Career coaching is a type of advice-giving and support provided by career counselors or coaches to their clients to help them manage their journey through life, learning, and work changes. Career coaches work one-on-one with employees to help them reach their career goals and full potential. They help with career exploration, making career choices, managing career changes, lifelong career development, and dealing with other career-related issues. Here are some ways that career coaches can help:

• Accelerate your job search process: Career coaches can help you with all aspects of your job search process, including resume writing, interviewing preparation, networking strategy, LinkedIn optimization, job search tips, and compensation negotiation.

• Advance your career: Career coaches can help you prepare for a promotion, obtain a high-impact project, or build relationships with senior management.

• Discover your next career-changing move: Career coaches can help you identify your work interests, skills, and work values, and empower you to learn about the world of work, industries, and occupations that may relate to career advancement, career pivots, career changes, and job searching.

• Develop or update your personal brand: A career coach may be hired as a client looks to develop or update their personal brand.

• Update or develop career advancing skills: As your career shifts and evolves, you may find yourself in a place where upskilling or reskilling is necessary to advance your career or make a career change. A career coach can provide resources and tools for you to map out a plan to acquire those skills, put them into practice, and effectively advance your career.

Career coaches can be beneficial to anyone looking for advice, but its important to do your due diligence to determine if working with one will help you accomplish your goals and if so, which coach might be the right fit for you. While a career coach is beneficial to anyone looking for advice, some may not be able to afford one. In that case, you can become your own coach with a little discipline and direction if hiring a professional is outside your budget.