How To Train As A Career Coach?
It has been lovely to hear from so many people who have reached out to find out more about how I pivoted my career to become a Career Coach and wanting to know who I trained with.
I thought I would write a blog post to document my own career coach training journey, but please remember this is only my journey, you may discover a completely different route.
The training companies and coaches I chose to learn from and work with are ones that aligned with what I was looking for.
There are many amazing coach training providers out there and I have only had the privilege of meeting a few of them, but I clearly remember with such a huge selection of providers choosing one can feel overwhelming, so I hope this helps a little.
How I got here:
For those wondering what my educational and training background was before I commenced my coach training, it looked like this:
- Degree: Psychology
- Masters: Human Resource Management
- CIPD Qualification: FCIPD
Step 1 Coach Training – ICF Diploma In Integrative Coaching
I personally wanted to become an accredited ICF coach, so I was looking for an ICF training programme. I wanted a programme that would provide:
- Content that would interest and excite me.
- At least 60 hours of training that I would need for my ACC Credential.
- Mentoring by coaches who would not only support me but inspire me.
- Detailed feedback on my coaching.
- Help and guidance as to how I could achieve my coaching hours.
- A safe space for me to grow and develop as a coach.
I attended the ICF Accredited Diploma In Integrative Coaching with Become Coaching & Training, which was a fantastic programme and one which I highly recommend.
Step 2 Advanced Coach Training – Advanced Diploma in Integrative Coaching
I then went on to complete the Advanced Diploma In Integrative Coaching again with Become Coaching & Training, building on my first Diploma in Integrative Coaching. I continued my training to develop my coaching skills and completed a performance evaluation that met the ICF Competencies at PCC level.
This course challenged me in such a good way and really developed my coaching skills and confidence.
I also completed the:
Certificate in Leadership & Organisational Coaching
Certificate in Performance & Career Coaching
Certificate in Wellbeing & Stress Coaching
Step 3 – Career Coach Training – The CCS Core Skills Course in Career Coaching & Counselling
I knew by now Career Coaching was the area I wanted to specialise in so I Googled “ How to become a career coach” and found the wonderful Blog written by Fay Wallis from Bright Sky Career Coaching, How To Become A Career Coach a fantastic read if you have not discovered it yet.
Fay mentioned CCS Core Skill Course in Career Coaching & Counselling which is just as she says a brilliant course run by Career Counselling Services (CCS) and is accredited by the Association for Coaching and it was an ideal next step for me. Over 5 days I worked with an amazing group of coaches to develop my skills and learned how to confidently use the CCS toolkit which compromises over 40 online career-based questionnaires and exercises that support my career coaching work, and my clients thoroughly enjoy using them.
Step 4 – Career Coach Training – Firework Coaching Programme
I get asked a lot about why I did the CCS and Firework course. My honest answer is a client asked if I offered Firework and then my curiosity knew no bounds and off I went to find out more.
Firework is an advanced career change coaching programme that also has a set of tools and resources my clients find really valuable.
You definitely do not need to attend both courses, but I do like having access to a very large toolkit that I can adapt to my client’s needs, and having attended both I also have access to a fantastic network of career coaches and supervision.
Step 5 – Business Coach Training – The Business of Coaching
So here is the thing, first, you learn to coach, then you learn to coach a bit more, then perhaps you specialise in a certain area and learn a bit more, but the whole time you are doing this you also need to learn to run a coaching business.
Now I don’t know about your background but HR didn’t really equip me for that one. As a result, I felt I needed some help to turn my passion for career coaching into a business that would then give me the freedom and income I wanted.
For that I turned to an amazing Career Coach, Joanna Lott, who has herself pivoted her coaching business to focus on helping coaches like me transform their coaching businesses.
Jo runs an awesome programme called The Business of Coaching which helped me understand the business side of running a coaching business, and which I have enjoyed enormously.
Step 6 – Join a Community
I am not going to lie at times finding your feet in the coaching world can feel a little daunting, but one thing I have learned is that I am not on my own, there are many Facebook groups and memberships out there that can support you so I would highly recommend checking out:
The Coaching Crowd Facebook Group
The Coaching Crowd Business Lounge where professional coaches come together to learn how to build, grow and scale their coaching businesses, within a community of like-minded coaches whose main aim is to make a difference in the world through coaching.
Step 7 – Never Stop learning
You will forever find me, listening to a podcast, reading a book, a blog or an article, listening to a webinar, on a course, in a learning huddle, under supervision, in a mentoring session, attending a coaching session, or having an online coffee with a coach.
Changing my career has reignited my love of learning and I have recently completed two more wonderful Career Coaching Masterclass Courses with CSS:
The great thing about these one-day masterclass courses is that they are packed with really useful and valuable information that you can immediately start to use with clients.
I would need far more time to spend on all the other amazing training and learning resources that are available for career coaches.
Step 8 – Find Your Tribe
I will return to this topic in another blog as it is far too important to summarise in a few sentences. Just to say so much of my training and learning has come from surrounding myself with the most amazing people who I can learn with, and from.
Pivoting my career to become a career coach has for me been one of the best decisions I could have made, but I could not have done it without my tribe.
I ask my clients a lot of questions about their tribes because they are so important. Don’t ever underestimate what having the right tribe around you can help you achieve.
Have I completed my career coach training journey, definitely not, am I loving it? Most certainly.
