Medium to life coach
A medium already meets 45% of what the life coach role asks for. The move turns on 7 required skills not yet in the profile.
51.7/ 100
1 How much of what a life coach is expected to do is already part of a medium’s work. Directional: the figure for the reverse move differs, because moving into a speciality is not the same problem as moving out of one. 2 Every skill the life coach role is recorded as needing, required and optional together. What these numbers mean.
Why this move works
A life coach role treats 5 of its required skills as things a medium already does. You would walk in with these on day one.
- coach clients
- counsel clients
- listen actively
- maintain customer service
- use consulting techniques
What stands in the way is 7 required skills the profile does not yet cover. Table 3 groups them; Table 4 says which to take first.
Table 2 · What you already bring
Of the 13 skills that carry over, these are the ones fewest other occupations ask for. A life coach role needs them, and most people applying for one will not have them already. This is the part of a medium background worth leading with.
- already held coach clients communication, collaboration and creativity
- already held counsel clients communication, collaboration and creativity
- already held perform lectures communication, collaboration and creativity
- already held use consulting techniques communication, collaboration and creativity
- already held rhetoric social sciences, journalism and information
- already held manage a small-to-medium business management skills
All 13 carried skills, including the 5 the life coach role treats as required.
Table 3 · What you may need to learn
The 14 missing skills fall into 4 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, numbered in the order worth working in. Areas carrying the most required skills come first, and inside each one the required skills sit above the optional ones. Nothing here is a verdict on you: it is a list of what this particular job asks for that your current one does not.
- still to learn assist clients with personal development required
- still to learn maintain relationship with customers required
- still to learn communicate with customers required
- still to learn create solutions to problems required
- optional, not held facilitate job market access optional
- optional, not held give constructive feedback optional
- optional, not held provide career counselling optional
- optional, not held teach communication to clients optional
- still to learn give advice on personal matters required
- still to learn help clients make decisions during counselling sessions required
- still to learn evaluate clients' progress required
- optional, not held assess character optional
- optional, not held identify training needs optional
- optional, not held maintain professional administration optional
Table 4 · Where to start
The 3 entries a life coach role is least likely to hire without. The ordering is computed from the skill data, not from what pays.
- 01 assist clients with personal development practise this
- 02 give advice on personal matters practise this
- 03 maintain relationship with customers practise this
Each entry opens a course search for that skill. Career Overlap earns nothing from these links.
Appendix · The rest of the record
All 13 skills that carry over
- already held coach clients skill
- already held counsel clients skill
- already held listen actively skill
- already held maintain customer service skill
- already held use consulting techniques skill
- already held administer appointments skill
- already held develop professional network skill
- already held keep personal administration skill
- already held manage a small-to-medium business skill
- already held manage personal professional development skill
- already held perform lectures skill
- already held rhetoric knowledge
- already held use different communication channels skill
7 supplementary skills, helpful but not required
- optional, not held facilitate job market access optional
- optional, not held assess character optional
- optional, not held give constructive feedback optional
- optional, not held identify training needs optional
- optional, not held maintain professional administration optional
- optional, not held provide career counselling optional
- optional, not held teach communication to clients optional
12 held skills the life coach role does not ask for
- not needed by the target role apply crisis intervention skill
- not needed by the target role entertain people skill
- not needed by the target role interview people skill
- not needed by the target role maintain privacy of service users skill
- not needed by the target role occultism knowledge
- not needed by the target role perform improvisation skill
- not needed by the target role perform live skill
- not needed by the target role prospect new customers skill
- not needed by the target role provide spiritual counselling skill
- not needed by the target role psychology knowledge
- not needed by the target role spiritualism knowledge
- not needed by the target role use séance tools skill
Common questions about this move
Can a medium become a life coach?
Yes, and it is a moderate move. A medium already covers 45% of what a life coach is expected to do: 13 skills carry over, 5 of which the life coach role treats as required.
What skills does a medium need to become a life coach?
7 required skills are missing, plus 7 optional ones. They fall into 4 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, led by communication, collaboration and creativity. The single most important is assist clients with personal development.
How hard is the move from medium to life coach?
Its learning distance is 51.7 out of 100, which is the moderate band. That accounts for both how much is missing and how specialised those skills are.
How this record was compiled
Both occupations are taken from ESCO, which lists the skills and knowledge each occupation is expected to have and marks every one required or optional. Nothing here is a prediction about hiring, and nothing here knows that a particular employer wants a particular certificate. Treat Table 3 as a starting point for your own research rather than a syllabus. The full method states what these figures can and cannot tell you.