Has anyone used career coaches before?Are they worth their salt and if so, what benefits did they bring and what coaches in particular did you use?Essentially I'm not sure of the next step for me and am looking for advice.ThanksJ

how old are you jo, what is your situation etc. we may be able to help

Thanks for getting back to me.I'm 24, just finishing a grad scheme at a Big 4 consultancy and looking at options for the next rung on the ladder as a junior consultant (i.e non trainee).I guess I would consider options inside and outside of consultancy but want to stay in broader professional services.CheersJ

no problem J, have you thought perhaps about joining a smaller firm - they have a better working environment than the corporates

I used a career coach about 4 years ago. He helped me with 5 or 6 areas of my life and work and was worth his weight in gold. I was looking for more focus on my career aspirations as well as help with coping with a senior colleague who was a b*gger to deal with.I found him via an NLP site and was blown away by how good he was.I realise this sounds like a sales pitch but I'm not sure how to avoid that when praising someone!His website:http://www.tonic-plus.co.uk/index.htmlThe best thing - he'll have a long chat with you, gratis, before you both decide on the way forward. He did this with another colleague and ended up recommending someone else as a likely better fit.Good luckPaneer

So what are people's views on NLP and EFT? Are they effective self improvement techniques or just some fad?

horses for courses/each to their own/don't knock it 'till you've tried it.....

I'm clearly biased but I'm not sure you could call NLP a fad, as it's been around 10+ years. Whether it works or not is different and I know nothing about EFT at all, even if my coach practices it.When I started reading about NLP I was extremely sceptical. My sister is an academic and told me there was no empirical evidence base for it at all. As with all things, those in favour tend to make up stories or evidence to prove their on points.However, the emphasis is on "what works". If we went down a blind alley, we'd leave that route and try something different.Has anyone got any direct stories of +s or -s?Paneer