I'm thinking about getting a career coach. I think it would be helpful for my long-term career development (not head hunter / job search).
Was wondering if anyone out there had any advice / experiences to share, recommendations, cautionary tales etc.
SB's for any valuable guidance.
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I tried one out for a little bit and found it helpful. I think looking at it as "mentor" is the wrong way to think about it though. For me he helped me with cognitive behavioral therapy to help me manage work better, prioritize, and stay more organized. Helped me set goals. With any type of coach it's always helped me to have someone to report to, whether with spanish classes, personal trainer, what have you.
I would recommend trying it out, especially if you have some big career decisions coming up.
Short answer: Would I buy a mentor? No. Would I spend money on professional services? No.
Long answer: Everyone at all levels in their career should seek mentorship. However, it’s my view that the most fruitful mentor/mentee relationships are developed organically. This doesn’t mean you can’t develop a strong mentor/mentee relationship through some structured/organized program, but the best relationships happen naturally. For me, developing a strong professional relationship in most cases is all about professional intimacy. Professional intimacy means you and another person have some mutual connection that makes you both relatable. The most common example of this is you attend the same school a senior person attended. If you both went to Yale, that’s the first point of professional intimacy. Usually, the more unique the professional intimacy the easier it is to get the relationship going. At my old firm (IB @ MS/GS/JPM), we had a rockstar MD with an extensive military background. Therefore, any intern/full-timer coming in with a military background (usually older folks) found it easy to connect with this MD to develop a mentor/mentee role. A few other common areas of professional intimacy can happen when people are of the same minority background, are of the female gender or LGBT. You should make an effort to connect with everyone, but definitely focus on the folks where you have some connection.
Here is one personal example: When I was recruiting for buy-side, I found a Principal on the team page of a very reputable private equity firm (>$10bn AUM) who had attended my rival school. The unique aspect here is that my and his schools are VERY non-target (a tier or two below state schools). You would have a very hard time finding alumni in the PE space from both our intuitions (b/c there are none. Legit think I’m the only one). This for me was a point of professional intimacy. I sent the cold email with a closing line teasing about the rivalry. Next was an intro call, followed by drinks a few weeks later and then I was in the interview process for the firm. Completely skipped over the headhunters who act as middle-men for the PE recruiting process. I eventually took an offer from another PE shop, but I maintain a relationship with him. I feel comfortable asking him anything regarding my professional or personal life.
I also believe all relationships should be mutually beneficial. You both should be able to learn and help each other (although you will be doing most of the learning). For example, I had one of my senior mentors reach out to me last week to help his friends son prepare for ib interviews.
If you want purely professional advice (sort of like a personal trainer helps people work out), I’d consider looking at the WSO services. Seems like you can find very legit folks to help you interview prep, get a resume together, etc. Although, this seems more of a onetime short term thing as opposed to actually developing a long-term mentor relationship that will last your entire career. I personally wouldn’t pay for these services because I feel you can get them for free with the appropriate networking. During IB and PE recruiting, I had plenty senior analyst and associates mock interview me and review my resume. However, nothing is wrong with you paying for these services if you wish.
Thanks for the notes. I put down "mentor" because I wanted to avoid discussion around the head hunting flavor of "career coaching". I just wanted to be clear that this was aimed at long-term (for career development) and not just "year-end" positioning for an exit.
I'm thinking more along the lines of this: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/jobs/from-career-coaches-unfiltered-f…
I have great relationships with people I work with and they are my first choice for advice / mentorship. Also have some good relationships at other firms also. But sometimes there are questions I'd like to ask that might not be appropriate for someone at my office or that I just want an outside opinion.
Also, thanks very much for the personal example. I find myself in a similar situation (no Canadian school is really "target" in the U.S.) and I can also personally relate to your experiences.
Great post by @I Invest. I think the biggest problem however is what you said: most of the time when you've only had one or even two jobs you're going to develop mentor relationships with people you work with. They're great to ask advice and talk about career progression but it's usually tough to ask your boss if you should leave or how to get another job unless it's absolutely understood that you're in an X year program, which even in IB seems to becoming less common because if you're a top performer they'd rather you stay. I lucked out in developing a couple of relationships early in my career with a couple of senior industry guys who I didn't work with and I still speak with them regularly even though I'm old. Now I'm more likely to ask them how to balance a career and a family or if they can wrangle up another few hundred million dollars for something rather than what I should do next with my career but I suppose I'd still call them mentors.
I've never used a career coach (or call them whatever) and have always been kind of ambivalent but I had a friend who used one a few years ago (mid to late 30's, so kind of mid career breaking into more senior levels, and not IB/PE, he's F500) who says he made a huge difference. You're getting different things from a mentor (free) and a career coach though. I suppose I mentor a few younger people and I try to be as helpful as possible, go out to dinner/drinks/coffee/lunch every month or three, give them advice and introduce them to people but I don't have the time or desire to really deep dive into these people's traits and give ultra specific recommendations and I'm most likely not going to be brutally honest like an impartial third party can be so maybe a good career coach is worth it.
I suggest you do both. Do as ''I Invest'' said and get MULTIPLE mentors. You have to join multiple variables to ''crack'' the door's Club.
It depends. If you're around friends that are only in for themselves/go to a non-target then pay for it. I know a kid that didn't have any internships only an econ major and got still got interviews. He paid for it. If you're at Yale then no need.
Did you even look who posted the question before blurbing out some nonsensical answer? OP is a third year investment banking associate, not a non-target looking for someone to mock with. Smh kids these days
Adding to the conversation bro...
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