I lost my job. Now what?

6 Reasons why job seekers benefit from a Career Coach

Treat a friend (or yourself) to a career coach

Do you see people losing jobs, in Amsterdam or elsewhere in The Netherlands due to the pandemic?

It’s probably going to get worse.

This recent New York Times article describes how to help friends, family or former colleagues. Those in need of work.

Giving gift cards, food, mental support.

One of things the article did not mention: how offering a few sessions with a professional career coach might truly help.

After having helped many clients the past years with career changes, I would like to underline why it is essential to get outside mentoring (even for a few sessions).

Here are six reasons to hire a career coach:

One: Get rid of negative vibes

Remember the song “Don’t worry be Happy?”. That is the spirit that your new colleagues would like to see; a fun, inspirational team member, adding a bit of spice and freshness in the Zoom calls.

But that is easier said than done when you are forced to find a new job. It would be naïve to expect to be that happy/optimistic person, if you still bear some grudge.

Negative thoughts may still haunt you. And it will pop out, negatively impacting conversations or job interviews.

What to do?

Maybe you need to grief after taking a blow. As Marianne Williamson says, set-backs are part of life. And the body needs some time to re-adjust. Like sickness people have the possibility to heal (the psyche has an immune system). We can take a hit!

Just talking with a mentor, sparring partner or life coach or career coach about what happened, relieves the bad mood and helps to get clarity on what happened. Creative (writing) exercises to close off this period are important.

It creates space for a new chapter. Start off with a clean slate. And be happy.

Two: Set priorities

Where to start first? Sometimes the next steps are intimidating.

One will be ungrounded after a life-changing event, like job loss. Not sure where to begin with making a new start.

It helps to have an action plan.

Sometimes the little steps are sufficient in the beginning.

In my coaching I use this method of breaking up goals, into one month, one week and day segments.

Day goals

Long terms goals need to be addressed, but we only need to do — and worry about — the things we need today first.

A coach (mentor or sparring partner) helps to keep you accountable. Just like a personal trainer helps you to be consistent, making sure you show up for bootcamp.

Three: Know yourself: who are you really?

You may not realize your own strenghts anymore, if you came out of a longer period of fighting an uphill battle in corporate life.

Let’s reassess.

From what kind of family did you come, what are your core values, and what can you develop more? What are your strengths in life?

Once you know who you are, you realize what you are not. And you realize intuitively — after some work — which way you need to go.

A good career coach is intuitive — and will be a guide to find your inner compass.

In a job interview, recruiters feel who is intrinsically motivated (and who is extrinsically motivated). They go for the first.

Core values and drivers

Knowing who you are, assessing core values and personal drivers, helps with answering those ‘shitty’ questions that recruiters may ask you.

Like: Do you like to laugh or can you tell a joke, because we laugh here a lot haha? (no, I just want a new job and I am not in the mood to crack jokes at this moment).

Tell me about your weak, strong points? Etcetera.

Play acting roles

I often play these little (hard) conversations and scenarios with clients. And yes! We laugh a lot when we do it.

Let’s continue.

Four: Digital Tools like Linkedin

Don’t like to sell yourself? Not on Linkedin (or not active)?

Don’t use any of the digital tools or platforms?

No sense of urgency

People that were safely tied up in a corporate environment very often feel or felt no urgency to sell themselves (to the outside world). Up to that moment.

It may even be frowned upon. ‘Why be on Linkedin if you are successful’?

An account on LinkedIn may be sleeping.

Pictures not up-to-date — and bad copy. Unclear on the specific talents, capabilities and accomplishments.

Wake up, smell the coffee. The world has changed, like or or not — recruiters mainly use Linkedin. A coach can help you to get you up to speed.

Do as coaches do

Even in The Netherlands only, there are thousands of coaches and it is hard to stand out. Coaches are business owners and self-starters. We may learn something from them.

They are used to hustle & the grind of finding new clients. Be present on digital platforms. Go to meetups.

If you hire a career coach — you will profit from years of trial and error in the digital jungle and social media (like LinkedIn).

Probably of having a strategy or selling and communicating, in a smart way to the right people.

Pointing out what you need to communicate (including copywriting) about yourself, and where to post it.

It is this attitude and know-how that will rub off on clients, when looking for career changes.

Five: Stress Management

Nobody wants a stressed-out or bummed-out team member.

For succesful career coaching, an ingredient is learning clients to cope with stress.

There are many ways to de-stress — breathing exercises, positive self-talk, gratitude exercises, walks in nature. Nourishment and sleep.

Do you eat and drink properly? Does your food drain energy or give energy? How is your sleep? Well-being sometimes need to be learned. Or re-learned. Updated.

Do you need coffee to wake up? Feel a huge dip after lunch?

Many people invest in personal trainers, invest in physical fitness. They are members of Class Fit or One-Pass.

But let’s not forget that fitness is not the same as energy in the body.

You can be an Olympic runner — but still be stressed out. There are techniques to be aligned. The fit you, and the energized you.

Six: Underestimating yourself vs valuing yourself

Most job seekers (or people shifting careers) underestimate themselves; that’s my experience. They are not used to seeing or assessing their strong points.

Let’s not talk about your weaknesses or failures for moment — as a coach I care less about these.

When I work with clients seeking a different direction or job, I first do a thorough test analysis and I ask:

What are your successes? You may be much better than you thought! Let’s make a list of accomplishments.

And I ask: how instrumental were you in successes of the team or company?

Visualizing these (big or small) successes, is often very liberating and it becomes easier to talk about yourself as someone who is pretty unique, and who can contribute to a team.

Good luck!

Robert de Wilde — business and career coach

Originally published at https://www.robertdewildecoaching.nl on November 3, 2020.