What career coaching actually is
Career coaching is a series of focused conversations about your working life: where you are, where you want to be, and the gap between the two. A coach does not hand you a plan from a template. They ask the questions that get you to your own answers, then hold you to what you decided. You should leave a session with something resolved, not just a pleasant hour.
It sits alongside the wider work of life and executive coaching. Career is often where people start, because it is concrete, and the conversation tends to widen from there.
Coach, mentor, or recruiter
- A recruiter is paid to fill a role. Useful, but their incentive is the placement, not your long-term direction.
- A mentor gives you their playbook. Valuable when your path resembles theirs, less so when it does not.
- A career coach works from your goals and your judgement, with no agenda of their own. That is the difference when the decision is genuinely yours to make.
Who it helps
Most clients arrive at a crossroads: a promotion that stalled, a move between industries, a return to work after a break, or the quiet sense that the current path is not the right one. In Dubai it is especially common among professionals navigating a fast, competitive market far from home, where the usual support network is not close by.
What it costs in Dubai
One-to-one coaching in Dubai generally runs from around AED 400 to AED 800 a session, rising with the coach's credentials and experience. Packages usually carry a modest discount, and most reputable coaches offer a free first call.
Kintsugi Dubai rates, shown as a reference point.
How to choose a career coach
- Check for a current ICF credential (ACC, PCC or MCC). In an unregulated field it is the clearest sign of real, supervised training.
- Use the free first call as a genuine test of fit. You should feel understood, not sold to.
- Ask how they work between sessions. Good coaching creates accountability, not just a nice conversation.
- Make sure they coach, not just advise. If every session ends with their opinion rather than your decision, that is mentoring.
- Confirm they can work in the language you think in, and in the format, online or in person, that fits your week.
Nour Al Hassan is an ICF Professional Certified Coach working across career, life and executive coaching in Dubai. Full formats and pricing are on the coaching page, and teams can look at the corporate sessions.