What's so great about a career coach?

Question
"Do life-career coaches really work? What is it they do you can't do on your own?" -- J. in Manhattan 

Answer
From Lindsey Pollak, author of "Getting from College to Career" and campus spokewoman for LinkedIn. 

"One of the most valuable actions you can take as a job seeker is to honestly assess your strengths and weaknesses. This is often harder than it seems -- we tend not to value our strengths (because they come to us easily) and tend to overplay our weaknesses (because they freak us out).

One of the major values of working with a career coach is that a coach is an unbiased third party when it comes to assessing you as a job seeker. He or she can give you feedback based on experience with many other job seekers, which is something your friends and family can't always provide.

Another benefit of working with a career coach is accountability. It can be hard to stay focused and motivated, especially during a long job search, so a career coach can help you devise a timeline and stick to it.

Just like a personal trainer, a career coach will keep you moving forward on those days when you're feeling down or lazy."

Answer
From Patty O'Connell, vice president human resources People's Alliance Federal Credit Union, Hauppauge, and co-chair of the Hauppauge Industrial Association's human resource committee.

"Career coaches can guide you based on their experience and firsthand knowledge of being a business professional. The expertise and professionalism they can offer is sometimes something you don't learn in the classroom. They know the quality and type of employee employers are looking for and they know how to get you to present yourself that way.

There are qualities that you most likely have that you don't express. A job coach helps to drag that information out of you and helps you realize the importance of it."