Hot take: the $400 career coaching package I bought was a total waste

Paid $400 for a six session package with a local career coach in Austin, and all she did was hand me generic resume templates I could have found for free online. Has anyone actually gotten a real job from a paid career coach, or are they all just recycling the same advice?

2 comments

2 Comments

aaronlee20d ago

I actually read a report from Harvard Business Review last year that said only about 12% of people who use career coaches actually see a real salary bump or job offer from it. The problem is most of them just pass around the same advice they learned from a weekend certification course... I heard a similar story from my buddy in Dallas who paid $500 for a "career accelerator" package and all they did was fix his LinkedIn headline. The real useful stuff like negotiation tactics or industry specific networking tips never showed up. You're better off taking that money and buying coffee for people in your field honestly.

colesanchez19d ago

Man, that's wild. My buddy Sarah dropped $800 on one of those "career transformation" programs and all she got was a templated resume she could've written herself and a pep talk about "finding her passion." She said the coach kept trying to upsell her on a premium package for "industry insider connections" but never delivered on the basic stuff like how to actually prep for a behavioral interview. For real, she got way more out of just reaching out to former coworkers on LinkedIn and asking them about their jobs. Total waste of money.