Anyone ever used a career coach?

[BlooDeBloop]

And was it worth it?

I'm lost looking for a new career and I'd like to try a careers coach or similar. Does anyone have experience of these or motivational coaching?

Not 1:2:1 but I have had a couple of group coaching sessions through talks I've been to etc.

Hand on heart, I was a bit cynical! But WOW, I was amazed. I genuinely found it really helpful and it really helped my career and setting goals etc, and that was just from a couple of general group ones.

I'm in the north so saw The adventure mentor Fiona Drake and Heather Agan De Visser, but I'm sure they do zoom. Would recommend both

This is an interesting thread, OP - I've been thinking along similar lines recently.

Thank you to the PP who posted links to Fiona Drake and HAdV - I've had a look, but tbh they sound a bit 'woo' for me (absolutely no offence intended, but the hackles on the back of my neck do tend to rise when somebody talks about their spirituality in this sort of context).

Sorry for piggybacking on your thread, OP, but has anybody ever worked with somebody who is a bit more pragmatic in their approach?

I did as part of a redundancy package.

I didn't find it brilliant for helping me figure out what I wanted to do with my life next.
Did find it useful for getting me to look at transferable skills and how to reflect my experience on CV and cover letters etc.
I think good career coaching probably is brilliant but I just don't think he was a very good coach.

My sister did, and the best piece of advice she shared was that the coach pointed out that her ideas were all focused on what she could do, not what she wanted to do.

Completely flipped the lid on how she proceeded.

I'll check those links out thank you. Yes, I'm looking for both strengths as well as knowledgeable advice about careers. I'm very much looking for what's my purpose rather than what can I do.

Have a look at Herminia Ibarra's book Working Identity (no, I'm not her!) - I'm a career coach but you may find there's enough in there to get you going. Her perspective is essentially: get going, try things out, experiment; try on different 'hats'; you'll learn about yourself and jobs you may not even have thought of in the process.

Good luck!

A friend of mine went to a career coach when she was trying for a job and she said it was very useful. Maybe you can check with this coach? Her name is Tina Persson and her website is www.passage2pro.com