Career Threads is a micro-blog series that offers quick insights into trending topics in career services, jointly composed by the Consulting Team at The Career Leadership Collective, out of their experiences interacting with hundreds of career professionals and senior university leaders.
College students are very busy; we’ve established that in a previous Career Thread. For this mini-blog post, we thought it would be useful to spotlight some of our favorite 24/7 career-focused services designed to meet the needs of students, alumni, and faculty outside of traditional business hours!
Cornell’s central Career Services Office designed and created a Canvas course containing 26 self-paced modules structured around understanding yourself, exploring options, and taking action. These modules are interactive and reflective. Since its launch, other campus career offices have shared this resource with their students and collaborated on developing new modules.
Utah State University Career Tutorials A winner of a 2023 Career Innovation Awards, Utah State University's Career Design Center created an open Canvas class filled with modules on a variety of career development topics such as career exploration, resume/cover letter writing, interviewing skills, networking strategies, job offer negotiation, graduate school application prep, and more. These modules were designed with the purpose of scaling the reach of the Career Design Center and providing more accessible career development to the entire student population. Over the course of 1.5 semesters, the class grew from about 100 to about 2,000 active students. Read their award profile here.
DePaul: Career Library + Asynchronous Resume Review
Originally launched in 2019, the DePaul Career Library houses over 50 videos and PDF resources that students and alumni can access anytime and anywhere. The content focuses on micro-learning across the spectrum of career development. To complement this grab-and-go content, the DePaul Career Center designed a new asynchronous service that allows students and alumni to upload their resume or share their LinkedIn profile anytime and receive a 5 - 8 minute video response with advice and feedback.
The Center for Career Development at the University of Connecticut created a faculty/instructor guide on integrating career competencies into the curriculum that includes offering access to a virtual classroom populated with career-relevant content, including syllabi, assignments, and advising tools already created by UConn faculty. (Nancy Bilmes)
University of Minnesota, College of Liberal Arts: CLA Career Hub The CLA Career Hub features two online tools that students can use to assess and articulate the skills they have gained and to plot out next steps. Check out these descriptions from their site:
“RATE™ is an innovative online tool that is a core element of career readiness. It is a reflective learning and self-assessment activity that guides you through the process of thoroughly Reflecting on, Articulating, Translating, and Evaluating your diverse experiences. It helps you focus on the Core Career Competencies you are developing in and out of the classroom.”
“MyCareerManagement is a recommendation tool that suggests possible next steps you can take for your career preparation. Your liberal arts experience puts you on a path towards career success, and a few extra steps along the way will set you on a path towards excelling! You simply answer a few questions, and this tool checks your career progress and gives you some ideas for what to do next.”
We hope these initiatives have inspired you to think about scaling your services and offering 24/7 access to career content!