Frequently Asked Questions about Enriched Support Program Facilitators About applying... Can I still apply for a facilitator job if my GPA is lower than 9.0? Yes, you may apply. Occasionally we hire outstanding candidates whose GPA falls a little below the cut-off. Use your cover letter to explain any unusual circumstances that resulted in a lower GPA. My marks are pretty good, but I didn t receive a 10.0 in the course I m applying to facilitate. Can I still apply? Yes, you may apply. Occasionally we hire outstanding candidates whose course grade falls a little below the cut-off. Use your letter to explain any unusual circumstances that resulted in a lower grade. I am a Special student. Can I still apply? Yes, you can. We are generally looking for candidates who have experienced the typical student life, which usually means being enrolled in a degree program. However, we do sometimes hire Special students if they are exceptional candidates in other ways. I am a part-time student. Can I still apply? Yes, you can. You have to be taking at least one course at Carleton to be employed as a facilitator. I am a former ESP/AESP student. Can I apply to be a facilitator? Yes! We strongly encourage former ESP/AESP students to apply. In addition to meeting the other facilitator qualifications, your workshop and FYSM attendance in your ESP/AESP year will be taken into account. I did not receive an invitation to apply. Can I still submit an application? Yes, you can. We suggest that you read the facilitator qualifications carefully to make sure you are eligible. Do you receive a lot of applications for each course? The number of applications we receive depends on the course, but usually it ranges between 10 and 40 applicants. We encourage you to apply many of our successful facilitators have said they had to be convinced to apply by parents or friends. What should I write in my cover letter? Your cover letter is a place to showcase the skills, qualities, and experiences that you think would make you a good facilitator. Explain how your experience makes you a good candidate for a facilitator position in the ESP/AESP. You can draw on employment, volunteer, student, and other relevant experience. 1
I applied last year for a position but wasn t hired. Do I need to re-apply? Yes. You will need to submit an updated letter, resume, audit, and application form. Can I send my application by email? No, we do not accept email applications. We prefer that you mail your application to us or drop it off in person at the CIE office. You may fax your application to us if time is short. If you fax, please request a transmission report from your fax machine instead of contacting our office for confirmation of receipt. We receive many hundreds of applications each summer, so it is difficult for us to handle the volume of calls we receive. Can I still apply if I took the course with a different professor? Yes, you can still apply. Preference will normally be given to qualified candidates who took the course with the same professor, but sometimes no one with that description applies. In addition, sometimes the professor has not taught the course recently. If I received an invitation for one course, can I apply for another? Yes, you may apply for more than one course. List all courses you are eligible to facilitate on Part 2 of the ESP/AESP application form. Additionally, you can indicate the courses you are applying for in your cover letter. Will you contact me to let me know if my application has been received? No, we are not able to contact each applicant. If you fax your application, please request a transmission report from your fax machine to make sure the fax number is correct and that all pages were faxed. If you mail your application, you can send it by courier or registered mail if you wish confirmation of receipt. Alternatively, you may drop off your application at the CIE office during business hours. Applications must be received in our office by the deadline set for the particular course for which you are applying. The application form does not include a place for references. Should I submit them with my resume? No, do not submit references with your application. Candidates who are invited for an interview will be asked to provide contact information (including phone number) for one academic reference and one employment reference. You may want to think about whom you will ask in case you are invited for an interview. About interviews... How soon after the application deadline will I hear if I have been invited for a group interview? Usually we contact group interview candidates within two weeks of the application deadline. What is a group interview? A group interview brings together about twenty candidates applying for facilitator positions. Staff and former facilitators observe candidates as they engage in group activities similar to 2
those used in ESP workshops. If you are invited for a group interview, you will receive additional information about the interview process and how to prepare. When and where are the group interviews? Group interviews will be held on Monday, June 11 and Tuesday, June 12. A third may be conducted on June 13 if needed. Each group interview lasts approximately two hours and is held at Carleton University. The exact times and locations will be provided to candidates who are invited for a group interview. NOTE: Invited candidates participate in just one group interview. I am unable to attend a group interview. Can I still apply? Group interviews are a key component of facilitator hiring. If you are unable to attend, you may still apply, however, preference will be given to candidates who participate in a group interview. Historically, we have been successful in finding enough qualified candidates among group-interview participants. Should we be unable to identify a qualified candidate through the group interviews, we will revisit all applications for a given position. Please indicate in your cover letter if you are unable to attend a group interview. What happens after the group interview? Within a day or two following the last group interview, we will contact applicants we wish to meet with individually. You will be interviewed by the facilitator coordinator. A staff member will also be present at the interview to take notes. I ve been invited for an individual interview. Do I need a letter of reference? No, please do not send letters of reference. We contact the references of interviewed candidates by email or telephone. How long do individual interviews take? Most interviews take an hour, but we suggest you plan for 90 minutes just to be safe. We like to take our time and get to know candidates as much as possible. I don t have an employment reference. What should I do? You can provide a reference from any type of paid or unpaid work you have done. If you have any experience with childcare, casual landscaping, volunteer work, and so on, ask for a reference from the most senior person who is familiar with your work. I don t have a professor or Teaching Assistant who can act as an academic reference. What should I do? Consider asking a lab instructor or a PASS or ESP/AESP facilitator whose workshops you attended. If none of these is available to you, please write us a note explaining why you have not included an academic reference. Do not substitute a personal/character reference. I can t reach my reference before my interview. What should I do? As soon as possible after the interview, contact us with your references. We begin contacting references as soon as all individual interviews for a position are complete. 3
I was recently interviewed for a facilitator position. When will I know if I was hired? For each position, the successful candidate receives a telephone call, and other candidates who were interviewed receive a letter. This takes about two weeks after the last interview is conducted. For quicker information, check our web site. Beside each available position, we will note if we are still interviewing or if the position has been filled. About scheduling... If the course is offered on CUOL, do I have to attend the lectures? Yes, ESP/AESP facilitators are required to attend the in-class lecture every week. This is mandatory. It is important that students and professors see the facilitator in class every week. I want to apply, but I m not available for all the training dates. Facilitators must attend all the training sessions. Training cannot be completed at other times, as it involves participating in group activities similar to those facilitators lead in their own workshops. I ve been asked to submit my fall and winter course schedule, but I haven t registered for my classes yet. What should I do? Submit a tentative schedule based on the exact classes you plan to take in fall and winter even if you have not yet registered for them. About the job... The job description says facilitators work 10 to 12 hours per week. What does that consist of? Facilitators attend the class lecture (2-3 hours), plan their workshops (3 hours), conduct their workshops (3 hours), and hold a weekly office hour (1 hour). Training, peer observations, and weekly team meetings add an additional 35 hours per year to the facilitator contract. What is involved in the 3 hours allotted for workshop planning? Planning involves reviewing relevant course readings and notes and selecting workshop activities to help the students study the material. With the guidance of their assigned supervisor, facilitators adapt standard workshop activities to suit the course they are facilitating, plan the timing and sequence of activities, and incorporate academic skills development into their activities. Many sample activities are available, but facilitators are encouraged to be creative and develop their own activities as well. If I m hired as a facilitator, will I have to grade students work? No, the facilitator role does not include evaluating students. Facilitators are not permitted to assist professors or TAs with marking of any kind. Is being a facilitator the same as being a TA? Not at all. Facilitators do not play an evaluative role, as mentioned above. More importantly, facilitators do not teach the course material. Instead, they help students to work together to effectively review the course material. The focus is on developing students academic skills 4
and habits and applying these to the specific content of the course. Finally, facilitators are employed by the CIE, not the academic department offering the course. I ve never done this type of work before. What will be covered in training? Experience is an asset but is not required to become a facilitator. Training covers all the information and techniques you will need to perform effectively. We focus on how to apply principles of active and collaborative learning to the students learning needs. Some of the topics are: group dynamics, guiding student discussions, structuring workshops, practical writing activities, educational games, memory devices, encouraging participation, and selfand peer-evaluation. In addition to training, all facilitators will be assigned to a supervisor who helps them adjust to the job and provides support and feedback throughout the year. What if students ask me something I can t answer? Actually, facilitators are taught techniques to avoid answering students questions. In keeping with the goals of ESP/AESP workshops, facilitators guide the students to work with peers and find their own answers using their lecture notes and textbooks. This way, students develop the autonomy needed to learn in courses where less support is available. Facilitators need to be very familiar with the course material to do this well, but are not expected to know every answer. Revised April 24, 2012 5