- Focus groups
- Customer observation.
Market research will help you to
- Understand who is your target market
- Segment your target market and create buyer personas based on it
- Understand who your competitors are, their strengths and weaknesses
- Come up with your USP
- Create appropriate marketing strategy and tactics
- Avoid business-related failures and set your strategy up for success.
So, make sure to dedicate appropriate time and resources for proper research.
Also, do not forget to complete a careful competitive analysis.
Throughout the market research strategy, identify who your competitors are. Then, start analyzing data gathered on them. That data will help you to understand competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. It will also help you to see where your competitor’s strategy worked and failed.
With proper competitor analysis, you will also gain valuable insights into your target market.
Get your first clients
To answer the question on “How can I get my first clients?” you should first answer “How will my clients learn about me and how great I am”?.
This means you will need to establish a strong online presence. As you set up your profiles on different social media platforms you can:
- Share with your network that you started a career coaching program.
- Attract coaching clients through platforms like LinkedIn, X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or any other app by posting helpful content and updates regularly.
- Attend online and offline networking events, join other coaches, and expand your network of professionals.
You can share a simple message, saying:
I started a new career coaching program with a focus on (what you promise).
I would like to help people who are looking to:
- Results or solutions your clients want 1
- Results and solution your clients want 2
- Results and solutions your clients want 3
If you know someone who is interested, I would be happy to offer a 20-minute free consultation.
Also, do not forget to share your calendar link, so that they can book a meeting with you. As your potential clients join the consultation, ask them how they liked the experience. Finally, offer them to continue the collaboration with your 3-month coaching program.
Pro Tip: At this stage you do not want to focus on the number of your social media following list, or your email subscribing list. What matters most is the engagement. Quality over quantity, that’s it!
Once you get your first clients, start collecting their testimonials. As your clients achieve the transformation, present their case studies on your coaching website and social media.
“There is nothing more powerful than social proof, testimonials, and reviews. So, for those people who are involved in your program, you want to collect their success stories, demonstrate the transformation you helped them achieve and use these testimonials in your branding material.”
Cindy Dodd,Career coach, Co-founder at PEMA
Here are examples of her testimonials.
In the same way, you can include testimonials from your emails or other social app messages.
FAQ about career coaching
Throughout this section, we will answer the most common questions beginner coaches have related to career coaching.
What challenges do career coaches face?
Some of the challenges career coaches and consultants face include:
- The job market is evolving really fast. You will need to always stay updated on the changes to be able to provide relevant guidance to your clients.
- Addressing the emotional challenges from the clients’ side. You should not only provide practical guidance on resume writing, networking, and interview skills but also offer emotional support and encouragement to help clients overcome psychological barriers.
- Adapting your program for clients with different needs. Clients may have diverse learning styles, personalities, and preferences. So, it is essential to always stay flexible in your approaches.
How to become a certified career coach?
Becoming a certified career coach involves several steps.
First, research different certification programs to find one that fits your needs and is accredited by the International Coaching Federation. Next, enroll in the chosen program and complete all required coursework. This may include learning about career development theories, coaching techniques, and ethics. After finishing the program, you will need to pass an exam to earn your certification. Once you've completed these steps and obtained your certification, you can start offering career coaching services to help others reach their professional goals. Remember, it's important to continuously update your skills and knowledge to provide the best support to your clients.
Do I need certification to become a career coach?
Yes and no at the same time.
As with other coaching niches, you may consider getting a certification. Technically you do not need one. However, the certification will allow you to increase your trust factor toward you. Also, to get a certification, you must complete a program that will make you a better and more efficient coach.
How much can I earn as a career coach?
As a career coach, you can earn anywhere near $70.000 up to $600.000 a year.
You can offer hourly sessions ranging from $65 up to $250 (beginner coach). Also, you can offer wholesome programs consisting of 4, 8, 15, and 20 sessions. The typical price range for that program varies between $400 to $4000.
As a beginner coach, you can price a program consisting of 8 sessions for $1500. If you find the first five clients, you will make $7500 during the first month.
Also, you can consider long-term B2B collaborations where you work with teams.
How to measure career coaching effectiveness
There are a variety of methods and ways that will help you to measure the overall effectiveness of career coaching. Let’s take a look at some:
- Ask for feedback
- Keep track of coachees' progress over time
- Measure speed and the overall rate of goal attainment established during the first session of the program
- Ask participants for self-reflections
- Provide feedback that will allow participants to grow more
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