Should I Get A Career Coach?
Explore how professional guidance can help you land a job.
Landing a job later in life can be tricky.
If you’ve noticed you’re not getting interviews after applying to jobs, take heart. There are steps workers over 50 can take to improve their job prospects.
For starters, it may be time to consider working with a career coach. A career coach can help you figure out how to catch up to and compete in today’s job market. Working with a career coach who understands the particular challenges older workers may face is especially helpful.
A career coach may be the key to your success in getting hired, like it was for Lillian Shupe, who worked with one as part of a free program from AARP Foundation BACK TO WORK @50+.
Get one-on-one support
“You can ask them any kind of question, and they have the answers,” she says of her coach, who helped her map out a career plan. “One day we might talk about how to do your LinkedIn, how to do the résumé, each week with a different topic.”
From her coach, Lillian learned how to customize her résumé to suit each particular job she was applying for. She hadn’t really understood how to tailor her resume to fit a role until they explained the idea to her.
Another BACK TO WORK@50+ participant, Tamara Burchette kept coming back to one piece of advice her coach had given her. “Don’t be afraid to try something different,’” she remembers. “‘Don’t be stuck just because you did the same kind of work all this time.’”
That advice inspired Tamara to apply for her current job as a buyer for the New Orleans Job Corps, which helps young adults complete their GEDs, learn skills, and find jobs.
The emotional support she received was also invaluable.
“Looking for work is a hard thing to go through, but they were always telling us to stay strong, not to get discouraged,” Tamara says. “It’s important to hear that.”
Stay motivated with weekly check-ins
Having an expert by your side during your search also makes it easier to “embrace the little things” that lead to a successful job search. Program participant Jacquie Johnson learned how to fine-tune her résumé, become more active on LinkedIn, do mock interviews, and network. “All those little things helped propel me to where I am now,” she says.
While she was between jobs, Jacquie worked for a temp agency, something she counted on only as a stopgap. She didn’t like the work at all and was ready to give up on the role altogether. That’s where her coach really proved her value; she pushed Jacquie to stick with it and said, “You don’t know what doors it might open.”
It wasn’t long before Jacquie got an assignment as an administrative assistant with a psychiatry practice. They liked her so much that they offered her a permanent position. “I’d never had an opportunity to choose where I wanted to work,” says Jacquie. And her coach was right there to guide her, helping her weigh the pros and cons. Her good feelings about the psychiatry practice sealed the deal, and she accepted their offer.
You may be eligible for free job search coaching
Of course, you don’t need a career coach to search for a job, but it certainly does make the challenging process easier to manage. When you participate in BACK TO WORK @50+ job coaching, you’ll get assistance with:
- Identifying your strengths and overcoming your weaknesses
- Determining the jobs that match your interests and skills
- Developing an actionable job search plan for the job you want
- Creating targeted résumés and strong cover letters
- Learning how to network to find job openings
- Figuring out the steps needed to make a change in your career
- Getting access to resources or training to develop professional skills
Learn more about BACK TO WORK @50+ and see if you qualify. You may be eligible to get step-by-step coaching to a brand-new better job at no cost.
Get More Help With Your Job Search
AARP Foundation has all sorts of programs to set you up for success in the job market. Sign up to learn more about free skills training, freelancing how-tos, and job search coaching.