What a Career Fulfillment Coach Does to Help You Find Clarity
Career coach, career clarity coach, career fulfillment coach, career pivot coach…these are all things I’ve been called before.
While the terms above can be used pretty interchangeably (at least regarding myself), it can be confusing! But don’t worry, if you’ve ever thought to yourself, “What does a career clarity coach even do anyways?”, keep reading.
The basics
I typically call myself a career clarity coach, meaning that I mostly help clients with (you guessed it!) career clarity. My goal, day in and day out, is to help my clients get clear on what they need in their careers and how they can be more fulfilled.
Who I help
Primarily I work with high-achievers, many of whom are millennials. My focus is on helping them remove the external pressure they feel for their career to look a certain way, so that they can instead figure out what they actually want. Because in my experience, the quickest route to feeling unfulfilled in your career is to create a career based on what you think you should be doing.
The process
I drive these results with clients through my own unique process, which I developed through my own experience and my last 5+ years in business. During that process, I take my clients through 3 main phases:
Releasing the pressure of the “shoulds”
In phase 1, I work with clients to release the pressure of what they “should” be doing. In my experience, many people want to skip this part and move right into what they do want. That would be a mistake, though. We must start with releasing this pressure because if we don’t, we can’t have a meaningful conversation about what we do actually want in our career. All of our decisions will be put through the lens of “is this a smart choice?”, or “does this look prestigious enough?”, or “will I be considered successful if I do that?”. As a result, we won’t actually be making the decisions that we truly want. That’s why I find it’s essential to begin here. (Plus, at the end of our coaching sessions, about 90% of my clients tell me that this was their favorite part!)Getting clear on their “what” and “how” needs
Once we’ve released the external pressures on our career, then we can begin to discuss desires. This is the section in which I work with clients to discover what kind of role would be a good fit for them. We talk about “how” and “what” needs. “What” needs being the type of work that feels engaging and exciting to you, and “how” needs being the other logistic-y considerations for your role (such as company culture, team dynamics, etc). In this module of the work, we develop a clear, flushed out definition of what success looks like for them, which becomes their framework for decision-making. This is the meat and potatoes of my work with clients, and it’s where we finally get some answers about what would make them happy!Mapping this to a path forward
Once we’ve clarified a client’s individual needs and desires, then we will discuss the path forward! Based on what they’ve determined are their “must haves” for work, they’ll get honest and consider next steps. Would they be able to stay at their current role and shift things to be more fulfilling? If not, could they change teams within the organization to have more of their needs met? If not, could they change companies, but stay in the same industry? If none of those options would rectify the challenges they’re facing, then we will discuss looking externally for a different role at a different company, in a different industry. I think it is important to outline the scenarios we talk through (as I just did) because a lot of people assume that career clarity or fulfillment coaching means that you have to get a new job. But this is not necessarily true! Our job is instead about helping you figure out your needs, and then seeing if you can align your job to those needs. If you can grow where you’re planted, even better!
How to work with me
So…that all sounds good, but what does it look like to actually take people through this work?! For me, I have 3 ways of taking clients through my process:
Purpose Chaser School - My self-study program which takes you through the core tenets of my “purpose statement work” at your own pace. If you want the short version you can do on your own, this is for you. It includes 8 modules full of videos and exercises to help you figure out your unique career needs, as well as a members only community for additional support where you can ask questions.
Purpose Chaser School with VIP Support - Since self-study programs aren’t for everyone, I also have an option for people who are interested in Purpose Chaser School (PCS) but know that they need a little more accountability and support. It’s a hybrid offering between self-study and my more intensive 1x1 coaching! PCS VIP support includes the Purpose Chaser School program and community, as well as four additional 1x1 coaching calls, email support, and access to office hours.
One-on-One Coaching - I offer 1x1 coaching, both for folks who want to stay in corporate and for people who want to start their own side-businesses. 1x1 coaching is the most time-intensive and high-touch option I offer, for those people who are ready to do the big work (and get big answers). All of my individual coaching packages are custom, so the number of calls I recommend depends on the person and their situation. This typically looks like about 10 calls for a standard career exploration, as I would call it, including a pre-package intake call, a post-package wrap up call, and access to email support and office hours in between.
*Side note: If you want to learn more about Purpose Chaser School, you can click here. If you’re interested in coaching (either through my 1x1 program or through the hybrid model PCS VIP), you can click here to schedule an exploratory call to discuss.
What to expect
For all of my work with clients, I expect them to do the assigned exercises and homework, come to our calls (if we have calls) prepared, engaged, and ready to invest themselves in the process. When they do, it’s amazing to see the results they have. Personally, I’ve found that homework and exercises are essential because it takes the big scary goal (career clarity) and breaks it down into smaller action steps. It’s like going through a marathon training program… You don’t have to worry about completing the big goal, you just have to focus on that week’s training task!
How long it takes
The timeline of this work typically takes anything from 1 month to 5 months, depending on the program that you choose. I actually shared a blog post last week about estimating the timeline of this work, which you can check out here.
So…does that give you some insight into how career clarity coaching with Empowered Achievers works? While every coach has their own unique way of doing things, that is my process! I could probably write a lot more about what my calls with clients look like, but I’ll save that for another post. Of course, if you have any other questions about coaching or how it works, feel free to drop them in the comments below or shoot me an email at chris@beempoweredachievers.com, and I’ll get back to you! I’m happy to help. If you’ve never worked with a coach before, it can feel a bit overwhelming and foreign, but I’m here to answer your questions. :)
As some parting words, I wanted to share this brief testimonial from my EA Alum, Sara. Sara had worked with other career coaches in the past, and opted to work with Empowered Achievers when she hadn’t seen the results she desired. Safe to say, she was a fan of our approach too. Check out her thoughts here:
If you're feeling how Sara did before we worked together and are ready to invest in yourself and building a career you LOVE, you know where to find me.
