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Hello all,
Has anyone had a career coach? Was it a valuable experience? Do you have any referrals? How much does this service generally cost?
What I'm looking for in particular: I work in consulting, which means that I have to submit a timesheet with all my billable and non-billable time accounted for. I have always struggled with getting in the weeds with my timesheet. What counts as work? That 10 minute break I took to talk to a co-worker or respond to a text from a friend, does that count? Over the course of the day those 10 minute breaks can add up and I get really stressed out about my productivity which leads to less productivity. And then I worry that if I bill 2 hours to a project for a particular task, that the project manager will wonder why I spent 2 hours on that task when it should have taken one hour. On top of that my percent of billable to non-billable hours is a major consideration in my performance evaluations. The book "Lean In" says to "bill like a man" which I agree with, but I feel like I need a bit more concrete guidance and really feel like a career coach could help me with this.
I'm currently working with a career coach (sorry, I'm from Europe). I think she can help understand the source of the anxiety regarding setting a price for your work. I assume we lowball our work to avoid confrontation, but she could help find your cause and come up with a gameplan. However, she can't come up with the correct ratio you're supposed to write down etc.
Over here, prices seem about like therapy session price only you only do 3-6 sessions, so maybe that helps to do the math. Also, some coaches offer a free chat to get the vibe of them, so you get an idea if they even understand you before paying.
You need a mentor and professional peer association/ support group to gauge what's the industry standard in your location. You need to know where you stand and do expectation management. What is the actual value you are bringing to the company? If you are getting the job done, don't be sidetracked in believing that some arbitrary index shows you are low productivity