Last week, I shared how religious messages taught me not to trust myself and to give more authority to external sources of authority. In Laura Anderson’s book “When Religion Hurts You,” she states that in high control religions, “...suffering is valued over pleasure, and praise is given to those who experience hardship.” Yep. Heard that one too.

As a career coach, I often wonder if religious messages have impacted a client’s career choices. This has certainly been the case for me. I grew up in a conservative religious environment and was taught a problematic message: I couldn't trust myself. 

I’d like to share a wonderful story about a client I worked with earlier this year. I had the pleasure of supporting a 75-year-old professional who had recently been laid off.

Ageism is real. Whether conscious or unconscious, recruiters and hiring managers are humans with unique biases and stereotypes, just like everyone else. As a career coach, I help clients develop strategies to mitigate the risk of ageism during their job search.

In my work as a career coach and resume writer, I work with many candidates who have recently been laid off and feel disadvantaged in their job search because of their age. Is this something that you feel concerned about?

How do you know if you need a career coach? There are many reasons why seeing a career coach might be valuable for you. Here are a few examples I’ve encountered in my practice.

Do you know what a career coach does? (Don’t worry, I didn’t know either until I became one.)

There’s no need to exhaust yourself trying to find the “perfect” teacher or coach. The job of a teacher or coach is simply to support you in the internal development that is already happening within you.

Both coaching and yoga provide “transformational spaces” for us to grow and change.

As both a career coach and yoga teacher, I’m often amazed at how insights from one practice will inform and enrich the other. In career coaching and yoga, we enter a transformational space.

As a career coach, I'm often struck by how profoundly vulnerable career transitions can be, and how much courage it takes to reach out for support.