The Pandemic Has Created A Career Coach Boom

Career Coaches are becoming more popular now than ever before in our new world of flexible work.

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• In conjunction with the Great Resignation, there has been a boom in career coaching during the pandemic.

• Workers are reassessing the way they work, and it is clear that they are seeking guidance on how to do so wisely.

• As the coaching industry grows, it is projected to continue its newfound improved growth post-pandemic. Competition among coaches will also increase.

Career coaches, life coaches, and spiritual coaches have long been around. 

Consider an example of a life coach: Tony Robbins. Robbins doesn’t teach people how to find a mere job. There’s certainly room for that, but this generally is the work of social workers rather than life coaches. Rather, life coaches intend to teach people how to improve their lives as a whole.

They don’t instruct people on how to get jobs, but on how to have a career which most optimally suits their individual needs. 

The Great Resignation has sprung from a similar desire. Millions of people are leaving their jobs every month in the United States. And what’s been surprising to many is that one of the least salient reasons for the Great Resignation are matters concerning income or benefits. 

That certainly plays a role, but the primary guiding force of the Great Resignation has been the pursuit of a better overall life. That is, working in jobs which provide purpose and personal autonomy, as opposed simply better wages. 

In conjunction with this, there has been a boom in career coaching during the pandemic. Workers are reassessing the way they work, and it is clear that they are seeking guidance on how to do so wisely. What is clear about this boom is this shift in priorities across the board. What is less clear, however, is what this will manifest into in the coming years.

What will career coaching look like post-pandemic? Will it replace traditional education and training? 

Given that the shift in priorities has moved away from the standard model towards one of seeking purpose and autonomy, one might speculate that traditional modes of education and training will be replaced by life/career coaches. This, however, isn’t very likely. 

“Sometimes you need mental health care, and that’s different from finding your inner truth,” according to California psychiatrist Dr. Anandhi Narasimhan, and while it is clear that in some cases coaching can be of massive benefit, in others it can be counter productive.

Coaching is an unregulated industry, so methods of helping people are not unanimous. And sometimes, the true help some individuals need can only be provided by mental health professionals. In light of this, coaches cannot replace traditional methods of helping workers for reasons of health risk. 

In other respects, coaches can have a profound impact on traditional methods of training and education. Consider, for instance, the sheer lack of pragmatic education in America: that is, on how to find a career best suited to your interests. 

Generally speaking, such pragmatic education is non-existent in America: in order to attain such information, you either have to know the right person, or be lucky enough to stumble upon it on the internet.

In this case, career coaches can fill a profound void in American education through teaching people how to identify the career best suited to their needs, and how to attain that career through a step-by-step logistical plan. 

In this respect, coaches might replace some job training. There is a growing interest in independent or freelance work, and the resources required in order to get started with such work is seldom found in traditional education – let alone traditional job training, which has been reported to be scarce in ordinary jobs.

While coaching certainly won’t replace accredited education in all respects, for those pursuing independent work, college might become a thing of the past – or at the very least, something that’s been made subordinate to coaching. 

How will career coaches affect the future of work? 

The boom of coaching will affect the future of work in one immediate sense: more people will become coaches. As the coaching industry grows, it is projected to continue its newfound improved growth post-pandemic. Competition among coaches will also increase.

As it stands, there isn’t any obvious impediment to the morale of the Great Resignation we should be worried about. In other words, it’s unforeseeable that the newfound valuation of flexibility and purpose will go away. Thus, demand for these coaches will continue to rise. 

If the demand is met, it is likely that we will see a rise in independent workers. Likewise, we might also see a continued decline of worker disengagement and dissatisfaction with their work – which has been exceedingly bad and stagnant up until the pandemic.

Much of this is speculative. However, it is speculation based on the fact of the coaching industry and its current success, and its projected continued success. Coaches filled various important voids during the pandemic, such as social connections, and even the role of managers. 

Remote work has come with declines in the development of things like soft skills, and sufficient job onboarding. Coaches have filled these gaps, which is ultimately a positive thing.

If these positive developments continue into the future – which, as things stand, it’s very possible that they will – much of the morale which has driven the Great Resignation –i.e. The pursuit of a better life – will become amplified. 

In any case, the future for life/career coaching is looking bright, because its present state is that of success and growth.