PROJECTS

 

 

CAREER PROJECTS

 

In addition to attendance events like lectures and discussions, you will also be graded on the submission of projects. All projects are graded by your Career Counselor. You must plan which projects you intend to do and discuss this plan with your Career Counselor at the beginning of the semester. You may change your mind regarding your selection of projects as the semester progresses, but you must begin with a plan.

 

Projects are designed to aid in your long-term career planning.

 

The projects are designed to aid you in your long-term career planning. One or two projects can be submitted each week. Most students who want to earn an A grade will complete eight or nine projects for an average of one project for each week that you meet with your Career Counselor in lab. See the section of the syllabus on the Grading Concept for more details.

 

More than 20 projects have been designed based upon the needs of students who have previously taken the class. Your textbook has other more generic projects. You are welcomed to negotiate replacements or substitutions with your Career Counselor if you feel that another more relevant career project might best fit your career needs. These substitutions must be approved in advance by your Career Counselor.

 

You may substitute projects with more relevant activities if your counselor agrees.

 

Most projects are in the 3- to 5-page guidelines and should take about three hours of research and writing each week. See the PROJECTS section of the syllabus for detailed descriptions of each project.

 

During the lab meeting with your Career Counselor in week 2, you should turn in a plan regarding your class projects. Your counselor will not hold you to your exact plan; you are welcomed to change your projects as you progress during the semester if your needs change. Your plans may change as you gain more career information.

 

All academic classes at IU are required to give each student a final exercise near the last days of the class. Your final exercise will be a “career portfolio” that reviews what you learned during the course and repackages your projects in a meaningful way, perhaps to show other employment advisors parts of your background.

 

During your last week of lab, you will be required to verbally present your collection of career projects and changes to your Career Counselor. This required project will be graded during the last lab session. You and your counselor will work together on this project throughout the semester so that the outcome will be an emerging career theme.

 

As a result, you will want your weekly project submissions to be on topics that have some consistency and relevancy to your personal career decision-making process over time. You want to focus on the short-term career concerns (zero to three years after graduation) or long-term (three to six years after graduation).

 

Your final exercise in X420 will be a written project that summarizes your previous efforts and pulls together the various independent projects into a coherent short-term or long-term career planning vehicle. It will be presented as an oral exam directly to your Career Counselor in the last week of lab.

 

Your final exercise in X420 will be a written project presented directly to your Career Counselor in the last week of lab.

 

The concentration of your various projects should be designed with the intention that you will actually soon use each project as you implement your future career strategies. You will have tools and techniques that you can apply relatively soon in your career planning.

 

There are more than 20 predetermined project options for you to consider. There are some students who come into this course with only vague career plans and others with very definite career choices already made. Whether you are unsure of what you really want to do within the next five to six years or have already made some definite career decisions, you need to write down your career goals and follow-up plans for the future. The textbook, Career Planning Strategies (5th edition), offers many ideas of how to make and implement those career plans.

 

As you describe your career plans to others, what will you say? Some of us have well-thought-out plans while others are at very early planning stages. Past experience with this class suggests that there are certain career tracks that emerge for every student shortly after the beginning of the third week of classes.

 

These career tracks are generally described below. Recognizing that everyone is unique, there is no one prescribed track that must be selected and blindly followed. Based upon the past, there are projects that closely relate to each of the career tracks, but you do not have to rigorously adhere to these recommended projects for each track.

 

There is an independent career track that offers a much greater degree of flexibility for the student who does not seem to fit any of the recommended career tracks. You are welcomed to package your own career planning strategy to fit your unique goals and special circumstances. Your Career Counselor is eager to work with you on your project selection and special designs in order to facilitate your short- and long-term career concerns.

 

There is no one-size-fits-all in career planning. You should review your plans as you read through the description of the recommended career tracks. Where do you best fit? What modifications do you want to suggest to your Career Counselor during the week before it is due? You will find your counselor very accommodating providing that you make a proposal before it is due.

 

 

Search Track

 

A very high percentage of students are planning to start a job search strategy from internship to full-time employment to continuing education to career management. The search track is designed for you if you want to prepare for the job search. You may want to prepare a job search resume, a recommender resume for informational interviews and networking, cover letters, networking strategies, interviewing techniques, web-based employment technologies, mock interviews, psychological selection testing, career management strategies, career integrated graduate school, etc. The syllabus and your Career Counselor will guide you through your project selections early in the semester. Review these options with your Career Counselor the week before it is due.

 

Take your proposed Search Track plan to your counselor during Weeks 2 and 3.

 

Suggested projects: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 11, 13, 15, 16, 23. See table below for project titles and links.

 

 

Search Track

 

P1

UCSO Resume (Required)

P2

Career Plan (Required)

P3

Employment Communications

P5

Interview Questions & Answers

P8

Tell Me Presentation

P11

Behavioral-Based Interview–S.T.A.R.S.

P13

Network Informational Interview

P15

Mock Interview

P16

CareerLeader

P23

Career Portfolio (Required)

 

 

Management Skills Track

 

If you have already accepted employment or are close to it, you may want to start career planning from a different perspective. What is your accepted job description? What is the job description of your first promotion? How important is graduate study? What do you want your first six month’s job evaluation/performance appraisal form to say about you? What skills do you want to enhance? How will speaking, presenting, leadership, writing, decision-making, diversity, supervision, listening and other skills and practical on-the-job knowledge influence your early success? How will salary negotiations, networking, career politics, entrepreneurial ambitions, etc. be perceived by future career influencers?

 

Certain projects best fit this person. Where do you fit? Which projects would be most beneficial for you? Your Career Counselor will help you select and modify the proposed 20 career projects to fit your unique needs.

 

Take your proposed Management Skills Track plan to your counselor during Weeks 2 and 3.

 

Suggested projects: 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 16, 18, 22, 23. See table below for project titles and links.

 

 

Management Skills Track

 

P1

UCSO Resume (Required)

P2

Career Plan (Required)

P3

Employment Communications

P6

Job Description

P7

Employer Profile

P16

CareerLeader

P18

Career Management

P22

Ethics in Career Strategy

P23

Career Portfolio (Required)

 

 

Graduate Study Track

 

Almost 10% of undergraduate business students have already decided that they want to immediately attend law school, an MBA program, or other graduate study. Do you want to start graduate study full-time now or wait a few years to get into a better quality program or enhance your motivations and skills first? Are you interested only in part-time study? What will your first job description look like after you complete your advanced education? What can you do now to enhance your future interview skills to either get into graduate school or interview for internship or full-time job after graduate study? How can you start to create your network contacts in your new field? Which professional associations match your career interests?

 

Your Career Counselor will recommend certain projects that would help you answer similar questions. The Career Counselor will likely identify ideas from the list of career projects but will still allow you to deviate significantly from the standard project description so that you can alter the project in such a way that it will be much more useful and meaningful to you. Completing real admission forms from the web, writing essays for admission, interview admission offices, getting faculty and professional recommendations, assembling focused transcripts, describing the first job after graduate school, etc. are all excellent planning ideas for your career planning projects. What will be of utmost importance to you?

 

Please work with your Career Counselor in tweaking any of the projects, including an independent study project, in such a way that it would best fit your unique needs.

 

Take your proposed Graduate Study Track plan to your counselor during Weeks 2 and 3.

 

Suggested projects: 1, 2, 3, 8, 11, 13, 15, 16, 19, 20, 23. See table below for project titles and links.

 

 

Graduate Study Track

 

P1

UCSO Resume (Required)

P2

Career Plan (Required)

P3

Employment Communications

P8

Tell Me Presentation

P11

Behavioral-Based Interview–S.T.A.R.S.

P13

Network Informational Interview

P15

Mock Interview

P16

CareerLeader

P19

Graduate Study Research

P20

Graduate Study Application

P23

Career Portfolio (Required)

 

Entrepreneurship Track

 

Are you studying entrepreneurship? Do you hope someday to own your own business? What can you be doing now to make this a reality? Are you joining a family business or joining a friend’s growing concern? How do careers and small businesses compare to the corporate life? Do you have a written business plan? Have you written job descriptions for the people who will be working in your business?

 

Do you have a pro forma income statement to share with your financiers? Do you have interview evaluation forms for evaluating your incoming talents and appraising your new employees’ performance? What do you know about franchising, professional associations, the Small Business Administration, financial institutions, and others who can help with your new career in whatever locale you settle?

 

You may be asked to design staff appraisal forms, conduct some relevant informational interviews, write job descriptions, prepare personal portfolios for financial partners, review relevant websites, and conduct other research relative to your entrepreneurial career interests. Most of these can be just minor tweaks to the project descriptions for other career tracks.

 

Discuss a proposed Entrepreneurship Track plan in your lab session during Weeks 2 and 3. Get advance approval before working on it.

 

Suggested projects: 1, 2, 3, 8, 11, 13, 15, 17, 18, 22, 23. See table below for project titles.

 

 

Entrepreneurship Track

 

P1

UCSO Resume (Required)

P2

Career Plan (Required)

P3

Employment Communications

P8

Tell Me Presentation

P11

Behavioral-Based Interview–S.T.A.R.S.

P13

Network Informational Interview

P15

Mock Interview

P17

Network Database Creation

P18

Career Management

P22

Ethics in Career Strategy

P23

Career Portfolio (Required)

 

International Track for U.S. Citizens

 

There are a number of U.S. citizens who express a long-term career interest in working abroad. How does one prepare job descriptions for those working in international trade, corporations, financial institutions, retailers, public accounting firms, etc.? How important is speaking multiple languages, studying abroad, and previous time spent outside of the U.S.? Why do networking contacts play an important role in searching for international opportunities? What role do informational interviews play? How can these jobs be located? What web resources, international publications, and job search agencies are due to play a role in your job search? Why do large firms rarely send U.S. citizens abroad right after college; but, when they do, which industries are most likely to send you abroad?

 

If you have studied abroad, speak multiple languages, or completed an international internship, you might be a candidate for this type of opportunity. As you select your projects with your Career Counselor, you need to put an international spin on your career plans and carefully select projects that you can alter to suit the situations necessary for the internationally bound employee.

 

Your Career Counselor will expect you to come to lab in Weeks 2 and 3 with a proposal of eight projects that use any of the existing projects with your suggested enhancements. You are welcomed to make suggestions for any new projects that best fit your long-term needs if they fit into a 3- to 5-page outline. What is your Project Action Plan?

 

 

International Track for U.S. Citizens

 

P1

UCSO Resume (Required)

P2

Career Plan (Required)

P3

Employment Communications

P5

Interview Questions & Answers

P8

Tell Me Presentation

P13

Network Information Interview

P14

Independent Job Search Strategy

P15

Mock Interview

P16

CareerLeader

P23

Career Portfolio (Required)

 

Foreign National U.S. Employment Track

 

About half of our foreign nationals (FNs) desire to seek employment in the U.S. for two-three years before returning to their home country for long-term career placement. On-campus interviewing is rarely an option for this group. The most common job search strategies include networking, informational interviewing, web surfing, and working with home country employers with U.S. operations. Career projects would typically include writing recommender networking resumes, informational interviews, mock interviews with global overtones, international career conference networking, job descriptions, visa-related projects, and web usage for employment or networking contacts.

 

Your Career Counselor will work with you in suggesting relevant projects, chosen from our list of career projects, which can be adapted with a major global spin. Please bring an action plan with you to your lab sessions in Weeks 2 and 3.    

 

The international discussion sessions that are held on Tuesday evenings are very important for this group. Projects are recommended in these discussion sessions which can be proposed to your Career Counselor.

 

You should write projects that are especially relevant to your unique circumstances. Your Career Counselor will be very understanding in helping you to identify appropriate projects that fit your interest in returning to your home country at some future date for employment purposes. Be creative in suggestions that best fit your short-term and long-term career needs.

 

Suggested projects: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 14, 15, 17, 23. See table below for project titles and links.

 

 

Foreign National U.S. Employment Track

 

P1

UCSO Resume (Required)

P2

Career Plan (Required)

P3

Employment Communications

P5

Interview Questions & Answers

P8

Tell Me Presentation

P13

Network Information Interview

P14

Independent Job Search Strategy

P15

Mock Interview

P17

Network Database Creation

P23

Career Portfolio (Required)

 

Foreign National Home Country Employment Track

 

A high percentage of foreign nationals elect to return to their home countries after graduation. The value of this course to that special group centers on understanding the U.S. employment process. A high percentage of those who return to their home countries eventually interface with U.S. corporations and often even worked for U.S. firms. It is quite probable that they will return to work in the United States after they have developed an expertise with local corporations that will want them to come to the United States to further enhance their functional skills. It is important for all foreign nationals to gain a perspective of the U.S. human resource process so that they are in a better position to understand the cultural differences as they relate to future career planning. In many cases, you eventually may be hiring talent using U.S. and international employment protocols and labor laws.

 

The resume, cover letter, networking, use of the web in employment, career management, etc. are just as valuable to learn for a foreign national as they are for a U.S. citizen. The process may be somewhat different so greater flexibility is allowed by the Career Counselor who is working with you as you select appropriate career projects and then change them in a way that best fits your unique circumstances.

 

Bring a project proposal to labs in Weeks 2 and 3. You are welcomed to use any of the existing projects and modify them to meet your long-term career needs. Please obtain prior approval from your Career Counselor for your plan and any modifications.

 

Suggested projects: 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, 17, 23. See table below for project titles and links.

 

 

Foreign National Home Country Employment Track

 

P1

UCSO Resume (Required)

P2

Career Plan (Required)

P3

Employment Communications

P7

Employer Profile

P8

Tell Me Presentation

P13

Network Information Interview

P14

Independent Job Search Strategy

P15

Mock Interview

P17

Network Database Creation

P23

Career Portfolio (Required)

 

Independent Career Track

 

You may be part of a small group of people who do not fit well into any of the groupings above. The goal is to have you complete career projects that are especially relevant for your unique skills. Your Career Counselor is empowered to work with you in creating several unique projects that may not be exactly related to the recommended optional projects that are described in the syllabus. Perhaps the textbook will help open even more career possibilities.

 

Using the descriptions contained in the optional projects, you will be given an opportunity to custom design a set of proposed career planning projects. These must be done in advance with a written plan, preferably during your Week 2 or Week 3 meeting with your Career Counselor. You must make the proposal to the Career Counselor although the Career Counselor may make a few suggestions for you to incorporate in your written proposal. These optional projects are custom designed for you and will become a significant part of Project 2 in your final verbally delivered plan. You will pull all of your independent ideas together when you complete the final oral exam in the last lab session.

 

If you are interested in pursuing this independent career track, please make a proposal to your Career Counselor after you have read and reviewed all optional project descriptions so that you have an idea of the goals and implementation strategies expected by your Career Counselor. You have great flexibility. You are welcomed to suggest new projects that meet your needs as long as they have an important career aspect and fit the 3- to 5-page project requirements.

 

Suggested projects: 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 13, 14, 17, 21, 23. See table below for project titles.

 

 

Independent Career Track

 

P1

UCSO Resume (Required)

P2

Career Plan (Required)

P3

Employment Communications

P6

Job Description

P8

Tell Me Presentation

P13

Network Information Interview

P14

Independent Job Search Strategy

P17

Network Database Creation

P21

Which Employer, Which Job?

P23

Career Portfolio (Required)

 

Suggested Projects by Career Track

 

Listed above are suggested projects for each of the eight career tracks. These are only suggestions based upon what previous students have preferred. Your situation is unique–which is why there are over 20 different project options for the eight to ten choices that most students complete. Only three projects are required: Project 1, UCSO Resume; Project 2, Career Plan; and Project 23, Career Portfolio.

 

You have great flexibility in each project that you select in order to make the options fit your future career needs. You are even welcomed to modify any project (or career track). Discuss any proposed modifications in advance with your Career Counselor. Approval is likely.

 

As noted in the “Independent Track,” you do not need to follow the specific directions if you get advanced approval from your counselor. We want every project to be something that you can actually use in your future career strategy implementation.

 

There are additional projects written in your textbook that may be better suited to your specific career plans. You are invited to use other ideas in making specific proposals that might be more useful to your long-term ambitions. Flexibility and creativity are encouraged.

 

 

Career Project Summary

 

As you can see, your Career Counselor will be very flexible in working with you to modify any of the recommended projects. However, any changes must be discussed in advance before your Career Counselor will accept a project that may not meet the intent of the project description.

 

We encourage you to be creative and innovative. You will get many ideas from the textbook, Career Planning Strategies. We do not want your efforts in this course to be “make-work” projects. It is your responsibility to work on career-related projects that will prove to be productive and useful for you in assessing, evaluating, and implementing your personal career strategies in the future. Whether you choose a short-term career objective or a long-term career perspective is your decision.

 

You will discover that your Career Counselor is very responsive to your personal career needs. Suggest project adjustments in advance that best fit your current needs.