Ever Googled “career coach” and found yourself drowning in vague promises and polished LinkedIn bios? You're not alone. This episode was sparked by a real message from Mike, a listener who’s 51, cynical, and unsure where to start. He knows he doesn’t want a repeat of the same job—but how do you find someone who actually gets that?

In this episode, I break down four key hints for choosing the right career advisor (even if you hate the word coach). You’ll hear about:

• Why generalists rarely work in midlife career redesign
• How to spot someone who actually walks their talk
• The importance of emotional safety in a coaching relationship
• Real talk about pricing transparency and red flags

I also share how my own missteps cost me over £100k—and how I now help others avoid the same.

🎯 If you're exploring what joyful, aligned work could look like for you, take the next step here:

👉 https://www.midlifeunstuck.com/work-with-me

🔗 Mentioned in This Episode

• Blog: You’re Not Too Old and It’s Not Too Late
• Video: 12 Stages of Burnout for Professionals in Midlife

Hello and welcome to the Joy at Work podcast.

I'm Lucia Knight, and here's this week's question from a listener.

Hey, my name's Mike.

I'm 51.

I'm probably a bit cynical at this point.

I know I need help with my career, but when I look for a coach, all

I find are people who want to tweak my CV just to land me the

same job at a different company.

And honestly, that's not what I want, but the truth is I'm not sure what I do want.

You seem different, but I can't quite figure out if you are

the right fit for what I need.

Or even how to tell who is.

So, yeah, I guess I'm just trying to figure out where

to start and who to trust.

Hi there, Mike.

Sounds like you're feeling a bit stuck in your career.

It might be time to get a little help from someone who knows how to

guide people through transitions, a career coach or consultant or advisor.

But here's the annoying thing.

When you type career coach near me into Google, you'll end up drowning in a

sea of possibilities as you've done.

The choices are just endless, overwhelming, even.

How are you supposed to find the right one, especially when you're probably short

and time and energy when this choice is far too important to leave to chance.

Now, I never call myself a career coach, but other people do.

It's a nice, easy pigeonhole that I fit into.

As a career coach or a consultant or career satisfaction designer,

there's no universal bar exam.

There's no governing body ensuring quality across the board.

Some coaches or career consultants are absolutely phenomenal.

True game changers.

While others are not.

Nine years ago when I was awakening from my own career coma, I would

have traded a limb for a number of a truly great career specialist.

Someone who got it, someone who understood.

that I knew exactly what I didn't want as you do Mike, but that

I had no idea what I wanted.

I would've paid large sums if I could have seen proven tested methods that

work that would've helped me make decisions on the rest of my career.

Smarter decisions, faster decisions.

But I was embarrassed and ashamed to admit that I was unhappy in a career that looked

perfectly shiny from the outside, so I didn't ask for help, and I paid the price

emotionally, physically, and financially.

Honestly, the whole detour cost me at least 120 to 150

grand in missteps, in missed opportunities, and in lost earnings.

So if I can help you avoid that, I will.

Here's my take on how to choose a career advisor, whatever you call them.

One who fits you.

Hint number one, find someone with a clear and obvious specialty.

The best people to help you aren't generalists.

They've honed their craft by working with a particular type of person

or a particular type of problem.

That kind of focus takes guts, and it's what makes them powerful.

Ask yourself, does their specialty match your particular problem?

You wouldn't hire a wedding planner to lead a company acquisition,

so don't hire a career consultant who's never helped someone like you

navigate exactly what you're facing.

Whether it's shifting industries, reentering the workforce after a break,

adjusting to a new country or culture, climbing to an exec level role, choosing

your first ever business, battling burnout and chronic stress, whatever it

is, make sure they've been there and have successfully guided others through it

and have the case studies to prove it.

For instance, I work with professionals mostly in their forties and fifties

who are stuck in outwardly successful, but inwardly unsatisfying careers

who want to take control and design a more fulfilling next chapter.

That's my sweet spot.

That's a very tight niche that fits my experience, my knowledge, and my passions.

I don't know a thing about the problems or psychology of generation.

Zs, zrs, Zs, whatever they're called, so that's definitely not my niche.

I'm not experienced at coaching individuals on their way up the corporate

ladder, so neither is that my niche.

I'd never in a month of Sundays be chosen to coach a new team

on how to integrate quickly.

You get the gist.

Hint number two, do they practice what they preach?

It's fair to expect your coach to walk the walk or at least be trying to.

If someone calls themselves a burnout expert and seems perpetually exhausted,

or markets themselves as a mindset coach, but radiates stress, maybe keep scrolling.

You don't need perfection.

It's an unattainable goal anyway, but you do want someone who's living their

message, even if that means being honest about their own struggles.

I don't think the world needs another guru.

A quick look around their website, blog or video should give you

a feel for them as a human.

Do they seem real to you?

Do they talk about their journey, the messy bits as well as the golden moments?

For example, I talk a lot about superpowers being the central

starting point to designing joyful work, and I use my personal

superpowers 60 to 70% of each day.

Not a hundred percent.

I hear you ask.

No, but I love being my own boss, and I believe in doing all the

things, marketing, pr, admin, accounting myself before outsourcing.

So I know exactly what I need, and I know and can notice when

someone does it a lot better.

But fulfilling work for 60 to 70% of every day is not bad for a career satisfaction

designer, which is my official title.

Hint number three, ask yourself, could you be vulnerable with them?

You don't need to be vulnerable if you're working with someone who

is rejigging your resume or cv.

A decent coach will offer some kind of introductory chat.

A get to know you call.

That works both ways.

But if you are stuck on the next steps in your career, or you think you

might need a bit of a career makeover, without a doubt, you'll need to go deep.

And that means being open about things that feel messy, unclear or scary.

You need someone who can hold that space without judgment.

And who has proven tested methods, resources, and techniques to design

your way forward in a way that suits you, your personality, your needs,

your values, your hopes for the future, and your long-term lifestyle goals.

So jump on a call with them.

Test out their sensitivity and their style.

Ask hard questions.

Get a feel for how they listen.

Whether they've got the goodies to challenge you or whether they answer the

questions in ways that make sense to you.

Ask them about people like you they've worked with before.

I call my introduction chat at the light at the end of the tunnel call.

I schedule about one each working day, and only a few become clients

because there has to be a mutual fit.

For instance, if we were on a call together and I sense that you are anywhere

near the final stages of burnout, I'd asked you certain questions because I know

that the work we do requires a certain energy level that just isn't available

to anyone in the final stages of burnout.

And if I sensed you were in the later stages of burnout, I'd apologize and I'd

say this isn't the right time for us.

And I'd refer you to a brilliant burnout coach.

I know very well.

And when you've recovered, we talk again.

The fit has to be right for both of us.

In the show notes, I'll include a link.

To a video on the 12 stages of burnout as it relates to professionals

in their forties and fifties.

Hint number four, are they clear about cost and value?

Forgive my directness, but it drives me mad.

When coaches or consultants or anyone really hide their prices,

it's awkward to ask and nobody wants to jump on a call only to discover.

This service is wildly out of budget.

I've done that before and frankly, it was too embarrassing to ever do it again.

I believe in transparency.

You should know what you're getting and what your investment would

be so that you can decide if it represents good value to you, the

purchaser in your exact situation.

Here's an example.

Here's an example.

A client who was in the early stages of burnout worked with me on my Fastest

Done For You program, which is an investment of just shy of 20,000 pounds.

He wanted to resign, and I convinced him not to until we'd done some

of our early work together.

We redesigned his current work to make it less painful, before we designed his next

career step, he said our work together allowed him to keep working for 12

months, earning him more than 150,000 plus benefits, and to design his next chapter

more creatively than he could have done if he'd been watching his savings disappear.

To him, our work together represented a magnificent return on investment.

You might not want or need my fastest program, but before we ever get on a

call, you can access all of the prices of all of the three programs I offer.

I'll include links.

In the show notes where you can download further details on both

my group and one-to-one programs.

So finding the right person to help you with your career problem is like dating.

You're looking for the right fit, not the first available.

Take your time, ask questions, review their pricing, watch their videos, read

their stuff, because the right help won't just help you tweak your LinkedIn profile.

They might just help you redesign your entire work life, optimizing for

whatever you choose to optimize for.

I personally chose to optimize for satisfaction and joy.