Many new career coaches seek to offer clients the best possible advise to solve client problems. I don’t think that is the best method for helping clients - but it is the easiest. It is easy because most clients come to a career coach asking for advise. They want the “right” answer and believe the coach has it. The problem is that if the advise that the career coach gives doesn't work, it is the coaches fault. This is really a case of ‘accountability”. The client needs to be accountable for his/her decisions and the results of those decisions.
There are five key questions that career coaches should be able to ask their clients to motivate the clients to take charge of their job search and become accountable. These five questions can flow from the following five words: What, Why, How, When and Who.
Weather working with a job search client involved in a short term job transition or with an adult considering a new and different career direction, I will start with the following question: “What is your specific goal”? If the answer is “I want to be self employed” that doesn't tell be enough. Neither does “I just want to work with people”. Even “I want a job at the Post Office” is not sufficient. After all, the Post Office employs mail clerks, mail carriers, truck drivers, customer service agents, computer programmers, etc.