Peer to peer

Last year's participants in the Peer Coaching Program pose for a photo. That's career advisor Doug Rogers in the middle. (Danny Abriel photo)

Resumes, cover letters, and references, oh my!

For many first time job seekers, applying for a job can be overwhelming. It has often been said that searching for a job is a full time job and it has become even more difficult in the current shaky economic climate. When first impressions are everything, brushing up your resume, polishing up your cover letter and putting together a top-notch reference list can put your foot in the door for an interview.

Many job seekers will turn to family or friends to review their resume. As helpful as this may be, the opportunity to get an unbiased, critique from someone who doesn’t know you personally can bring an even fresher perspective. The Peer Coaching Program, run by the Career Services Centre, offers this service along with assistance in interview preparation, cover letter writing and job searching – all facilitated by career advisors alongside Dal students.

“We can educate students all day, but when that education is coming from their peers, it is more effective and powerful,” says Doug Rogers, a career advisor on staff who oversees the Peer Coaching Program.  “I think that is the true meaning of the program. It is to have students helping students.”

Prior to becoming a coach, volunteers are trained on how to write cover letters, resumes, and how to coach and give constructive feedback. Peer coaches voluntarily provide two hours of their time to the centre every week during the school year.

The benefits of volunteering as a peer coach are two-fold: coaches help out peers while developing their own skills. In fact, each peer coach has a specifically tailored plan of skills they want to develop as a volunteer, explains Mr. Rogers. For example if a volunteer wants to develop their public speaking skills, the Career Services Centre will make sure that the peer coach is involved with activities that focus on this.

Selina Pellerin, who graduated with a psychology degree from Dal this year, volunteered as a peer coach last September. “I co-facilitated a session on resume writing and cover letters for a group of 30 new students at Dal,” she says. “This activity helped me work on my public speaking and facilitating skills.”

Ms. Pellerin was originally drawn to the program last September because it offered her a way to help other students as well as develop her leadership skills. But in doing presentations about the program to classrooms of students, she says that it also helped her confidence and comfort level speaking to groups.

“At the completion of the program, you realize how much you've helped yourself, how much you have grown and learned from participating in the program…I guess it's good karma!” jokes Ms. Pellerin who will be attending law school at McGill University in the fall.

The Career Service Centre, located on the fourth floor of the Student Union Building, is looking for student coaches who can participate in the Peer Coaching Program for the upcoming school year. Applications can be found online at http://careerservicescentre.dal.ca/ and are due by September 11, 2009. About eight to ten students are selected every year as peer coaches and are expected to make a two-hour a week commitment for the entire school year.