Inside Bay Area: Unemployed Turn to Coaches to Jump Start Careers

November 8, 2009 -  Inside Bay Area – CA, USA

Jeremiah Anderson — like many people these days — was out of work.
He found help, direction and ultimately a job by consulting a coach, a profession that is currently getting a boost from the downturn in employment.

Anderson, of Castro Valley, had been out of work as an IT project manager since November 2007. After testing the waters in the real estate industry, he decided to return to IT project management in June 2008. But with the recession, he felt he needed help to stay ahead of the competition, he said.

Anderson enrolled in a workshop led by coaches Chani Pangali and Dan Rink, who consulted him on his resume, guided him in preparing for interviews, and honed his job-hunting skills. Anderson credits the workshop and consultations in large part with finding him the job he ultimately landed in his field in November 2008.

Having nothing to do with athletics, coaching is a fairly new profession that gained ground in the 1990s.

According to Vikki Brock, a certified coach who has been researching the industry’s history and development, there are more than 275 coaching schools across the country today. In 1990, there were only three worldwide. The largest is the International Coach Federation, which has certified almost 4,000 professionals to date.  Read story.

NOTE: Vikki Brock is the team lead for the Coaching Hall of Fame and the Virtual Museum of Coaching at the Coaching Commons.