Position Overview:
The University of Arizona FORGE (Finding Opportunities and Resources to Grow Entrepreneurs) invites applications for the student position of Student Venture Pathways Peer Venture Coach (PVC). The SVP Peer Venture Coach will help us to achieve our goal to foster an entrepreneurial mindset in all University of Arizona students. They will engage with university students exploring the continuum of entrepreneurship, including initial entrepreneurial mindset development to venture creation and launch.
The Peer Venture Coach will meet with students one on one to learn about them and their ideas. Students will range from having established businesses/projects to just starting out with an idea they are serious about pursuing. The role of the coach is to work with the students to understand their goals and to guide them to resources to help them achieve these goals. Consultations will be done both in person and virtually. The Peer Venture Coach will participate in the development of resources and will gather and organize existing resources to be the most beneficial for student use. Additionally, the Peer Venture Coach will assist in student workshops and trainings.
Ongoing training for the Peer Venture Coach will involve going to community events. Not only will this build skills, but will also help them to network and make connections in the Tucson startup ecosystem. An example might be attending a training with our FORGE pillar partner Startup Tucson around marketing your small business.
Desired characteristics of an ideal candidate is an individual that has experience mentoring their peers, strong personal and communication skills as well as personal investment in coaching principles. Strong knowledge and/or personal experience in starting a venture is required, which can include current field of study. Additionally, the ideal candidate is equity-minded and competent assisting with the design of opportunities that appeal to diverse student audiences and are inclusive. Lastly, an ideal candidate will be adept in managing ambiguity and embrace working in a startup environment with emerging structures and goals.
We require a one academic year commitment with the opportunity to stay on longer.
Duties & Responsibilities
· Contacting, scheduling, conducting intake, and meeting with students regarding their venture.
· Following up with students with personalized emails and other correspondence to be a consistent source of support.
· Developing and gathering resources relevant to individual and general student needs.
· Ongoing development of personal knowledge on the venture process, including attending workshops.
· Hosting, planning, developing, and marketing biweekly student founder meetups (https://forge.arizona.edu/supportandshare).
· Making connections on campus and in the community in order to better lead students to resources. This will include attending networking events where appropriate and as schedule permits.
· Assisting in the scheduling and facilitation of trainings in areas such as customer development, business modeling, business formation, intellectual property, communicating your idea, and building your team.
· Assisting at FORGE offices and events as needed and as schedule permits (includes tabling to do FORGE outreach).
· Attending regularly scheduled meetings with supervisor and teammates.
All duties and responsibilities subject to change based on the changing needs of FORGE as well as the interests and growth of Peer Venture Coach.
Knowledge, Skills, Abilities:
· Ability to assist in the design, implementation, and assessment of programs for diverse student audiences.
· Strong interpersonal skills. You can create a lively, approachable, inclusive, and friendly atmosphere for others to enter into.
· Excellent communication including verbal, written, and organizational skills.
· Creative, problem-solving mindset.
· A record of personal and professional integrity with a work style that promotes creativity, teamwork, and strategic thinking.
· Timeliness in work produced and punctual in meeting attendance.
· Ability to collaborate with various stakeholders and units across campus.
· Ability to execute work with thoroughness and attention to detail.
· Ability to take initiative and be a self-starter.
· Competent in all job functions and has general understanding of the industry practices, techniques, and standards.
· Work is performed with moderate guidance. Work will be reviewed for soundness of judgment, accuracy, and alignment with overall objectives.
· Must be current University of Arizona student (strongly prefer applicants at or beyond graduate student level). Note: students in a GA or faculty ancillary position may not qualify depending on FTE commitments.
Federal Work Study not required but can be applied to this job.
Hours: Average of 10 hours per week (hours may vary due to demand from week to week). Flexible environment with some in person requirements and some opportunities to work remotely. Regularly scheduled team meetings and one on ones with supervisors required.
Depending on candidate’s schedule, upon job offer may require minimal training in the summer before the fall semester starts.
Program Contact:
Coordinator, Venture Development Education: Julie Barbier Bularzik (jbularzik@arizona.edu)
Application Instructions:
To apply, submit application on Handshake. Please describe your experience as an entrepreneur in your cover letter as well as how you cultivate inclusive and friendly spaces (for example, if you were hosting an event).
Early submission is highly recommended, as we will schedule interviews on a rolling basis.