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Become a SCORE Counselor

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Are you retired or semi-retired from business, the military, the government or a profession, have substantial experience in business or a business-related field and enjoy working with people? Are you interested in using your experience and skills to help others succeed with their small business dreams? 

SCORE Chapter No. 1 actively recruits volunteers with a wide range of business experience. We especially welcome applications from women, African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and members of other minority groups.

SCORE Chapter No. 1, the Metro DC area Chapter, has 50-plus counselors and operates with a main office in DC and 13 branch offices in the Maryland and Northern Virginia suburbs.

The SCORE counseling position is best suited for individuals with substantial business or business-related experience who have reached a stage in their careers when they feel it appropriate to "give back" to the small business community their time, knowledge and experiences so nascent entrepreneurs and small business owners can either start or grow their businesses. Therefore, this is not a position/opportunity for an individual to solicit business for his or her own business. In fact, we have a strict ethics and conduct code that prohibits counselors from personally benefiting from a counseling or workshop presenting situation. We are all volunteers and receive no compensation or reimbursement for our time and our travel.

Time wise, we expect all counselors to devote one day a week to counseling and one day a month to a Chapter meeting, and we also expect counselors to be involved in some Chapter activity such as workshop planning or presentations, Chapter systems and IT, marketing, making legislative contacts, public relations, undertaking community outreach, fund raising, lining up speakers for Chapter meetings, recruitment and volunteer coordination, or administration. All counselors are encouraged to serve at some point on our Executive Committee, and they are also encouraged to consider serving as a Chapter officer such as Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer, Secretary or Membership Coordinator.

All new counselors, wherever they may end up counseling on a permanent basis, undergo a three month training/orientation program one day a week in our main office in DC, and during this time they also attend at least two of our workshops, including our two "core" workshops, How to Start a Business" and "Writing a Winning Business Plan." At the end of the training/orientation program, the prospective counselor and the Chapter decide if there is a good fit, and assuming there is, a determination is made about the Chapter activity in which the new counselor will be initially involved. All counselors are expected to be computer literate, and while familiarity with the use of the Internet by small business is not mandatory, it is a big plus.

The education and training we provide to entrepreneurs has a significant impact. Statistically, on average every seven counseling sessions results in one additional position created and every ten counseling sessions results in one additional company being formed.

We encourage your to visit the SCORE Association website (www.score.org) for information about SCORE generally.

With this brief background, if you are interested in receiving an application, please send a request for one with your mailing address to our Membership Coordinator, John Hocker ( jhocker@scoredc.org ) and he will arrange for one to be sent to you.

Since we place significant emphasis on counselor training/orientation, we do not always have sufficient resources to begin the training/orientation program immediately. Nevertheless, taking in and orienting/training new volunteers is a priority in our Chapter, and once your application is in hand, we will certainly get back to you at the earliest practicable time.