Tried a paid career coach after years of free advice on forums

Spent $400 on a career coach in Chicago last month because I kept hitting walls with my job search. The free advice from Reddit and LinkedIn was decent but everyone just says the same generic stuff. The coach actually looked at my resume, watched me interview on Zoom, and pointed out specific filler words I used 15 times in 10 minutes. Has anyone else had better luck paying for help versus going the free route?

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the_kai3mo ago

That line about "the zoom recording trick" is actually the real hidden value here. Most people think career coaching is just about one time feedback, but the bigger win is learning how to watch yourself objectively, which is a skill that carries over to every future interview. Once you know what to look for in your own delivery, you stop needing the coach entirely.

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stellablack3mo ago

Funny timing, I just heard a podcast where a hiring manager said the exact same thing about filler words being a dealbreaker in video interviews. $400 is steep but honestly that specific feedback sounds worth it, free advice never catches the little things like that. People always say "be confident" but don't tell you my constant "like" and "um" are what's actually killing the impression. The zoom recording trick sounds like the real value there, something you can't get from a forum thread. Makes me wonder if the paid route saves more time in the long run by cutting out the trial and error.

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