How to Become a Career Coach/ Career Coach Certification

Aug. 16, 2018 How to Become a Career Coach: Today I found this article on Wikihow:


Career coaches provide guidance to people in need of assistance with career selection and professional transitions. Unlike career counselors, career coaches are not licensed, and there are no particular education requirements to become a career coach. 

That being said, there are a variety of certifications available that can boost your credibility as a career coach. You also need to make sure you have the knowledge and experience necessary to help people progress in their careers.

1

Acquire experience. While there is no specific experience required to become a career coach, you need to have a background that will inspire confidence in your clients.^[1]

• A background in career services or workforce development will offer you the most relevant experience.
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• A background in recruiting or human resources can also be helpful, as this will give you the opportunity to learn more about what employers are looking for.
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• A successful career of any kind can be an excellent asset, especially if you help people find jobs in the same field that you used to work in.

2

Be familiar with the job market. In order to help your clients, you will need to have a broad understanding of the types of jobs available in your area, the education and skill sets required for those jobs, and their average salaries. 

You also need to stay up-to-date with the latest technology used for job hunting and networking. 

• It is helpful to know which job markets are hiring, or have rising employment opportunities, compared to others. Most answers to this can be found online with a simple search.
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• Social media is currently widely used, but new technologies are developing all the time, so never stop learning about the latest trends.

3

Hone your resume writing skills. Not all career coaches offer resume writing services, but the skill is in hot demand. If you plan on offering this service you will need to have strong writing and grammar skills and understand what employers are looking for in a resume.^[2]

• You will need to help clients expand upon or condense their resumes to an appropriate length based on the amount of experience they have.
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• You will need to help clients tailor their resumes for individual positions.
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• You should know what keywords recruiters in the specific industry will be looking for.
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• You should learn how to expertly format resumes so they are easy to read and look professional.

4

Learn to listen. In order to be a successful career coach, you will need to be a great listener who is able to converse with a diverse group of people about their interests, strengths, weaknesses, and experiences.^[3]

• You will need to know what questions to ask in order to get people to reveal this information to you.
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• You will also need to be able to analyze the information that your clients give you quickly and effectively.

5

Continue to develop your skills. Before you begin working with clients, you need to make sure you have the skills that are needed to actually help clients decide on a career path or find a job. 

Joining professional development organizations is a great way to advance your skills and stay on top of the latest in industry news and research.^[4] 

6

Choose a niche. It helps to have focus when starting out as a career coach. Choosing the right type of client will allow you to put your relevant experience to work and will help you enjoy your work more. 

You will also gain credibility as an experienced career coach in your specific niche.^[5]

• If you have a background in a specific industry, consider catering to clients looking for careers in that industry. Your professional experience will go a long way to increase your credibility.
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• You can also cater towards specific types of people who you enjoy working with, such as recent college graduates or stay-at-home moms who are trying to reenter the workforce.
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• Alternatively, you can focus on a certain kind of job hunter. For example, some people contact career coaches because they have no idea what they want to do for a career, while others contact career coaches because they want to advance in their careers, but are unsure about what they need to do. Still others contact career coaches because they need help writing their resumes and applying for jobs.

https://www.wikihow.com/Become-a-Career-Coach

Career Coach Certification: 

This leading online Career Coach Certification program is attracting students from multiple countries, industries and credentials. From PhDs, university counselors, business professionals, therapists, military transition specialists, counselors, outplacement specialists, résumé writers, entrepreneurs and employees of various companies & institutions. Learn how to become a premier career coach, acquire the necessary foundation for coaching success, and gain a #1 PARW/CC certification.

Diane Hudson – Instructor

As a premiere careers space credential, the Certified Professional Career Coach program (CPCC), by the PARW/CC, offers you a comprehensive window into the career coaching industry.

Add career coach certification to your list of tools and skills or begin a totally new career!

Membership in the Professional Association of Resume Writers & Career Coaches (PARW/CC) is required to register for the CPCC and retain membership.

PARW/CC is the longest standing professional resume writing and career coaching association in the industry with more than 1100 members, and offering three career management credentials. Diane is the Director of the CPCC credential, a comprehensive program focused on career management and job search coaching strategies.

This leading online Career Coach Certification program is attracting students from multiple countries, and a wide range of industries and credentials!

From PhDs, university counselors, business professionals, therapists, military transition specialists, counselors, outplacement specialists,  VA counselors, résumé writers, entrepreneurs, employees of various companies and institutions, and many others.

The CPCC program was written and led by Diane Hudson, a notable Career Coach with multiple credentials, an award-winning resume writer and career coach, quoted in newspapers nationwide, published in 60 plus books and periodicals, book chapter and case study author, and international careers industry speaker.

You can be a CPCC in 6 to 8 weeks… Or, study at leisure and take up to one year!

Career Coaching is a positive, forward-thinking, active partnership with the client. It is exciting to watch clients realize their career purposes, design viable career-search strategies, and conquer career goals.

Career Coaches inspire, motivate, and empower clients to set and get career goals!

As you move though this program, you will explore and gain the above noted skills, and begin to revel in your clients’ career successes!

The Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC) program includes 6 hours of video to enhance over 600 pages of written materials, using live dialogues, inspirational stories, and case studies. The manual is a self-guided comprehensive workbook filled with practical exercises to properly train you to coach your clients to career success— building your confidence level as you practice career coaching skills.

Our complete self study training allows you to study and gain certification at your own pace.  All study materials are now available here online in our members area. We give you the tools and support needed for your success.

We also include a bonus “Career Coach Gear Box” filled with forms and documents that will help you work with your clients and set up your new Career Coaching Practice!

The CPCC program also includes a personal telephone coaching / Q&A session with Diane, online Q&A support, testing (including four hours of documented coaching time), and certification.

The CPCC program is offered via a home-study course to help you slowly absorb the information presented; and provide time for you to complete the exercises in the manual, before you offer the exercises to your clients.

ADDED BONUS: ************ For a limited time during 2018, new participants will receive the gift of a complimentary personal DISC Behavioral and Communication Styles assessment and report. Your DISC experience is being provided by ProfilingPro. The complimentary online DISC report has a retail value of $110.00 and the information from your report can make a valuable positive impact on your long-term professional develop

https://cpcc-careercoach.com/career-coach-certification/ment. ************

CPCC Program Synopsis

We are proud to announce that the CPCC career coach certification program has been updated and brought online!

All six modules (with 600+ pages of manual and exercises (more than 140 new pages), six hours of streaming video, the gear box, the resources list, the coaching journals, and other testing materials are now available online here via a CPCC membership page.

This format will allow for future updates, new modules, and audio or webinar sessions.

Your clients deserve the best! The best tools, coaching, strategies, inspiration, and motivation to develop their career paths, seek satisfying employment, determine career focus, target companies and positions, and move forward in their careers. This program allows you to offer clients just that.

Career seekers are challenged today by myriad methods to seek employment. As a Certified Professional Career Coach, you can lead them to career success.

One thing is constant: Change. Career seekers must know how to manage lifestyle and career change, and how to build a winning career search program affecting positive change and growth throughout their career continuum.

As career seekers learn to take charge of their career destinies, find purpose, and create direction, they maximize their ability to control life/work balance.

The Career Coach Certification program will prepare you to:

• Develop Career Coaching competencies
• Write value-laden résumés and career search documents, applying career coaching techniques
• Focus your client’s career plans (no more, “I am a jack-of-all-trades, I can do anything”)
• Become a Chief Motivational Officer
• Leverage Social Media
• Launch your own commercial career coaching enterprise – be a successful entrepreneur; or further develop marketing strategies for your current employer using workforce management coaching techniques.

Includes Recently Updated & Revised Sections:

• A section devoted to the Traditional & Social Media and Web 2.0 Job Search
• A new section on Workforce Management and Acquisition & Talent Management for HR Professionals, College Counselors, and Workforce Coaches. Students can now choose to complete a Mini-business Plan OR a Mini-Workforce Management – Career Coaching Service Offering Plan, as part of the testing requirements
• An expanded resources list with dozens of career coaching tools and web sites
• A sample coaching schedule
• Succession Planning forms
• A bonus addendum covering the Federal job search for military transition specialists, employment readiness specialists, government HR, and others interested in learning about the federal process and coaching federal job seekers
• And more

ADDED BONUS: ************ For a limited time during 2017, new participants will receive the gift of a complimentary personal DISC Behavioral and Communication Styles assessment and report. Your DISC experience is being provided by ProfilingPro. The complimentary online DISC report has a retail value of $110.00 and the information from your report can make a valuable positive impact on your long-term professional development. ************

https://cpcc-careercoach.com/career-coach-certification/program-synopsis/#jumpone

https://cpcc-careercoach.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Career-Coach-Certification-CPCC-Program-PDF-11-1-2017.pdf

"So You Want to Become a Career Coach?"

Aug. 16, 2018 "So You Want to Become a Career Coach?": Today I found this article by Darius Harris on Linked In.  He is Certified Professional Resume Writer.  I like this article because it was helpful "and he seemed relatable.

Career coaches are a dime a dozen these days. In my opinion the field is being overly saturated simply because people think it’s an easy way to make some quick money. Some people assume that you can just proclaim yourself a career coach, start a website, write a few posts on LinkedIn, and the clients will just start to overflow your inbox or voicemail. I am contacted all the time from people who are looking to become career coaches. 

One of the very first questions they usually ask is “do you get a steady stream of clients? “. This is the wrong question. A better question would be centered around how to learn the profession. 

I didn’t know that I loved career coaching and resume writing until about 5 years ago. I like to say that I fell into the profession. I’ve always had a passion for helping others, but I had no idea what area I would help people in. Once I got into workforce development and higher education in career services I found a perfect match for my interests and skills.

I absolutely love the idea of helping to improve a person’s quality of living, not only for them, but for their family as well. My goal is to help find career happiness. So when people come to me saying they want assistance becoming a career coach, I am extremely interested in learning their motivation.

I am not a man that is motivated by money, I love helping others. And while it is not my job to question the ethics of other career coaches or resume writers, I have seen astronomical prices for services. Yes, I understand that in an ideal world you get what you pay for, and career development professionals have to account for the amount of training they put into their craft. Nevertheless, $600 for resume services is insane to me. Along those same lines, charging $100 to answer questions is a bit ridiculous as well. For those people who truly have a passion for helping others and changing lives, here are a few tips to help you in your endeavor to become a great career coach.

1. Get Practical Experience: I have seen many people saying they are a career coach or resume writer but lack the practical experience to really help clients. If you are truly interested in helping others in their career, you will have to develop your own skills by actually working with clients. 

I recommend getting an entry-level job in a career services, or a workforce development setting. Consider an environment where the staff believes in professional development and have proven results of helping people find meaningful careers. 

For me career services allows for more practical experience and you are held accountable for helping people find jobs, especially in the for-profit arena. In my current position there are metrics that you must meet, so you have to be proactive when working with clients. In my personal experience, I learned much more from my time in higher education than I did in workforce development. 

Most workforce development organizations are non-profit and work under grant funded money. Instead of really being held accountable for helping people find meaningful careers, they’re usually tied up in meeting the qualifications to keep the grant money coming in, which usually is based on the amount of people who visit the facilities as opposed to people securing jobs. Most often than not, these types of organizations are understaffed and usually don’t have enough counselors to meet and work with people on a one-on-one basis, most things are done in group settings.

2. Professional Development: Whenever you enter into a field there will be a learning curve. But entering into a profession where you are responsible for empowering people with your knowledge requires you to be prepared to learn. 

This is actually one of the most enjoyable parts of career coaching to me since I love learning and like to teach others. You have to read a lot on things taking place in the field since it constantly changes. Join career development organizations and meet other industry professionals to collaborate. 

There are real benefits of joining organizations and earning certifications. You get to network with industry professionals, read members only publications and certifications provide credibility amongst potential clients. No matter what profession you choose you have to be willing to push yourself to get better at your craft and that starts with professional development. 

Research emerging trends, attend workshops and webinars, read related articles, participate in trainings, and invest in certifications. Certifications can be pretty expensive and there are many organizations that offer them, be sure to research the organizations offering the certifications to be sure they are up to date on the latest information and that you will actually learn from what is offered. 

Try not to get frustrated if you can’t afford certifications when you first enter the field, just create a list of the ones you are interested in. Always keep in mind that certifications don’t necessarily mean that you are not good at what you do. I was good at resume writing before getting certified. Some people are certified and their resumes are horrendous.

3. Save Some Money For Your Business: If you plan to start a business as a career coach or resume writer, save your money for your future effort. Professional development, websites, attending conferences and networking events, marketing and advertising, all of these things cost money. Even if you plan to never have a brick and mortar building, there are still costs associated with running an online business.

4. Don’t Lose Sight Of Your Original Intent: You were led to career coaching and resume writing because you wanted to help others, not to try and make a ton of money or to obtain fame. Don’t get certifications with intentions of tripling your prices just because you can. I write about career related topics because I love teaching, and helping others. Some write solely to increase brand awareness. They crank an article a day. I write when I feel it’ something that people can benefit from. 

If you have a blog that you maintain you want to be consistent when posting, however meaningful articles that will enhance a person’s job search should be the primary goal. Don’t feel the pressure to increase your visibility and try to keep up with others. 

Instead share things that speak to your approach and the type of people you are looking to work with and you will attract people that are excited to work with you.

5. Find Your Niche: There are thousands of career coaching and resume writing services in business. I believe it’s due to the factors I mentioned above. It’s a trend. People think they will make a lot of money really fast, and be able to work from home. With the market being flooded with so many people providing the same services, you must find a way to stand out from others.

 Find out what population you love to work with and market your product to people who are aligned with your approach. Don’t follow the crowd, and try to do what other people are doing, always be yourself.

6. Learn to Say No: When you work in the helping profession, there will always be people who want you to help them. Primarily for free. I love helping people and sometimes my heart gets me into trouble. It’s very hard for me to see someone in need of help and not offer it. 

The problem occurs when people try to take advantage of your kind nature. Some family members, friends, and complete strangers think that you have an obligation to work for them for free. If you allow it you will become overwhelmed pretty quickly.

 People are constantly asking me about resume help. The truth is that, even looking over a document takes a lot of time, so does sending a response. You must learn to say no, or refer them to your website, even if they are family or friends.

 I am guilty of wanting to help people, and when I first got into the profession, it was very hard to charge family members, but I learned quickly that people will take advantage of you if you let them. There have been people that I knew could use my help that couldn’t afford to pay me, so I helped them. However, I knew their situation, and willingly offered my services.

7. Be Patient: Just because you get a website and announce that you are a career coach, does not mean that clients will begin to fall out of the sky seeking help. You have to be patient, slowly building your business and brand. This is the reason that saving money is very important to your businesses success. 

You will need money for your website, SEO, professional development, and possibly travel expenses depending on the scope of your business. There are large companies who have budgets for marketing, and teams of coaches and resume writers. They may also have highly sought after blogs that attract job seekers to their company. 

When I first started my business, I thought the sign that my business was growing was to gain a ton of clients. But I learned that instead of having any client, I would rather work with people who like my approach to coaching, resume writing, and training. I work best with people who are interested in finding career success. 

I don’t work with people who are only looking to find a job. I am all about meaningful careers. When I get people who are only interested in a job, I refer them to people who work best with that population. Figure out what success means for you and your company and work your plan until you reach your goals. But remember you must be patient, it won’t come over night.

I hope that if you are interested in the career development field you find these tips helpful. I am very passionate about protecting the integrity of people who really love the field and actually like helping people find career success. So if you want to enter the field, be prepared to get to work, and be sure you have a genuine desire to help others.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/so-you-want-become-career-coach-heres-some-tips-help-harris-ms-cprw/