China has been a land of ascension for quite some time now. Across all metrics, the nation of China has been on an upward trajectory. As a professional trainer, you can leverage this to your advantage by setting up shop in China. Yes, think about being a career coach in China! The opportunities do exist but to leverage this job to your advantage you need to know how to seize the chance. This article will give you a guideline of sorts of how to go about this process.

How to be an accredited career coach in China

Accreditation is essential when you venture out of terra firma, especially if it means venturing out as a Career Coach. It goes without saying that anyone who presents themselves as a coach will need to show some accreditation of one kind or another. True, motivation speakers and big-name authors might not have any affiliation with an institution, but their results speak for them.

career coach

As an individual, the quality of accreditation that you have offers you the leverage to negotiate on terms such as commissions, remuneration and in some Chinese states even the type of work permit that is extended to you.

The best accreditation that you can wave as an individual is one that has some global recognition. The Worldwide Association of Business Coaches is a case in point. As member of such an association begin their career move in China a step up on account of the support networks that might be offered by such an association. Remember, accreditation is key, and you do justice to your course when you have your paperwork in order.

Understanding the Chinese culture

A successful career coach can use their curiosity and tap into the intuition to navigate their student to a particular end point. That statement is partly correct if your client base is from North America and Europe. While in the Western Hemisphere, individuals are encouraged to open themselves up, this doesn’t apply in the case of China.

The Chinese as people are reserved and the more a coach probes into a Chinese client’s personal life, the more than likely the client will withdraw into themselves. The smart coach who will make a mark in China need only change this paradigm to one where their job is to clarify issues to their client and let the client take the road of self-discovery by themselves.

The point is that when you come to set up shop in China, simply jettison a one size fits all paradigm and try and understand the psyche your client base. Fortunately, you as a career coach are best placed than most people when it comes to understanding human dynamics, and this should not be a steep learning curve for you.

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Setting up a plan

Once you are convinced that you are ready to take the leap of faith, you will need to select the port of entry as a career coach in China. There are three underlying ways that you can get a foothold on this career ladder.

The first will involve you coming on board as a consultant for the myriad of coaching establishments that are in China; this means that you join an institution that is already existent. The expatriate route is by far the easiest. The establishment that you partner with will most likely do all the legwork for you concerning processing any necessary paperwork.

The second route will involve you looking at various job boards and scouting for career coach opportunities in China. Many professional Chinese job boards offer this service for a small fee. Such entities will also provide the necessary platform where you can conduct an interview with potential employers-mostly via online means- and aid you acquire documents such as work permits and vaccination certificates.

The last route will involve you taking the lone wolf kind of approach which means that you get a plane ticket, head to China and study the lay of the land for yourself. Based on your findings you can elect on your modus operandi.

Understanding the Career Coach

Business Environment

It is important to note that the state doesn’t intervene in the career coach industry in China. Most of the players in the industry are local firms with large multinationals coming onto the scene. The challenge that you have to scale as a career coach is that on one hand, some pseudo caching entities seem to be fixated on a sort of New Age human development thinking while the professional entities focus more on Neuro-Linguistic Programming which in many cases is not holistic.

The point is that at the end you, as a professional career coach, will have to distinguish yourself from the former as you could even run afoul of the law and try and be as holistic as possible unlike the latter.

Prospects of the Career Coach Industry

The future of this industry is vast. Some experts avow that the market is yet untapped, this is on account of the fact that Chinese businesses are becoming increasingly global and require individuals who will train both their management and workforce on the best practices of the Western world work. This is a bonus for many people who are thinking of vesting themselves in this industry in China as this is most applicable and relevant.

If you are thinking of going to China to be a career coach, you have opportunity beckoning. The nation has been looking at ways of rejuvenating itself economically, and more businesses are tapping into the knowledge and skill base of professionals to get a new perspective on issues. This out of the box thinking in many ways is what has made China a great civilization, and when you venture forth into China, you should be prepared to experiment outside the norm. Hopefully, it will be a good match for you and your clients.

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