For parents and students · Launch League blog
What to expect in your first career coaching session
By Nick Gonzalez, founder, U.S. Air Force veteranPublished
The short answer
A first career coaching session is mostly listening: what your teenager enjoys, avoids and has tried, with no pressure to name a career. Expect about an hour, a few unusual questions, an explanation of how the coaching works, and one small task to do before next time. If it ends without that task, ask for one.
The walk-out-with-one rule
A first coaching session should end with exactly one question your teenager now wants answered and one small step to start answering it. Not a career, not a plan: one question and one step. If they walk out with nothing, the session was a chat.
What to expect in your first career coaching session
Teenagers usually arrive at a first session expecting to be asked “so, what do you want to be?” A good first session doesn't ask that. It is unanswerable at 15 and it gets a shrug.
Instead, most of the hour is listening. What did they do this week that they'd happily do again? What do friends come to them for? What would they hate doing every day, even for good money? The coach is listening for patterns, not job titles. “I like figuring out why something broke” tells a coach far more than “maybe engineering.”
A typical first session, step by step
Formats vary, but a sound first session usually covers:
- Introductions and the ground rules: what's private, what the parent hears, and that there are no wrong answers.
- What the teenager wants out of it, in their words, even if the answer is “my mom made me come.” That is a fine starting point and a coach should say so.
- The listening questions above, and a look at anything done beforehand, such as a questionnaire or a quiz.
- A few career areas worth a look, offered as things to test, never as a verdict.
- One small task before next time, and a date for the next session.
The walk-out-with-one rule
This is the standard I hold a first session to. Your teenager should walk out with exactly one question they now want answered, and one small step to start answering it.
For example: “Would I actually like working in a hospital, or do I just like the idea?” and “Ask Aunt Maria if I can call her colleague in the lab for 15 minutes.” Not a career. Not a plan. One question and one step.
If they leave with nothing, the session was a chat. Pleasant, maybe, but not coaching. It is fair to say so to the coach.
How to prepare for a first career coaching session
Very little preparation is needed, and too much can make a teenager stiff. A few things help:
- Ten minutes on a free interest quiz beforehand gives everyone something to react to.
- A quiet room, headphones, and a charged device if it's over video. Not the kitchen table with siblings walking through.
- Jot down two or three things they've enjoyed recently: a class, a job, a project, a game, anything.
- Know the practical deadlines coming up, such as course selection or applications, so they don't get missed.
What parents should and shouldn't do
Do: share what you see with the coach before the first session, privately. Where you think your teenager shines, what worries you, anything the coach should know.
Don't: sit in, hover in the doorway or debrief the session in the car on the way to practice. Ask one question afterwards, “Was it worth going back?”, and leave it there. Teenagers often say more to a stranger when a parent isn't listening. That's common, and it's the point.
Do: tell the coach if your teenager is dealing with anything health-related that a coach should know about, and whether a doctor or therapist is involved. Coaching is not therapy, and a responsible coach will want to know where the edges are.
Red flags in a first session
Think twice about continuing if:
- The coach did most of the talking.
- Your teenager was handed a single career answer or a test result as if it were a verdict.
- There was a hard sell for more sessions before anything useful happened.
- Nobody explained what the parent will hear and what stays private.
- No small task, and no date for next time.
What a first session looks like at Launch League
In the Future Ready Sprint, the first session doesn't start cold. Before it, I have a 20-minute conversation with you, then your teenager and you each answer a short questionnaire separately, and you receive a written Career Discovery Brief within 48 hours of both being finished. Session one builds on that brief. If, after the first two sessions, you don't think it's worth it, you get the whole fee back.
Questions
Quick answers
- How long is a first career coaching session?
- Usually about an hour. Shorter than 45 minutes rarely leaves time to listen properly and agree a task; much longer than 90 minutes loses most teenagers.
- Should a parent attend the first session?
- Usually not the session itself. A separate short conversation with the parent beforehand works better: the coach hears your view, and your teenager gets a room where they can be honest without an audience.
- What if my teenager barely talks in the first session?
- Common, and not a bad sign. A good coach will switch to easier, concrete questions and lean on anything done beforehand. If they are still silent after two sessions, the coach should say so honestly rather than keep billing.
- Is a first session over video as good as in person?
- For most teenagers, yes, and some find it easier. What matters is a private, quiet space and a working connection. The introductions and real-world steps that follow are what make coaching work, wherever the sessions happen.
- Will the coach tell me everything my teenager says?
- It shouldn't, and you should be told the rules at the start. Typically a parent hears what was covered and what the task is, not the details. Any worry about safety is the exception, and a coach should explain how that is handled.
Next step
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Sources: International Coaching Federation: what coaching is · International Coaching Federation: Referring a Client to Therapy (guidelines for coaches). Coaching is not therapy, medical, legal or financial advice.