Can a career coach help you find your dream job?

A friend recently asked me how I deal with the expectations of some potential clients that my role as a Career Coach is to find them their ‘dream job’.

Actually, this isn’t as much of a problem for me as Career Coach as you might expect.

Fortunately, my clients seem to be pretty grounded in reality. They don’t seem to expect to have a job where they wake up EVERY single morning with a bounce in their step and song in their heart, just desperate to get to work. This means I don’t need my magic wand very often!

They do however have career goals that are personal to them and their unique circumstances. They want to feel happy, successful, and fulfilled in their life and work choices.

To ensure I do understand their personal expectations, I find there is a huge benefit to having an introductory call with all of my potential new clients. This provides a great opportunity to get to know one another, to understand their objectives, and establish whether working together is the right option for them.

Keeping the idea of ‘expectations’ in mind, it’s important to be clear that making a career change takes time, effort, and commitment. It does really help to adopt an open mindset and to want to prioritise developing greater self-awareness.

Sometimes my clients have already taken steps towards developing further self-knowledge and understanding before they approach me for help. This is something I would encourage.

There are some great ‘coach yourself’ resources available and I have included some additional resources to help you on the ‘get inspired’ section of my website.