Why I don’t call myself a “Career Coach”
The beauty of working for yourself is that you get to give yourself a job title. And I’ve always kind of struggled with this. I’ve hesitated for that half second after someone asks me “What do you do?”
“I’m a…coach!”
I’m very proud to be a coach, my practice, and the body of work I’ve built. But putting this thing I do into a little box so that others will understand it has been a challenge for me. I like to be verbose. Paint the full picture with all the details. Show people a window into the possibilities of change this work can create. And yet, I know I only have a few seconds before I lose someone’s attention. So what do I say?
A lot people call me a “career coach”. They know me as the person who can help you with your career. And I am, in a lot of cases and have helped many clients with that over the years! Except the title “career coach” had never really felt congruent to me and what I do, what I REALLY help my clients with.
A lot of traditional career coaches are helping people with resumes and cover letters, LinkedIn profiles, job search strategy, and interview prep. All of that is well and good - if you want help with those things, you absolutely should seek out help with those! But what I see often are people jumping into updating their CVs, preparing reference lists, and answering practice interview question BEFORE they know what they are looking for next.
To be lumped into the career coach category, it feels like a mismatch because I am not helping my clients directly with resumes, cover letters, and LinkedIn Profile strategies. HOWEVER, the work we do makes working on those things so much easier. So is it misleading if I don’t correct someone who calls me a career coach?
If you ask me why I became a coach I will gladly tell you about my own deep experience with Career Identity Crises. I knew I could help others navigate out of it and build their toolkits to move more swiftly through that process than I had. So I’ve tried on a few different titles over the years - Career Confidence Coach, Career Strategist, Luminous Coach, Self-Discovery Coach - but regardless of my title, ultimately, I’ve been helping professionals navigate out of their Career Identity Crisis.
Though, that’s not all I’m helping them with. I would argue that that is a product of the deeper work we are doing.
It’s deep like:
chills you get with an epiphany.
goosebumps get when something clicks.
the energy you feel when someone experiences a shift within themselves.
The closest thing I’ve come to resonate with is Self-Discovery & Confidence Coach.
When I talk about confidence I don’t mean putting on an act. It’s not the arrogant “I’m better than you” vibes either. That’s not real confidence anyways. It’s confidence that feels good, grounded, self-assured, self-loving, intentional, self-compassionate, and kind.
It’s the recognition of your own magnificence without the guilt, self-sacrifice, or playing small.
It’s the care you give when you know you have what you need. It’s the community over competition.
It’s living your values and creating space for others to be who they are without shame or guilt too.
It’s doing things that nourish you because they fill your cup without the concern of being over-indulgent or other’s judgment of being that way.
It’s that feeling of walking into an interview and having no problem talking about yourself, your accomplishments, owning your lessons learned, and being real.
It’s that feeling of making an important presentation and being able to answer the questions thrown your way because you trust your ideas, your process, and your ability to communicate what you want to communicate.
It’s that feeling of dating, being able to express your needs to a potential partner, and letting go of relationships with people who can’t meet your needs - knowing that you are worthy of having those needs met.
I can’t bring myself to call what I do career coaching because I feel like it’s so much more holistic than that. My clients have experienced results that go well beyond their professional life.
In the early days of coaching I got feedback from a client who got a lot of value from working together that she felt like she couldn’t tell people that she works with a “Confidence Coach”. Why? Because of the stigma. People don’t want to be seen as not confident or not believing that they are confident or recommending to someone else that they meet with a Confidence Coach. I totally get it.
And, at the end of the day, it does Not. Fucking. Matter. One bit what I call myself. Because it’s not about me. It’s about you, my clients and the magic we can create together. I don’t like putting myself in a box. I don’t like putting my clients in a box. So let’s not try to fit ourselves into any boxes.
I am a unique human who helps other unique humans like you realize you are already more of the person you want to be than you know. I help you be more self-compassionate and self-loving. I help you change your life in magnificent ways. You will fill your tool kit with tools that help you be the changemaker you want to be.
No boxes. Just uniquely, un-confining, energizing, unapologetically us.
P.S. If you want to explore working together, let’s get to know each other! Set up an exploratory call together here (yay! It’s going to be so FUN!)
Photos by Polar Square Design
