How to pick a career coach (a buyer's framework)

Five questions to filter out the noise and find a coach who'll actually move the needle for your career.

Career coaching is a market with no signal floor. There are great coaches and there are people who finished a $99 weekend certification last month.

Use these five questions when you're talking to a prospective coach:

1. **What's an example of a client outcome you couldn't have predicted at the start?** Good coaches have specific stories. Bad coaches give you platitudes. 2. **What kind of clients should *not* work with you?** A coach who can't answer this either doesn't know their niche or isn't being honest about it. 3. **What do you actually do in a session?** Listen for structure. "We talk through what's on your mind" isn't coaching, it's a friend. 4. **How will I know it's working?** They should have leading indicators, not just "you'll feel different." 5. **What happens if I'm not getting value?** Real coaches have a real off-ramp. Sketchy ones lock you into 6-month contracts.

The best coaches make you do the work; they don't do it for you. If a sales call feels like therapy already, you're talking to a friend with good marketing.