Okay yes this is kind of a sales pitch, but I will try my best to be objective is describing why a career coach (especially one of ours) is a good investment.
You are probably bad at interviewing
Throughout the course of my career in data & analytics I’ve read thousands of resumes, done hundreds of interviews, and have seen dozens of those interviewed get hired. The thing that stands out the most from all of that experience is that people in general are bad at interviewing. I learned long ago that even the “average” interviewer (if such thing were quantifiable) would still be below what I considered a decent interviewer. To help you understand where most people fall I created this unscientific chart to describe what I have seen over the years.
The bottom line is that most people aren’t good at interviewing, and if you don’t know where you fall on here then chances are you are in the poor to moderate range. While this might seem discouraging it is important to keep in mind a few things. First, like most skills interviewing takes practice and unless you are constantly changing jobs then your chance to practice is very limited. Second, in most university settings there is very little to help you make the jump from the academic world to the professional one. Once you do go out and start interviewing for real jobs there is still very little feedback besides whether or not you get an offer and your own evaluation of how you did (which rarely is accurate). The thing is, its actually quite hard and uncomfortable for most people to give feedback, especially when it is constructive. When you don’t get the job the hiring manager likely won’t give any (truthful or actionable) feedback about why. That’s why a coach can be powerful, not only will we help you learn the skills but its our job to give you the truth even when it might be hard to hear.
Coaches help you know what to expect
One of the main value propositions of a coach is that we can help you prepare for at least some of what you can expect during the job search and interviewing processes because most of us have been there before, both as someone trying to get hired and as a manger trying to hire someone. Sure you can read one of the 10,000+ blogs out there with generic information but those just scratch the surface compared to what a conversation with a coach will provide, especially when the conversation is tailored around your needs and you can ask questions. Even if a coach only gets you 10%-20% better prepared compared to self-study it is a HUGE advantage compared to your competition (and yes you are being evaluated against others).
As for our services specifically, we feel that because we specialize in data & analytics we can help you get prepared a level or two beyond that of a typical coach. Because your average coach casts a very wide net across all industries their advice is going to be a little more generic. They’ll be able to help you anticipate certain questions and prepare strong responses but we can help you do that AND give you insight into what is important for the specific roles you are applying for. We understand what hiring mangers are looking for with data & analytics roles and because of that we feel we can help you prepare better than the typical coach.
The return on investment is high
We get it, spending hundreds of dollars on a few hours of coaching sessions might seem hard to justify. However assuming you are a person who likes to use reason and math to help you make decisions (and if you aren’t then you are really in the wrong place) consider this hypothetical scenario.
First you skip all coaching services, get in the door to interview with 5 companies, and get offers from what you rate as your 3rd and 5th choices. Ultimately you take an offer with your 3rd choice for $65k and feel pretty good with that path. In the second scenario you go through our coaching sessions, get in the door to interview with 8 companies but turn down 3 before you even do the interview, and get offers from all but your second choice. You ultimately go with the role you are most excited about for $67k and feel great.
Within 6 months the coaching will have paid for itself. Within 3 years you’ll at least have a 6x ROI if not more. So from a monetary perspective there is high upside. From a happiness perspective, the difference between mostly liking you job and really liking your job is huge. It is hard to put a price tag on that but I think most people would say it is worth at least a few hundred dollars.
There is one other scenario that comes up a lot that perhaps needs the coaching the most, people who want to break into the industry but don’t have the education and experience to get through the gatekeepers. I’ve seen many smart and capable individuals apply to roles at my past companies only to get rejected because they didn’t (seemingly) have the right relevant skills. While the path might be longer, if you are in a situation like that we can help you highlight the right experience and give you a path to grow your skills enough to at least give you a chance at breaking into that first gig. Once you can do that the options grow exponentially.
You’ll need the skills for you entire career
This one is pretty self explanatory, you’ll likely be interviewing every few years for the rest of your career and the skills you learn now will be at least 80% relevant into the future. First of all it is pretty common today for people to move jobs every few years as it is often the fastest way to grow your pay. Even if you don’t plan on changing companies, many places require you to interview if you want to change departments or move into manager roles. So learning the skills today will continue to benefit you throughout your career.
The risk is minimal if you use our services
When you purchase one of our packages you will receive some coaching from us and likely some actions to do on your own to bolster your chances. If 6 months after completing your action items you are unable to get a job and are unhappy with our services we will refund your money. Besides the time you spend your risk is basically 0.