Have you (personally) used a coach for a job search?

[Anonymous]

If so, was it useful? Did you hire them for accountability, editing applications, strategy, or another purpose? Was it with the money or a waste of money? Only looking for views from people who have actually done this, thank you.

[Anonymous]

Not specifically for a job search, more of a life coach, but it definitely made me realize that my job was part of the reason I was so unhappy and she helped me identify what elements of my job I needed to change. I knew I wanted to stay in my industry/career but she helped me to look for another role that was a better fit for my life at the time and met my specific criteria.

When I was actively job searching after a layoff, I utilized the career center at my alma mater and that was incredibly helpful. I would start there if that's an option for you.

[Anonymous]

No, I’m not willing to spend any unnecessary money. We live in an internet age with plenty of free resources available.

[Anonymous]

It was a waste of money for me, but I think could have worked under different circumstances.

It was a decade ago, I was a fed who moved from DC to a new area, and it was unclear if I’d be able to get transferred to that field office. (I was given a period of working remotely while waiting to see if the transfer would happen.)

I don’t remember how I picked the woman I worked with. I think she’d had connections in my new area but had moved back East.

One challenge was I was pretty undirected / having trouble identifying what other types of jobs I’d want to consider. I was hoping she’d help me work through that or help me find some informational interviews or make connections in my area. It was much more about strategizing how to update LinkedIn, my resume, my cover sheet; how to answer questions in an interview etc. So if I’d had a specific industry or company in mind or a more specific vision it might have been helpful.

The other problem was she only worked with people who bought 6 sessions up front. At session 3 I asked if she’d consider adding 2-3 sessions to our work because I felt like more time was needed to bring our work to fruition and I didn’t want to (couldn’t?) pay for another 6 sessions especially given the direction the first 3 had taken.

She spent all of session 4 pressuring me to buy 6 more sessions and why that would be good to me and it was such a turn off I never scheduled sessions 5 or 6.

Eventually I found a few informational interviews and a few real interviews on my own and about 10 months later my transfer went through and I still work as a fed from the field.