How Much Does a Career Coach Cost? (Study)
If you’re looking for how much a career coach costs, you’ve come to the right place.
We asked 50 career coaches in the US, UK, and Canada what they’re currently charging new clients to come up with how much a career coach costs on average, and the highest and lowest coaching rates available.
Let’s get started…
How Much Does a Career Coach Cost?
The average cost of a career coach is $207 per hour, based on prices from 50 career coaches in the US, UK, and Canada. Note that this average figure is strictly for general career coaching, and the average costs rise for specialized fields like executive coaching, leadership coaching, and more.
While finding this average figure of $207, we saw hourly rates for career coaching as low as $75, and as high as $497. See graphic below for a visual representation of the data:
Note: You can find cheaper “career coaching” services on freelance websites like Fiverr.com, but these are typically not proven, experienced career coaches with established practices. Anyone can quickly make an account on Fiverr and start offering a service.
So our data above does *not* include this type of service offering. We only included professional career coaches with their own websites and established coaching practices, because that’s who we’d recommend using.
Career Coaching Can Cost Less With a Multi-Week Package
We also found that many career coaches offer pricing deals and discounts if you sign up for a package (such as four sessions over a one month period).
In fact, some coaches only offer this type of package, probably because they know they’re going to have a limited impact in just one session, and they really need four sessions to start getting results for you.
This is normal and is not a sign of a bad coach; it means they understand the process takes time and aren’t interested in taking your money if you can’t commit to a long enough time period to get results.
We observed career coaching packages being offered in a variety of structures… from two 45-minute sessions, all the way up to 4, 5, or even 9 sessions in a package.
Group Career Coaching Can Save You Even More Money
If the average prices above sound too steep, or the idea of spending hundreds of dollars on career coaching isn’t something you’re comfortable with, then you might want to try group career coaching to start.
Many of the professional career coaches we checked in with to gather pricing information for this article also offer group coaching for MUCH cheaper.
For example, we saw a coach offering a single 90-minute session for $295, but you could get two hour-long group sessions for just $59.
That’s a serious bargain.
And while the time won’t be 100% dedicated to you, you’ll be able to listen to other people’s questions and problems and hear how the coach advises them, too. There’s some value in this as well.
Are Career Coaches Worth It?
A career coach can be a great investment. They offer guidance and advice that can save you time and help you earn more money in your career. They also help with motivation and accountability; hiring a career coach is a good way to have someone to hold you accountable if you don’t follow through on a goal, etc.
A career coach can help you with all of the following:
- Gain promotions and raises at work, including negotiating with your employer
- Navigate your job search and land more job offers from top employers
- Negotiate a new job offer at the end of a successful job search
- Plan and execute a career change or industry change
- Build your network to position yourself for future career growth and opportunities
- Stay accountable and on-track for all of the goals mentioned above
If you can afford the cost of a career coach (covered previously in this article), it can be one of the best investments you’ll make in yourself and your career.
As a first step, we recommend talking to a couple of career coaches to hear how they work and what they can offer you for your situation.
In our research of career coaching costs, we saw that around 50% of career coaches seem to offer some sort of free introductory session. So it’s possible to speak with a few coaches and hear their approach before investing your money.
How to Find a Career Coach
You can find a career coach by asking in your network or searching for “Career Coaching” on LinkedIn or Google. Additionally, there are many large websites with listings of coaches that you can browse through. You’ll likely see those sites when searching Google for terms like “Career Coaching” as well.
For example, we used Noomii.com to help us find career coaches to speak with while putting together this study on how much a career coach costs. They’re just one of the many large sites that list hundreds of coaches.
In our opinion, though, nothing beats a coach who’s been personally recommended by someone you know and trust. So we recommend starting in your network and asking anyone you know personally if they can recommend someone.
Questions to Ask a Potential Career Coach
If you do speak with one or more career coaches about engaging their services, make sure to ask them questions that will help you decide if they’re the right choice for you.
I’d recommend asking questions like:
“What type of person do you typically help? Or who are you best suited to help?”
Beware of one-size-fits-all coaches who claim to be great at everything. You should find someone who’s helped people in similar situations to yours, including people of your age group, your educational background, etc.
“What are some results you’ve gotten for past clients?”
Asking about past results is one of the best ways to find out how competent they are and how likely they are to deliver a good result for YOU as well. As a side note – this is why you should mention specific results/accomplishments when writing your resume bullets and when giving interview answers.
“What would you need to know from me before deciding whether you can help me?”
Beware of a coach who wants to take any and all clients they can get. This is a sign that they’re desperate for work. You want a coach who’s busy and is being selective in who they choose to work with. Or, at least has some questions for you to make sure they’re the right person to help you!
“Do you do this work full-time?”
I’d recommend finding someone who specializes in this one field of work. Beware of someone who’s doing resume writing, career coaching, and working a part-time job for someone else. Find someone who’s able to support themselves fully as a professional career coach. Sure, they might be a bit more expensive, but it’s worth it. You’re going to lose more than you save if you get bad advice from an inexperienced coach and cripple your career or job search.
The Bottom Line: Career Coaching Can be a Great Investment
If you’re stuck in your career, struggling in your job search, or just feel like you could use a little help making some tough decisions and planning your future, then getting a few sessions of career coaching can be a great investment.
Of course, everyone’s career and financial situation is different… so if you decide career coaching is just too expensive now that we’ve looked at how much a career coach costs, there’s one other way to get great advice from experts: E-books…
Many coaches and other experts have written books with some of their best advice laid out for you and ready to use, for a fraction of the cost of a coaching session.
So if you want expert help without having to pay an arm and a leg, we put together a list of the top books for job seekers here.