An Atlanta career coach just might be worth hiring if you are seeking employment in the metro Atlanta area. Nearly 30,000 students will be graduating with an undergraduate degree from metro Atlanta colleges and the University of Georgia in Athens. That will mean thousands of people on a job search!

All these new job seekers will be competing for jobs with hordes of others looking to change employment or switch careers. An Atlanta career coach might be just the ticket needed to get your career going in crowded and challenging economic times.

This year’s graduates will be entering a job market that has improved moderately since they were freshman, but it is still uneven and challenging. The recession seemed to hit Georgia harder than many areas of the country – the unemployment rate in mid-2010 was 10.2 percent. Though the rate has now dropped to less than 7 percent, competition can be fierce for individuals seeking employment.

The 2014 Atlanta Job Market

According to a Manpower Outlook Survey, 2014 started off with a robust job outlook for Atlanta. Job markets in the metro Atlanta area appear to be best in the fields of construction, financial services. health services, and the leisure and hospitality industry. .

Companies appear to be more willing to hire than they were prior to the recession. But, there are plenty of people who will be looking for employment. You will need an edge, a leg up on the competition. That’s why you need an Atlanta career coach.

What Can an Atlanta Career Coach Do For You?

I wish I had hired a career coach when I was a recent college graduate. I don’t even think there were any career coaches at that time. If there had been, I may have started out on the right path much earlier in life.

Working with a career coach means you are partnering with someone who is creative, knowledgeable, and non-judgmental. It also means you will be working with someone who will listen to your needs, your passions, your dreams, your goals, and your heart.

6 Ways an Atlanta Career Coach Can Help Get Your Career Started

1. Identify and clarify your goals. Most of us have goals and dreams, but it often takes an outside party to help you identify those that are most important and then clarify them in order to create a roadmap to reach them.
2. Establish a direction and clarity of focus. A career coach can help someone zero in on a career path that matches their passions, skill set, education, and qualifications. They can also help people who have been laid off from their jobs identify their transferable skills.
3. An Atlanta career coach can help you learn the art of networking. There are hidden job markets in every large metropolis, but it takes some serious networking to find most of them. Networking is more than having a Linkedin account; it is reaching out to people at every juncture in life.
4. Create and fix your resume. A good career coach knows how to update and whip your resume into shape.
5. Prepare and practice for interviews. A good resume gets you in the door, but a good interview gets you behind the desk. Many job applicants have incredible credentials and a polished resume, but fail to get the job of their dreams because they lack interviewing skills. An experienced Atlanta career coaching expert, through critique and practice, will help you improve your performance in the interview room.
6. Set realistic and attainable expectations. This is the part of the process where an Atlanta career coach has to hold up the stop sign or play the bad guy. Sometimes a career coach needs to say “NO.” When you don’t have the skills, they will tell you, but they will also provide you with alternatives. Career coaches are not friends, they are the bearers of truth who will set you on the right path toward a financially and rewarding career.

Special Bonus – Learn 3 simple ways to become a life coach with the  “30-Days to Become a Coach” video toolkit  when you fill in the form at the top right and click the  “Watch The Videos Now”  button. You’ll learn how to change your client’s life in 45 minutes.

Fred Philips
Business Coach
Writing Team, Coaches Training Blog Community