Are Career Counselors Worth It
Maybe you’ve been applying to the wrong jobs or taking the wrong approach. But if you’ve reached the point where you’re starting to lose hope, a counselor’s help could prove invaluable. And if working with a professional lands you a job sooner rather than later, his or her fee will end up being well worth the cost.
How We Chose The Best Coach Certification Programs
This list of best career coach certification program providers was culled from hundreds of training firms and coaching organizations that offered coach certification programs. We also focused on about 50 programs in which career coaching was the major focus, although many also offer executive coaching, transition coaching, or leadership coaching programs.
To narrow down the list, we prioritized those firms recommended by coaching organizations in adherence to their robust standards. However, some of the proprietary programs were so robust that they were added.
We dismissed any that were over-priced to bring you top-rated but affordable options along with some lower-cost certifications. We also omitted training programs in which details such as pricing or program content and structure were hard to come by.
Before finalizing the list, we looked at online reviews and student feedback, eliminating any that had poor ratings.
How Much Do Career Coaches Make
It will depend on whether you work with an organization or individual, but often, career coaches can make between $30,000 and $60,000. Some sources state that the national average salary is around $46,000, while others suggest higher earnings.
Overall, the amount you can make will depend on your area and your skills, but in some cases, you could be charging around $25 per hour, or a little more or less.
You will need to adjust your expectations to the area you are working in and whether you plan to work alone or with an organization, as this will make a difference in how much you can earn. Your location will make a pretty big difference too, but be aware that career coaches dont often earn as much as some other coaches.
However, if youre truly good at helping people to find their calling in life and manage the trajectory of their careers, this could still be the ideal profession for you.
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A Coach Can Also Objectively Identify Issues That May Be Holding You Back
Software engineers Berk C. Celebisoy and Keiko Munechika, Ph.Ds. are co-founders of Daisuki Coaching. Experienced in the corporate world, they are familiar with common mistakes smart employees make that hurt their chances of being promoted. One is that they dont have enough visibility at the officeno one knows who they are. The fix is simply to have your voice heard. Start by asking quality questions in meetings, they advise.
On her site, job search strategist and career coach Jenny Foss has a series of blog posts under the heading Proof. These are first-and-last-name stories about real job seekers and career transitioners who worked with Foss to land the job or promotion they wanted. Read these to get an idea of what a coach does and how a coach might help you.
Is it possible that the whole career coaching industry is just a gimmick, preying on the desperation of the unemployed, the underemployed, and those desperate for a career change?
Career Coach Pricing: How Much Does A Career Coach Cost

If youre looking for how much a career coach costs, youve come to the right place.
We asked 50 career coaches in the US, UK, and Canada what theyre currently charging new clients to come up with how much a career coach costs on average, and the highest and lowest coaching rates available.
Lets get started
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Career Coaches Frequently Offer Monthly Packages
While you can get some value from a single career coaching session, the real benefit of hiring a career coach is experienced through an ongoing relationship aimed at achieving your goals and creating long-term positive change in your life. To support their clients in achieving their goals from start to finish, career coaches will often offer a comprehensive monthing coaching package that includes things like:
- career and personality assessments
Choose Your Career Coach Business Name
Before you start coaching, youre going to need a great name that lets clients know who you are and what you do and coming up with one can be a real challenge. You may find that it helps to start by thinking about what problem you solve and how you help your clients.
This process may trigger some ideas about what to call your business, and you can also think about the atmosphere and ambiance that you want your businesss name to convey. Often, youll want to appear friendly and business-like so consider additional terms that evoke this imagery for you.
Think too about whether your clients are likely to respond to slang, formal language, or the cute factor because this will make a big difference as well.
You also need to make sure that the name is unique so that you stand out from other businesses, and check that it both sounds good and looks good. Its okay to spend some time thinking about your businesss name because its going to represent you for a long time!
Looking for more inspiration? Check this out:
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The Position You Are Targeting
Besides your years of experience, the position you are targeting is one of the most significant considerations when it comes to how much to invest in coaching. Students and recent graduates with simpler careers may opt for a less experienced and typically less expensive career coach. Conversely, supporting the career of a professional in transition, senior manager, or executive takes a much different skill set and requires the experience of an expert coach with a unique, specific lens.
Additionally, the more niche your position and industry, the more you will need to strategize. As a result, you can expect the price of your career coaching services to increase.
Receive Updated Information And Learn New Skills
Career coaches give you an overview of the hard and soft skills needed to succeed in today’s workplace. They may ask about your strengths and weaknesses to gauge what skills you possess and produce objective feedback on which skills you need to advance your career.
If you’re a web developer who’s speaking to a career coach, you’re likely to have skills in HTML coding, back-end programming languages, user interface design and the willingness to learn new web development concepts. You may need to improve with soft skills such as teamwork and problem-solving if you want to work with clients more often.
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How Much Does Coaching Cost
- The cost of career coaching varies from coach to coach. Most of our career coaches offer a free information session ranging from 15 minutes to one hour, and a discount of 10-30% for Duke alumni. In addition, many of our coaches offer a sliding scale based on your circumstances. Always contact the coach of your interest for current rates and more details.
What Is A Career Coaching Certification Program
A career coaching certification program is a training program that covers the skills and knowledge required to be an effective career coach and to achieve certification that you possess such skills. In general, a career coaching certification program should provide:
- Tools to help you assess individual and group career skills and goals
- Strategies to help individuals maximize their potential, including resumes and interviews
- Skills to track career progress and individual goal achievement
- A caring mindset focused on listening and helping others maximize their strengths
- A certificate or badge you can use to demonstrate your coaching competency
Several well-established U.S. and worldwide certification organizations provide standards and certifications for career coaches, such as the Accredited Coach Training Program . Unlike an accounting certification like CPA, there is no one agreed-up coach certification, nor is there one universal standard for a career coach.
These membership and best practice coaching organizations offer guidance for career coaches, including coaching standards, certifications, recommended training organizations, networking, and career coach search services to help you grow your coaching skills or business.
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Hr Career Coaching Is A Valuable Benefit For Employees
One of the most crucial issues facing management is preserving employee commitment to company goals and objectives despite organizational instability. We are experiencing a time of great organizational change led by oversees outsourcing, downsizing, global restructuring, and diminishing career advancement paths. Because of these changes, employees are less likely to rise up the ranks and more likely to change jobs or area of specialization often. With performance being a fundamental cornerstone to financial success, employers will need to implement continuous learning programs and enable employees to acquire new skills to thrive.
- increase in employee productivity and supervisory effectiveness
- retention of valued employees
- resource base for professional, experienced facilitators of training and staff development programs
Will a Career Coach keep my issues or concerns confidential?Yes. Confidentiality is a requirement and a guarantee made to all employees. Without ethical standards, the career coaching program wouldnt work. Every career counselor knows this.
How Does Career Coaching Work What Does The Process Look Like

- The process is a collaboration meant to support you in understanding what you bring to potential employers and selecting the best strategies to showcase your talent. Career coaching can take on many forms defined by your needs and your coaches methods. The goal of a career coach is to support people in making informed decisions about their career development and trajectory, as well as offer various tools that they can use, including résumés, cover letters, LinkedIn profiles, personality tests, interest inventories, and accomplishment exercises and job-description analyses. While their methods may vary, clients can reasonably expect to gain career confidence, insight, encouragement and inspiration.
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Gives You Techniques To Succeed During An Interview
Career coaches consult you on the procedures to follow during the day of your interview. Discuss the best ways to dress for the job you’re interviewing for, what questions you should ask the interviewer, body language tips to show your engagement and additional materials to present to the employer.
If you’re interviewing for a financial analyst position, the career coach may advise you to wear professional attire, bring extra copies of your resume and use the job description to ask key questions about the position. They’ll go over social cues that show you are present while they’re speaking with you and potential responses that make you stand out compared to other candidates.
How To Select A Career Coach
Given the impact and personal nature of career coaching, finding the right fit can be challenging. The best place to start is to ask people in your network for referrals.
If youre seeking a coach with specific industry or functional expertise, industry websites and magazines can be great sources for recommendations or advertisements. You can also check out websites for career coaching professional organizations, such as the Professionals Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches, Career Directors International, or the Career Coach Academy.
Many career coaches are active online. Seek out blog posts, articles, and papers written by career coaches to see whether you connect with the coachs tone and the topics they write about. Its also essential to make sure whomever you choose understands the idiosyncrasies of todays world of work, says Deb Dib, a certified executive career coach who specializes in personal branding and job search services.
They should know the skills and accomplishments companies value these days. You need somebody whos completely current in how to find work right now, she says.
You should also choose a coach whose certifications and credentials address the goals you want to achieve, says Friedman. For example, if you want to create or sharpen a personal brand, find a coach who holds a personal branding credential.
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How Much Can You Make Running Your Own Business
I make more money working for myself than when I worked as a career coach for a company. But, each year I set my goal at $50,000 US, which covers my home expenses and a bit of saving.
One aside:I was never the kind of person who had a big salary. Most of my art jobs were $30k, and even my mid-level corporate jobs were around $52k. So, Im used to living on little and dont have huge expenses. Im grateful for this because the pressure to replace a six-figure salary on a solo coaching business would have been too much for me.
I plan my offerings and content strategy to ensure I make this $50k goal. In the past few years, Ive been able to meet this goal within four months, which gives the rest of the year a lot of freedom.
I prefer to budget low than to budget too high and not enjoy the work. The reason I started my own business was to give myself more freedom. I also love coaching.
I tuck the extra money into savings, some long-term, some short-term so that I can buffer the next year. The cool thing is that if you make double what you plan, you can tuck it into the next year, and not worry about landing clients for a whole year. Imagine what you could build in that time.
The Bottom Line: Career Coaching Can Be A Great Investment
If youre stuck in your career, struggling in your job search, or just feel like you could use a little help making some tough decisions and planning your future, then getting a few sessions of career coaching can be a great investment.
Of course, everyones career and financial situation is different so if you decide career coaching is just too expensive now that weve looked at how much a career coach costs, theres one other way to get great advice from experts: E-books
Many coaches and other experts have written books with some of their best advice laid out for you and ready to use, for a fraction of the cost of a coaching session.
So if you want expert help without having to pay an arm and a leg, we put together a list of the top books for job seekers here.
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Best Variety Of Certification Training: Coach Training Alliance
Coach Training Alliance
We chose Coach Training Alliance for the breadth of coach training it offers as part of The Certified Coach Program.
The Coach Training Alliance costs about $3,500 for both of its career coaching programs: Career Coaching Mastery Certification Program or The Art and Science of Coaching Career Transitions. It also offers free workshops to learn more about the program before you enroll. Once certified, you can move on to organizational, leadership, or executive coaching.
For example, you could study organizational coaching for your enterprise, career transition coaching, or certification for yogis. It offers 22 IFC-certified programs with training that prepares you to coach individuals and groups, launch your business, or author your first book.
Online company reviews mention good teachers, a positive environment, and good career preparation.
But keep in mind that this certification program is expensive compared to some competitors, and you won’t get in-person instruction. Everything is completed online.
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Six-month online course led by an instructor with weekly calls and mentoring
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Focus on your unique interests while adhering to ICF standards for certification
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Business-building skills included for your career coaching profession
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Theres no fast-track option
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Entirely online with no in-person session
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At $3,500, this certification is pricey compared to competitors
How Much Does Business Coaching Cost
The cost of business coaching ranges between $110 and $200 on average per hour, depending on the level of experience of the coach, as well as your location.
Both business and career coaches offer different things. Some will be great at teaching leadership skills, and others will be better at building your confidence.
Average cost of a Business Coach
Average cost | |
Maximum cost | $200 |
On average, you should expect to pay $135 per hour for business coaching. By bringing all the relevant information about your business to your first session you can hit the ground running with your coach.
It can be helpful to write down some ideas about what youd like to achieve through business coaching so that your professional is best able to help you. Having this knowledge will also help you align with the most suitable coach based on your goals.
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Key Characteristics To Look For In A Career Coach
Career coach Ford Myers, author of Get the Job You Want Even When No Ones Hiring, gave us this advice on looking for a career coach.
- A solid track record: Long-term, consistent commitment and contribution to the field, including professional writing and/or speaking .
- Demonstrated leadership: Leadership roles in relevant professional associations and organizations.
- References: Testimonials and recommendations from past clients and a willingness to let you speak to current or past clients
- A connection You need a coach you connect with, so find a coach that offers a complimentary exploratory session to ensure the right interpersonal fit.
Q: What If I Am Not Satisfied With My Resume Or Cover Letter

Once the final version of the resume or cover letter is delivered, we can not issue a refund. Should this issue arise, please communicate with your coach to work toward a resolution. This resolves nearly every case.
If you are not satisfied with your initial call, contact right away and we will issue you an 80% refund.
If you are not satisfied with your first draft, contact right away and we will issue you a 50% refund.
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