Clients often struggle to put words around who they are professionally. Without clarity, career exploration conversations can feel vague and overwhelming. 

Career Dreamer helps solve this. It creates a career identity statement from skills, experience, interests, and education, then suggests paths with clear role descriptions, skill match, day-in-the-life snapshots, and growth areas. It even offers a Google Gemini prompt to continue reflection.

I’ve found it’s a great way to kick off career exploration sessions with focus and direction. Just note: it works best in Chrome, Safari, or Firefox (not Edge).

How many times have you heard a client say…

As career coaches, we spend just as much time undoing myths as we do teaching strategies that actually work.

The problem is, these myths sound reasonable. 

Templates look professional. Applying to hundreds of jobs feels productive. Guarantees sound comforting. And LinkedIn seems like the only place worth looking.

But none of that matches reality. Believing these myths is exactly what leads to burnout, overwhelm, and clients who start doubting themselves.

So today, I want to walk you through 7 of the most common myths your clients believe—and the truths you can use to reframe their job search.

Visibility doesn’t come from luck.

It comes from strategy. The quality of applications is a thousand times more important than quantity.

Which means it's way more important for clients to adopt strategies like these:

When clients focus on quality, they stop being “one of a thousand” and start being the candidate who stood out.

LinkedIn is valuable, but it’s also noisy. 

I see people start focused and end up chasing roles they’ll never want or aren’t even qualified for.

Instead, I send clients to niche job boards that are tailored to their industry.

Some examples:

Tech: Dice.com or BuiltIn.com for technology and start-ups.

Nonprofit: Idealist.org or WorkForGood.org for nonprofit and mission-driven roles.

Higher Education: HigherEdJobs.com or the Chronicle of Higher Ed.

This way, they aren’t wasting time chasing “shiny object” postings. 

They’re targeting opportunities where they actually belong.

Clients get spooked by applicant tracking systems, convinced they’ll be automatically rejected if their résumé isn’t formatted “just right.” 

Even though we all know it’s not the robot that rejects them, it’s the recruiter (for now…)

What matters is straightforward:

Keywords are important, but humans make the decision.

Over-optimizing for ATS usually leads to under-optimizing for people.

I remind clients all the time: the ATS isn’t out to get you. 

People are the ones doing the filtering. Your résumé just needs to be readable.

With myth #3 in mind, it’s still important to provide some clear guidelines around résumés.

We’ve all seen those sleek Canva résumés with bright colors and bold designs.

They look modern, but if your résumé has text inside boxes or columns, most ATS systems won’t read it. It becomes invisible.

The better approach is simple:

A résumé that reads well beats a résumé that looks flashy every time.

Impatience is one of the biggest momentum killers in a job search. 

Clients often think, “I’ll have something lined up in 4–6 weeks.” 

The reality? Most searches take 3 to 4 months.

We can help to reset expectations by:

Setting realistic expectations up front keeps clients from panicking or giving up too soon.

I would never guarantee someone a job within a specific timeframe.

Why? 

Because if I did, I’d eventually feel pressure to shove them into any role just to keep that promise, even if it’s the wrong fit. 

That’s not ethical, and it’s not coaching.

And the same goes for one-size-fits-all advice. It doesn’t work.

 No two coaching sessions are the same, because no two clients are the same.

Real coaching means tailoring. 

It means listening. It means adapting. That’s what makes the work effective.

This myth does more damage than almost anything else. 

I’ve never seen a client succeed by sending out 200 résumés.

Here’s why:

Clients will always get better results by building relationships than by spending hours clicking “apply.”

Your clients come to you carrying myths, and it’s your job to help them let go of those myths so they can actually move forward. 

Job searching isn’t about applying harder, prettier, or faster. It’s about:

So the next time a client says, “I’ll just apply to 100 jobs on LinkedIn and wait,” you’ll know exactly how to reframe their thinking and help them move closer to the role they’re really after.

I’m sure you’ve heard a lot of job search myths in your time.

Any you’d like to add to the list?

Feel free to reply and let me know.

Heather

The Coach for Career Coaches

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