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Career Forge | Coaching

Practical tools for better coaching

Students book appointments with coaches and advisors by topic, and each coach manages topics, availability and calendar inside Career Forge.

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Staff portal: upcoming coaching appointments with topic, candidate, coach and location
How it works

Coaching, start to finish

  1. 1For studentsBook by topic, with the right coach
  2. 2BookingThen a coach, a day and a time
  3. 3AfterwardsTheir appointments, with the join link
  4. 4For coachesYour calendar, your rules
  5. 5For staffAppointments with notes, not just times
Student portal: coaching topics in groups, each with its own image and a Schedule Appointment button
For students

Book by topic, with the right coach

A student picks a topic, then a coach by specialty or availability. Resources linked to each topic answer the questions that never needed a meeting.

  • Topics, locations and resources set per career center
  • Booking limits per student
  • Reminders by email
Student portal: the Schedule Appointment dialog with a coach chosen, open days highlighted and the time slots for the chosen day
Booking

Then a coach, a day and a time

The booking dialog shows the coaches who offer the topic, the days each has open, and the slots on the day the student picks. A location or a meeting link comes with the slot.

  • Filter by coach or by location
  • Only days with open slots are offered
  • Confirmation and reminders by email, with the link
Student portal: upcoming appointments with topic, coach, time and a Join Meeting button
Afterwards

Their appointments, with the join link

Upcoming and past appointments in one place: topic, coach, time, and the room or the meeting link, with a Join Meeting button when it is virtual.

  • Reschedule or cancel from the list
  • Virtual appointments open from the card
  • Past appointments stay on record
A coach's week: available and busy blocks with appointments
For coaches

Your calendar, your rules

Recurring available and busy blocks with a location on each, a minimum notice and a buffer between appointments.

  • Google and Microsoft calendar sync: bookings block the external calendar, and busy time blocks booking
  • Each coach picks the topics they offer and can limit who may book by major, year or other profile criteria
  • A coaching bio and photo that students see when they book
Coaching topics with the criteria for who may book each
For staff

Appointments with notes, not just times

Upcoming, incomplete and complete appointments in one list, with notes on each, and the option to book for a student or a colleague.

  • Appointments missing notes are flagged
  • Staff can schedule on a student's behalf
  • Download the list
What you can configure

Set once, at the level it belongs to

Each career center on a campus runs its own coaching; what the institution shares is set once for all of them.

SettingSet where
Topics, their groups and resources, and which topics offer appointmentsPer career center
Appointment locations and booking limits per studentPer career center
Automated appointment emails and their wordingPer career center
Which topics a coach offers, and who may book each: majors, school years, position types, work authorizations, degree levelsPer coach
Minimum notice for a booking, in minutes, hours or days, and a buffer between appointments of up to two hoursPer coach
Available time, recurring or one-off, each window with its locations; busy time on topPer coach
Calendar sync with Google, Microsoft or another provider, two-way or one-wayPer coach
A coaching bio and photo students see when they bookPer coach
Compared with

Coaching next to Handshake, Symplicity and 12twenty

Topics per career center, coaches with criteria and calendar sync, staff booking on a student's behalf.

How it works there
HandshakeAn appointments tool for in-person and virtual sessions. Source Full comparison
SymplicityAdvising online and in person, with integrated availability. Source Full comparison
12twentyAppointments sync with Google or Microsoft calendars; advisor notes sync to student profiles. Source Full comparison

Statements about other products come from their own sites, linked in each row.

Used byCareer centers from a single college to a whole universitySee who, and what they say
University of MichiganMontana Technological UniversityBowling Green State UniversityFlorida Institute of TechnologyHampton UniversityRowan College at Burlington CountyUniversity of FloridaKing University
In their words

Coaching, in a career center's words

“The coaching area is an easy place for students to help themselves, which is a big win for a small office like ours. Students really enjoy using it, and we get far fewer questions about how to find things or how to do things.”
Kimberly RyanAssociate Director of Career Services, Florida Institute of Technology
“It's been going smoothly and working well.”

On advising appointments, two months in.

Lou Ecken KiddDirector of Career and Professional Development, Taubman College, University of Michigan
Built this way on purpose

What Coaching does not make you do

Topic first, then the coach

A student starts from what they need. The coaches who offer that topic, and whose criteria the student meets, are the ones offered, by name or by whoever is free.

The calendar is the truth

A booking in Career Forge becomes a busy event on the coach's own calendar, and a busy event on that calendar blocks booking in Career Forge, even inside a window marked available.

Fair by default

When a student does not choose a coach and several are free, the appointment goes to the coach with the fewest future appointments.

Questions people ask about Coaching

They choose among the coaches who offer the topic and whose criteria they meet. A coach can limit a topic by major, school year, position type, work authorization or degree level. If the student does not pick, the appointment goes to the coach with the fewest future appointments.

Yes, with Google, Microsoft and other providers. On connection the next 90 days are pulled in; bookings go out as busy events; busy events on the external calendar block booking. One-way sync, out only, is a toggle.

Yes, from the calendar or the appointments tab, for themselves or for a colleague. An appointment that happened but was never booked can be logged as complete.

Yes, per topic, on the profile fields the career center uses: majors, school years, position types, work authorizations and degree levels.

Each coach sets a minimum notice, from minutes to days, and a buffer between appointments.

Yes. The automated appointment emails, and their wording, are set by the career center.

Yes. Topics, resources and appointment communications are set per career center.

Works with

Career Forge |ReportingBuild, filter, save and email reports on live data across candidates, coaching, experiences and jobs.See how it worksCareer Forge |JobsA job board where employers post, the career center reviews and approves, students apply, and recruiters manage their applicants.See how it works

See Coaching on your career center

A 30-minute walkthrough with the team that builds it.

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