WEEK 8 – At a Glance

Announcements: Oncourse and Career Services (USCO)

Lecture Evaluation

Reading Assignments:

Chapters 2 and 16

Lab 8 Counseling Session:

Review Projects

 

 

Lecture 15:

Evaluating Salary and Benefits: Job Decision Making

Projects:

P16: CareerLeader

P17: Network Partner Database

Lecture 16:

Strategies for On-the-Job Success

X420 Lecture Schedule

 

Discussion Sessions Schedule

 

LECTURES: Schedule

The lecture topics described below will be covered this week. It is possible that, due to unanticipated circumstances, the speakers and topics may occasionally be changed or rotated to accommodate guest lecturers.

 

All changes will be announced in the Oncourse calendar, this syllabus, and the link to UCSO Announcements.

 

Although the faculty tries to schedule lecture topics concurrent with projects and reading assignments, these topics may be rescheduled from time to time. Scheduling depends on the availability of the speakers.

 

Lecture 15: Evaluating Salary and Benefits

After all of your personal examination, networking, Internet researching, interviewing and testing, your resume and cover letter reach the right employers and offers start coming in. What a wonderful feeling! But which offer is right for you? Every employer’s offer promises the same: advancement, great training, a competitive salary, fantastic benefits, and so on. When you dig beneath the hype, you discover that all of your offers are not the same.

 

How do you get the truth? What kind of objective analysis can you do to realistically compare different opportunities? First, decide which factors are most important to you. Chapter 20 in Career Planning Strategies can help you identify factors most often chosen, but only you can place a relative value on which factors are most important to you.

 

Some of the questions that this lecture tries to answer are listed below:

 

How can I compare my salary?—Is it competitive?—What does all the retirement jargon mean?—Is it possible to compare healthcare benefits?—How valuable are cost of living differences?—Do retirement benefit plans really differ?—Retirement is years away so why consider it?—What factors are relevant to consider in location?—Is it advisable to try to negotiate on certain factors?—Where can I learn more about negotiating?

 

The questions go on and on. This may be one of the most important decisions that you will ever make. Advice from parents, friends, former teachers, etc. all adds some information but, in the end, you must decide for yourself.

Lecture 15 Topics:

Ø      Advancement Opportunities

Ø      Challenge in the Job

Ø      Responsibility Levels

Ø      Type of Work

Ø      Continuing Training

Ø      Working Conditions

Ø      Reputation of Employer

Ø      Job Security

Ø      Autonomy on the Job

Ø      People Relationships: Mentors

Ø      Salary

Ø      Benefits

Ø      Bonuses and Incentive Compensation

Ø      Healthcare Plans

Ø      401K Plans

Ø      Location

Ø      Education Reimbursement

Ø      Automobile

Ø      Expense Accounts

 

Lecture 16 Strategies for Managing Your Career

You have finally made the difficult decision of where to go to work. Your career strategy must move from job search to career management. Rarely do individuals stay with one employer their entire career but, as they work, everyone wants to advance, learn new things, and experience variety in the job. It is common of all of us to be planning for the next phase of our life and career.

 

What you want from the job should have been analyzed when you made the decision to accept the offer. What can you do to make your analysis become reality? Career advancement is your goal but just about everyone experiences ups and downs, plateaus, threats, and economic roller coasters in their career. What can you do to manage the detours and bumps and heighten your upward mobility?

 

Adjusting to a new work environment is not easy. Different environments reward performance in different ways. Rewards can be financial, promotions, positive morale, learning opportunities, etc. Supervisors influence your progress by coaching, training, rewarding, praising, promoting, and counseling. You need to learn how to respond.

 

What is a performance appraisal? What is the purpose? How often are you formally evaluated? Who is involved? What happens to your report card?

 

Every employer has a unique culture. Can you learn to read the culture and manage it to your benefit? Mentoring and internal politics can exist together and destroy or propel your career.

 

This lecture reviews topics covered in Chapter 22 of Career Planning Strategies. The presentation will focus on topics that can drive your career forward.

Lecture 16 Topics:

Ø      Strategic Career Analysis

Ø      The Career Planning Model

Ø      Factors Influencing Change

Ø      Career Opportunities and Threats

Ø      Career Visibility Enhancements

Ø      Advancement and Relocation

Ø      Corporate Culture

Ø      Compensation Policies

Ø      Turnover – Outplacement

Ø      Career Development

Ø      Expectations

Ø      Management by Objectives

Ø      Performance Reviews

Ø      People Problems

Ø      Job Hopping – Mobility

Ø      Mentors

Ø      Coaching

Ø      Internal Politics

Ø      Promotions

Ø      Attitude: Motivation

 

Lab Counseling Session – Lab 8

General Project Directions:

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. They could be useful to you later. Be prepared to make an oral presentation to your counselor on your project.

 

Follow project directions carefully. See full descriptions of projects in project section.

You must attend your assigned lab for review of your projects.

 

Career Resources (UCSO) / 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.

 

Project 16: CareerLeader

Always number this as Project 16, not by the number of projects you have turned in.

Overview: (See full descriptions of projects in project section)

Some of the most important variables that an interviewer is trying to assess in a selection decision are your interests. Our interests are such an important ingrained part of our lives that they change only minimally as we age after the age of about 20 years. What now interests you is likely to interest you in several years hence. Yes, you will add new interests but early interests, based on extensive empirical research, typically stay with you.

 

Why are interests important to others? Because interests are what tend to provide fuel for what motivates you. Interest influences your decisions as to what skills and abilities you need to nurture and develop. People rarely study subjects and learn new skills if they are not interested.

 

CareerLeader is discussed in your textbook as a part of self assessment but it is just as relevant to have this information as you begin to interview. In the selection process it is common for employers to test you for your interests and personality to further confirm what is evaluated and discovered in the interview. They use instruments similar to CareerLeader and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, but these tests tend to be more job-specific for legal reasons.

 

It is wise for you to take these tests on your own before an employer administers them to you. You want to know what they are likely to discover. What you say in the interview often can be supported and validated by the results of these tests.

 

CareerLeader will give you assessment results for motivational factors (values), interests, skills and abilities. Your objective should be to review the results and see how they lead to the Career Profiles. Are the Career Profiles where you are directed consistent with the positions for which you are interviewing?

 

You will also discover that the words resulting from this assessment tend to lead you to see how your past behaviors reinforced your desire to accept employment in your chosen positions and even specific employers. This, in turn, helps you use the S.T.A.R. technique more effectively and confidently in your future interviews.

Project Instructions:

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

 

Project 17: Network Partner Database Creation

Always number this as Project 17, not by the number of projects you have turned in.

Overview: (See full descriptions of projects in project section)

Throughout your working career you will want to continuously be developing a quality list of potential network partners. This process never stops. Networking is the most effective, if not always quick and efficient, job search strategy that you will probably ever use.

 

If you are in the job market now, have already accepted employment, are currently working, anticipate a future entrepreneurial experience, are planning graduate study, etc., this network creation project will be very valuable to you in both the short and long term. You will learn how to create, maintain, and use network partners who really want to help you, not turn you down as in a job interview.

 

The purpose of this project is to get you started on learning how to identify potential partners and then how to create a process that allows you to get better known by this unique group of partners. They need to be reminded of your goals and plans on a regular basis and you need to keep them advised regularly of your career concerns. This is far preferable to contacting them just when you are in job trouble.

 

The networking search strategies chapter of your textbook serves as the informational content base of this project. The objective is to get you to explore several resources, including your own personal list of contacts such as IU alumni, professional association members and leaders, faculty, work colleagues, and many other resources on networking that you might discover through your web research.

 

Identify at least three important sources of potential network partners that might help you in your future long-term career information. You can identify any target markets; Chapter 16 will help in that process. But you must also use the alumni databases from Indiana University that you can link to from the UCSO website. Look for the Kelley School of Business Alumni Association and the IU Alumni Association.

 

The availability and process instructions tend to change over time, so we want you to browse and learn the current process in this website. Especially review how to network with club leaders in cities of interest to you.

Project Instructions:

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

 

Discussion Sessions

Please check the Discussion Schedule on the Oncourse website for dates and room numbers.

 

THIS IS THE FINAL WEEK OF DISCUSSION SESSIONS.