Early career decisions shape the rest of your professional journey. A career coach for young adults can help you gain clarity about your strengths, guide you through the job search, and give you the accountability you need to stay on track. More than that, they help build confidence, which is something many young adults struggle with when starting out.
What to Look for in a Career Coach
Not all coaches are the same. The best ones for young adults have:
- Experience guiding early professionals or recent grads
- A track record of client success stories
- A coaching style that matches not just your personality but also goals
- Accessible formats (virtual sessions, flexible packages) and affordable offerings
The Top Career Coaches for Young Adults
Here’s a closer look at the career coaches making a real difference.
Eliana Goldstein
Eliana is a Certified Professional Coach who helps ambitious young adults in their 20s and 30s find clarity and direction in their careers.
Before coaching, she spent nearly 9 years in tech and media, moving from Marketing Coordinator to Business Development Manager and growing her salary by 437%, all through networking and negotiation.
After experiencing burnout and imposter syndrome, she pivoted into coaching and now equips clients with the tools and strategies to build confidence, make bold career moves, and create lasting professional success.
Website | Instagram | LinkedIn
Dave Cordle
Dave Cordle brings over two decades of experience as a professional career coach. He started out as a cartographer, mapping countries like Kenya and Tanzania, moved into computing at Aviva, and spent years leading mountaineering expeditions in the Andes and Himalayas.
Those experiences shaped the way he works with clients today. He helps them map clear goals, put systems in place, and build the confidence they need to handle challenges along the way.
Dr. Ai
Dr. Ai helps teenagers and young adults build the foundation they need to succeed in any career.
With over 20 years of experience as a teacher, professor, and advisor, she coaches teenagers and young adults to overcome low confidence, lack of motivation, and uncertainty about their future.
Her framework, rooted in psychology and neuroscience, strengthens resilience and executive functioning, which are skills that prepare clients to not only succeed in school but also transition confidently into their careers.
Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn
Sharon Carr
Sharon Carr is the founder of Career Smart and is a career coach based in Australia. Before coaching, she led sales and marketing teams for global brands including Apple, Coca-Cola, and Unilever, and even held a board director role with the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Beijing.
Despite her corporate success, Sharon found her true passion in mentoring and guiding others to find the career path that fits them best.
Since launching Career Smart, she has coached and trained over 2,000 clients globally. Using tools like MBTI and Strong assessments, Sharon helps young adults uncover their strengths, match them with the right career or study options, and build a practical action plan.
Website | Instagram | LinkedIn
Maaike Taconis
Maaike is a PCC-certified coach with the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and a registered career coach with Noloc, EMCC, and Nobco.
She works with young professionals and women to build confidence, strengthen leadership, and create clear career direction.
Based in the Netherlands and working in both Dutch and English, Maaike coaches clients online and in person. Her approach is practical, research-informed, and focused on helping clients make career decisions that lead to real fulfilment.
Conclusion
Working with a career coach as a young adult can save you years of trial and error. If you’re ready to get unstuck and take your next step with purpose, explore the coaches on this list and see which one feels right for you.
You can also find more support in our roundups of life coaches for young adults and life coaches for teens, which highlight even more options for different stages of early adulthood.
And if you’re interested in becoming a career coach yourself, don’t miss our guide on how to become a career coach and the best certification programs to get started.
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