Career Services - Student Links:

Career Planning Course UBE 202

Required Texts:

Sukiennik, Bendat, & Raufman, (2004) The Career Fitness program: Exercising Your Options; Seventh Edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hill. Please bring the book to class every day. You will also need to purchase a folder or three ring binder to submit your written exercises. Be sure your name is printed neatly on the front of the binder or folder.

Purpose

This class will assist you in examining the components of career choice. The focus will be on career awareness, personal awareness, and educational awareness as they relate to the process of your career choice. Planning skills and self-assessment instruments will be utilized to assist you in identifying tentative career options. Decision-making strategies, resume/cover letter writing exercises, interviewing skills, job search techniques and presentation skills will also be incorporated.

Attendance

Attendance is required and will be taken at every meeting. You will be allowed two unexcused absences after which your final grade will be reduced by one-half letter grade for each unexcused absence. (Unless you receive from me a signed, slip of paper with the words "I will excuse you from class for this day," consider yourself not excused. If you are too sick to come to class, you must provide a doctor's note or Student Health Center note on their stationery for the absence to be excused.) If you were excused on a particular day, all work due for that day must be turned in on the following class day. The attendance policy will begin on the first class day after drop/add (September 13th).

If you are absent from class it is your responsibility to find out what happened in class and what work you missed. To facilitate your ability to contact individuals in class, it is recommended that you obtain the email and phone number of at least two of your classmates. You can always contact me to find out what you missed.

You are expected to be on time for class. If there is a reason that this is a problem, let me know immediately. If you are late, it will be up to my discretion to determine whether you get credit for that class time. In other words, you could be charged with an absence. Also, please turn off all cell phones.

Participation

You will be expected to come to class having read all of the materials for that day and be ready to participate in classroom discussions. Our class format will be discussion based and will involve group activities and interactive dialogue. Guest speakers will be an integral part of the curriculum as well.

Special Needs

If you have a disability that requires an accommodation, please let me know before your first assignment is due.

Academic Integrity

You are responsible for the honest completion and representation of your work, for the appropriate citation of sources, and for respect for others' academic endeavors. By placing your name on academic work, you certify the originality of all work not otherwise identified by appropriate acknowledgements. You should be aware that the University has a policy regarding academic honesty. For more information go to: http://undergrad-catalog.buffalo.edu/undergraduateeducation/studentrights/integrity.shtml .

Course Goals

• Understand that the components of career choice include career, personal, and educational awareness
• Recognize that a career is a life-long process that involves continuous evaluation and reprioritizing
• Learn how to identify your personal interests, skills, and values and compare them with several career options
• Learn the skills involved in researching and acquiring an internship/job
• Learn how to make decisions and set short- and long-term goals
• Gain confidence in your ability to make a sound career choice and to articulate that choice

Grading:

Chapter/Text Exercises = 20%
Final Presentation = 20%
Career Autobiography = 10%
Quizzes = 10%
Class Participation = 10%
Final Paper = 10%
Resume = 10%
Cover Letter = 5%
FOCUS = 5%

Chapter/Text Exercises: Completed at the end of each chapter. See the Calendar for specific assignments. In addition, all assigned exercises within the text of the chapters must be completed. Ten (10) points will be awarded for completion of the assigned exercises (1.1 - 4.9) by October 18. The additional 10 points will be awarded for completing assigned exercises (6.2 - 10.9) by November 15. Hand in a photocopy of your exercises (NOT THE BOOK) using the binder/folder. Be sure your name is on the binder/folder and ALL exercises.

Final Presentation: You will give a four-five minute presentation on a particular career choice. You will be judged on content as well as public speaking skills. More details to come.

Career Autobiography: As an initial step in the career planning process, you will develop a career autobiography of 3-5 typed pages. This autobiography will highlight aspects of your life that will influence your career development. It is due September 20.

Quizzes: There will be a short quiz on every chapter of the book (12 total). There will also be a small Career Services library assignment worth one point. If you get all 12 quizzes and the library assignment correct you will receive 13 points. (In other words - three bonus points!) Quizzes will be given at the start of that day's class. There will be no make-up quizzes (even if you are excused from that class).

Class Participation: An attentive audience is a necessary part of any successful class. This means speaking as well as listening and critical analysis. Therefore you will be evaluated on your total contribution to the class. Your ability to discuss topics, offer insight, and critique others (and other traditional forms of class participation) will be the basis for the ten points.

Final Paper: A final paper of no more than two pages will be due on December 6. The paper will be your career plan and will be the basis of your presentation. It must be typed and double-spaced. You will be graded on grammar/spelling etc. as well as content. More details to come.

Resume/Cover Letter Assignments: You will need to write a resume and a cover letter. Make sure they are grammatically correct and clean of any spelling errors. They will be collected on November 22.

FOCUS: You will need to utilize this web-based career guidance system. Your Inventories Summary and three occupational information reports must be turned in by September 29.