Can You Become a Career Coach Without a Background in HR or Recruiting?

It’s a special type of person who’s drawn to working as a career coach. 

Someone who wants to help others succeed. Someone who understands people’s need for purpose, but also knows that career success requires some nuts-and-bolts skills.

But what should you do if you want to work as a career coach, but you’ve never worked in HR or recruiting? Do you need to give up this career path?

Short answer: no.

Successful career coaches actually come from all kinds of backgrounds. And, frankly, a unique career path might even give you an edge.

I’m Cara—I work as an executive career coach and also train career coaches here at the International Association of Career Coaches.

And in this post, I’ll share why you can become an excellent coach, even if you don’t have a background in HR or recruiting. 

What Actually Makes Someone a Good Career Coach?

When I get asked this question, which happens pretty regularly, I always tell people that it comes down to three things.

To excel as a career coach, you need EQ, career knowledge, and a maverick mindset.

🫶 Emotional intelligence

People managers, project leads, and life coaches often make great career coaches because they’ve already honed their empathy, communication, and EQ.

As a coach, you’ll support people who are struggling to understand who they are and where they fit in. So the better you can empathize, connect, and hold space for their feelings, the more helpful you’ll be.

📚Career knowledge

Do you understand how the world of work operates? How to help someone thrive in their role, earn promotions, or land the job they want?

This is where a background in HR or recruiting can be helpful—but it’s not essential.

Some career coaches come from a successful niche and want to pass on their hard-earned wisdom (you could call this the “Obi-Wan Kenobi” coach model). Think of the experienced project manager who now helps up-and-coming PMs.

Others devote themself to studying the job market, reading books on career development, and learning what it takes to help others succeed.

This part is completely learnable. If you’re curious and committed, you can build the career knowledge you need to support others.

🔥Maverick mindset

Many great coaches experience themselves as corporate outsiders. They never totally fit the mold and always questioned the system from the inside. 

When you know what it’s like to feel misaligned at work, you become driven to help others find something better.

As a coach, that willingness to question the status quo can go a long way—your maverick mindset can give clients permission to ask themselves what they actually want out of their careers.

Career coaches come from all kinds of backgrounds—hospitality, law, education, the arts, tech, and more. Many coaches have lived winding careers with résumés that defy easy categorization. 

Take Kristina, for example. She started her career in the Air Force and then worked for years as an engineering team lead. Along the way, she picked up crucial skills in how to bring the best out of her teammates, and she directly applies those skills in her current role as a career coach.

The thing that unites career coaches isn’t a particular background. It’s the shared drive to help people grow, thrive, and find work that fits who they are.

Debunking the Misconception that You Need a Background in HR to Become a Career Coach

The idea that you need a hiring background to become a career coach is a prevalent myth in the field.

And I get why it exists. 

A big part of the work of a career coach is helping clients practice interviews, improve their résumés, and ultimately get hired.

So from that perspective, yes, it does help to have a background hiring other people. 

But it’s also not mandatory.

These skills are only part of the job, and they can absolutely be learned.

You can study what types of interview questions to expect for different roles. You can study how to teach a client to knock an interview out of the park. And you can study what makes a standout résumé for different positions.

I won’t deny that a background in recruiting or HR is helpful for these skills. But other career backgrounds provide different advantages. 

For example, one career coach I trained, Elise, had a long and expansive career writing and producing in the entertainment industry. She picked up vital skills on how to tell compelling personal stories and adapt quickly to new roles, which she now directly uses to help people go through major career changes.

So, just to drive it home: all the job-search skills can be learned.

There are plenty of ways to learn these skills, but the most direct route is to complete a career coach certification program.

For example, the Senior Professional Career Coach training with the International Association of Career Coaches includes in its curriculum:

• The key components of a winning dossier

• Résumé ins and outs

• Cover letters and LinkedIn

• Job search strategy

• Job offer negotiation

• Succeeding in the first 90 days of a job

This curriculum was developed by me and others who have hands-on experience in HR and recruiting; we distilled all the key lessons you'd learn from a career in the hiring fields so that you can succeed as a coach.

You Might Be More Qualified Than You Think to Become a Career Coach

You don’t need a background in HR to have what it takes to be a career coach. In fact, your past experiences might already make you a great candidate.

For example, one career coach I trained, Phyllis, came from a long career in marketing. Over the years, she picked up impressive communication skills, strategic thinking, and mentorship experience. And when she realized she wanted to become a coach, she used all that experience to build a successful practice.

If you’re not sure whether your background qualifies, here are a few signs you might already be more prepared than you think:

• You’ve mentored friends or coworkers

• You’ve navigated a complex or unconventional career path

• You’ve helped others with résumés, interviews, or job searches

• People come to you for advice, insight, or emotional support

• You’ve worked as a teacher, manager, or trainer

Do any of those bullets sound familiar?

Even if you don’t already have the technical know-how, you can study up on résumé strategy, interview prep, and job market knowledge.

Once you’ve got your skills down pat, the next step is to build your credibility as a coach.

How to Build Your Credibility as a Career Coach Without HR or Recruiting on Your Résumé

One perk of having a background in HR or recruiting is that it gives you instant credibility as a coach, especially when you’re just getting started.

Fortunately, there are a ton of other ways to boost your coaching reputation so that potential clients will feel good about hiring you.

Here are a few ideas

💼  Position yourself as an expert

Publish LinkedIn content, blog posts, or podcast episodes about career tips and job market insights.

🎙️ Get featured on other people’s podcasts

We assume that all podcast guests are experts in their field. So if you guest on someone else’s podcast, guess what we’ll think about you.

🗣️ Gather testimonials from practice clients

Testimonials are a goldmine of credibility. And you don’t need paid clients to get them. When people are on your website, just the fact that you have testimonials (even if they’re from pro bono clients) signals that you are a professional who helps people.

🧑‍🏫 Run workshops

When participants see that you’re the person in front of the room, leading the pack, they will naturally assume that you are an authority in your field.  

🎯 Pick a niche

If you have specific knowledge about a career path or a demographic, then you just need to be seen as an expert in the eyes of your niche.

For example, let’s say you become a career coach for UX designers, or for mothers returning to work. Then, as long as you have experience as a UX designer or a working mother, you’ve got credibility.

See what I mean? You can have a career that has nothing to do with HR, and boost your credibility in other ways so that you can still succeed as a coach. 

It’s just a matter of getting started.

How to Get Started as a Career Coach

I hope you’ve come to believe that anyone can become a career coach if they feel called to the field. As long as you’re curious about people and career growth, then this is probably a great career path for you.

If you’d like a step-by-step guide on how to become a career coach, check out this article: How to Become a Career Coach: The Complete Step-by-Step Guide.

And if you think the right move is to get certified as a career coach, so that you can cover all the fundamental skills, join a community of other coaches, and have access to expert career coach guidance, then check out the Senior Professional Career Coach training.