How to prep for your coaching session
So you booked a coaching session - yay! Now what? How can you best prepare in order to make the most out of your investment? Here’s a few suggestions to ensure we use our time wisely:
Think about what your career story is. I don’t have a crystal ball, and I’m not an all-knowing wizard. It’s on you to equip me with all the relevant details about your career. Think about what your ultimate career goal is, what success looks like to you, and any past experiences that are potentially useful. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had clients drop bombs 55 minutes into a 60-minute session - that weekend you randomly assisted a celebrity stylist, that super connected family friend - you never know what may be helpful. Take time to jot down notes about the random activities and contacts that pop into your head that may be relevant, and are unsure how to leverage, and we can discuss how they fit in.
Get your materials together. Want to review your resume and cover letter? Let’s not waste time during the session while you scramble to pull things together. I can’t edit PDFs, and we aren’t going to sit in silence for 60 minutes while I re-write your resume and you gaze off into space. This is a collaborative process. If you want to spend time editing your application materials, please have them ready in a shareable Google doc. That way you don’t waste 10 minutes of the session inputting that impossible PDF into the right format.
Prepare questions. Sure, you booked a session with the intention of reviewing your resume, but what are your specific questions? What do you think has and hasn’t worked? Beyond editing the document, do you have any questions about what to do once you’re resume is in excellent shape? What’s making you restless or stressing you out? We might not get to all your questions in one session, but they’re helpful to have as means to steer the conversation, and ensure that you don’t forget to ask anything!
Be in front of a laptop or desktop computer. Unless the session is solely focused on interview prep, please do not Zoom from your phone. This is an interactive session and it’s highly likely you’ll need to be able to type, access various documents, or review websites, which is difficult from your phone.
Have a pen and notebook handy. I’ll provide you with a recording of the session, but you should track your own thoughts and ideas throughout the session. It might occur to you that you should really chat with that contact your friend offered up a while back. That’s the kind of thing you won’t find in the session recording, and you’re likely to forget once the moment has passed. So, jot down anything that comes to mind—even if it’s in shorthand.
Manage your expectations. While I am pretty freaking awesome at what I do, I can’t promise that I’ll make your wildest dreams come true overnight. Will one 60-minute session lead to Chanel offering your dream job tomorrow, even though you have no experience? Absolutely not.
You WILL learn strategies and concrete steps to get you closer to the path you envision. This isn’t a silver bullet for all of your job woes, and it’s frequently not a one-and-done thing. My most successful clients end up booking 2-4 sessions over the course of 2-3 months.
You’ll certainly get tangible takeaways—perhaps a new resume, cover letter tips, a networking plan, or much needed structure in a very unstructured process. Just be aware that many are less obvious. Expect lots of self-reflection. If all goes well, you’ll leave our session with a boost of confidence due to having a better sense of what what you need to do. I won’t go out and get you a job, but I will be there to help you along the way.