Who works for whom
Recruiter
Paid by the employer. Fills a specific vacancy from a shortlist. Useful when your profile matches a live role, useless when you need to change direction or fix how you present yourself.
CV writer
Paid by you. Produces one polished document. Valuable when the CV is genuinely weak, and irrelevant when the failure happens later, at interview or in targeting.
Career coach
Paid by you. Works across the whole search: what to target, how to be positioned, what to send, how to interview and how to negotiate. Broadest scope, and the only one accountable to you across stages.
Compared honestly
| Recruiter | CV writer | Career coach | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who pays | The employer | You | You |
| Whose interest comes first | The hiring client | Yours, narrowly | Yours, across the whole search |
| Scope | One live vacancy | One document | Targeting, materials, interviews, negotiation |
| Helps with career change | Rarely | No | Yes |
| Helps with interview performance | Light briefing only | No | Yes, with practice and feedback |
| Helps with salary negotiation | Negotiates for the employer's budget | No | Yes, on your side of the table |
| Access to unadvertised roles | Sometimes, within their client base | No | Through strategy and networking, not placement |
| Typical cost to you | Free | €100 – €400 | €80 – €250 per session or packaged |
Diagnose the stage before you buy anything
Applications with almost no responses usually mean a targeting or document problem: wrong roles, wrong format, or experience described in a way local employers do not recognise. That is where a CV rewrite, done inside a proper positioning conversation, earns its money.
Interviews without offers is a different failure. The document already worked. What is failing is structure, evidence and confidence in the room, and no amount of CV polishing changes it. Practice with feedback does.
Offers that arrive below expectation are the third and most fixable failure. Most candidates never counter. A single prepared negotiation conversation routinely moves a package by several thousand a year, which is usually more than the cost of the coaching that produced it.
Warning signs, whoever you hire
- ·Any promise of a guaranteed job or a specific number of interviews.
- ·A recruiter asking you to pay a fee for placement.
- ·A CV service that never asks about your target roles or market.
- ·Coaching sold as motivation with no artefacts, practice or measurable steps.
- ·No named person accountable for your outcome.
- ·No clarity on what happens between sessions, which is where the work actually happens.
Keep reading
What clients say about working with us
“My experience with HULA Career exceeded my expectations. They provided exceptional guidance throughout every step of my dream job search. I am incredibly grateful to Hugo and Laura for their unwavering support.”
“Hugo is a friendly and dedicated professional who can help you with career coaching. He was very attentive to me, making calls to teach me strategies to get the perfect job and providing accurate and professional material.”
“If you're looking for any career related help or advice in Ireland, HULA is the one for you. Hugo and Laura are two of the sweetest and kind hearted people who go above and beyond to support you.”
“I had an amazing experience with HULA Career! Their team provided outstanding support in improving my LinkedIn profile and CV, making them more professional and impactful. Their guidance was clear, personalized, and extremely helpful.”
“I've been a client of HULA Career for a while now, and working with them has been one of the best decisions I've made for my professional growth. From the very beginning, they made me feel seen and heard.”
“I had a very good experience with HULA! Hugo is an amazing professional who always goes beyond to provide the best service he can. I learned a lot from our sessions and would recommend 100% for anyone who needs help finding a new job.”
“HULA met my expectations perfectly. I was looking for guidance to create a standout resume, and they fully understood my needs. The team was extremely attentive and delivered excellent services.”
“They are excellent professionals and exceed expectations. They helped me in a practical way, but also in a psychological way so that I could position myself in the labour market in another country. Thank you so much, you're amazing.”
Not sure which stage is failing?
That is exactly what the free consultation is for. We look at your applications, your response rate and your interview outcomes, and tell you honestly whether you need coaching, a document rewrite, or simply a different target list.
Written by
Hugo Faria
Career coach and co-founder of HULA. He works every week with international professionals hiring into Ireland, the UK and Portugal, and coaches them through CV, LinkedIn, applications and interviews. More about Hugo.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a career coach and a recruiter?+
A recruiter is paid by the employer to fill a specific vacancy, so their loyalty is to the client, not to you. A career coach is paid by you to improve your positioning, materials, interview performance and search strategy across every opportunity, including the ones no recruiter is working on.
Is a CV writer enough on its own?+
Only if the CV is genuinely the single blocker. If you are getting interviews but no offers, the problem is interview performance or positioning, and a rewritten CV changes nothing. A good coach diagnoses which stage is failing before touching the document.
Do recruiters charge candidates?+
Legitimate recruiters never charge candidates. Their fee comes from the hiring employer, usually a percentage of first-year salary. Anyone asking you for money in exchange for placing you in a job should be treated with extreme caution.
How much does career coaching cost in Ireland or the UK?+
Independent coaching typically ranges from around €80 to €250 per session, with packages priced by outcome rather than hours. CV writing services usually sit between €100 and €400 for a document. Pricing varies with seniority and market, so ask what the process covers, not just the hourly rate.
Can a career coach get me a job?+
No, and anyone promising placement is misrepresenting the service. A coach improves what you control: target selection, positioning, CV and LinkedIn, application volume and quality, interview performance and negotiation. The offer still comes from an employer.
Which one should an international professional start with?+
Start with a coach who knows your target market. International candidates usually fail on market fit rather than talent: CV format, how experience is framed for local employers, permit clarity and interview structure. A recruiter cannot fix that, and a CV writer only fixes one page of it.