Peer coaches help students get job ready

Cindy Bray and Pamela Agada assist a fellowstudent in his job search. (Nick Pearce Photo)

If you’ve been to the Dalhousie’s Career ServicesCentre, you may have noticed some new student faces. They’revolunteer peer coaches who help fellow students navigate the jobmarket and improve their resumes.

“We learn new skills like resume critiquing, publicspeaking and gain a lot of confidence in the process,” saysCindy Bray, a fourth-year commerce student who has been a peercoach for five months.“There are also other ways we learnwithout even realizing it.”

Peer coaches assist their fellow students in identifying howthey can strengthen current academic, volunteer and work experienceto aid them in their job searches. They share job searchstrategies, show how to use career tools and demonstrate how tocreate professional documents.

“Peer coaches plant seeds and students can go home withthese and water them, "says Jennifer Coombs, a career advisor.“It's more of a matter of showing students what their optionsare and not necessarily telling them what to do.”

The Peer Coach Program is a student volunteer program created in2007 by Dalhousie Career Advisors to help Dalhousie students gainskills that can be used in a professional setting. The program runsduring the academic year and is comprised of two lead coaches andeight peer coaches representing a variety of differentdisciplines.

“We also gain a lot of insight into the job field and whatemployers are looking for,” says Pamela Agada, a second-yearstudent majoring in psychology and international developmentstudies.

Ms. Agada, 19, reflects on her own experience as a peer coach.“It can be a little overwhelming at first but if you havepatience, keep an open mind and have the zeal to learn, thenyou’ll find your confidence will rise.”

The Career Services Centre is currently in the process ofrecruiting new peer coaches for September. “As long as thestudents have the desire to be open to new experiences and want tolearn and grow, then they have what it takes to become a peercoach,” says Ms.Coombs.

For more information, students can visit the CareerServices Centre located on the fourth floor of the StudentUnion Building or e-mail career.services@dal.ca.