Another job thread – anyone done careers counselling / coaching?

I posted a tread about this a year or two ago but never really got anywhere with it and it all got put on the backburner.

Long story short, I’ve been working for a company for coming up to two years and it’s been quite the rough ride. I’ve set myself a deadline to get out by the end of the year by the very latest (hopefully sooner) but I’ve had absolutely zero luck with the job search so far this year and the despondency has kicked in. I’m also not entirely sure what I want to move on to / what I can move on to and that is probably the biggest reason why the job search hasn’t gone to plan.

I’ve though about doing some sort of careers counselling or coaching (I know there’s a difference between the focus of the two) partly to align and refine the job search, and partly because my career post-uni has generally followed the lines of “whatever comes along” and I don’t have a clear plan.

Does any one here have any stories, advice or recommendations about how to proceed down this route?

I did it a couple of redundancies ago (paid for by old employer) and it was useful. I am a fan of coaching though in a more general sense. EMplyment coaching helped me to talk through my concerns/doubts/insecurities in a safe environment, with someone I dodnt know, and who asked questions that probed the reasons for my feelings.Certainly helped me separate the redundancy from any personal failings.

The same emplyment coach also offered a CV service which was OK, and a couple of questionnaires to help widen the sorts of jobs that I might want to look at (I got a job in almost exactly the same area that I had left, so cant really say if this was any use! It did help me consider things like self employment that I hadnt really looked at before though).

I had some after a redundancy last year. It was useful to the extent that it forced me to ask some questions about what I wanted that I didn’t really know needed asking and highlighted some personal behaviours that might have held me back. Now it didn’t get me my dream job, but perhaps a direction of travel.

Not had this but been battling for quite a few years to move role / get a promotion.

I think it helps to really think about what you fancy doing / what your current skills could help you with / how easily you could get any further qualifications you need to do what appeals to you.

Once you’ve worked through that go all out on achieving it – I identified 2 jobs types I fancied and set a pdp to try and help achieve this. For me I mostly looked inside the very large company I already work for – but also a few external companies.

Identify contacts wherever you want to go and attempt to network in with them before a job is even advertised. You want to be in their mind for a job before they even advertise it – otherwise in 60-80% of cases I reckon you’re too late by the time you see the job is advertised (depending on industry – I’m talking about banking).

Spend some serious time ok your cv – I’m not sure with cover letters if they’re worth doing – some hiring managers read them / some don’t. I always do one but keep it brief and just highlight my particularly relevant experience in my cv.

What your CV shouldn’t be is a straight list of your tasks in each of your jobs. I aim to have a skills section saying particular things I’m good at – then in the jobs I’ve done – particular achievements I’m proud of. Big deals (if I’m sales) / complex projects / above and beyond things I’ve done outside the standard role etc.

For context I’ve just moved from cash management sales in product management which I’ve wanted to get into for ages. Took me quite a few applications for product manager roles but I got there in the end and I’m enjoying it so far. Very different, but a lot of skills were transferable.

I’m informally helping a few more junior staff than me with their cv / interview skills and what recruiters are looking for. When I did some recruitment start of 2023 in my old job I was shocked how bad some of the cvs were – really bad. You’ve got to make it easy for recruiters to see what they want from a quick glance at the cv. If they’re getting upwards of 10-20 cvs, speed and simplicity is of the essence.