ESP/AESP Facilitators Application FAQS

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.

Yes, you may apply. Occasionally we hire outstanding candidates whose course grade falls a little below the cut-off. Use your cover letter to explain any unusual circumstances that resulted in a lower grade.

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.

Yes, you can. You have to be taking at least one course at Carleton to be employed as 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.

Yes, you can. We suggest that you read the facilitator qualifications carefully to make sure you are eligible.

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.

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. Draw attention to the parts of your résumé that matter most and point out how they are relevant to the facilitator role.

Yes. If there is a delay in obtaining a transcript from the institution, please write a note with your application and forward the transcript to us as soon as possible.

Yes, please print your CCR and attach it to your résumé. To access your CCR, please follow the directions posted on the Student Experience Office website: carleton.ca/seo/ccr.

Yes. You will need to submit an updated letter, résumé, audit, and application form.

No, we do not accept email applications. If possible, drop off your application in person at the CIE office (1516 Dunton Tower). You may mail it, or if time is short, you may fax it.  If you fax your application, please request a transmission report from your fax machine. Please DO NOT contact our office asking if we received your fax. We receive many hundreds of applications each summer, so it is difficult for us to handle the volume of calls we receive.

Yes, you can still apply. Preference will normally be given to qualified candidates who took the course with the same professor, but often no one with that description applies.

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.

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 want to confirm that we received it. Ideally, try to drop off your application at the CIE office (1516 Dunton Tower) during business hours. If the office is closed when you arrive, you may leave your application in the drop box located to the right of the office door.

No, do not submit references with your application. Candidates who are invited for an individual interview will be asked to provide contact information (phone number and email address) 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.

First, ensure that you have a strong idea of the ESP/AESP in general and especially the workshops. Sometimes we don’t invite candidates for an interview if their application doesn’t demonstrate good knowledge of the program or the facilitator job. Second, make sure that your résumé is up to date and complete – it’s confusing for us if you mention relevant experience in your cover letter and/or your application form, but not on your résumé. Finally, review and edit your application carefully to ensure that everything is correct and complete.

Candidates who are selected for a preliminary group interview will be contacted between May 16th – May 19th, 2017.

A group interview brings together about twenty candidates applying for various facilitator positions. Staff and former facilitators observe candidates as they engage in group activities similar to 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.

Group interviews will be held on Monday, June 5th and Tuesday, June 6th, 2017. 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.

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. 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.

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.

No, please do not send letters of reference. We contact the references of interviewed candidates ourselves.

Most interviews take 30 – 60 minutes, 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.

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.

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.

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

For each position, the successful candidate receives a telephone call, and other candidates who were interviewed receive an email. 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.

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.

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.

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.

Facilitators attend the class lecture, plan their workshops, conduct their workshops, hold weekly office hours and attend weekly team meetings.

Planning involves reviewing relevant course readings and notes and selecting workshop activities to help the students study the material. With the guidance of a Team Leader, 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.

You are required to attend on-going training sessions, attend weekly team meetings, and practice in frequent workshop observations throughout the year.

No, the facilitator role does not include evaluating students. Facilitators are not permitted to assist professors or TAs with marking of any kind.

Not at all. Facilitators do not evaluate students, 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 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.

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: classroom management, guiding student discussions, Universal Instructional Design, practical writing activities, educational games, memory devices, encouraging participation, and self- and peer-evaluation. In addition to training, all facilitators will have a Team Leader, an experienced facilitator who provides support and feedback throughout the year.

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 skills they will need in future courses. Facilitators need to be very familiar with the course material to do this well, but are not expected to know every answer.