Description:
A signature program of the Nebraska Business Career Center (BCC) is the Professional Enhancement Program (PrEP), a series of four, one-credit courses focused on students’ career and professional development. The trend of career courses has steadily increased, with NACE stating 34.4% of institutions offer for-credit career courses (NACE, 2018). The challenge Nebraska’s PrEP program continually faces is how to scale service offerings with fewer resources while meeting enrollment demands of 3,600+ students yearly. To solve this problem, the BCC strategically developed an innovative Peer Career Coach (PCC) program, training students to coach and mentor their peers throughout the career development process while supporting career curriculum as teaching assistants, rather than through drop-in coverage or studios.
Research shows peer-to-peer experiences are instrumental in students’ learning. Gen Z students believe their peers are more influential in their learning than authority figures (Everett-Haynes, 2013). When trained effectively and empowered, peers can give feedback in a less intimidating and more accessible way than professional staff (Cuseo, 1991; Hart, 1995). Beyond these benefits, having peers provide feedback on assignments, saves staff substantial time, and can still provide a high-touch experience for students taking courses (Nicol, Thomson, & Breslin, 2015).
When developing this new peer career coaching model, it was fundamental that the program strategically and resourcefully aligned with the BCC’s mission of developing confident, professional, and connected students for lifelong success. To fulfill this mission, the PCC program allows the BCC to meet enrollment demands, ensure meaningful one-on-one student interactions, increase the time staff could spend expanding services and programming, and provide opportunities for students to gain professional experience.
By the end of the program’s third year in May 2021, 24 PCCs will have assisted 3,000 students and met with 1,530 students one-on-one for a résumé coaching session. To ensure student satisfaction, the BCC has all students complete a survey after their coaching sessions. During the pilot year of the program (2018-2019), PCCs ensured 95% of students were able and ready to take actions to resolve career questions or concerns and achieved a 76% Net Promoter Score (NPS). In 2019-2020, PCCs ensured 95.31% of students were able and ready to act and achieved an 80% NPS.
The PCC program also allows full-time staff to devote more time to developing other programs. By May 2021, PCCs will have saved full-time staff 3,880+ hours. This figure is determined based on the amount of time staff would have spent completing grading, résumé coaching, and moderation for each course.
Furthermore, PCCs undergo extensive professional growth. Their performance is measured biannually by supervisors, and each year, PCCs complete a self-assessment of their professional growth as a result of the program. Over the past two years, PCCs have self-reported the following statistics regarding their professional growth:
• Communication: +49% change
• Work Ethic: +36% change
• Critical Thinking: +29% change
• Problem Solving: +30% change
• Professionalism: +32% change
Beyond successful quantitative results, the program has ensured stronger peer-to-peer learning, created a more active student voice in the PrEP curriculum, strengthened the college’s culture surrounding the importance of career development, and allowed PCCs to have personally grown in each of the NACE career competencies. Furthermore, the PCC program was nationally recognized by the Career Leadership Collective as an Innovation Award Showcase Winner in 2019 based on its innovative and strategic efforts related to career curriculum.
In this session, we will discuss the planning and implementation process of the PCC program, training considerations and best practices, and detailed quantitative and qualitative results of the program. Attendees will walk away with an action plan of how to integrate peers into career curriculum, while also learning tangible ways to manage curriculum for future growth. The intent of this presentation is to facilitate a rich discussion about leveraging peer career coaches to scale access to career curriculum regardless of institutional size.
