Your career can take a lot of twists and turns. You may be searching for your first job, returning to work after time away, recovering from a layoff, thinking about an entirely different career path, or simply wondering what you want to do next.
Career coaching can give you individualized support as you figure it out. A career coach can help you explore your goals, identify opportunities, strengthen your job search strategy, prepare for interviews, build your professional brand, and stay accountable as you move forward.
In this guide, we’ve brought together practical resources to help you navigate different stages of your career and job search. Whether you need help deciding where you want to go or figuring out how to get there, start wherever you are and explore the topics most useful to you.
In this career coaching guide:
- Career Breaks
- Layoffs
- Finding the Right Job for You
- Starting Your Job Search
- Career Coaching
- Job Search Technology and AI
- Your Resume
- Your Personal Brand
- Networking
- Job Interviews
Career Breaks
There are plenty of reasons someone may step away from work. You may take time off to raise a family, care for someone you love, address your health, continue your education, travel, or simply figure out what comes next.
Returning to the workforce after a career break can bring questions about everything from your resume to your skills and professional network. Give yourself permission to take stock of where you are now. Think about what you learned during your time away, which skills you want to use again, what may have changed in your industry, and what you want from the next stage of your career.
You also get to decide how you talk about your career break. Prepare a clear, comfortable explanation and then focus the conversation on what you bring to your next opportunity.
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Layoffs
Losing a job can affect your finances, your routine, your plans, and sometimes your confidence. Give yourself a little room to process what happened, then begin thinking about the pieces you can control.
Start with the practical details. Update your resume and LinkedIn profile. Reach out to people in your network. Consider the kinds of positions and organizations you want to target. Build a routine for your job search that gives you manageable goals instead of expecting yourself to spend every waking hour looking for your next opportunity.
And prepare to discuss your layoff in an interview. A concise, honest explanation can help you address the situation and move the conversation toward your experience, strengths, and what you hope to contribute next.
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Finding the Right Job for You
Sometimes the biggest question in your job search is what you actually want to do.
Take some time to think about what makes work meaningful to you. Consider the skills you enjoy using, the environments where you tend to thrive, the values that matter to you, your interests, and what you want your day-to-day work to look like.
Career assessments can add another perspective to that reflection. Combined with thoughtful conversations and career coaching, assessments can help you better understand yourself and explore opportunities that align with your strengths and goals.
Your definition of the right fit may change throughout your career, too. What mattered to you 10 years ago may look very different today. Revisit those questions as your circumstances, priorities, and career evolve.
Dig deeper:
- Finding the Right Career Path: How Assessments, Career Coaching, and Self-Awareness Can Help You Thrive (Blog)
- How to Navigate a Career Change and Find More Fulfillment at Work (Blog)
- Encore Careers: Finding a New Vocation in the Second Half of Life (Podcast)
Starting Your Job Search
A successful job search involves more than submitting as many applications as possible. Start by getting clear about what you’re looking for so you can focus your time and energy on opportunities that make sense to you.
Identify the types of roles and organizations you want to pursue. Update your resume and LinkedIn profile to reflect that direction. Think about the experience, accomplishments, and skills you want employers to understand about you.
Then expand your approach. Job boards can certainly be part of your strategy, and networking, professional associations, former colleagues, recruiters, social media, and direct conversations with organizations can create additional ways to discover opportunities.
Keep track of what you’re doing along the way. A simple system for recording applications, conversations, contacts, follow-ups, and next steps can make a busy job search feel much more manageable.
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Career Coaching
You don’t have to navigate every career question on your own.
A career coach can provide a dedicated space to think through your goals, challenges, opportunities, and next steps. Depending on what you need, that may include exploring potential career paths, providing feedback on your resume, preparing for interviews, strengthening your job search strategy, or simply creating some much-needed accountability.
Before you begin, ask questions about what your coaching engagement includes, how accountability will work, what resources will be available, and what you can expect throughout the process. Coaching works best as a two-way relationship with clear expectations.
Be prepared to participate actively, too. A coach can offer guidance, encouragement, feedback, preparation, and connections, while you remain responsible for putting those ideas into action.
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Job Search Technology and AI
Technology has changed the way we look for jobs. LinkedIn can help you research employers, build your professional presence, connect with people, and discover opportunities. AI tools can support brainstorming, research, interview preparation, and other parts of a job search.
Use those tools thoughtfully. AI can give you a starting point, but review what it produces carefully and make sure the final result actually sounds like you. Your resume, LinkedIn profile, messages, and interview responses should accurately reflect your experience and the way you communicate.
Technology can make parts of your search easier. Your relationships, experience, judgment, curiosity, and personality are still an important part of helping an employer understand what you could contribute.
Keep exploring:
- The AI-Powered Job Search (Podcast)
- AI, Uncertainty, and the New College Graduate Experience (Podcast)
- Getting the Most Out of LinkedIn (Podcast)
Your Resume
Your resume needs to help someone quickly understand what you’ve done and what you could bring to their organization.
Keep your reader in mind as you write. Make your experience easy to scan, focus on information relevant to the positions you’re pursuing, and highlight accomplishments that demonstrate your impact whenever possible.
It’s important to tailor your resume, too. Review the job description and look for the skills, experience, and qualifications the employer emphasizes. When they genuinely match your background, make sure those connections are easy to find in your resume.
And remember that your resume is one piece of your broader professional story. Keep it consistent with your LinkedIn profile, conversations, and the way you describe your experience during interviews.
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Your Personal Brand
Your professional reputation develops through a lot of small interactions: the work you do, the way you communicate, what you share online, the relationships you build, and what people remember about working with you.
Spend some time thinking about what you want people to understand about you professionally. What strengths do you consistently bring to your work? What kinds of problems do people ask you to solve? What topics energize you? What do you hope colleagues, recruiters, or hiring managers remember after talking with you?
Then look at how that story shows up across your professional presence. Your LinkedIn profile, resume, networking conversations, interview responses, and other interactions should help others understand the value you bring.
Dig deeper:
Networking
Networking is one of those job-search activities that can feel intimidating, especially if you picture yourself walking into a room full of strangers and handing out business cards.
Take a broader view. Your network includes former coworkers, supervisors, classmates, clients, vendors, professional association contacts, friends, neighbors, community connections, and plenty of other people you’ve met along the way.
Start by reconnecting. Let people know what you’re exploring, ask thoughtful questions, and look for opportunities to learn from them. Be specific enough that someone understands how they might help. Asking, “Do you know anyone working in talent development who might be willing to talk with me about the field?” can be much easier to act on than simply saying, “Let me know if you hear of anything.”
And keep those relationships going when you’re happily employed. The best professional networks grow over time through genuine, two-way connections.
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Job Interviews
Landing an interview is exciting. It can also bring plenty of nerves. Preparation can help you walk into the conversation feeling more confident and ready to tell your story.
Begin by learning as much as you reasonably can about the position and organization. Review the job description again and identify examples from your experience that demonstrate the skills and qualifications the employer needs.
Practice talking about those examples out loud. Think through common questions, but avoid memorizing a script word for word. You want to be prepared while still having a natural conversation.
Remember that you’re gathering information, too. Prepare thoughtful questions about the position, team, expectations, workplace, and hiring process. The interview is your opportunity to learn whether the role is a good fit for what you’re looking for.
Then follow through after the interview. Send a thank you note, complete any requested next steps, and keep your search moving while you wait.
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Ready for Your Next Career Move?
You don’t need to have your entire career mapped out before taking the next step. Start with where you are, get clear about where you’d like to go, and build your strategy from there.
Whether you’re changing careers, returning to work, navigating a layoff, searching for your next opportunity, or simply trying to figure out what comes next, personalized support can help you move forward with greater clarity and confidence.
Ready for some support? Learn more about Purple Ink’s career coaching services.