CPNs focus on connecting youth to education and career resources, with a secondary focus on basic needs such as housing and security. CPNs are meant to be coaches, not teachers. They communicate with school administrators, teachers, college admissions counselors, and job training program coordinators, and they connect youth to career opportunities, education resources, and other self-sufficiency tools.

CPNs apply a Design Thinking in Career Coaching approach, in which youth are acknowledged as experts in their own lives. The approach also encompasses Motivational Interviewing techniques, Strengths-Based approaches, and Trauma-Informed approaches, with particular awareness of Educational Trauma.