I spoke with a woman recently who had signed up for a boot camp with some influencer with a gazillion followers. This is pretty common, but what was unusual was that it was in my niche – career transition.

She was surprised I hadn’t heard of this person and asked the question a few times.

I wasn’t surprised as I don’t follow many folks in my space. I have my own process that works well for my clients.

Generally, professionals in career transition do one of three things – work on their job search on their own, work with a non-profit organization or faith-based jobs ministry, or hire a coach. So, I was a little shocked to hear about this low-touch, scaled business model.

I had two reactions simultaneously:

Reaction 1: That’s fascinating! Could I do something like that?

Reaction 2: That seems predatory and not at all what people need.

After speaking with this woman for over an hour, I’ll go with the second reaction.

She’d been through a rough time for several years, and had been in transition for a year. What she needed, in my opinion, was personal support and a small community of other people going through the same thing.

What she didn’t need was the self-flagellation of a boot-camp training model.

Even as it was crystal clear to me that she should practice radical self-care over the weekend to get her head in the right place for her interviews on Monday, she was clearly stressed out saying she needed to work all weekend to fill the funnel because that’s what <influencer> says.

I have been working with professionals in career transition for 10 years full time and on the side for 25 years. What I can tell you with absolute certainty is going into an interview energized, confident, and relaxed will generally get you to the next interview.

While strategy and tactics are certainly necessary, having the right mindset will get you better and faster results.

It’s amazing how much ego gratification people get from working with big names, even as they have no direct contact with them. I had to pull her up at one point and remind her that this person’s tactics must not be that great if she’s been in transition for a year.

And this is just one example.

On the small business coaching side of my business, I often have to clean up after a big-name coach who sold someone a yacht when they really needed sailing lessons. Sometimes it’s the client buying with their ego instead of their brain, and sometimes there are predatory business practices to blame.

Obviously, I am a big fan of coaching and consulting. I sell my time and I hire people to help me. But given that we’re coming off four years of political turmoil and a year of a global pandemic, people are exhausted and overwhelmed and, in my opinion, traumatized.

The last thing we need is someone telling us to beat ourselves up more.

So, let’s give boot camps a rest for a while. They can be valuable when done the right way. But right now we need some kindness – to ourselves and others.

Have a process that can produce a predictable outcome? Sign me up!

Want me to add unnecessary pressure on top of the pressure cooker that is 2021? No thanks.