Course Outline: Business X420

This description contains a complete guide to the weekly events and due dates. Lecture topics are briefly outlined, Counseling Lab Session requirements are explained, and Discussion Session topics for each week are given.

 

All projects should be sent as an attachment via Oncourse messenger email to your Career Counselor before your lab appointment. Also, bring a printed copy with you to lab and be prepared to make an oral presentation of your project.

 

Please follow this guide closely each week!

 

WEEK 1 – At a Glance

Announcements: Oncourse and Career Services (USCO)

Lecture Evaluation

Reading Assignments:

Chapters 10, 11, 12 on Resume Preparation

Lab 1:

Career Plan Project

Intro to Lab – Course Structure

Meet Your Career Counselor/Time Assignments

Lecture 1:

Career Education Plan

Intro to Career Planning Strategies

Projects:

P1: UCSO Resume - Required

Lecture 2:

Resumes for Life

Career Portfolio

 

X420 Lecture Schedule

 

SCOOP: Schedule  /  Description

Discussion Sessions Schedule

 

Lecture 1: Intro to Career Planning Strategies / Career Education Plan

Lecture 1 Topics:

Ø      Know Thyself

Ø      Your VIPS: Values – Interests – Personality

Ø      Interests Prioritizing: Organizing

Ø      Career Goal-Setting

Ø      The Model Framework

Ø      Career Exploration: Options

Ø      Interviewing for Information

Ø      Career Planning Theory Basics

Ø      Values Clarification: Understanding Why

Ø      Personal Descriptors – VIPS: Unique Personalities

Ø      Information Sources: Research Option

Ø      Self-Assessment Instruments

Ø      Career Decision-Making Process

Ø      Employment Selection Testing

 

Lecture 2: Resumes for Life / Career Portfolio

Networking plays a significant role in the career planning and job search process for a high percentage of the class. Over 95 percent of the class registers and actively utilizes the resume, interviewing, literature, referrals, career information, counseling, and other services offered by the UCSO. This lecture recommends the Undergraduate Career Services Office and how to most effectively use them. Emphasis is placed on the recruitment resume, the networking resume, job prospects, the real employment system, career fairs, employer presentations, and techniques for getting better known.

Lecture 2 Topics:

Ø      Career Street Journal (CSJ): Job Leads

Ø      Resumes: Recruiter Screening or Networking; Circulating Talents

Ø      Job Referrals: Contacting Job Ads

Ø      Career links: Getting Info Online

Ø      Career fairs: Ultimate Networking

Ø      SCOOPS: What Job?

Ø      Interviewing for Information: Network

Ø      Company Presentations: Working the Room

Ø      Career Resources: Sourcing Network Job Leads

 

Lab Counseling Session – Lab 1: Course Structure and Project Requirements

For this first session only, you will meet at the time and in the room assigned to you at registration.

 

The faculty will cover the essentials of the course structure. It is extremely important to attend this first lab since it is a verbal synopsis of the course syllabus. The following topics will be covered:

Ø      Purpose: Why?

Ø      Project Requirements

Ø      Grading System

Ø        Career Projects: Options

Ø        Relationship to UCSO

Ø        Textbook Required

Ø      Use of Oncourse

Ø      Resume Types

Ø      Weekly Career Counseling

At the end of the short lecture, you will be assigned a Career Counselor who will work with you each week throughout the semester. These meetings allow you to have brief one-on-one counseling sessions, project presentations and/or question-and-answer periods. The priority event at each meeting will be the discussion of any project submitted for that particular week.

 

If you positively cannot attend your time assigned by the Registrar, just attend any session this week. The times are listed above and room numbers are in the schedule of classes and available from the Course Assistant in the UCSO waiting room. If space permits, you may be assigned a time at the end of the class you attend. If your preferred space is not available, please go to the Course Assistant in the UCSO who will take your name and assign you a counselor based on the times available.

 

If you miss your class, please see the Course Administrator in the UCSO between 5:30 p.m. and 9:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday.

 

The Lab meets one time per week at 5:30 p.m. or 7:00 p.m. for ten weeks. Appointments are available on Monday through Thursday evenings.

 

Project: Work on Project 1 and submit via the UCSO website.

 

General project directions:

Ø      Follow project directions carefully.

Ø      Send projects as an attachment via Oncourse Messenger Email to your Career Counselor.

Ø      Send to your Career Counselor before your lab appointment.

Ø      Bring a copy with you to the appointment so your Career Counselor can mark on it with you present.

Ø      Counselor will grade, sign, and return at your appointment time for verification.

Ø      Save your projects.

 

Career Resources (on UCSO website) / Career Links (on Oncourse)

Ø      Use textbook as a resource for your projects.

Ø      Many career-related websites follow your textbook Table of Contents structure.

Ø      The UCSO Career Resources also provides links to helpful research resources.

Ø      Career Links is a more extensive list of research websites developed by course faculty.

 

Project 1: UCSO Resume

Must be uploaded onto the UCSO website before 4:00 p.m. on Friday of the first week of classes.

Overview: Required Project

The resume is the fundamental tool around which all of the UCSO Career Services revolve. It is an instrument with which you will sell yourself to prospective employers by organizing and presenting your goals, education, experience, activities, and honors. The utmost care should be taken in its preparation. It is vital that this resume be well organized, articulate, and completely free of typographical, spelling, and grammatical errors.

 

NOTE: Project 1, Project 2, and Project 23 (the final project) are required projects and must be completed in order to pass this course.

Project Instructions:

Actual project instructions are located in the Projects Section of the syllabus.

 

Discussion Sessions

All Discussion Sessions during Week 1 will feature the lecture “UCSO Services Resume Preparation.” Attend any evening, Monday through Thursday, at either 5:30 or 7:00 p.m.

 

Employers are logging onto the UCSO Web Resume Book right now to view the online resume book that is selectable by the many variables on your resume. The UCSO resume version is due by Friday at 4:00 p.m. of Week 1 of class.

 

You may update this resume as often as you wish. Your Career Counselor will assist you with it soon. Later, you may wish to create a different free-form resume to use in your networking which your textbook calls the Networking Recommender Resume, also called your free-form or networking resume. Nearly all students will prepare this two-page resume and cover letter which is due in Week 3 as Project 3.

 

This presentation will assist you in writing the first resume for full-time positions and/or internships (see Discussion Schedule for date, time, and room). Even though additional experience and a new grade point average will change the look of the final draft, it is helpful to create a “finished” version of the resume that can be shared with employers as soon as possible.

 

This UCSO version should be carefully phrased for potential impact to help “sell” your candidacy. It must have a nice layout and be error free – no misspellings or typos of any kind. It should include relevant facts that support your interest in the initial career area indicated in the objective statement on the resume. This assignment must be prepared as a MS Word resume and must be submitted via the Upload Resume option on the UCSO website. Oncourse will accept your MS Word version of the resume also.

 

You will have an opportunity to enhance your UCSO resume anytime in the future. Using this as your first draft, you will earn additional optional project credit if you expand this to a 2- to 3-page Recommender Networking Resume as described in your textbook and syllabus. This is part of Project 3 on Communications.

 

Regularly scheduled Discussion Sessions begin in Week 2 and continue through Week 8. Consult the Discussion Schedule in the Table of Contents of the syllabus on the Oncourse website for topics and rooms. You may attend any program at either time on any evening. You are NOT required to attend at your regularly assigned discussion time.