One Day, One Job » coaching

Job Path

Willy Franzen — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 11:56:56 +0000

You may be looking for a job, but I’ll wager that you probably haven’t considered how inherently human it is to work. It’s not something that I thought about when I was job searching, and it’s not something that I think about much when I’m helping other people with their job searches; however, we as humans were made to work. Thousands of years ago it was hunting and gathering, but as we’ve realized the power of comparative advantage, we’ve chosen to specialize in the things that we’re best at. Contributing to society is part of what makes us as humans go, and that’s why Job Path exists. They’re a New York City based non-profit organization that “supports people with developmental disabilities in their efforts to make choices about their lives.” They “encourage people to explore what they want out of life” and then “provide the opportunities and support for them to succeed at whatever they want — whether it’s paid or volunteer work, living in their own homes, or participating in community life.” At a theoretical level it’s not all that different from what we’re doing here or at Found Your Career. It’s all about helping people become fulfilled.

What’s Your Job Path?

Job Path was founded on a number of core beliefs:

everyone has gifts and capabilities and can make a real contribution
everyone can be part of community life
everyone deserves respect
everyone should have the opportunity to fulfill their dreams
everyone has a voice that should be heard
everyone has the right to make decisions about his or her own life

They have a variety of programs that help their developmentally disabled clients including Employment Services, Community Supports, Supported Living, Service Coordination, Special Projects, and Life Coaching. They’ve been around since 1978, and they’ve put more than 2,000 people in jobs. That’s quite an accomplishment! If Job Path sounds like an organization that you’d like to get involved with, you’re in luck – their Idealist page shows a number of job openings. Open positions include Training Consultant, Coordinator of Employment Services, Mentor (part-time), and Compliance/Payroll Administrator (part-time). They’re not all explicitly entry level, but they’re certainly geared towards relatively new grads. The application information varies by position, so be sure to check out the individual job descriptions.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Job Path?

CoachArt

Willy Franzen — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 15:35:37 +0000

As I’ve been expressing in my posts about our upcoming job search training course and the HP Magic Giveaway, there’s nothing better than the feeling of sharing your skills and knowledge with someone who can use the help. CoachArt is a Los Angeles based non-profit that allows every day people to share what they’re good at with underprivileged children and adolescents who are dealing with chronic and life-threatening illnesses. CoachArt’s coaches offer free, personal lessons in arts and athletics – including art, music, photography, yoga, creative writing, acting, dancing and more – to improve the lives of kids who are facing serious, adult issues. They’ve already served thousands of children in just 8 years of operation. CoachArt sounds like an amazing program that would be well worth working or volunteering for.

The Art of Coaching

CoachArt’s coaching positions are volunteer only, but they sound like an extraordinary way to share one of your passions with children who need an escape from the realities of their illnesses. However, if you’re looking for a full time job with CoachArt, you’re in luck. They just posted an opening for a Program Coordinator on Idealist, and the job descriptions sounds like the job will be well suited to new college grads. If you end up landing the job, you’ll be working with both coaches and the families of the children in the program to ensure that participation on both sides is going smoothly. Although they don’t list their jobs on their website, CoachArt actually has a great website that is loaded with information. It’s well worth your time to use the links below to find out more about what they’re doing to improve the lives of children. The Program Coordinator position seems to be the only job that CoachArt have available right now, and they’re looking to hire immediately, so you might want to jump on this opportunity by sending a cover letter and resume to Karina Nordbak at karina@coachart.org as quickly as you possibly can.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

If you were a CoachArt coach, what would your coaching specialty be?

AchieveAbility

Willy Franzen — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 15:04:06 +0000

Last weekend we talked about Harlem Success Academy and how they’re making huge strides in educating children from low-income families. What happens at school is extremely important when it comes to educational outcomes for children, but what happens at home can be just even more important. AchieveAbility is a Philadelphia based non-profit organization that is “working to permanently break the cycle of poverty for single parent, low income, formerly homeless families through education, supportive services, community and economic development, housing and accountability.” By helping low-income parents achieve their dreams, AchieveAbility is paving the way for a brighter future for both the parents and the children.

Help Others AchieveAbility

The people at AchieveAbility believe that reliable and affordable housing is the first step to breaking the cycle of poverty, so they offer program housing that provides the stability that families need to start making positive changes. They don’t just provide anyone housing, though. To qualify to be a part of AchieveAbility’s programs, clients must work 25 hours per week and take at least 15 credits per year towards a college or vocational degree. It sounds like an amazing program, and it’s clearly having results – 15 of AchieveAbility’s clients are celebrating their graduations this year.

If you believe strongly in helping families in need, and you think that AchieveAbility is taking the right approach, then you should consider joining their team. Their website is in the middle of a redesign, so they don’t seem to have their jobs posted on their site, but they are posted on Idealist. Right now AchieveAbility has two jobs with no experience requirements – Self-Sufficiency Coach and Academic Coach, and one job that requires a small amount of prior experience (but still seems like it could be well suited to a new college grad) – Manager of Volunteers. The job descriptions give a good sense of what you’ll be doing, so take a look at them. One thing that they say is that you should be comfortable working and doing home visits in West Philadelphia. I don’t know much about West Philly beyond what the Fresh Prince taught me (it is where he was “born and raised… on the playground is where I spent most of my days”), but it’s probably a tough area. If you’re interested in any of these jobs, send an e-mail to employment@achieve-ability.org with (1) your resume and (2) a cover letter indicating (a) your interest in the volunteer manager position and the reason for your interest, (b) your philosophy about helping families in need, (c) where you heard about this position, (d) your salary requirement and (e) the names and contact information of 3 references. Also, indicate the position title on the subject line of your e-mail.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of AchieveAbility? Look like something that you’d want to get involved with?

Quest Scholars Program

Willy Franzen — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 12:45:05 +0000

Now that you’re job searching, the college application process is probably long forgotten. There are some similarities in the processes, but applying to college is much more structured and standardized than applying for a job. Structure and standardization doesn’t mean easy. Applying to college can be daunting for even the most well groomed students who have had access to best tutors, college counselors, and coaches that money can buy. Talented students who come from low-income families face the same challenges, but they often face them alone without the guidance of people who have been through the process before. The Quest Scholars Program offers two programs, QuestLeadership and QuestBridge, to help high-achievieng, underserved students get into in some of the country’s top colleges and universities.

The Quest for Success

The Quest Scholars Program seems to have been quiet for the past few years (or maybe they’ve neglected to update their website), but they’re actively hiring now. They didn’t offer a QuestScholars Summer Program in 2007, but they are supposed to be having a week-long summer conference this month. So what exactly is Quest Scholars all about?

QuestLeadership is a part of the Quest Scholars Program, and is a free mentorship and leadership-training program for exceptionally bright, low income students with interests in higher education, leadership, and professional careers. QuestLeadership begins with a five-week summer residential program on the Stanford campus for high school students entering their junior and senior years. Its support continues through the rest of high school and the undergraduate college experience—providing college admissions counseling and more.

and

QuestBridge is a non-profit program that links bright, motivated low-income students with educational and scholarship opportunities at some of the nation’s best colleges. QuestBridge is the provider of the College Prep Scholarship and National College Match Program.

100% of Quest Scholars Program students go on to college, and 82% end up attending Stanford, Harvard, Berkeley, MIT, or other Ivy League schools. That is amazing.

Quest Scholars is located in Palo Alto, CA, and they’re currently looking to add a few key staff members. They need a Program Associate – College Relations and a Temporary Recruitment Assistant – QuestBridge, both of which seem to be geared towards entry-level candidates, as well as a QuestBridge Program Manager, which seems to be intended for candidates with a Master’s Degree and some work experience. To apply for these jobs, send a cover letter and resume to jobs@questbridge.org with the job title and your name in the subject line, e.g. “Program Associate – John Doe”.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Know anything about the Quest Scholars Program? Leave a comment.

New York Road Runners Foundation

Willy Franzen — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 13:55:18 +0000

The day of the mile run was always my least favorite in elementary school. As an overweight asthmatic, I dreaded the experience because it was both painful and humiliating. Getting lapped isn’t fun. By middle school I realized that asthma was a good enough excuse to get out of the mile run. In high school the mile run was replaced by suicides in basketball practice – same pain and humiliation, but in 30 seconds instead of 30 minutes (Yes, I’m exaggerating. No, I wasn’t THAT slow.). At 23 I’m finally starting to almost, kind of enjoy running. I figure that anything that makes my body feel as awful as it does after running must be good for me. The people at the New York Road Runners Foundation probably disagree with me about how running feels, but I’m pretty sure that they agree with me about running’s health benefits. That’s why they’re working hard to build “community-based running programs which enhance physical heath, emotional well-being and personal achievement within underserved populations throughout New York City.”

Are You in the Running for a Job?

Judging from the New York Road Runners Foundation’s introductory video, it looks like they’re all about making running fun for kids. If they can do that, they can do a lot of good in New York City and beyond. Running is a sport that is accessible to almost anyone, and that’s why the NYRR Foundation is using it to improve health outcomes in underserved communities. They do this through a number of programs which include Mighty Milers, Young Runners, Running Partners Enrichment Program, City Sports for Kids, and UrbanFUEL.

The New York Road Runners Foundation is looking for people who have experience as a runner at any level to join their team. They have both part-time and full-time positions that seem to be good fits for new college grads. They have a Careers section on their site, but their Idealist page seems to have more up to date jobs. Current job opportunities include Communications Coordinator, Administrative Assistant – Mighty Milers, Youth Running Field Supervisor, and Field Manager. The job descriptions are quite good, and the opportunities look perfect for those of you who live from runner’s high to runner’s high. You can apply by sending a cover letter and resume to foundationjobs@nyrr.org

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Sorry to anyone who is having trouble loading the site this morning. Our host is having some bandwidth issues, and it was a struggle for us to even get the post published. We have spoken with them, and they told us that they’re working on the issue.

StreetSquash

Willy Franzen — Sat, 31 May 2008 13:15:21 +0000

To many people squash is a type of fruit, but for those of privilege it is a sport played at your private racquet club. Growing up in Connecticut, I was quite familiar with the phenomenon of rich parents’ forcing their children to play squash in hopes that the kid will get recruited to play in college. The truth is that squash isn’t nearly as easy of an in to the Ivy League as people expect it to be, but that hasn’t stopped parents from signing their kids up. StreetSquash is a non-profit organization that also sees squash as a way to better the futures of young people, but in a very different way. They make squash more accessible to inner-city youths while combining “academic tutoring with squash instruction, community service, and one-on-one mentoring.”

Squash Your Notions About Squash

StreetSquash is based in Harlem, NY and works with 140 boys and girls from ages 9 to 18 “to improve academic performance; to develop an ethic of hard work and commitment; to boost self-confidence; and to increase school attendance.” Assuming things have gone as planned, the Steven L. Green StreetSquash Center should have opened or be opening soon. This is a $13 million project that StreetSquash has been working on, and its essential to improving their capacity to serve. The reason that squash is usually thought of as a sport for the rich is that the equipment can be expensive and most courts are located in high end, private health clubs. The combination of StreetSquash’s programs with this new facility should have some very exciting results.

With the opening of the Center, it looks like 2008 is a big year for StreetSquash. Beyond opening what looks to be a gorgeous facility, they’re also looking to hire for positions that start in September of this year. The StreetSquash Jobs page lists 3 positions, 2 of which look prime for new college grads. The entry-level jobs are Director of Squash & Community Service and Academic Director. Obviously knowledge of squash is essential, as is experience in working with youth in a learning/mentoring environment. Proficiency in Spanish is also a huge plus, although it’s not required. The full description on the StreetSquash Jobs page are quite descriptive, so be sure to take a look at those too.

StreetSquash is a member of the National Urban Squash and Education Association (NUSEA) which includes other similar programs such as Squash Busters (Boston, MA), City Squash (Bronx, NY), Squash Smarts (Philadelphia, PA), and MetroSquash (Chicago, IL). If you like what Street Squash is all about, but Harlem isn’t where you want to work, you might want to see any of these organizations are also hiring.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Any squash players out there? Leave a comment and say hello.

InsideTrack

Willy Franzen — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 12:00:32 +0000

You were always a great student. School always came easy to you. It was like a game, and you knew how to beat it every time. In fact, you kind of actually enjoyed long nights in the library. Exams were fun – you loved filling in those bubbles with your No. 2 pencil. You’ve been at it for 17 years (maybe a few less if you were really good) and now it’s almost over. You’re worried that your finely tuned school skills may not translate into a real world job. You’re thinking about grad school, but six figures is a lot to pay for an extra few years of security. Maybe you can get a PhD after that…

You need to leverage the skills you’ve built. If you’re good at school, why not help others be better students? Meeting graduation requirements may have been a breeze for you, but many college students don’t get the academic support that they need to make it to graduation. InsideTrack is a company that provides coaches who help to enhance the success of college students.

InsideTrack was recently named to Inc. Magazine’s 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies with a 3-year growth rate of 1,035.5%. That’s crazy. Clearly they need to keep hiring with growth like that (they only have 147 employees at the moment). InsideTrack (started by the founders of SCORE Educational Centers) has essentially created its own industry of providing private academic support after college admission. To learn more about the company, check out the Inc. 500 page or The San Francisco Chronicle’s article on InsideTrack.

To be an InsideTrack “Success Coach”, you clearly must have achieved in school with a strong academic record leading up to a Bachelors Degree or higher. You also need to have the emotional intelligence to help translate your skills to helping others build theirs. If you can’t motivate and inspire, forget about it. You also need to be a phenomenal time manager (if you were that student described in the first paragraph, you probably were), because a typical InsideTrack coach will work with 70 to 85 students – mostly via phone – on a weekly basis. That’s a lot of students, but that’s why this is a full-time position. There are currently openings as a “Success Coach” in San Francisco, Portland, OR, and Southern California.

In addition to InsideTrack’s “Success Coach” jobs, there is also the opportunity to become an “Enrollment Coach.” An “Enrollment Coach” helps students make the right decisions about whether to enroll at the client college (InsideTrack is hired by colleges to coach both admitted and matriculated students). This is a really important decision for both the students and the client college, and you will facilitate the creation of successful educational relationships. If you have all the skills mentioned earlier in this post along with a great phone personality, you might make a great InsideTrack “Enrollment Coach.” All currently open “Enrollment Coach” positions are located in Portland, OR.

InsideTrack looks like a great company and a perfect first full-time job for upcoming and recent college graduates. Now that we’ve brought it to your attention, go do some research and see if InsideTrack looks like somewhere you’d want to work. You might want to read our article on How to Use Google to Find a Job to get you started.

Note: On April 21st we revisited entry-level jobs at InsideTrack.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

If you’ve worked at InsideTrack, know someone who has, or have any other insights on the college coaching industry, please leave a note in the comments and share your information with our readers.