Career Coaching Secrets

Alan Kirshner: Guiding Job Seekers Through the Maze with Confidence

• Davis Nguyen

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Rexhen Doda interviews Alan Kirshner, a veteran career coach and founder of Kirchner Coaching Solutions. Leveraging his corporate finance background and volunteering, Alan helps job seekers in transition find clarity and confidence.

His coaching journey, spanning over eight years, highlights the importance of patience, networking, and continuous learning. Alan's leads come from LinkedIn, networking, speaking, and volunteering. While not focused on revenue scaling, he prioritizes purpose and helping others. He advises coaches to collaborate, seek help, and be resilient, embracing the evolving nature of the business.

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Alan Kirshner:

It's a balancing act for sure. You know, it depends on what's going on at that particular time, because part of working in this profession, too, is you don't always know what the workflow is going to be like. If you're working in a corporate job, you have a defined role, you have a certain amount of hours that you work. My day can become very different than the way that I planned it out, depending on who gets in

Davis Nguyen:

touch with me if clients need to make changes. Before Purple Circle, I started and scaled several seven and eight figure career coaching businesses myself and consulted with two career coaching businesses that are now doing over $100 million each. Whether you're an established coach or just building your practice for the first time, you'll discover the secrets to elevating your coaching business.

Rexhen Doda:

Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of Career Coaching Secrets Podcast. Today, I'm thrilled to introduce a guest who truly lives to help people find their way when they're feeling lost in the job search maze. Alan Kirshner is a seasoned career coach, former corporate finance leader, and the founder of Kirchner Coaching Solutions, with a background that spans pharmaceuticals, telecom, and consumer products, and a serious knack for mentoring. Alan now uses his insider hiring experience to guide job seekers towards clarity, confidence, and new opportunities. He's also deeply involved into community support for job seekers, volunteering with organizations like Professional Services Group of Mercer County and the new Start Career Network at Rutgers University. It's my pleasure to have you on the podcast. Welcome to the show, Alan.

Alan Kirshner:

Thanks so much for having me. Glad to be here.

Rexhen Doda:

It's a pleasure to have you on. Alan, tell me a little bit more about what inspired you to become a career coach.

Alan Kirshner:

That's a great question. Went through a number of restructurings and reorganizations in my career. And the last time that happened, I had enough time in my current role that I was able to decide, did I want to continue doing what I had done in the past or did I want to pivot to something different? As part of my leaving the company, I was given a outplacement service. So I had the opportunity to work with a career coach and explore both of those avenues. doing what I had done in the past with my financial background or doing something different. Always gravitated toward, in my career, helping people with their career, with their resumes, with their job search and things. So I decided I wanted to go down that path. And I started doing it first on a volunteer basis with doing coaching. And I received training through the company that I was volunteering through. Found out that it was something I was really passionate about, that I had a lot of knowledge to impart based on my own career. And so I decided to get into it full time and start my own business, which is Kirchner Coaching Solutions.

Rexhen Doda:

And how does the journey look like from the moment you started your own business of coaching to where you are at today? It has been more than eight years, eight years and four months, according to LinkedIn, maybe more.

Alan Kirshner:

It's something that's evolved over time. When I got into it, it was very different than what I had done in the past. So there was a very steep learning curve. But the way that I approached it was I talked to a lot of other coaches that I got to meet, especially through an organization that I'm heavily involved in called the Professional Service Group of Mercer County. We're a job seeker support group and we have weekly meetings to help job seekers find new opportunities and we get guest speakers to come in. So a lot of those speakers are coaches. And so I got to talk to and engage and network with a lot of them to find out how they got into doing what they were doing. So it was quite a big learning experience. I do a lot of reading also. I've had training. So it's been an evolution that started off slowly, but has definitely picked up momentum over time. And I'm constantly learning, expanding my horizon as far as the job search world and coaching. I'm involved in a number of organizations. So it's moved from, you know, an infancy stage into being more comfortable and kind of finding a little bit more about what I want to do and how I want to do it as far as my coaching practice has gone. And it's still something that's evolving over time as well, too.

Rexhen Doda:

Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. I wanted to ask you, is there a specific target audience that you typically like to work with and what transformation do you have achieved?

Alan Kirshner:

Yeah, I've worked with a number of different types of clients. I do a lot of work with job seekers that are in transition that are looking for a new opportunity that have been displaced due to reason or another. I've also worked with younger people in a college setting. where I've helped them, you know, with early career. And I've also worked with people in different stages of their career too. So I've worked with a number of different groups. I tend to focus a lot, I think, on the job seekers that are in transition because one, I'm doing volunteer work in that space too. I also do a LinkedIn audio with several other coaches where we have a once a week call where we talk about different job search topics and people call in with comments and things like that too. So I'd say I do a lot of work with in transition, but I also work with people looking to advance their career or people just starting out their career as well too. And I help them get clarity with what they want, give them effective job search strategies, how to spend your time efficiently and effectively, as well as what are the best opportunities and ways of finding your next career. And I get into a lot about not only the technical skills, but I also get involved in also the mindset part of job search, because it's really, I find that is a very critical part of convincing somebody else that you are The best candidate, you have to feel that way and be comfortable and confident yourself to do that. So I think your mindset is really critical to being successful in a job search.

Rexhen Doda:

Absolutely. And where do you mostly find your clients? What marketing channel has been working best for you so far?

Alan Kirshner:

It's a combination of different things. I'd say LinkedIn is one of the key ones. It's also networking. I've grown and developed a big network over time. So I get referrals from people. I also get involved in doing speaking engagements. So I find people through that too, through my volunteering as well too. So it's a combination of things. I think that, you know, you need filters and sources coming from multiple different ways in order to get clients. Because you really never know where you're going to find somebody or how they're going to find you. So it's good to cast a wide net with different techniques.

Rexhen Doda:

Thank you. And I wanted to ask you also, do you have any goals that you are working towards in the next one to three years with your coaching business? My goals

Alan Kirshner:

are to continue to help people with their job searches. I really enjoy, I'm very passionate about what I do. So I want to continue to do that constantly in a process where I'm helping people and I get positive feedback. So I like to have people give me recommendations, particularly with LinkedIn. I think that's a source that helps build my credibility out there too. So I think continuing to do what I've been doing and also help those that really need it. I do help as a subcontractor for a couple of other organizations as well too. So that's a way of growing business and getting business and having multiple income streams as well too, which I think is helpful in this business.

Rexhen Doda:

Is there, from your experience of running your own coaching business, is there any that has worked best for you? And by that I mean any coaching programs, any masterminds, any communities that have been valuable in you growing your coaching business? Yeah, actually

Alan Kirshner:

there's been a couple. One, I've been involved in the International Coaching Federation, so I meet on a monthly basis with other coaches and we share best practices, share sources of information, and even do referrals too because the coaches there are not all career coaches. They can do a variety of different types of coaching. So I'll get referrals from them and I'll give them referrals based on what our knowledge and expertise is. There's also a very strong, at least in the area where I live, a very strong job seeker support organization. So I've tapped into that, you know, based on my experience and my volunteer work too. So I have a lot of coaches that I can talk to when I need to get suggestions, advice, give out information. It's a very reciprocal type of thing. I find that coaches are very much collegial and not so much competitive. Coaches help each other out when it comes to giving advice, suggestions, referrals, and things like that. So I think those are things that have been very helpful, both from a learning and from a sharing perspective. perspective.

Rexhen Doda:

That's the thing that I found out within the coaching industry that I really like is that there is no competition, but instead there is collaboration between other coaches. Is there something that you wish you had known first when you started scaling your coaching business, an unexpected lesson learned?

Alan Kirshner:

I have patience and it takes time. It's not something that happens immediately. And in particular, what I found is many coaches myself included didn't do coaching before started out in doing something else usually in the corporate world they could have been human resources could have been in marketing could have been in sales computer technology type people or people in accounting and financial roles so a lot of people this is different than what they've done before too and you need to have patience because It's not something that happens overnight. So you definitely need to have time on your side in order to be able to expand and to grow.

Rexhen Doda:

What would you say are the biggest challenges you've faced in scaling your coaching business or that you're still facing today?

Alan Kirshner:

I guess it's always something about, you know, When you're a proprietor, then you're doing everything. So one, it's being able to do all those things, one, that you like, and two, that in some cases are not your favorite part of it. So it's being able to allocate the appropriate amount of time. It's generating leads, I think, for a lot of coaches is something that can be challenging at times. Again, I think it's important to... have multiple income streams. So as one thing is doing very well, another isn't, one kind of offsets the other. So I think it's important to have multiple sources of leads and income coming in too. I think it's helpful not to put all your eggs in one basket because sometimes something is really going very well. It depends on, it can be economically based, how many people are in need of outplacement services versus how many people are looking for advancement and need help with interviewing to get to the next level or need advice and suggestions about becoming a manager or being more effective communicator. So a lot of it depends on what's going on outside in the world and the economy. So again, I think the fact that it's helpful to have multiple sources of income opportunities.

Rexhen Doda:

Yeah, absolutely. And right now with your coaching business, what does it look like in the future? Are you looking to grow it further when it comes to revenue or do you want to keep it at a consistent scale that it is right now? How do you see your coaching business growing in the future?

Alan Kirshner:

content with the way things are. At this point, I'm at that stage of my career where I'm not so much driven by the financial aspect of it. I'm driven a lot more by the purpose of doing it and helping and assisting other people too. So I'm at a stage of my career where those are the things that are important to me even more so than scaling and building a huge business. So that's where I'm at now.

Rexhen Doda:

And currently, how would you say you handle the balance between delivering great client results and managing business growth on the other side? So let's say the coaching and finding time to do podcasts like these or... work in your own LinkedIn profile or in any marketing tactic that you need to work on to generate new leads?

Alan Kirshner:

It's a balancing act for sure. It depends on what's going on at that particular time because part of working in this profession too is you don't always know what the workflow is going to be like. If you're working in a corporate job, you have a defined role. You have a certain amount of hours that you work. My day can become very different than the way that I planned it out, depending on who gets in touch with me, if clients need to make changes, where we're going to get together, and then something else comes up. So there's a balancing act. You need to be flexible. You need to be adaptable. And so I think... One of the beauties of having your own business is you work and do it in the timeframe that you want to do it. You're not tied into a specific nine to five or just working Monday through Friday. You can work those hours and those days and times that you feel are appropriate. And so I think the fact that gives me flexibility to it also gives me the ability to do other things beside my coaching business. So I think that's one of the big benefits of being your own boss, if you will.

Rexhen Doda:

Absolutely. Okay. It's been a pleasure so far discussing almost all of these questions. Is there any final advice you'd like to give to other career coaches who are looking to scale their impact?

Alan Kirshner:

Don't try to do it all. get help when you need it, get advice, get suggestions, talk to other people that have done it. You don't have to reinvent the wheel necessarily. There's other people that are out there that have been successful that are ahead of you in their evolution. So I think it's a good idea to tap into that as well too and to do what you're best at, do what you're most passionate about. Don't go into it because you have a preconceived notion about this is what I want to do. Understand that these can and they do evolve. And it's important, you know, I think to really be purpose driven, to really enjoy what you do, to be passionate about it. I think a lot of things just kind of fall into place. over time even though it may be a little bit different than you thought it was going to be but just just have that flexibility have that resilience one door closes another door can open and it's it's an evolutionary process it it changes but i think it's very exciting it's very interesting each day can be really different the reward of helping somebody and them being appreciative i think really makes you feel like you're making an impact on things. So I think it can really be satisfying But again, it definitely takes work. There are definitely ups and downs where things get quiet or things don't work out quite the way you expected them to. So I think, again, resilience is really important and that flexibility is really important to be successful.

Rexhen Doda:

Thank you. Thank you so much, Alan. Well, it was a pleasure having you on the podcast. For anyone who wants to reach out to you or connect with you, they can find you at Alan Kirshner in your LinkedIn. They can also find your website, KirchnerCoachingSolutions.com, and reach out to you there potentially as well. Is there any other way people can connect with you in the future?

Alan Kirshner:

Probably the most effective way is through LinkedIn. I'm very active there, so you can connect with me. You can send me a request in LinkedIn. I am glad to connect and help you in any way that I can, be it as a client or as another coach who needs advice and suggestions. I'm always looking to pay it forward because I've had a lot of people do that for me. So I feel that's an important part of being in this business.

Rexhen Doda:

Thank you, Alan. It was a pleasure having you on and I wish you a great day ahead.

Alan Kirshner:

Thanks, Rexon. It's really been my honor to be here. I appreciate you having me.

Davis Nguyen:

That's it for this episode of Career Coaching Secrets. If you enjoyed this conversation, you can subscribe to YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening to this episode to catch future episodes. This conversation was brought to you by Purple Circle, where we help career coaches scale their business to seven and eight figures without burning out. To learn more about Purple Circle, our community, and how we can help you grow your business, visit joinpurplecircle.com.