^ what about failures? Have there ever been customers that are too hacksaw education wise or lack quality enough experience to be helped? I know you said some people are too difficult to work with, but have there ever been people that aren’t difficult as persons, but that you struggle to land jobs for?
seriously? No one is going to offer a money back guarantee on job coaching.
Let me first just say that it’s never about me – it’s all about my clients. I don’t take credit for my client’s successes; I empower them to be a better version of themselves and give them actionable feedback on exact steps they need to take to improve their careers. I teach them what they need to know to internalize their successes and troubleshoot their failures, so that eventually they don’t need someone like me advising them each step of the way. In the long-term, they know how to win on their own. I feel like that’s what good coaches are supposed to do.
Typically the clients that I find most difficult to work with are the ones that are unwilling to help themselves. It has nothing to do with their education or work experience – it’s a matter of character. I find that people who tend to fail at achieving their life goals are the ones that keep asking questions and pushing back, rather than trusting the coaching process. You see this everywhere in life, whether it’s in professional sports, workplace, personal relationships, or whatever – some people are just too petulant and argumentative to be coached. They get a kick out of questioning everything or trying to outsmart others, thinking it makes them better; but in reality, they’re actually doing a great disservice to themselves. These people tend to go nowhere in life and they don’t even realize it.
In my field, examples of people that are tough to coach include ones that keep doubting themselves or doubting me (or any other coach), ones that don’t actually want to put in the work needed to differentiate themselves above the average candidate once they realize that job offers don’t just fall into their laps, or ones that think they can outsmart me and want to get information for free instead of paying me – yeah, good luck with that.
Basically people who understand what I do don’t ask for guarantees or refunds because they know the value of my offerings. I have a huge pipeline of new and existing clients that understand the benefits of coaching and are queuing up patiently to work with me. I have zero budget for advertising or business development; I don’t go out and find clients. They find me.
Why not? With Numi being anonymous and no receipt, there is no incentive for Numi to neccessarily provide quality. He could easily provide unsatisfactory services and there is zero recourse for the buyer.
^He still can’t guarantee that the hiring manager will hire you. He can’t guarantee that you’ll perform like he taught you to in the interview.
Just out of curiosity, if you hired numi and he insisted you put Vandelay Industries, CFA (after you get your charter, that is) at the top of your resume, would you?
There is also zero incentive for me to work with people that harbor this kind of attitude. I stay as far away from these situations as possible.
What you say here typifies what I described in an earlier post – namely the type of individual that is too difficult to coach, yet too busy criticizing others and too incorrigible to realize his or her own shortcomings.
While the points you raise are totally fair, all I can say is that the clients I work with are getting the jobs that you are not getting.
Who is we? I thought you were the one man band? Don’t tell me you’re outsourcing this sht to some BO CFA in India.
Haha, I have some folks helping out with logistical things like responding to prospective client inquiries, getting clients scheduled, and so forth. However, it definitely is me and not some random schmo doing the advisory.
vandalay is a donkey
+1
yes, i would do it. Id give him a chance to work his magic and do anything he said. I wouldnt like the CFA after my name, but sometimes one must defer to others in times of need
My attitude isnt one of incorrigibility, just typical skepticism of any buyer. I think anyone dropping $500-$2000 over the internet to someone they dont even know should be skeptical. I think it would be pretty foolish to just assume itll be perfect. If I was a customer, I would certainly do what you said and not argue. Wouldnt be an issue. The only problem would arise if I did all of the reccomended items and continued to fail
Why? You dont think there should be a little natural skepticism for someone dropping $500-$2000 over the internet to someone they dont know for a style of training they have never tried before?
Numi: Thanks a lot for your candid feedback and response. I greatly appreciate the information you were able to provide. ibankingfaq.com definitely has some great resources that I plan to use in addition to the other resources I’ve found. Also, thanks for being understanding of my situation.
Vandelay Industries: Similar to yourself, I was also skeptical of services provided by professional coaches and, sadly, most of the skepticism stems from individuals I’ve seen flaunting their services like they are a “game changer.” When in reality it’s nothing more than a load of crap nicely gift wrapped with a wonderful bow on top. As a result, it is easy to become jaded about the process. This is why I suggested taking everything with a grain of salt and performing your due dilligence. If I may speak for Numi, he means no disrespect; however, you must understand he is good at what he does and is passionate about it. It’s understandable to be skeptical, but his results have demonstrated his ability to deliver top notch services. He’s placed dozens of people from various backgrounds including hacksaw MBAs into middle market banks, BB, top PE and ER firms, and Hedge Funds.
I’ve learned the process requires a healthy balance between skepticism and humility. Skepticism in the sense that you are presenting challenges and inquiries in a good way (because every coachee or player learns differently so the coach needs to be malleable and patient), but also humility by understanding there is a wellspring of knowledgeable people who have “been there, done that” and know exactly what it takes to get to the top. If you are a basketball player and you want to play in the NBA, wouldn’t you learn from someone who has played in the NBA?? You wouldn’t work with a HS coach or attempt the journey alone. This is analogous to your professional career. We all need mentors and coaches along the way. If you are skeptical about working with someone, perform your due diligence and go from there. I think you mean well, but it sounds like you need to be more open minded and understand at this point in your career you should be more like a sponge trying to absorb as much as possible.
some fair points
dp013, happy to help and thanks so much for the good plug. You’re the man!
@Numi, you are still at it! I seriously thought you will simply stay away and resist the temptation of arguing with an incorrigible self-believer who believes in arguing for the sake of arguing (no wonder no one dared to find fault with the cv he produced after 50 hours of hard work, they knew him!) long before! I thought one like you need not defend yourself if you don’t need to.
Thanks for the good word mygos. It was a slow week in the equities markets so I was able to post a bit more often, but you’re completely right. I’ll be extricating myself from this situation.
Why is it unreasonable for me to ask for some sort of guarantee? You really dont think that’s reasonable?
^ No. You can’t guarantee something beyond your control.