At Position Ignition we do not claim to do or be 'career coaches' or to do 'career coaching'. What we do is guide people from A to B. We work with them - combining the elements of coaching, mentoring, guiding, advising and consulting - to help them get back in control of their careers and make their next move. Our guides are experienced individuals who can draw from their own experiences, skills, insight as well as from their guiding training and ability. This is why we call each member of our team a 'Guide' (Meet the team)
Now - if we take a look at the career coaching market - we believe there is resistance to this so called 'career coaching' for a number of reasons:
There is an ingrained expectation that career advice, help, guidance and coaching should be readily available and is already embedded within our learning/education system. So if you are at school or go to University or work for a company – you expect there to be learning and development provided for you. When you need it – you expect it there, provided for you and free. The fact that what is provided may not be any good is a different matter!
In Britain, as a society we aren’t really used to investing in our own development. We have a tendency not to value ourselves or want to spend money on ourselves in terms of growth and development.
Great career coaching takes a holistic approach. Looking at your career shouldn’t be done in isolation but often it is – which is why it doesn’t always work well. Just taking a look at your CV or interview technique isn’t really what proper career coaching is about, although some ‘career coaches’ focus on just these aspects which makes the value people get from working with them variable. With us, we look at your whole life and everything that impacts it because it will have an effect on your career.
The ‘coaching’ and ‘career coaching’ market isn’t well understood. It’s also very fragmented and there aren’t any clear standards in the market. This means that finding a good career coach can be challenging – given how easy it is to become one. So here lies 2 problems – the first being that people don’t always know what real career coaching is or how it should be done (or what they can/should get from it) and those delivering it are of varying standards and varying degrees of expertise.
A lot of career coaching you get out there isn’t directly linked to results. Sessions aren’t designed to really support you or direct or guide you to achieve your goal. With Position Ignition, we place a strong emphasis of guiding our clients from A to B. We make sure that the client moves forwards and reaches their end goal.
The level of personal investment that a career coach and their client put into the process can affect the results of the work they do together. Unless the career coach really cares or gets to know the individual well – they will be able to help that client only so much. So – we - in all of our work - make sure that when working with an individual we spend the time making sure we know them and can help them get the role they want.
Author: Nisa Chitakasem and Simon North
