In recent years, the field of career coaching has experienced a significant surge in popularity and demand. As individuals face increasing challenges in navigating their professional lives, career coaching has emerged as a valuable resource to guide and empower individuals towards achieving their goals and finding fulfilment in their chosen careers.

While discovering ‘World’s Most Prominent Career Coaches to Follow in 2023,’ The Education View came across one such prominent personality in the field of career coaching, Mohamed Saed Hassan Helmy, General Manager Malls at TMG (Talaat Moustafa Group). Mohamed has experience in successfully coordinating the activities of various departments concerned with overall management.

Below are the highlights of the interview:

Please tell us about your journey since its beginning.

I graduated as a Vet. Doctor in 1998, and since then, I have experienced different industries and fields, from medicine to asset management. Throughout the past 25 years, I was able to develop a vast experience in the fields of business and people management; I spare no effort in developing myself and my knowledge through different soft and technical skills up to finishing my MBA & ICSM and PMP.

What inspired you to become a career coach?

Throughout my life, I realised that being able to impact, change and enhance people’s lives by clarifying and guiding their thinking mindset to benefit them better is the biggest achievement anyone can attain, and it’s the true legacy of any person, after all, it represents the cornerstone for all human progress and development.

How do you stay current with the latest research and trends in the field of career coaching?

I see a tremendous amount of growth and development in the field of career coaching and shifting human mindsets to achieve more due to the increased awareness of the importance of Human Resources and organizational behaviour science.

So, I have been attempting to research the field of career coaching, and I have been looking at successful career coaches like Jackie Mitchell and others.

What challenges have you come across, and how did you overcome them?

I’ve come across multiple challenges in my life experiences, but the most difficult ones were during my last assignment at GM Mall, where I had to manage an enormous number of people with different cultures, objectives, and attitudes to achieve one goal as one team and develop our assets.

I was able to overcome it by understanding that we are humans, not machines, and if you want them to perform, you need to understand their mindset and needs and find a way to align their career needs with the corporate objectives.

How do you incorporate technology into your coaching?

Incorporating recent technology is no longer an option. It’s a mandatory requirement in every part of our life, and of course, in the coaching area, it is getting strong because it has become required for coaching others in different countries; that is one of the key moments where communication technology plays a major role.

What do you believe are the most important qualities of a successful career coach?

The most important qualities are true life experience through multiple failure and success stories, strong communication skills, strong presentation skills and a well-prepared mind.

How do you differentiate instruction to meet the needs of different clients?

In career coaching, we discuss tailor-made consultation and advice, which will defer from one person to another based on their actual needs and objectives, their current skills, knowledge and the gap which needs to be filled and how to do so.

Kindly mention some of your major achievements, accolades, and recognitions as a career coach.

As an accredited certification, I haven’t attained one yet, but as my job implies, I have been practising career coaching on a daily basis for the past 15 years.

What would be your advice to people struggling to find the right career path?

My advice is to keep moving. Struggling, failure, and fear are all vital parts of everyone’s success journey. Keep finding alternatives, and embrace change because it’s going to happen anyway.

Can you shed some light on your future plans?

My goal is to have a healthy and successful family structure and become financially free.

What makes you and your coaching methodology different from others?

I do not seek to compare myself to others in my search for change, as it is a philosophy, not a competition. I aim to be better than what I was yesterday and to be able to tailor for everyone. I coach an achievable and ambitious track and help guide them through their life.