Skip to Content

VWW's office remains closed as staff primarily work remotely. Please contact us in advance if you need to visit our Winooski office; our team is available via phone or email.

Paige Ruffner on VWW Employment & Career Services

by Jillian Scannell

Paige Ruffner, VWW career coach works with a client on career support

By: Paige Ruffner

We caught up with Vermont Works for Women’s Employment & Career Services Manager Paige Ruffner to ask about her work as a career coach, including what trends she’s seeing among clients and how VWW’s services support women and gender-expansive individuals in their career journeys. Learn more about our Employment and Career Services.

How do you describe our Employment & Career Services to potential clients and community partners?  

One of our goals at VWW is to create a Vermont where all people can make confident and deliberate choices about their lives and work. Through our career coaching and employment support services, we walk with our clients through all phases of their career journey regardless of employment challenges or barriers. Whether just starting out, wanting to make a career transition or struggling to attain or retain employment, we provide 1:1 support to help our clients explore career and employment possibilities, design a path towards career goals, learn how to create a job application package to hopefully get their foot in the door for an interview, and enhance their interpersonal and executive functioning skills to be successful on the job.

What does it mean to be a career coach? How do you see your role? 

One thing I make clear to new clients is that I am not a case manager or counselor. I don’t tell them what they should or should not do nor do I manage their process or progress towards their career goals. Rather I work as both a coach and as a mentor providing space for personal and professional growth and empowerment. As a coach, I serve as a thought partner by asking questions to help them decide for themselves their best way forward. As a mentor, I provide guidance, resources and tools such as how to write a compelling resume and cover letter. Ultimately, my goal is their goal, and my hope is that they leave our services feeling more confident and empowered personally and professionally than when we first met.

Describe the process of working with a new client – what can someone expect when they reach out for help? 

When I receive a request asking for career or employment support, the first thing I do is provide a link to schedule an introductory conversation on my calendar. I use this conversation to better understand what brought them to the decision to reach out for support. We’ll talk about how I may be able to support them and how we might work together and then I’ll explain next steps. At the end of this initial conversation and if it makes sense for us to work together, I always ask if they want to move forward with support. If yes, then I will send them an online form to add them to our system and once that is completed, I will send them a personal link to schedule meetings with me when it’s most convenient for them.  

Can you give a profile of a few people you’ve worked with? What kind of things do they seek help with?  

I have worked with folks as young as 18 and as old as 80. But typically, I get support requests from folks in midlife who are changing jobs or careers due to job loss or returning to work after time away or it’s young adults who have graduated from college and are re-evaluating their career direction after working for a few years or are struggling to find work. The majority, whatever the age group, are seeking help with exploring career options, creating or refining their resumes and cover letters for specific jobs they have found and/or guidance for interviewing with more confidence. Many of my clients have expressed a lack of confidence in the possibility of changing careers or during the job application process – often questioning if they should even try or apply. This seems to be caused by negative messages they’ve come to believe about themselves and their abilities or the myth that they must decide on a job or career and have it “right” the first time.

After working with Paige, one recent participant shared:

  • “The professional support I received was amazing, truly invaluable! My Career Coach was a perfect blend of expertise, support and compassion. From the moment I had contact with Paige my anxiety lessened and I had a clear and achievable path ahead of me, finding a new job that could be a great match for my skills, and I did! In fact, I ended up landing my dream job which I would never have believed possible before contacting VWW.”

Are there any trends or themes in your work with clients lately?  

One of the latest areas that have caught my clients, and myself, off guard has been the increased use of AI generated resume submissions into Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), which seems to have made the competition even greater for jobs. Several of my clients look for remote positions to create more work/life flexibility, especially if they have families, or use sites like Indeed and LinkedIn for their job search. Many of the jobs listed on those sites use ATS to scan applications. A recruiter shared with me that unfortunately the systems are being flooded with even more resumes – some not even belonging to real people. I’ve had clients say they’ve been applying for months and are not getting noticed even though they have the skills required for the job.  This challenge has caused me to research and rethink how we provide resume and cover letter advice so my clients can remain competitive in this new and fast-growing AI technology landscape.

What is Build Your Skills?

Build Your Skills is an online portal accessible through the VWW website. It provides a bunch of resources including articles, videos, downloadable guides and templates. The resources are arranged based on our four key career focus areas: Finding the Right Job or Career, Getting the Job, Professional Development and Financial Empowerment. Anyone can register to use this free site whether or not you are enrolled in any VWW programs or receiving 1:1 career services. I always provide information about Build Your Skills to new clients and point them to guides or pages they can use when we are not meeting such as career exploration resources, job board links and guides for writing resumes, cover letters, and preparing for interviews among many others. While it may look like a course, it isn’t one and you can click on or download whatever information you find most useful. We hope to enhance this resource portal by improving and increasing the number of online self-paced workshops on various career topics.

Describe your work with the Sisterhood group, past events, and what the upcoming event will look like 

During and after the pandemic, I experienced more women+ entrepreneurs who were looking for guidance and mentoring to start their own businesses. This allowed for more flexibility to manage responsibilities of caring for family and bringing in an income. I began collaborating with area partners (Mercy Connections, CVOEO Financial Futures, and Center for Women in Enterprise) who specialize in small business to collectively support these entrepreneurs through in-person events in the Burlington area. In late 2023, we held our first “Sisterhood” workshop event – Sisterhood of the Dreaded Elevator Pitch – which focused on having more confidence in business networking. We followed this in late 2024 with our second event – Taking the Next Step: Speaking with Confidence for Women Entrepreneurs – for which we invited a speech coach who talked about cultural perspectives, voice mechanics and communicating confidently.  Our latest event – Business through the Looking Glass: A Reflect & Reset Networking Event – adds VT Womenpreneurs  and the Vermont Women’s Fund to the partnership and will be held on March 27, 2026. This facilitated workshop is geared towards already established women+ business owners who may be facing business challenges and will provide an opportunity for reflection, solution creation and community support.

VWW is hoping to relaunch the Career Mentor Network in 2026. Can you talk about the relaunch – what is the Career Mentor network, brief overview of the process who is the network for, why is mentorship beneficial? 

From 2020 to 2024, VWW established a network of professionals to expand our ability to provide career guidance and mentorship to women and gender expansive adults across Vermont. Participants signed up as a mentee and were matched with a mentor for support. The volunteer pool of over 40 mentors provided the mentees industry, job role and small business expertise and guidance, and also served as an extension of many of the support services I provide such as resume and cover letter support. After staffing changes, I could no longer effectively manage the program and had to put it on pause. However, we still saw the value of connecting women+ folks with professionals who can provide insight from first-hand experience in a particular industry or career or who can empower and guide an entrepreneur through the startup, growth or closure of their small business. With that, we are reimagining our career mentor program to create a version through which mentors and mentees can more easily and directly connect with each other, and one that is focused on industry and career exploration and small business guidance. More to come later in the year on the overall process, how to get involved as a mentor, and how to sign up as a mentee.

Anything else you’d like to share about your work at VWW? 

I provide space for you to show up as you are, and I will work alongside you towards your job, career or professional goals as you have defined them. I provide guidance, when appropriate, and respect that you ultimately make the final decision for your way forward. I don’t believe I know everything and that my work is just a part of a greater ecosystem of community support. I may reach out to my network for more information to benefit you. For example, upcoming training programs you’ve mentioned interest in, specific job qualifications you have questions about such as level of education or background checks, or insight into current job openings that you may be interested in pursuing. In the end, I believe women+ folks have a lot on their plates and often feel like they have to figure everything out by themselves. I believe no one should have to navigate their career alone and if you want someone to walk alongside you, I invite you to reach out to me.