Lucia Knight
How to Choose the Right Career Coach in Midlife (Without Wasting Time or Money)
Wondering how to find a career coach who gets midlife reinvention? Lucia shares 4 hints to spot the real deal and avoid costly detours.
How to Choose the Right Career Coach in Midlife (Without Wasting Time or Money)
If you’re in your 40s or 50s and wondering what the hell to do with the next chapter of your career, you’re not alone. Maybe you’ve had a “successful” job on paper but feel misaligned, burned out, or just plain bored. So you decide to look for help.
And that’s when things get murky.
A quick Google search for “career coach near me” serves up a tsunami of polished websites, inspirational quotes, and vague promises. But how do you know who’s the real deal — and who’s just going to tweak your CV and send you back into the same mess?
In this post, I share what I wish I’d known when I was deep in my own career stuckness. Including the detour that cost me over £120K — and how you can avoid the same.
Why Picking the Wrong Coach Is So Costly
When I hit my career wall nine years ago, I didn’t ask for help. My job looked shiny from the outside, and I was too ashamed to admit how unhappy I really was.
So I flailed. Tried to fix things on my own. And in doing so, I lost somewhere between £120,000 and £150,000 in missteps, missed opportunities, and sheer emotional drain.
I would have paid gladly to work with someone who understood what I was feeling, had proven methods, and could help me make smarter decisions, faster.
But I didn’t know where to start.
The 4-Hint Fit Test for Career Coaches
After nearly a decade of guiding midlife professionals through their own redesigns, I’ve learned what makes a coaching relationship work — and what raises red flags. Here’s how to vet someone before you commit:
1. Do they have a clear niche?
The best coaches aren’t generalists. They specialise. They’ve worked deeply with a specific type of person or problem — and it shows.
Ask yourself:
Does their focus match your stuckness?
If you’re dealing with burnout, misalignment, or navigating reinvention in your 50s, someone who works primarily with Gen Z start-up founders won’t get you.
2. Do they practise what they preach?
You don’t need perfection. But if a burnout coach seems permanently frazzled or a mindset expert radiates stress... it’s worth questioning. Look for someone who lives the principles they teach, even imperfectly.
3. Can you be vulnerable with them?
The right fit goes beyond surface-level support. You’ll need someone who can hold space for messy feelings, uncertainty, and real transformation — without judgement. If you can’t imagine sharing something personal with them, keep looking.
4. Are they transparent about pricing and value?
You deserve to know the cost before you get on a call. Period. Clear information signals confidence, respect, and a mature business — not smoke and mirrors.
Real Help Isn’t Just a Tweak — It’s a Redesign
One of my clients was on the verge of resigning mid-burnout. We worked together to make his current work more bearable before designing what came next. The result? He stayed another year, earned over £150K more, and left with clarity and a plan.
That kind of return doesn’t come from a surface-level fix. It comes from working with someone who fits — and who helps you design from the inside out.
Ready to Find the Right Fit?
Whether you’re deeply stuck or just quietly questioning what’s next, finding the right guide can change everything. Not just your CV — but your whole experience of work.
Explore working with me here:
👉 https://www.midlifeunstuck.com/work-with-me
Mentioned Resources:
-
How to Find a Career Coach You Can Actually Trust in Midlife
Hello and welcome to the Joy at Work podcast. I'm Lucia Knight, and here's this week's question from a listener.
[00:00:08] Listener Q: “I’m 51 and stuck. How do I find a career coach that doesn’t just want to rework my resume?”
Hey, my name's Mike. I'm 51. I'm probably a bit cynical at this point. I know I need help with my career, but when I look for a coach, all I find are people who want to tweak my CV just to land me the same job at a different company. And honestly, that's not what I want, but the truth is I'm not sure what I do want.
You seem different, but I can't quite figure out if you are the right fit for what I need. Or even how to tell who is. So, yeah, I guess I'm just trying to figure out where to start and who to trust.
[00:00:45] Why “career coach” is a vague, unregulated term
Hi there, Mike. Sounds like you're feeling a bit stuck in your career. It might be time to get a little help from someone who knows how to guide people through transitions, a career coach or consultant or advisor.
But here's the annoying thing. When you type career coach near me into Google, you'll end up drowning in a sea of possibilities as you've done. The choices are just endless, overwhelming, even. How are you supposed to find the right one, especially when you're probably short and time and energy when this choice is far too important to leave to chance.
Now, I never call myself a career coach, but other people do. It's a nice, easy pigeonhole that I fit into. As a career coach or a consultant or career satisfaction designer, there's no universal bar exam. There's no governing body ensuring quality across the board. Some coaches or career consultants are absolutely phenomenal. True game changers. While others are not.
[00:02:00] The £120K mistake I made by choosing the wrong help
Nine years ago when I was awakening from my own career coma, I would have traded a limb for a number of a truly great career specialist. Someone who got it, someone who understood. that I knew exactly what I didn't want as you do Mike, but that I had no idea what I wanted.
I would've paid large sums if I could have seen proven tested methods that work that would've helped me make decisions on the rest of my career. Smarter decisions, faster decisions.
But I was embarrassed and ashamed to admit that I was unhappy in a career that looked perfectly shiny from the outside, so I didn't ask for help, and I paid the price emotionally, physically, and financially.
Honestly, the whole detour cost me at least 120 to 150 grand in missteps, in missed opportunities, and in lost earnings. So if I can help you avoid that, I will.
Here's my take on how to choose a career advisor, whatever you call them. One who fits you.
[00:03:20] Hint #1: Why niche expertise matters more than ever
Hint number one, find someone with a clear and obvious specialty.
The best people to help you aren't generalists. They've honed their craft by working with a particular type of person or a particular type of problem. That kind of focus takes guts, and it's what makes them powerful.
Ask yourself, does their specialty match your particular problem?
You wouldn't hire a wedding planner to lead a company acquisition, so don't hire a career consultant who's never helped someone like you navigate exactly what you're facing. Whether it's shifting industries, reentering the workforce after a break, adjusting to a new country or culture, climbing to an exec level role, choosing your first ever business, battling burnout and chronic stress, whatever it is, make sure they've been there and have successfully guided others through it and have the case studies to prove it.
For instance, I work with professionals mostly in their forties and fifties who are stuck in outwardly successful, but inwardly unsatisfying careers who want to take control and design a more fulfilling next chapter. That's my sweet spot. That's a very tight niche that fits my experience, my knowledge, and my passions.
I don't know a thing about the problems or psychology of generation. Zs, zrs, Zs, whatever they're called, so that's definitely not my niche. I'm not experienced at coaching individuals on their way up the corporate ladder, so neither is that my niche. I'd never in a month of Sundays be chosen to coach a new team on how to integrate quickly.
You get the gist.
[00:05:26] Hint #2: Do they actually live what they teach?
Hint number two, do they practice what they preach? It's fair to expect your coach to walk the walk or at least be trying to. If someone calls themselves a burnout expert and seems perpetually exhausted, or markets themselves as a mindset coach, but radiates stress, maybe keep scrolling.
You don't need perfection. It's an unattainable goal anyway, but you do want someone who's living their message, even if that means being honest about their own struggles. I don't think the world needs another guru.
A quick look around their website, blog or video should give you a feel for them as a human. Do they seem real to you? Do they talk about their journey, the messy bits as well as the golden moments? For example, I talk a lot about superpowers being the central starting point to designing joyful work, and I use my personal superpowers 60 to 70% of each day.
Not a hundred percent. I hear you ask. No, but I love being my own boss, and I believe in doing all the things, marketing, pr, admin, accounting myself before outsourcing. So I know exactly what I need, and I know and can notice when someone does it a lot better. But fulfilling work for 60 to 70% of every day is not bad for a career satisfaction designer, which is my official title.
[00:07:11] Hint #3: Can you be emotionally safe with them?
Hint number three, ask yourself, could you be vulnerable with them? You don't need to be vulnerable if you're working with someone who is rejigging your resume or cv.
A decent coach will offer some kind of introductory chat.
A get to know you call. That works both ways. But if you are stuck on the next steps in your career, or you think you might need a bit of a career makeover, without a doubt, you'll need to go deep. And that means being open about things that feel messy, unclear or scary. You need someone who can hold that space without judgment. And who has proven tested methods, resources, and techniques to design your way forward in a way that suits you, your personality, your needs, your values, your hopes for the future, and your long-term lifestyle goals. So jump on a call with them. Test out their sensitivity and their style.
Ask hard questions. Get a feel for how they listen. Whether they've got the goodies to challenge you or whether they answer the questions in ways that make sense to you.
Ask them about people like you they've worked with before. I call my introduction chat at the light at the end of the tunnel call. I schedule about one each working day, and only a few become clients because there has to be a mutual fit.
For instance, if we were on a call together and I sense that you are anywhere near the final stages of burnout, I'd asked you certain questions because I know that the work we do requires a certain energy level that just isn't available to anyone in the final stages of burnout.
And if I sensed you were in the later stages of burnout, I'd apologize and I'd say this isn't the right time for us. And I'd refer you to a brilliant burnout coach. I know very well. And when you've recovered, we talk again. The fit has to be right for both of us. In the show notes, I'll include a link. To a video on the 12 stages of burnout as it relates to professionals in their forties and fifties.
[00:09:37] Hint #4: Transparency around cost and value
Hint number four, are they clear about cost and value?
Forgive my directness, but it drives me mad. When coaches or consultants or anyone really hide their prices, it's awkward to ask and nobody wants to jump on a call only to discover. This service is wildly out of budget. I've done that before and frankly, it was too embarrassing to ever do it again.
I believe in transparency. You should know what you're getting and what your investment would be so that you can decide if it represents good value to you, the purchaser in your exact situation. Here's an example.
[00:10:22] Real ROI: How one client earned £150K by pausing a resignation
Here's an example. A client who was in the early stages of burnout worked with me on my Fastest Done For You program, which is an investment of just shy of 20,000 pounds.
He wanted to resign, and I convinced him not to until we'd done some of our early work together. We redesigned his current work to make it less painful, before we designed his next career step, he said our work together allowed him to keep working for 12 months, earning him more than 150,000 plus benefits, and to design his next chapter more creatively than he could have done if he'd been watching his savings disappear.
To him, our work together represented a magnificent return on investment. You might not want or need my fastest program, but before we ever get on a call, you can access all of the prices of all of the three programs I offer. I'll include links. In the show notes where you can download further details on both my group and one-to-one programs.
[00:11:43] Choosing a coach is like dating — here’s why fit matters
So finding the right person to help you with your career problem is like dating. You're looking for the right fit, not the first available. Take your time, ask questions, review their pricing, watch their videos, read their stuff, because the right help won't just help you tweak your LinkedIn profile.
They might just help you redesign your entire work life, optimizing for whatever you choose to optimize for. I personally chose to optimize for satisfaction and joy.
