How can I support my students with career development?
One of the most powerful ways to support your students’ career exploration is to share your career journey with them, so they gain insight into the variety of life and career pathways possible.
- Help students identify the transferable and subject-related skills that students are taking away from your classes, so they can highlight these in resumes and interviews.
- Consider an assignment where students add projects or skills gained from your course on their resume.
- The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) surveys hundreds of employers annually asking the top competencies they seek in college graduates (Review the survey results). The current top 8 competencies are :
- Career & Self Development
- Communication
- Critical Thinking
- Equity & Inclusion
- Leadership
- Professionalism
- Teamwork
- Technology
- You can craft questions for students to answer as a video response using Big Interview (an interview practice platform), or use the question sets already designed.
- Students can practice verbally responding to questions, gain experience of an interview format, and receive helpful feedback from their professors or peers.
- Share information regarding potential careers, organizations, and experiential opportunities in your subject field.
- While CLD offers general career guidance, students can greatly benefit from the industry-specific knowledge of their department’s faculty and staff.
Students have often expressed trepidation to ask professors for recommendations. Help them out and offer.
Refer students to our 4-Year Plan worksheet (under Major and Career Planning). This document recommends career development activities students should be completing throughout their college journey.
- CLD offers the President’s Leadership Fellows Program (PLFP) for juniors and seniors, hosting a series of workshops over 7 weeks to develop leadership skills, e.g. unconscious bias, diversity and inclusion in the workshopace, and conflict resolution.
- Refer students to CLD’s leadership development programming webpage to explore all related programs and services offered.
- Students have access to individual career counseling, drop-in advising, employer connection events, workshops, online tools, leadership programming, and much more!
- The best way for students to stay engaged with upcoming CLD events is to stay connected on Handshake or follow us on Instagram. They can also schedule one-on-one appointments with CLD career counselors on Navigator.