Career Coaches: Should You Hire One?

Red flag No. 3: You're asked to pay a flat fee of several thousand dollars up front, and you're pressured to make your decision -- and fork over your money -- now.

"It's like those crazy infomercials in the middle of the night," Dikel said. "The harder they push you, the more you need to take a step back."

A good coach won't give you the hard sell or a one-size-fits-all rate. Instead, they'll charge you by the hour or session and will tailor their services to the kind of assistance you need: resume makeover, interviewing techniques, help making an industry change.

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Fees vary greatly among coaches, from about $100 an hour to several hundred. Time spent with a coach can range from one or two sessions to multiple sessions over the course of several months or a year, depending on your needs.

Where the Credible Coaches Are

Rather than going with a big career-marketing firm, I recommend working with a small career-coaching firm -- or better yet, an individual career coach or career counselor -- so you know exactly who you're hiring.

No one governing organization of career coaches exists, which means anyone can wake up tomorrow and call themselves a career coach. To further confuse matters, several organizations offer credentialing programs for career coaches, with the National Career Development Association offering the most rigorous program of the bunch.

But just as good and bad doctors get their degrees from Harvard, the market is rife with both good and bad coaches who have credentials. That's where getting a referral from a friend or colleague comes in.

If no one you know can recommend a career coach (credentialed or otherwise), check your local newspaper's business events calendar. Coaches often lead job hunting workshops and networking events. Pick two or three free or low-cost events that look interesting and check out the Web sites of the coaches leading them. Bonus points if they have a blog or book you can peruse.

If you like what you see, go to those events, introduce yourself to the coaches, ask a couple of your top job-hunting questions and size up: Does this person sound knowledgeable about the job market? Is this someone you'd feel comfortable paying to mentor you? Or is a little voice inside of you screaming, "I need to get as far away as I can from this woo-woo quack"?