Require students to attend a career fair and meet with at least 3 booths. You're welcome to assign students to complete this Career Fair Worksheet as part of your class assignment. Students can practice researching employers, introducing themselves and building a professional network by attending career fairs. Career Fair information can be found on our events page or in Handshake.

Require students to attend a career event to aid in their professional development. Dozens of career events are offered each semester. Check Handshake for the most updated options or talk with your college's career rep to identify options that relate to your course material.

As a reminder, many of our career events require business casual dress. Please ensure your students dress business casual or business professionally when attending a career fair. Students can view our Dress for Success page for more details.

A significant portion (80%) of internship and job opportunities remain hidden from the public eye, never making their way to online platforms^[1]. Furthermore, the power of having an internal advocate in the job search process cannot be understated, with applicants being 12 times more likely to secure employment when backed by such support^[2].

The Career Launch curriculum is designed to enhance students' strategic social networks and give them access to the hidden job market, both in professional and academic settings. It empowers students to build meaningful connections with professionals and experts in their chosen fields.

^[1] Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, Designing Your Life, 2018.
^[2] Brown, Setren, and Topa, Do Informal Referrals Lead to Better Matches? IZA Discussion Paper no. 8175, May 2018.

If I choose to embed Career Launch into my course, what am I committing to as the instructor of record?
Providing adequate instruction time for Career Launch curriculum. More below.
Grade transfer: More below.

What kind of workload am I committing my students to?
Students should expect to spend 4-6 hours on Career Launch outside of instruction time, for the length of the course.

What are the instructional time requirements for Career Launch?
2 day a week classes: 4 full class periods of Career Launch instruction.
3 day a week classes: 5 full class periods of Career Launch instruction.

Who will deliver the Career Launch curriculum?
Career Launch Certified Facilitators
Facilitators are professional U of A staff who have been certified by Career Launch to teach this curriculum. Additional on campus training is provided to all facilitators by the Offices of Career Connections.

How do students' access/submit their Career Launch Assignments?
Each course will have its own Career Launch Blackboard course (ex: AMPD 3071 – Career Launch (Spring 24) (1243-career.AMPD-3071)). All Career Launch related assignments will be submitted to this Blackboard course.

Who will grade Career Launch assignments?
Career Launch Certified Facilitators.

How do students get credit for their Career Launch assignments in my gradebook, given they are in a secondary Blackboard course?
This is a two-part process:
(1) You will assign Career Launch the value you wish it to hold in your course grade book.
(2) You will be given access to the gradebook for your students' Career Launch Blackboard course. You will need to transfer/translate these grade(s) to your own grade book. The standard cumulative point value of all Career Launch assignments is 100 points, but this can be modified for your course should you wish.

What can I do if I do not want to embed Career Launch in my course, but I am still interested in embedding some career education in my course?
Please complete the "Request a Presentation" form or contact Walton Career Connections via email for questions.

• Link your department's website to career.uark.edu.
• Ask us to add a Handshake RSS feed of internships & jobs posted for industries related to your department's area (Contact Director of Career Events, KayLee Simmons, at ksim02@uark.edu.)
• Upload Lifelong Career Exploration Roadmap
• Embed career videos onto your department's website
• Link to Use the Scientific Method for your Career Exploration

Offices of Career Connections Outcomes Data: https://career.uark.edu/aboutus/studentstats/

Each year students are asked to complete a survey to provide information about where they are headed after graduation. This information is then compiled and shared publicly to let students, prospective students, families, and the campus community know the value of a University of Arkansas degree. Please utilize this link to access the dynamic report and gain more information about where your students are going post-graduation.

Career Connections developed career modules with potential activities, videos, assignments, quizzes, rubrics, and instructor instructions, on a variety of topics (i.e. resume and cover letter, interview skills, salary negotiation, using LinkedIn & Handshake, etc.) that you can copy and paste into your own Blackboard class.

Request access to Blackboard Career Modules by completing the Faculty Career Toolkit Access Request form on HogSync.

For new college graduates, career readiness is key to ensuring successful entrance into the workforce. For employers, career readiness plays an important role in sourcing talent, providing a means of identifying key skills and abilities across all job functions. In recent years, hiring organizations are focusing more on selecting applicants based on skills rather than degrees. (Jobs Needs Skills, Not Degrees, Forbes, 2023)

In response, the U of A identified 8 skills* that are transferable across occupations and industries and key to students' career readiness. Incorporating the Career-Ready Skills will enable the U of A to establish a common vocabulary to discuss employers' needs and expectations, and educate students on a basic set of competencies upon which a successful career is launched. (*The 8 career-ready skills were adapted from research conducted by national research organizations (such as National Association of Colleges and Employers) and informed by HR professionals, higher education professionals and the public.)

These eight career readiness competencies can be demonstrated in a variety of ways and in many different settings.

Tips to incorporate career-ready skills into curricular and co-curricular activities:

1. Review & present Career-Ready Skill Overview (UA Career-Ready Skills Facilitation Guide.docx)
2. Add career-ready skill language, visuals, and/or descriptions to your learning outcomes for classes, programs, assignments, projects, events, etc. Use the Skillify Your Syllabi Worksheet and Example Syllabus with Skills to get started.
3. Encourage students to participate in skill-building campus events and earn the UA Career-Ready Badge.
4. Invite students to reflect on your class/program's career building activities. Students who submit the following career-ready skill reflection forms in HogSync (UA's student engagement platform) are also completing career-ready badge requirements.
   • Career and Self-Development
   • Communication
   • Critical Thinking
   • Perspective Awareness
   • Leadership
   • Professionalism
   • Teamwork
   • Technology

Career Assessments are a great way for students to begin their career exploration and gain a better understanding of who they are. These assessments are free for UARK students. Send students to this link in order to take the listed assessments: https://career.uark.edu/students/explorecareers/

• Focus2: The FOCUS 2 is an intuitive tool to help students select a major and explore occupations. Students can complete five assessments including the Interests-Holland Code, Personality, Values, Skills, and Leisure Interests. Assessment results are matched to University of Arkansas majors and career options with over 1200 occupations and up-to-date career information.
• My Majors: This assessment will give students a list of 10 UA majors that are most consistent with their interests, preferences, and achievements along with a general description of this major.
• Type Focus: TypeFocus Careers assesses students personality type and incorporates it into seven personalized reports to answer, "What career choices fit with my personality?" and "How can I improve my chances for getting a job?"
• Spark Path Challenge Cards: The Challenge mindset is an approach to career exploration focused on finding challenges to tackle instead of ever-changing job titles. This interactive card sorting experience is designed to help students find a career path based on exciting, real-world challenges that go beyond majors and job titles.
• Career Readiness Assessment:

  Increase your career confidence by learning what the top 8 career-ready skills are, how well you've developed them to-date and ways you can further develop these employer-valued skills at the U of A by completing the NACE Career Readiness+ Inventory. (~10 minutes to complete)

  Doctoral Students: Use the Graduate Student Career Readiness Assessment for a more targeted assessment of your career readiness.

Many services are provided to UARK students and all services can be found on the main student page: https://career.uark.edu/students/.

Services:

• Learning to be career ready
• Self-assessments to explore potential career paths
• Resume and cover letter templates
• Information on how to search for jobs, internships, or graduate schools
• Information on how to Ace Your Interview
• Various events, information sessions, and career fairs
• Student appointments with a career coach/mentor

Students have access to a career platform called Handshake. On this platform students can view upcoming events, search for jobs, follow employers, and make appointments with a career coach. Each college has a career coach geared specifically for their industry and there are general coaching appointments. Additionally, the Career Studio, located on the first floor of CORD, allows drop-in appointments for students to meet with a career peer mentor. For more information on the Career Studio: https://career.uark.edu/students/appointment/#studio.

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Appointment Topics:

• Resume and CV reviews
• Cover letter reviews
• Interview tips and mock interviews
• Graduate school assistance
• LinkedIn profile reviews
• Job/Internship searching resources
• Career fair etiquette
• Major exploration

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How to make an appointment on Handshake:

1. Login to https://uark.joinhandshake.com/.
2. Navigate to "Career Center" and the "Appointments."
3. Select "Schedule a New Appointment" and then choose your college or "All Majors and Undecided Students" from the categories.
4. Choose the appointment type that is most appropriate for your needs.
5. Then choose the appointment time that works best for you. Remember to include your reason for requesting a visit when requesting an appointment.
6. Show up for your appointment at your designated time and location.

Please complete the applicable form to request an in-class presentation. Types of presentations and the time associated with each are shown on the form. If you are a Walton College faculty member, please fill out the Walton form, failing to do so can increase the processing time of your request. Availability for a class presentation is on a first-come, first-served basis. Please allow 1-2 business days for your request to be processed. We look forward to working with you this semester!

• Students may have their resume reviewed by a Career Peer Mentor visiting the Career Studio or by emailing cstudio@uark.edu. If requiring a Studio visit for your class, contact the Assistant Director - Career Studio at cstudio@uark.edu to discuss assignment guidelines as well as ensure enough staffing is available before class deadlines.
• Students may have their resumes reviewed by an employer during Walk-in Resume Reviews. See the events calendar for dates.
• Faculty and staff who would like to review their own students' resumes can use the UA Resume Rubric.

*If requiring students to visit the Career Studio, give us a heads up so that we can ensure enough staffing during your deadline dates. Email cstudio@uark.edu.

• Students may complete a mock interview with a career peer mentor by visiting the Career Studio. Students will receive feedback using the mock interview rating form. If requiring a Studio visit for your class, contact the Assistant Director of the Career Studio at cstudio@uark.edu to discuss assignment guidelines as well as ensure enough staffing is available before class deadlines.
• Students are encouraged to practice answering typical interview questions with peers and on their own prior to their mock interview.

University of Arkansas students have free, unlimited access to LinkedIn Learning, an online library of high-quality instructional videos on the latest software tools and skills. Log in with an organization account using your @uark.edu information. View hundreds of short videos for tips and advice straight from professionals in the field.