For parents and students · Launch League blog
What Career Coaches Help With (That You Might Not Know)
By Nick Gonzalez, founder, U.S. Air Force veteranPublished
The short answer
Beyond choosing a direction, a career coach helps with the parts people rarely mention: turning vague interests into real job titles, asking adults for help, recovering from rejection, rehearsing interviews, and finding first jobs through people rather than job boards. Confidence grows from doing small hard things with a coach's support, not from being told you're capable.
The receipts rule
Confidence in a teenager isn't built by telling them they're capable. It's built from receipts: proof they did a small hard thing, like sending the email, asking the question or sitting the interview. A coach's quiet job is to arrange the next receipt, one size bigger than the last.
The obvious list, and what's missing from it
Ask most people what a career coach does and you'll hear: helps you pick a career, fixes your résumé. Both true. But in my experience the work that changes a teenager's direction is mostly the stuff in between, the parts nobody writes on a brochure:
- Turning 'I like animals' or 'I'm good with computers' into ten real job titles, half of which they've never heard of.
- Learning to ask an adult they don't know for 15 minutes of their time, and actually sending the message.
- Saying a career interest out loud to a parent without it turning into an argument.
- Recovering from the first 'no' without deciding the whole field is closed.
- Making a decision with incomplete information, which is the only kind of career decision there is.
Building confidence through career coaching
Most teenagers who seem unmotivated are actually unsure, and being unsure feels worse than being bored, so they choose bored. Telling them they're capable rarely helps. They've heard it from every adult who loves them, and they discount it for exactly that reason.
What works is the receipts rule. A receipt is proof, in your teenager's own hands, that they did something hard. The coach's job is to set up the next one, slightly bigger than the last: write a three-line email to someone in a field you're curious about; send it; have the 15-minute call; ask for a morning to see the work; apply for something. Each step is small enough to do in a week and big enough to count.
After four or five receipts, confidence shows up on its own, because it's earned. I saw the same thing with apprentices who had never run a crew: nobody became a supervisor by being told they were ready. They became one by doing pieces of the job until the whole job wasn't frightening.
How career coaches help with job search strategies
For a teenager's first jobs, the strategy that works is unglamorous: go through people, not portals. Online applications for entry-level roles can disappear without a reply. A teenager who walks in, asks for the manager at a quiet time, and says one clear sentence about when they can work stands out.
A coach helps with each piece of that, and with the practice:
- Making a list of every adult the family knows and what they do, which is usually longer than anyone expects.
- Writing a short script for walking in or calling, and rehearsing it until it sounds natural.
- A one-page résumé that leads with what they've done: sports, volunteering, babysitting, a small business.
- Interview practice with the questions teenagers actually get: why do you want to work here, when can you work, tell me about a time you handled something difficult.
- Following up once, politely, a week later, which most applicants never do.
Work permits for teenagers in Ohio
Before the job search, check the paperwork. Under Ohio Revised Code 4109.02, a minor of compulsory school age generally has to give an employer an age and schooling certificate, usually called a work permit, as a condition of being hired. Sixteen- and 17-year-olds working a nonagricultural, nonhazardous summer job can instead provide proof of age and a parent's signed consent. Ask your school office how your district handles permits. The guide to making money as a teenager in Ohio covers the options, including working for yourself.
Translating 'I like...' into actual jobs
Teenagers describe interests; employers advertise job titles. The gap between the two is where a lot of drift happens. 'I like fixing things' could lead to an automotive technician, an industrial maintenance mechanic, a biomedical equipment technician or a dental lab technician, and most 16-year-olds have heard of only the first.
A coach widens the list first, then narrows it with real conversations. The free quiz and the careers library do the widening part well, and they're a good place to start before paying anyone.
Helping parents and teenagers hear each other
This one surprises families. A lot of career stress at home isn't about the career; it's about a parent and a teenager talking past each other. The parent hears 'I want to be a streamer' and panics; the teenager hears the panic and stops talking.
A coach is a neutral third person. A teenager will often say something to a coach that they'd never say at the dinner table, and a short written update lets the parent hear it without a fight. It's not family therapy and shouldn't be. It's just a second adult whose opinion isn't loaded with 18 years of history.
What a career coach can't help with
Be clear-eyed about the limits. A career coach can't diagnose anything, treat anxiety or depression, guarantee admission to a program, find your teenager a job, or give financial or legal advice. A good coach says so early and refers you on. The International Coaching Federation's standards expect coaches to keep coaching distinct from psychotherapy and other professions and to refer clients to other support professionals when appropriate.
If what you're seeing is mostly about how your teenager is coping, start with your doctor and the school's support staff. The crisis lines in the questions below are open around the clock.
Questions
Quick answers
- Is career coaching only for teenagers with no idea what they want?
- No. Teenagers with a clear goal use it to test that goal with real people before committing years to it, and to plan the route. Sometimes the test confirms the goal; sometimes it saves them a year in the wrong program.
- Can a career coach help with interview nerves?
- Yes, through practice rather than reassurance. Rehearsing the common questions out loud, a few times, with someone who gives honest feedback, takes most of the fear out. Severe anxiety that stops a teenager functioning is a matter for a doctor, not a coach.
- Will a career coach write my teenager's résumé?
- A good one won't write it for them. They'll help your teenager write it, so they can talk about every line in an interview. A résumé a teenager can't explain does more harm than a plain one they can.
- Can a career coach get my teenager a job?
- No one honest promises that. A coach can make introductions, help them practice asking and prepare them for interviews, which improves their chances. The job itself is between your teenager and the employer.
- What if my teenager is struggling with more than career questions?
- Coaching is not therapy and a coach should say so. If your teenager seems anxious, withdrawn or low for more than a passing week, start with your doctor and the school counselor. If you are worried about their safety right now, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is free, confidential and open 24/7: call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org.
Next step
Want help with your teenager's next step?
Read next
Keep reading
Sources: International Coaching Federation: Updated ICF Core Competencies (released 2019, in effect from 2021) · Ohio Revised Code 4109.02: Age and schooling certificate required · 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (US): call or text 988, or chat online. Coaching is not therapy, medical, legal or financial advice.