Career coaches are licensed health care professionals with extensive experience in and knowledge of health care careers. They are teachers and counselors who encourage the full participation of students in planning their careers and resolving academic, work, and family problems.

 

Career coaches:

 

• Listen
• Form relationships with and promote self-awareness of the employee
• Meet with supervisors to help guide worker success in the workplace
• Help workers gain access to education support (e.g., tutoring) and personal support, (e.g., child and elder care)
• Build skills—interviewing, career planning, conflict resolution, and teamwork
• Connect employees with their peers and colleagues in the workplace, with mentors and others with shared interests outside the workplace
• Guide decisions about health careers appropriate to abilities and interests
• Help negotiate the complex entry into college programs
• Provide support that will enable students to graduate