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We provide one-on-one coaching to job seekers currently or previously enrolled in Strategies for Today’s Jobs or who have been accepted into the TXIT Apprenticeship Program. Current ACC students who have not attended our classes should be referred to Career Services staff, and encouraged to enroll in our course officially in order to receive our services. Current students enrolled in the class receive priority coaching.
Trainers meet with students for individualized career search support using a brain based coaching method. We focus on guiding students through a process rather than doing the work for them, and limit feedback to achievable chunks during each coaching session to avoid causing student overwhelm. Deaf and hard of hearing students can benefit from Interpreter Services, requested here.
Students schedule 30-minute or 60-minute appointments, and spend the time focusing on things like:
career exploration
targeting & finding specific job posts
resume and cover letter feedback
interview preparation and mock job interview practice
LinkedIn profile feedback
Coaching is assigned at the beginning of each cohort for weekly sessions with students, or is requested through the Trainer Appointment Request form and assigned by the Supervisor. To prepare, review the information on your calendar when you get an alert that a student has scheduled an appointment, make sure they've completed the demographics form, and do any prep work for the session.
Once the session is completed, be sure to post your Coaching Notes in the #coaching Slack channel and use this format:
Name:
Date:
Career Goal:
Goal for Session:
Coaching Notes:
Next Steps:
We use Calendly to provide appointment scheduling, and you will need to create your own free account and add your schedule to it, if you don’t have one already.
While working remotely, coaches will use Google Meet to host virtual sessions with students. When meeting students in-person, we can use pod space in the ACCelerator, and can get IT to help us log in students who do not yet have an ACCeID.
COACHING POLICIES AND APPROACH
COACHING POLICIES
Check the calendar at the start of your shift for coaching appointments.
Be ready for your first coaching appointment by making sure you are set up at a pod or virtually prepared and ready for when your student arrives.
If an appointment starts late, it cannot run late if you have an appointment immediately following. Please end the appointment on time, encourage the candidate to arrive on time for their next session to get the full benefit of coaching, and wrap up.
Every coaching session needs to be limited to 30 minutes unless it is designated as a mock interview.
Mock interviews need to be limited to 60 minutes, including the practice interview and feedback.
Coaching must happen on-site and during Trainer's scheduled shift. On-site is defined as a designated ACC campus location, if in person, or using an approved virtual meeting software (Zoom or Google Meet) from an approved wfh or campus location.
Coaches are not allowed to provide professional letters of recommendation on behalf of students, and should encourage students who request this to contact the Supervisor with concerns or questions.
Coaches must follow NACE guidelines and will not be allowed to act as recruiters. This means Trainers may not hand-select candidates for specific positions and refer them to employers directly.
Establishing the Framework
In an article, Yael Bacharach, clinical social work/therapist, at Inc.com, outlines five essential skills for successful coaching.
Listen with curiosity
When we speak about listening with curiosity, we're talking about conveying a genuine interest in what others are saying. This is of particular value in the coaching dialogue. All too often we listen with impatience and a lack of attentiveness, which in turn hampers dialogue. We are focused on our next argument or our own agenda. Be genuinely curious. Don’t do all the talking, and keep interruptions to a minimum. Pace the conversation, and don’t be afraid to keep it focused and on target.
Take in what you hear
Sometimes you can project all the necessary nonverbal cues to give the other person a sense that you're listening with curiosity, but you could still not be taking in any information. While projecting a sense of curiosity, don't forget to absorb and register what is being said. You need to hear the words, read the gestures, and take in the thoughts, ideas, and emotions of the other party. To take in what you hear, you need to pace the conversation and put yourself in the shoes of the other party.
Reflect with accuracy
Reflecting back with accuracy shows the candidate you’re really listening and confirms that you have digested the right information. It also allows the person to hear back what they have said and to check within themself: Is it exactly what they meant to say?
Question for exploration
Asking questions extends the conversation and allows for a more proactive dialogue. Ask open-ended questions that allow more exploration to occur. By asking open-ended questions, you give your candidates an opportunity to find answers within themselves. When candidates discover the answers for themselves, it empowers them. When you question for exploration, you reinforce in their minds that you believe in them and that their opinions, knowledge, and experience are worthwhile. You build their confidence.
Provide feedback for development
Feedback is often thought of as being inherently critical, but that need not be the case. Successful coaches are careful and discriminating about how they employ feedback, knowing that poor or incomplete feedback could stifle their candidates or even cause feelings of inadequacy in them. The successful coach avoids the common mistake of using feedback as a vehicle for asserting expertise. Unclear, arrogant, or dismissive feedback can drive your candidates into defensiveness and destroy the trust so critical to your relationship. When providing feedback, coaches should strive to make it clear, make it relevant, make it non-evaluative, make it helpful, and make it positive.
COACHING APPOINTMENT STRUCTURE
5 minutes: Establish one goal the candidate has for the 30-minute session. Examples include “review my resume,” “apply for a State job,” and “identify a target job.”
20 minutes: Pick one or two things you would like the candidate to accomplish in the time frame. Remember that you do not have a ton of time, so it’s best to identify one action/skill you want them to focus on that they can continue past your coaching session.
If the candidate does not know what type of work they are interested in or how to figure out which type of job they want, or if they are facing significant external issues impacting their ability to search for a job please refer them to a Career Counselor rather than attempting to provide emotional support. Career Counselors are trained professionals who have critical experience and resources to help ensure students have the support and resources necessary for their health and well-being.
If you want them to learn a skill (like revising a resume, writing a cover letter, creating a LinkedIn profile, etc.) start by showing them how to do the task, have them practice doing the task themselves, provide feedback and answer questions, and then have them try it again.
If you want them to make progress on their job search plan, start at the beginning in terms of what you focus on for the session using the questions to identify priorities.
5 minutes: Reiterate the focus of the session and give the candidate one to two tasks to complete before scheduling another session. Address any questions they may have and provide supplemental resources if needed.
QUESTIONS TO IDENTIFY PRIORITIES
In our department, we use the Brain-Based Coaching Method. This prioritizes student-identified goals and creates accountability for the student. Here is an example of the structure we encourage you to use when meeting with students:
Greet: Have the client frame the session.
What brings you in?
Where should we start?
Explain the process: Set clear expectations.
This is a student-led session. It should be action-oriented and focus on short term actions to reach long-term goals.
Chunk: Help them organize major actions within a larger goal
Clarify that the coaching session may not be enough time for everything they may want to cover, and multiple sessions may be needed.
Prioritize: Help client identify priorities; allow them to determine their priorities.
Questions to ask to identify priorities:
Do they have a target job?
If not, can you help them identify one job title they can search on Indeed to begin to investigate jobs?
If not, do they have a specific field?
If they have a field, do a search on Indeed and have them choose one job by the time you meet next.
If not, do they have a company in mind?
If they have a company, have them search for jobs on the company website.
Do they have a basic resume?
If not, help them create an outline and show them how to input information
If yes, review it for one or two things they can improve before they see you next, and show them how to make those improvements using the skill model.
Do they have quality application materials?
If not, review the documents for one or two things they can improve before they see you next, and show them how to make those improvements using the skill model.
Consider doing a JobScan report, showing them how to read the report, and then helping them learn the skill of replacing keywords.
If yes, consider their networking plan. Do they have a list of people or events they can connect with to begin to network?
FOLLOW UP
Between cohorts, it is important to follow up with previously enrolled students to check in and remind them that they have access to our services indefinitely. We also want to check to see if previous students have been hired, so we can update our data tracking for reporting.
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