Why a Career Coach is a non-negotiable
We don’t invest enough time and money into ourselves and molding the careers we want to achieve. Full stop.
A career coach can sound like a luxury, but we actually think it’s a necessity. Taking time to stop, reflect, ask your why, and then look at strategies to help get you there is critical in running a successful consulting business.
Whether it’s helping you re-evaluate where you are at and finding a career path that aligns with the work/life balance you desire, recognising your unique skills and getting clear on how to pitch them to prospective clients, and looking at where you are at now and where you want to go and figuring out the moves to get you there are all things a career coach can help you with.
We have partnered up with Career Coach, Nia Lloyd to bring career coaching sessions to the forefront and make them a priority this month.
Get to know the FG Career Coach, Nia Lloyd
Tell us a little about yourself?
I am extremely passionate about working with people from all backgrounds and love the job I do as I get to work with such a variety of individuals and find out about so many jobs and career paths people have taken, and the stories behind these decisions. After growing up in Hong Kong, my career path took me to America, Bahrain and Dubai but Australia is now home and I have been here 11 years. In my career, I have made some great decisions personally, but also some not so great. Reflecting back on these, I am able to understand what could have helped me and now I am really lucky to be able to assist others in their career journey!
What led you to career coaching?
I have a background in Talent Acquisition and really enjoyed understanding people’s motivations and career stories to see where they had been and where they wanted to get to. I loved finding candidates with transferable skills and helping them in their careers. After having my son in 2015, I took some time out of paid work and found myself thinking about what I really wanted to do and where I could go. I did some career exploration of my own in that time and found that Career Coaching really aligned with me. This led me to complete a Graduate Certificate in Career Development. As my son Harry got older, I wanted to return to paid employment and felt for my personal well-being and satisfaction it was time for me to return full time to the workforce. A few career moves helped me really understand what a good balance looked like for me and my family, and now I have my own business as a career practitioner.
Why would someone see a career coach?
There are so many reasons! It may be something tangible such as working on all of your career ‘documents’ – resume, cover letter, LinkedIn profile or, if you are looking for a job perhaps working on pro-active job search strategies, networking plans, and then interview coaching. There is also so much more. It is about working on finding your own motivations, identifying your strengths and skills, and really working out where you want to be next – taking control of your career journey. Career exploration comes into play here and understanding the labour market. You may be in a role at the moment and just need to really find your spark or drive again and a career coach can help here as well by working with you to identify why you are feeling that way and strategies to get back on top of your career. You may also look for a career coach to help with goal setting, work/life integration, resilience, and confidence!
What do you find is the most common challenge people have?
I think a lot of people undervalue the skills that they have and how these skills can transfer to different roles and different careers.
What question should we ask ourselves to evaluate where we are at?
I think the first question should be for someone to ask themselves if they are where they want to be in their career. Now, this could be in terms of the job role itself, but also the company and in terms of how career is fitting in with everything else going on. If people are unsure or think definitely not, then it might be time to start looking at the why and then looking at the pathway to strive to where they want to be.
What are your top 3 tips for someone you are career coaching?
- Play to your strengths! We all have strengths and when we work to them we are so much more productive, successful, and happier!
- People now have 17 job roles in their lifetime, whatever decision you make now will not be your last decision so it is okay if it doesn’t work out quite the way you had hoped!
- Know what you want first – be that in your job search or if you are going into a conversation with your manager or a client! If you can not articulate who you are and what you want to achieve nobody else will be able to!
What does a session with you look like?
My sessions are done via video conferencing, but the content really depends on what we are covering! I really like to work by understanding an individual first and inviting people to share with me their career stories to date. If we are exploring careers and options or identifying skills and strengths, there may have been an online assessment we will debrief on first. If we are working on Linkedin or a resume then we will collaborate on the documents, really drawing out how to present ourselves. I am very solutions-focused, so at the end of the sessions, I like to ensure there are outcomes and goal-setting around the areas we have covered.
What else are you waiting for? Re-evaluate where you are at and find a career path that aligns with the work/life balance you desire with our FG career coach Nia. Book a session now!
