Career Coach Program
What is The Career Coach Program?
The Career Coach Program (CCP) provides an opportunity for experienced, professional volunteers to work directly with Summer Search participants by supporting their career exploration and helping them develop the hard and soft skills required to secure an internship or job. CCP allows Summer Search post-secondary participants and recent alumni to benefit from the caring support, professional skills and experiences of our Coaches. Together, each pair will work to prepare participants as they make informed decisions about their career development and trajectory.
Our Career Coach Program is now open!
Click the forms below and also explore upcoming important dates.
Please reach out to Ruby Kirby at rkirby@summersearch.org for additional questions.
2025-2026 Career Coach Program
This year our Career Coaching will focus on participants who have a clear professional goal for the year- they are looking to secure a job or internship, are applying to post-grad programs, or are building their industry networks. All matches will be determined by the participants’ need. If our staff determines that a Summer Search participant is not ready for the Career Coach program, we will connect them to our Career staff for direct support.
Career Coaching
- Individualized mentoring with holistic, field specific support and thought partnership
- Creation of individualized OKRs with specific deliverables to guide coaching
- Training provided on owning and leveraging relationship
- Content delivered through Career Coaches
- Runs from October – June
- Meet 1x per month minimum; participants engage in Career goals 4 hours a month
- Application required for participation
Important Dates
Participant Application Launch – August 11th
Participant Info Sessions:
August 11th at 5:30pm ET / 2:30pm PT (Register Here)
August 18th at 12pm ET / 9am PT (Register Here)
Coach Application Launch – August 11th
Coach Info Sessions:
August 20th at 5pm ET / 2pm ET (Register Here)
September 4th at 12pm ET / 9am PT (Register Here)
September 11th at 5pm ET / 2pm PT (Register here)
September 17th at 12pm ET / 9am PT (Register here)
Program Kick Off – Early October
Testimonials
"I enjoyed getting to know someone who is in the business field and who provided me with experiences and support that motivated me to keep going with my career and goals!"
- CCP Participant
"It was super helpful to have someone inside the field giving you pointers and tips and giving you examples that applied directly to you."
- CCP Participant
"The highlight was getting an internship and going through my resume, CV & portfolio."
- CCP Participant
"It helped me gain a new perspective on the communications industry and got to speak with new people."
- CCP Participant
"A highlight was spending time with my mentee and being able to see her explore so many opportunities! I also enjoyed having really genuine conversations about what it's like to be a person of color and other aspects of our identities in various workplace settings."
- CCP Coach
"A highlight was helping my mentee prepare for a film she directed was exciting and rewarding.
She shared the script with me and was very receptive to notes and encouragement. I gave her scaffolding for her prep work and plenty of things to think about. It was awesome to see her run with it and share some processes with her collaborators."
- CCP Coach
"The highlight of my experience was when my participant got an internship offer from one of her top choice options. We worked very hard on this application and I was proud of how she incorporated my feedback to improve her essays and application."
- CCP Coach
Questions?
If you have general questions or if you are not sure if the career coach program is for you, but are interested in engaging with career programming at Summer Search in other ways, please reach out to our staff: