Small note before today's newsletter. If you want a more structured way to build out your job search coaching, take a look at my Confident Career Coach System course. You receive 10 CEUs on completion.

When I started building my private practice, I faced the same problem so many career coaches experience: No one really knew who I was or how I could help them.

I had to find ways to change that without spending a ton of money on marketing.

So, for several years, I volunteered at my local library’s weekly job search club. I would lead a short session on a specific career topic, facilitate roundtable discussions, and meet people who were trying to figure out their next step. 

It was simple. It was also one of the ways I built awareness of my work in the community.

Private practitioners sometimes assume group coaching belongs in a university, workforce program, or agency setting.

I understand why. That’s where we tend to see it most often.

But group coaching can have a real place in an independent practice too because it gives people a chance to experience how you work before asking them to commit to individual coaching.

We understand what career coaching is because we do it every day. 

Potential clients on the other hand, may have no idea what actually happens during a session.

Will you tell them what career to choose (some would love this)? 

Rewrite their resume? 

Give them a list of jobs to apply for?

They can read a description of your services on your website and still wonder, “Okay, but what will this actually do for me?”

That makes booking an individual coaching session a pretty big first step.

This is where group coaching could hold an advantage. It can give people a lower pressure way to find out how career coaching can help them progress.

They get to see how you ask questions, how you break down a complicated problem, and whether your approach works for them.

There’s another benefit here that I don’t think private practitioners (or anyone offering career services for that matter) consider enough.

A group session gives you a much bigger window into what people are dealing with.

If you only see individual clients, you hear one person’s experience at a time. This is especially true if you serve a very specific niche group of clients (which I advocate for). There are a ton of advantages to niching down, but it can also narrow your exposure to the types of challenges your clients face.

The more clients you work with, the more data you accumulate on the factors such as:

Those patterns can help you design better workshops, resources, and services for your clients.

When you put all of this together, group coaching can help your practice in several practical ways.

First, it makes more people aware of what you do. They get to experience your approach instead of trying to understand career coaching from a service page.

Second, it gives you a clearer picture of what clients need. You hear the language they use, the questions they ask, and the problems that keep appearing across different experiences.

Third, some participants may realize that they need more personalized support. They have already seen how you work, so booking an individual session feels like a more informed decision.

And finally, a group session can help you collect testimonials that build your credibility.

You should be evaluating the session anyway. Ask participants:

“Did you get what you needed from this session?”

“Do you feel able to move forward?”

If someone shares specific positive feedback, ask for their permission to use it as a testimonial. Be clear about where it will appear and whether they are comfortable having their name included.

So, yes, group coaching can help you serve several people at once. It can also increase your visibility, improve your understanding of client needs, introduce people to your individual services, and give you credible evidence of the results your coaching supports.

Heather

The Coach for Career Coaches