Had anybody used a career coach?

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Last year (when I was made redundant) I bumped into a few career coaches. They all seemed fairly predatory, but I think I'm at the sage in my role / career where I would consider using them proactively. From what one of them had told me, they almost sound like "career therapists" is this accurate?

Be clear about what you would want to get out of it and potentially look for recommendations.

I'm a coach (for many,many years) and I would say it's a saturated market that's why some are predatory. Not all coaches are good, like in any other field.

I do some career coaching but really only do this with existing clients as part of long term work. All my clients come via recommendation or having worked with them in a previous context (I do lots of organisational work and teach on an MBA programme).

I would definitely look for recommendations.

I have. I think actually it just helped to have structured times to have career conversations, and to really focus on what (a) I'm good at, and (b) what I want.

I changed jobs and countries afterwards and now I'm very happy in my role, so, it did help.

There's so much of this now - all they need do is a brief course.

Some do and some of us have Master Degrees plus intensive first training and accreditstion. Its worth asking people what their background is