After more than 20 years in corporate marketing, Chip Perry was ready for a change, so he turned to an executive coach to help him decide exactly what to do.

Perry, 53, says the coach, George Dow, helped him find an executive position with a six-figure salary that makes the most of his skills and reflects his values. He met with Dow six times and paid him $125 a session.

“He’s able to look at your DNA and say this is who you really are,” Perry said of Dow, who is based in Minneapolis. “The first session he looked at my résumé and said, ‘This is how I see you based on your experience.’ ”

Perry said Dow helped him discover that the most enjoyable part of his work had always been the earliest stages of a project and that he tended to get bored once a product was firmly established.

They decided that Perry’s most rewarding path would be to work for a midsize consulting firm.

Last July, after a five-month job search, Perry landed a senior consulting job at Kalypso, a consumer products company in Cincinnati. He is in charge of building new client relations.

Human resources professionals and career counsellors say that in the last several years, more high-level executives (those making more than $150,000) have turned to executive coaches and professional résumé writers. They see it as a way to gain an edge in self-marketing, said Steven Miranda, chief human resource and strategic planning officer for the Society for Human Resource Management.

There is a sense among some executives that using traditional search firms is still effective, but that these firms essentially work for the employer, not the job seeker, he said.

An executive coach may administer self-inventory tests, conduct videotaped interviews, practice negotiating strategies and offer general career advice. Perhaps most important, they offer support and motivation during a job search that can easily last two to six months, or longer, for those seeking six-figure salaries.

And for those who aim to polish their personal style, there is the option of hiring an image consultant to help pick out a new wardrobe or work on relations with the news media.

Executive coaches often charge $125 to $500 an hour, while image consultants can cost $100 to $300. A six-month series of sessions with an executive coach can cost $5,000 to $10,000 or more.

In addition, Miranda said, many executives will pay as much as $2,000 for a résumé that shines. Miranda said that the latest trend in coaching was the rise of “assimilation” or “onboarding” coaches, who are hired to help executives succeed in the crucial first 90 days on the job. Usually the companies pay for these coaches, but some new executives will spend their own money to ensure that they succeed.

Tory Johnson, president of Women for Hire, a group in New York that organises career expos and seminars, recently coached a client for two months, charging just over $15,000 for the service.

“We did everything for her, from revising her résumé, to prepping her for interviews and negotiations and putting her in direct contact with recruiters and decision makers,” Johnson said. “A committed individual who is willing to do his or her part, not just rely on the expertise of a coach, can and usually does land a position faster and for more money than those who go it alone.”

Johnson said her client found a $185,000-a-year executive position that includes bonuses and other incentives.

Experts urge executive job seekers to make sure they are choosing reputable organisations and coaches by checking references and interviewing several candidates before making the investment of time and money. One source is Coach U. (www.coachinc.com), an organisation that trains and certifies coaches.

It is also important to find the right fit between client and coach. Executives should hire coaches who aren’t afraid to make their own clients uncomfortable by pushing them beyond what they thought was possible, said Barbara Singer, senior vice-president of strategic alliances for the Lore International Institute, which offers executive coaching and development.

If the fit isn’t right, the investment won’t pay off. Richard Coad said that he had paid $2,200 for coaching and résumé services and regretted it. “The problem was I didn’t believe my own résumé,” said Coad, who helped create the “Jared” television campaign for Subway restaurants when he was creative director at the Publicis Groupe’s Chicago office. “It was filled with superlatives like ‘superstar creative director’. If I’m a superstar, that’s for someone else to decide.”

Coad credits websites that specialise in creative and high-paying job listings with helping him find a job.

Coad paid $180 for a one-year membership to theladders.com, a website that promises subscribers leads on jobs in a variety of fields that pay more than $100,000. Coad also got interviews by answering online ads on free websites like creativehotlist.com, a site that focuses on advertising professionals.

Last July he saw an ad on Hot List posted by MDB Communications, a midsize ad agency in Washington that was looking for a creative director. By August, he had the job and a six-figure salary.

Then there is the strength-in-numbers approach. Kate Wendleton, president of the Five ’Clock Club in New York, provides career coaching along with small group strategy sessions for job seekers who don’t want to go it alone. Private one-on-one coaching for executives runs $125 to $150, while 10 small-group sessions cost $540. Annual membership in the private organisation is $49, which includes a subscription to the club’s monthly magazine and use of website.

Wendleton said that meeting with other job seekers on a weekly basis helps make clients more accountable to themselves, because they know they have to report back to others about their progress.

Clients, she said, are encouraged to try a range of job-search tools: networking, joining trade associations, answering ads, going to search firms and especially finding and directly contacting the executives with the power to hire.

It is crucial for coaching services to allow their clients to recognise what they can and cannot accomplish, said George Dow, Perry’s executive coach.

“A good coach should illuminate the client’s possibilities,” Dow said. “A coach should be able to hold their talent up in the light of day and show them how to apply that talent.”