Integrating Career With Curriculum

We want UW to be known as a school that provides not only a stellar curricular experience and robust co-curricular options, but also an integrated and intentional approach to help students prepare for their next destination.  The foundation for this work is national work with employers on Career Readiness Competencies.  Below you’ll find concrete strategies for embedding career competencies into your courses and we hope you’ll find one or more that seem feasible and relevant.  If you have questions, please email Career & Internship Center Director, Briana Randall.

  • Promote Career Resources in Your Course Materials

    Embed one or more of the following links into your syllabus, Canvas page, or email messages.

    General – Main C&IC page, Career Planning resources, or C&IC Intro Video

    Career Competencies – National Association of Colleges & Employers’ Career Readiness Competencies or LinkedIn Learning

    Your department’s internship, job, or career pages

  • Show the Connection between Your Course & Career Competencies

    Articulate how coursework prepares students for life beyond UW.

    In your syllabus, list which Career Readiness Competencies your course addresses

    Add a course objective such as: “Students will be able to identify 3 Career Readiness Competencies they developed in the course.”

    Facilitate a class discussion about the relationship among course topics, assignments, and Career Readiness Competencies

  • Offer Points for Engaging with C&IC Services

    Allow students to earn make-up points for accessing C&IC services and submitting proof.

    PathwayU – take 4 self-assessments and submit report of suggested majors and careers to you

    Career Readiness+ Inventory – answer questions in 4 areas and submit report of their career readiness competency levels to you

    Events – attend a virtual event and submit a screenshot of their participation to you

  • Adapt an Assignment to Promote Job Search Readiness

    Add a career theme or option to existing assignments.

    When teaching persuasive writing, ask students to write a cover letter tailored to a specific job posting in Handshake

    For public speaking assignments, ask students to tell a story about themselves using the STAR method to prepare them for job interviews

    To prepare students to give feedback to each other on writing assignments, have them provide resume feedback to each other in pairs

  • Modify the Work Product to Align with Workplace Expectations

    Ask students to share their learning using methods similar to those used by employers.

    Have students demonstrate their learning by writing a policy brief, executive summary, grant application, or research proposal.  This can be in addition to or instead of an academic paper.

    To prepare students to communicate with different stakeholders, require them to present their points in a press release, marketing brochure, op-ed, curriculum manual, etc.

    Ask students to summarize their findings in a short elevator speech they could give to non-experts.

  • Add a Skills Reflection Component to Assignments

    Encourage continuous improvement, which is critical to success in any workplace.

    After group projects, ask each student to write about the strengths and liabilities they contributed to their team, and what they could do differently in future group projects to be a better team member.

    In conjunction with public speaking requirements, ask students to answer prompts about what they did well and what they would do differently in terms of research, preparation, and delivery.

    For research projects, ask students how they evaluated information they collected and how their view of a topic shifted as they read more perspectives or looked at more data.

  • Create New Assignments to Promote Career Development

    Use tools on our website as anchors for career-related assignments.

    Assign one or more LinkedIn Learning videos regarding course content, resilience, or career competencies.  Integration with Canvas makes the process of assigning and tracking completion simple and LinkedIn can help find videos relevant to your course objectives.

    Require students to complete a recorded mock interview using Yoodli and send the link to you for feedback.

    Ask students to facilitate a career conversation (also known as an informational interview) with someone who works in a field relevant to the course and then submit a summary of the conversation.

    Require students to complete the Career Readiness+ Inventory to help them identify how they developed skills through your course and steps they can take to further develop their career competencies.

    Ask students to complete a job simulation through Forage and share key learnings about the industry, employer, and job task.

  • Invite Career-Related Guest Speakers

    Supplement your voice with other perspectives on career topics.

    Career & Internship Center staff enjoy speaking with classes!  We are happy to join a course for a few minutes to discuss our services or for longer to dive into any number of topics. You can request a speaker here.

    Ask recent graduates to speak about how they use skills gained through coursework in their jobs, what career competencies they use most frequently, and what tips they have for students.

    Invite an employer to share how course concepts show up in their roles and what career competencies are more important for new hires in their field.

  • Promote Career Resources in Your Department

    Integrate career topics into department web pages, student messaging, and faculty meetings.

    If your department webpage has internship or career subpages, add links such as the Career & Internship Center main page, Handshake, or our Outcomes page.  If your department does not have such pages, inquire about the possibility of adding them

    If your department communicates with students via email newsletters, blogs, Instagram, Facebook, etc., review for career-related content and, if missing, suggest adding links such as the Career & Internship Center main page, Handshake, or our Outcomes page

    Invite a C&IC staff member to speak about Career Readiness Competencies at a faculty meeting

  • Create New Courses

    If your department does not already do so, consider adding a career-related course.

    Develop a 1-2 credit course offering methods for students to identify, highlight, and present competencies gleaned from their major.  Click here for an example.

    If your department does not have one, develop a credit-bearing course tied to the learning associated with internships.  Click here for sample syllabus.