Foundational Career Coach Skills Training

The Foundational Career Coach Skills Training, developed by the Rework America Alliance, provides new tactics, tools, and job market insights for career coaching. The program teaches a skills-based, human-centered, equity-driven approach to creating deeper relationships and better understanding between career coaches and clients, which can lead to more successful outcomes and longer-term success for the jobseeker.

The robust online course covers a wide range of topics relevant to helping jobseekers in today’s economy, including how to use new data sources available to career coaches, how to identify barriers and biases jobseekers may be facing during their job search, and how skills-based practices can help highlight their value to employers.

Developed for career coaching professionals and others who provide job guidance as part of their role, and drawing on input from numerous subject matter experts, learners will gain new skills that can immediately be applied to their work.

The Foundational Career Coach Skills Training is based on collaboration with partners including Lightcast, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE), McKinsey & Company, Ripp Leadership, SkillRise, and Third Space Action Lab.

What Participants Will Learn

Actionable techniques to apply in day-to-day work with jobseekers	The new tools and data sources available to coaches, and how to use them	How a human-centered approach can build engagement with clients	Tools and techniques to help people overcome barriers to finding work	How to help people identify their skills and find work that aligns with those skills

Who Will Benefit From This Course

• Career coaches and others who provide career guidance to jobseekers and students at nonprofit organizations, workforce agencies, community colleges, K-12 schools, state/local government, and other organizations that serve jobseekers from low-income backgrounds
• Managers of career services and nonprofits that provide career guidance
• Individuals who are not dedicated career coaches but have a role that at times requires them to provide guidance, e.g., trainers, faculty members, or benefit advisors

More Information

Time Commitment: Short, self-paced courses take 30 to 90 minutes to complete. The total training series takes less than 20 hours to complete.

Format: The online training series is comprised of four units, each containing four to six courses that can be completed over time. The training is presented as engaging animated videos, interactive quizzes, and downloadable guides, and includes instruction on how to use key tools and resources recommended in the training.

Cost: Free

How to register: To receive an access code for the training, please complete this form. For any additional inquiries, or to learn more about the Rework America Alliance, you can contact us at RAA@jff.org.

Training Content

Skills-Based Coaching (4 courses)

Understand how to help jobseekers identify opportunities they otherwise may feel they are not qualified for based on experience and credentials, by focusing on the skills they have and those needed for the job they want. Use job market data to identify non-linear job opportunities which are achievable based on the skills they hold or could learn, and the options available to gain new skills. Coach clients on how to articulate their skills in a resume and during an interview.

1. A Skills-Based Job Search
2. Skills-Based Resume
3. Skills-Based Interview
4. Skills-Based Job Progression

Human-Centered Coaching (5 courses)

Learn how to embed human-centered coaching skills into daily practice to better support clients. Build a relationship with your client to gain insight into their needs and understand how to empower them to consciously choose how they change or advance their career path.

1. Human-Centered Coaching and Its Importance
2. Emotional Intelligence and Human-Centered Coaching
3. The Flow of Human-Centered Coaching—Pathway to Empowerment
4. Coach the Coach: 11 Feedback Points
5. Human-Centered Coaching in Practice

Effective and Equitable Career Navigation (5 courses)

Learn how to identify the impact of racial inequity and better understand jobseekers’ barriers and challenges and the significance of their job search. Understand what tools and strategies can be used to mitigate barriers caused by biases and inequality to help meet a client’s goals.

1. Introduction to Racial Equity for Workforce Professionals
2. The Benefits Cliff—Understanding the importance of benefit loss due to wage increases
3. Strategies to Effectively Identify Client Needs
4. Creating the Personalized Service Plan
5. Labor Market Information 101

Skills for Navigating a Digital World (6 courses)

Learn how to adeptly navigate the digital environment and use digital resources and tools when assisting clients. Build the skills needed to help clients overcome digital literacy barriers in their job search.

1. Lifelong Learner
2. Empowered Worker
3. Digital Citizen
4. Solution Seeker
5. Mindful Colleague
6. Digital Literacy Resource Bank for Jobseekers