Deciding that you want to partner with a career coach is an exciting step, but the process of finding the right career coach can quickly feel overwhelming when you realize that “career coach” is a broad term.
Career coaching can refer to many specializations and approaches, so I wrote this article to break down the various types of coaches and what each one has to offer.
A quick note before we dive in: Some of these coaching services blend together or overlap, so if some feel redundant, that’s because they are. Many coaches offer services spanning several specialties to provide you with a holistic experience.
1. Career Discovery Coach
If you’re asking yourself, “What do I want to be when I grow up?” you’re not alone.
You don’t have to be early in your career to work with a career discovery coach. Most of my clients have a decade or more of experience. They’re often trying to break into tech or identify a post-industry career.
Career discovery coaching extends beyond career assessments like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) or the Strong Interest Inventory. It also involves deep introspection, clarifying what matters most in your career, and understanding the realities of the current job market.
Personally, I use a range of methodologies and tools, including principles from Designing Your Life (I’m a Certified Designing Your Life Coach), to help clients answer these questions.
How Career Discovery Coaching Can Help You:
- Identify what you want to do for a living
- Weigh your requirements vs. preferences
- Identify target companies and roles that align with your search parameters
- Develop potential career paths and determine what experience, education, or skills you’re missing
- Understand the current job market and where your skills align
2. Job Search Coach
Once you know what you want to do, a job search coach can help you build and execute a strategic plan to actually land a new role.
How Job Search Coaching Can Help You:
- Create and follow a job search strategy
- Identify high-impact opportunities beyond major job boards
- Develop a networking plan
- Craft compelling outreach messages to recruiters and hiring managers
Depending on the coach, they may also assist with customizing your resume and LinkedIn profile, preparing for interviews, and staying motivated throughout the process.
Since most of my clients are tech executives, this often includes learning how to access the “hidden job market” (i.e., unposted roles found through relationships, referrals, and executive headhunters).
[Read: “Can I Hire Someone To Find Me A Job?” Answered]
3. Resume Coach
If you want to write a resume that grabs the attention of recruiters, hiring a resume coach is likely your best bet.
How Resume Coaching Can Help You:
- Learn modern resume best practices
- Incorporate your biggest career wins into your document
- Translate your past experiences into new career paths
- Tailor your resume for specific roles
- Navigate applicant tracking systems (ATS) effectively
Some coaches write your resume for you, while others teach you how to do it yourself. Personally, I use a “co-creation” process, working closely with you to ensure the final product reflects your unique story and career goals. What sets me apart from other coaches is how I help you get to know yourself, your career story, and your fabulousness.
At the end of the day, resume coaching is not just about keywords; it’s about writing a resume that reflects your authentic story and helps you land interviews.
4. LinkedIn Coach
In addition to your resume, you’ll want to update your online presence, and this is where a LinkedIn coach comes in.
How LinkedIn Coaching Can Help You:
- Optimize your profile to be found by recruiters
- Highlight your value in a clear, engaging way
- Leverage the platform to expand your network
- Decide whether and how to post content on the platform
Some LinkedIn coaches will also guide you through thought leadership strategies, especially if you’re aiming for executive roles or a pivot into consulting or public speaking.
5. Interview Coach
Whether you’re targeting your first management job or vying for a C-suite role, interviews can be nerve-wracking, and that’s where an interview coach can help.
How Interview Coaching Can Help You:
- Prepare for different types of interviews
- Develop compelling stories
- Conduct mock interviews with feedback
- Improve your confidence, presence, and storytelling
Important: Some coaches simply offer mock interviews with feedback at the end of the session, while others take a more holistic approach and will coach you on your strategy, presence, and storytelling (raises hand).
They will support you in crafting a compelling story and overcoming common interview challenges like rambling or underselling your experience.
6. Salary Negotiation Coach
Compensation isn’t just about salary; it often includes sign-on bonuses, equity, PTO, and other perks, especially if you’re aiming for a role in tech. A negotiation coach can help you get what you want.
How Salary Negotiation Coaching Can Help You:
- Understand the current compensation landscape
- Build the mindset and confidence you need to advocate for yourself
- Script and role-play negotiations
- Know when (and how) to walk away
You can leave tens of thousands of dollars (if not more) on the table if you don’t have the right mindset going into salary negotiations. In my experience, the internal work is just as important, if not more so, than the tactics.
7. Confidence Coach
Once you land the role, what do you do next? Many of my clients experience an “oh no” moment after landing a new role. They might be the first in their family to work at a tech company or the first woman of color on an executive team. A challenging new position can be both incredibly exciting and quite daunting.
How Confidence Coaching Can Help You:
- Challenge and address imposter syndrome with proven strategies that work
- Internalize your accomplishments as yours (rather than attributing them to “luck”)
- Lead with clarity and conviction, even when you feel uncertain
I’m a Certified Confidence Coach, which is not just about “faking it until you make it” but applying proven strategies to bolster your confidence at work. This allows you to have real, lasting confidence in yourself and your abilities.
8. Career Development Coach
How do you keep growing once you’ve landed your target role? A career development coach helps you avoid stagnation and continue expanding your impact.
How Career Development Coaching Can Help You:
- Build new skills (like executive presence or communication)
- Increase your strategic influence
- Create a long-term career roadmap
- Prepare for stretch opportunities or promotions
Career development coaching is a great fit if you want to grow intentionally rather than just coasting once you land in your next role.
9. Strengths-Based Coach
As you grow in your career, you can try to fix every weakness, or you can lean into what you naturally do best. That’s where a strengths-based coach comes in.
How Strengths-Based Coaching Can Help You:
- Discover and articulate your natural talents
- Use those talents to drive performance and avoid burnout
- Navigate potential overuse of your top traits and “weaknesses”
I’m trained by Gallup in Success Strengths Coaching and frequently integrate this methodology into my coaching because it helps you truly embrace your talents, rather than asking you to become someone you’re not.
10. Leadership Coach
A specific area that many professionals want to grow in their careers is leadership, and this is where a leadership coach comes in.
How Leadership Coaching Can Help You:
- Develop your people management skills
- Delegate more effectively
- Communicate with clarity and empathy
- Navigate stakeholder dynamics
- Manage stress and work/life balance in demanding environments like tech or startups
Leadership coaching is useful whether you’re leading your first team or preparing for a leap into the C-suite.
11. Executive Coach
An executive coach is similar to a leadership coach but specifically focused on seasoned executives navigating high-stakes decisions, change, and complexity.
You can think of executive coaching as having a trusted confidant and sounding board.
How Executive Coaching Can Help You:
- Make more strategic decisions
- Communicate your vision and direction
- Manage board or investor relationships
- Navigate executive transitions and other difficult changes
It can be incredibly lonely at the top, and an executive coach can help you carry the weight with clarity and confidence.
[Read: 12 Powerful Ways To Advance Your Tech Career Without Switching Companies]
12. Team Coach
Team coaching involves working with multiple people on the same team, either together or in 1:1 sessions.
How Team Coaching Can Help You:
- Build psychological safety (arguably, this is a must for a successful team)
- Facilitate stronger team dynamics
- Clarify goals and roles
- Improve communication and collaboration
- Achieve business growth
Team coaching is especially powerful during times of organizational change, leadership turnover, or rapid growth (or contraction).
13. Executive Functioning Coach
This type of coaching is often overlooked, but it’s essential for professionals who are neurodivergent or anyone struggling with time, energy, and task management.
In fact, I completed 10 private sessions with Seeing My Time, a brain-based coaching program focused on exactly this (not sponsored; I just truly found it valuable!).
How Executive Functioning Coaching Can Help You:
- Learn to prioritize and plan your time
- Follow through consistently
- Reduce overwhelm and mental load
- Build new habits and structures that support growth
14. Life Coach
Because we spend so much time at work (often 60+ hours/week for many of my tech clients), it makes sense to address your broader life in coaching.
How Life Coaching Can Help You:
- Recover from burnout
- Set healthier boundaries
- Reconnect to your values and sense of purpose
- Navigate personal transitions that impact work
Personally, I don’t separate “career coaching” from “life coaching.” Your whole self shows up at work, so we coach the whole self.
15. Outplacement Coach
If you’re laid off from your job, you may work with an outplacement coach.
How Outplacement Coaching Can Help You:
- Process the emotional impact of being laid off
- Rebuild your confidence
- Craft a plan for your next steps
- Identify whether to make a pivot or stick with your current career
- Update your resume, LinkedIn, and other career documents
- Learn the latest job search best practices
- Re-enter the job market with clarity and momentum
Note: If you’ve been impacted by a reduction in force (RIF), and your company doesn’t offer outplacement coaching, it doesn’t hurt to ask for it. Many will cover the cost in order to mitigate risk and improve their employer brand. The worst they can say is no.
16. Trauma-Informed Coach
Trauma-informed coaches are not therapists, but they take into account how trauma can show up in subtle (and not so subtle) ways in your career.
How Trauma-Informed Coaching Can Help You:
- Recognize and manage trauma responses at work (i.e., people-pleasing, overworking, and avoidance)
- Understand your nervous system’s role in your career patterns
- Build resilience without pushing past your current capacity
Trauma-informed coaching is especially valuable for those who’ve experienced systemic oppression, toxic workplaces, or difficult life events that impact how they show up professionally.
What Type Of Career Coach Do I Need?
With so many different types of coaches, it can be difficult to know where to begin. Ask yourself:
- What stage of my career (and life) am I in?
- What are my goals in working with a coach?
- What areas do I want to improve?
- How do I want my career to look different at the end of the coaching engagement?
Coaching needs evolve. You might start with a career discovery coach and later work with a leadership or executive coach. That’s totally normal!
Summary: Types Of Career Coaches
All the different types of career coaches can feel overwhelming, but remember, they all have one goal: to support you with your career. The primary difference is how they do that. Here’s a quick summary of when to hire each one:
- Career Discovery Coach: You want help figuring out what you want to do for a living.
- Job Search Coach: You’re ready to find your next job faster and more strategically.
- Resume Coach: You need help updating your resume for today’s job market.
- LinkedIn Coach: You want to optimize your profile and presence to attract the right opportunities.
- Interview Coach: You want to show up confidently and compellingly throughout the interview process.
- Salary Negotiation Coach: You want to negotiate compensation using a thoughtful strategy.
- Confidence Coach: You want to feel more grounded, secure, and capable in your career.
- Career Development Coach: You want to keep growing after landing your target role.
- Strengths-Based Coach: You want to lean into your natural talents and use them more intentionally.
- Leadership Coach: You’re managing people (or projects) and want to level up your leadership skills.
- Executive Coach: You’re navigating complex, high-stakes leadership and want a trusted sounding board.
- Team Coach: You want to strengthen team performance, communication, and collaboration.
- Executive Functioning Coach: You want support with time, task, and energy management.
- Life Coach: You want support with the human side of your career, including stress, boundaries, and how your day-to-day life truly feels.
- Outplacement Coach: You’ve been laid off and want help navigating your next steps.
- Trauma-Informed Coach: You want a coach who understands how past trauma shows up in your career.
If you’re thinking about working with a coach and want to discuss whether I’m the right one for you, please reach out or schedule a consultation. And if I’m not the perfect fit, I’ll provide a referral to someone who is. I’m actively involved in the coaching industry and maintain an extensive and constantly growing network of coaches. I’m here for you! You’ve got this!
