Week 0

Career Development Competencies Assessment results

Upload your Career Development Competencies Assessment summary here. To upload documents, navigate to the menu on the left and open the drop down boxes to see your options. Then drag and drop the desired item to where you would like it to appear in your e-portfolio.

Journal

Consider the Career Cases The Barnes Family and Helen Casey from Chapter 1 of the text book. What are the themes arising in these case studies? 

Chapter 1, Harrington, B & Hall, DT 2014, Career management & work-life integration : using self-assessment to navigate contemporary careers, SAGE, Los Angeles.trrth

Journal

Why is career planning and management a relatively recent 'thing' for individuals to be concerned with?

Journal

Write a journal or create a word cloud (e.g. tagcrowd.com) on the implications of the changing relationship between employers and employees on your future career.

Week 1

Values clarification - add your PDF here

Journal

What is meant by identity and sub identities? Why is understanding of self important in effective management of one's career?

Journal

What self-assessments have you completed so far?

What have you learned during this process?

Did you enjoy the assessments?

Were you surprised/not surprised?

What did you gain/learn from these assessments and the reflection that followed?

What themes emerged?

Journal

Did undertaking self-assessment raise any questions about your pre-existing career ambitions and assumptions? 

Journal

Reflect on value of continuous self-assessment and evaluation. 

What are the possible benefits of undertaking periodic self-assessment?

How often do you think this should happen?

How might this sort of regular self-assessment assisted the Barnes Family and Helen Casey from Ch1 of the text?

Journal

Is there a particular career theory, from those we have considered, that resonates with you?

Notes - Career portfolio content brainstorm

Brainstorm the types of things that could go in a career portfolio.

Notes - TED Talk Meg Jay

Record your notes about Meg Jay's TED Talk.

Notes - Careers Expo brainstorm

Notes of brainstorming session about Careers Expo.

Assessable component - SMART goal

This activity forms part of Assessment 1 - Report.

Create a SMART career goal with a deadline of 27 March 2017, with the objective of gaining/further developing skills that you believe will improve your employability in line with your career aspirations.

Assessable component - SMART goal

This activity forms part of Assessment 1 - Report.

Create another SMART goal with a deadline of 27 March 2017.

Journal

In what ways could a framework like SODA, and planning tools like SMART goals, assist in situations such as those described in The Barnes Family and Helen Casey?

Upload Career Plan from Module One

Ensure you upload the Career Plan you developed at the end of Module One. Ensure your SMART goals are in your Career Plan.

Week 2

Journal

What are the good and bad aspects for you of a portfolio career?

Careers Expo - questions to ask

Write the questions you will seek answers to at the Careers Expo.

Identities exercise

Upload your Identities exercise from p22 of text.

Assessable component - Quiz

This activity forms part of Assessment 1 - Report.

Quiz - Career Development Learning Program Module One

Completion due by Friday 7 April 2017, 5pm

Access this quiz in the Assessment tab.

Week 3

Assessable component - Careers Expo reflection

This activity forms part of Assessment 2 - Portfolio.

Write a journal describing your experience at the Careers Expo on 14 March.

Describe:

  • the event
  • your level of comfort in engaging in conversation with stall holders

Discuss:

  • what you learned
  • who you spoke with
  • what questions you asked
  • what organisations you engaged with
  • how the experience informed your career thinking/planning

Assessable component - Careers Expo attendance sheet

This activity forms part of Assessment 2 - Portfolio.

Upload a copy (picture or scan) of your stamped and verified attendance sheet (attendance sheets obtained from the Careers Expo registration desk) to your Career Portfolio to provide evidence of your attendance at the Careers Expo and engagement with stall holders.

Careers Expo - attendance sheet

Journal

 Reflect on one of your SMART goals in a journal:

• including the SMART goal,
• evaluating its success or otherwise,
• discussing how it informed your career thinking,
• explaining why any changes/alterations were necessary and what benefits these changes provided.

Journal

To synthesise your self-assessment results, you can choose to upload evidence of either of the following, based on the exercises in Chapter 3:

a) Self-assessment summary

or

b) Thematic analysis 

Assessing skills

Analysis of ideal job fit

Journal

What opportunities do you know of that could enhance your career aspirations?

What benefits and value could these opportunities offer to your employability after your studies finish?

Journal

How can you stay up to date with what the labour market is looking for?

Journal

List other sources of information you can find to help you explore career paths.

Journal

Write in a journal 5 questions you might ask in an information interview (AKA fact finding mission) to find out more about an industry/occupation/career path.

Week 4

Journal

List the attributes associated with successful opportunity awareness.

Journal

Perform a skills gap analysis between the skills you have and those you are likely to need for the career aspirations you hold.

Journal

Source an opportunity that could be beneficial for your future career from the options below. Upload detailed information about the opportunity. Consider the benefits and costs of participation. Explain your rationale supporting why this would be a strategic choice for your future career by making connections between what you would gain and how this would benefit you in the future.

  • internship
  • volunteering
  • workplace learning

Journal

Identify a graduate position that you could apply for at the end of your studies. Upload the advertisement, and any other details you find out about the position and the organisation, stating the sources of your information.

Answer the following questions:

1. When do applications close?

2. What are the key attributes/qualities/skills/competencies sought by the employer?

3. What aspects of the graduate program appeal to you the most?

4. If this graduate program was something you wanted to aim for, what strategies could you use to work towards making it happen?

Journal

Imagine you have arranged to conduct an information interview with someone working in a role you aspire to, or at an organisation you think you would like to work for.

Write at least 6 questions that you would ask during your information interview in order to further inform you about the type of work they do, the organisation they work for and/or the benefits of working for that organisation.

Journal

If you have discovered new potential career paths since starting this course, discuss what they are, how you found out about them, what appeals to you about them and what questions you would still like to answer about them.

If you have discovered information since starting this course that supports and firms up a pre-existing career aspiration, discuss what that career is, what information you found to validate it as a viable career path and what you still hope to find out more about.

Journal

List 3 potential organisations that employ people in the career you aspire to (in line with your current studies).

Assess the 'fit' of these organisations to your preferences as stated in the Analysis of ideal job fit. In what ways are these organisations a good fit for you? In what ways are they not a good fit for you? Which sources of information have you utilised in conducting this assessment? 

 

Journal

By now, you have come across a variety of sources for information on career paths and occupations. Add to your list of sources from last week to compile a reference list of information sources.

Week 5

Journal

Develop at least 3 achievement statements using the information and template in the file POD.docx (below). Download the file titled POD.docx below to complete this activity. Once complete, rename it and upload it here.

Complete all fields of the template.

Refer to the PDF (below the POD file) for examples of achievement statements.

 

File(s) to download

Assessable component - Elevator Pitch

This activity forms part of your work for Assessment 2 - Portfolio.

Create an elevator pitch.

What you say in your elevator pitch may differ depending on your audience and the situation. For example, the elevator pitch you use in response to the interview question "Tell us about yourself" may deliver a different angle than that used when speaking with potential business partners.

For the purposes of this exercise, your audience is a potentially valuable professional connection you have the opportunity to speak with at an industry event. You have not met this person before, but they are well-known in the industry to which you aspire. 

Use UniSA's Self-Help Career Resources Elevator Pitch Builder (accessed via My Tools) to guide you through the process.

Journal

Write a journal explaining the difference between the hidden and visible job markets, then answer the following questions:

a) what job search avenues have you tried, and what were your experiences with each of these?

b) why are job ads considered a passive form of job searching?

Journal

Gap analysis and discussion.

1. Use the graduate position you identified in Week 4 and other information you wrote in the relevant journal. Use the file called 'Gap analysis' to assess your current competencies against those required for that position.

2. Write a journal discussing ways you could address shortfalls identified in the gap analysis.

SMART goal

Create a SMART goal specifically aimed at addressing a shortfall identified in the Gap analysis conducted this week.

Update your Career Plan with your new SMART goal. Your Career Plan should now have five SMART goals, two from your work in Module One, two from Week 2's Workshop, and this new one based on your Gap analysis. 

SMART goal reflection

Your SMART goals set in Week 2's Workshop should now be complete.

If you haven't already done so, write a journal about both SMART goals:

•include the SMART goal you are referring to,
•evaluate its success or otherwise,
•discuss how it informed your career thinking,
•explain why any changes/alterations were necessary and what benefits these changes provided.

Week 6

Journal

Write a journal about professional identity. Use the following to guide your answers:

a) What does professional identity mean to you?

b) Create a word cloud describing your professional identity.

c) In what ways can you enhance and protect your professional identity? 

d) Imagine a recruiter for a top tier organisation is checking out your digital footprint. Conduct an online investigation on yourself to see what a recruiter might find. In what ways do the results confirm or contradict your word cloud description of your professional identity?

Journal

Write a journal about the ways in which participation in extracurricular activities whilst at university can enhance professional identity and employability.

Week 7

Journal

Use the company research template provided, or create your own, to conduct in-depth research into three Australian or international organisations you would like to know more about. Choose organisations that offer employment in roles your studies are likely to lead to. Discuss the following:

a) what do the organisations offer their employees?

b) what are the themes apparent in the type of employee they seek?

c) state the sources you have used to obtain this information

Journal

2. With reference to the three organisations you researched in the previous question, discuss whether working for that organisation is appealing to you or not.

Explain the reasons for your answers.

You may wish to utilise the information in your Analysis of job fit.

Journal

Explore the vacation programs, graduate programs, internships or cadetships offered by three Australian or international organisations. You can use the same organisations researched in the previous question if you'd like to. Summarise the following information:

a) what is the organisation offering?

b) what is the process for application?

c) what is the application window (when you can apply) for roles commencing next year?

d) what implications could these application windows have on your career planning?