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Louise Kaelin

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Does Your Career Need a Coach?

By Evan Cooper
"On the Job" column, syndicated by ParadigmTSA (www.paradigm-TSA.com)

If you've ever felt the need to have a heart-to-heart with someone who really understands working and jobs - a kind of 9-to-5 Freud - you may want to look into hiring a career coach.

Coaching started out as a way to help frenzied entrepreneurs and corporate executives cope with lives that seemed to be careening out of control. The British Journal of Administrative Management says coaching takes a "holistic" view of the individual: "Work, corporate values, personal needs and career development are made to work in synergy, not against one another."

Now, workers lower down on the executive food chain are availing themselves of the service, which is growing rapidly. According to Rich Fettke, a Walnut Creek, Calif.-based coach and executive board member of the International Coach Federation (ICF), there are about 10,000 part and full time coaches in the U.S., up about 300% in the last three years.

A good coach can help you figure out what you're truly good at, how to channel and focus your efforts and how to give your work life direction and purpose. Like any field that serves people looking for solutions, and especially one that is so new, so imprecise and so "touchy-feely," coaching provides a fertile breeding ground for practitioners whose claims outstrip their performance. Here's how Fettke suggest you find a good one:

• Interview at least three coaches. Ask them about their experience, qualifications, and skills, and ask for at least two references. · Find a certified coach. Many organizations train coaches, and if someone has completed a formal program, there is a good chance they have the skills to offer quality coaching. Ask the prospective coach about the program he or she completed. Then contact the school to find out what was involved in earning the certification.
  
  
• Because coaching is an important partnership, there should be a connection between the client and the coach that "feels" right to both.

The ICF hosts a searchable member directory called the Coach Referral Service (at 1-888-BE-MY-COACH or http://www.coachfederation.org), which makes it possible to match up coach and client. Since there are business coaches, financial coaches, relationship coaches, spiritual coaches, life planning coaches and others, it's a good idea for prospective clients to shop around for the coach with the most experience and combination of qualities they seek.

ICF also operates an independent credentialing program leading to the designations Professional Certified Coach and Master Certified Coach. These require classroom training, practical coaching experience and successful completion of an ICF test.

Fettke, a Master Certified Coach, said that after an initial, one- to four-hour intake session, most coaches charge individuals between $200 and $400 per month. This covers a half-hour weekly call and between-session emails and short phone conversations. Fettke recommends that clients make a three-month commitment to the process, and observed that most of his clients work with him for about nine months, and then cut back to a once or twice a month check- in. He doesn't use contracts and a client may discontinue the relationship at any time.

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