Any experience with career coaches? Would they help me?

[Fireyflies]

I'm facing redundancy from a small organisation in a very specialised role. I'm 52, and had not seen this coming - I'd expected to stay in this role until retirement. I could afford to retire early, and had planned to do so at some point - but wasn't expecting to do so quite yet. Finding a new role seems daunting, there are limited similar roles and I've not always enjoyed large corporates (which is where most of those roles would be). Considering freelancing, but less confident on the sales and networking angle. Also considering a total change to pursue hobbies and interests in a paid or unpaid capacity.

Has anyone used a career coach in similar situation? Could they help me figure out my next steps?

This isn’t career coaching

I agree and I found Glassdoor pretty much useless.

I’ve used a (paid for) career advice service twice, once in my early twenties when I wanted to go back into FE, and once again in my forties when I was facing redundancy. I found it extremely useful as it helped me to recognise my strengths and preferences and to get some perspective on different options. I expect things have moved on since then but I think having an independent and impartial person to help you to look at things objectively is very different to using AI.