I'm writing this review because 6 months ago, I didn't ever think I would do something like work…read morewith a coach. I was in pain though -- I was struggling with a months-long job search that hadn't created any results, and growing anxiety about my career. I'm normally a frugal person and I was hesitant to hire a coach, but I am so grateful I did. I have a better job now, a higher salary (just the raise pays for the coaching plus more!), and most importantly, a clearer picture of what I want out of my career. Since every coach is different, here's what Laura did with me.
When I first started with her in January, she assessed what I was struggling with - trying to figure out my next step. We did weekly check-ins for typically an hour. Laura is empathetic and has a knack for synthesizing communicated information into succinct points. For example, one of her exercises involved asking what I was looking for in my next role. After talking for close to an hour, she summarized my brain dump into a list of 20 items that she heard were important to me, such as advocating for something that I care about, working in casual work environment, working in a collaborative/non-competitive team, and being encouraged to have work-life boundaries. My homework was to rank each of these as "must have," "very important," or "nice to have." After refining the list, my top four were flexibility, culture, great manager/team, and growth potential (both for experience and salary).
Second, we refined my job search criteria. I sent her job descriptions of jobs I was applying to and different versions of my resume. I have a friend that works at Facebook who directly referred me to a position a while back, and I didn't even get an interview. After Laura reviewed my resume, she was honest about why I didn't get an interview. My resume was not focused or related to the job description. She described my original resume as saying, "I am an analyst but I don't know if that's who I am." She helped me edit my resume to say, "I am an analyst and I'm an awesome hire." We also cut down on the wide array of jobs I was considering (at the time I was looking at a lot of things, from marketing to finance to communications to program management). We narrowed it down to focusing on an analyst resume and a government (program manager) resume.
Third, Laura helped me to customize cover letters. I had no idea that researching different company's missions and what they were working on was part of the job search. I learned how to research effectively and apply key points to my cover letter. Each job application I worked on took longer as it focused on quality. I started to apply for companies that I really wanted to work with and also network with friends, colleagues, and coworkers. The networking included researching aspects of their companies. It was through this quality networking I was able to land my current role!
Finally, once my resume was in shape and I nailed how to write a tailored cover letter, we worked on getting interviews. There was a lull for a couple of months but then I started getting a bunch. With each interview, I had the opportunity to get better after practicing. Laura helped me to rehearse for the interviews. She also reviewed two documents she suggested I create: 1) Answers to common interview questions 2) Excel chart of last four jobs, descriptions of the jobs, challenges, and other details. In the end, I had the opportunity to choose between two offers!
In the end, job hunting is never easy and having a coach isn't an instant fix. But after starting my new job, I only regret that I didn't sign up with a coach earlier. If you're in pain at your job and it's been a while since you last job hunted, hire someone to help. Asking friends what to do or googling things online does not build your skills the way a professional coach will. If you decide to shop around, look for someone that has done a lot of coaching before. It's not a regulated industry, so make sure the coach you hire actually has all the experience they say they do. Good luck!