Ensure all students have access to career and professional development content.
All UWM students, regardless of major, should have access to career discernment and readiness content in their classes. Our campus is critical to ensuring a career-ready and community-minded workforce for our region and state. Increasingly students rely on their coursework to help prepare and connect them to meaningful post-graduation outcomes.
Career “readiness” or “development” generally refers to the cultivation of specific skills or knowledge that can be applied in work settings.
By integrating industry trends and best practices into the classroom, students are better prepared to thrive in their chosen professions, equipped with both technical expertise and soft skills such as communication, teamwork, and problem-solving.
Resources for Career Integration
FAQs
Career readiness courses frequently include one or more of the following characteristics: integration of career readiness concepts, industry connections and networking opportunities, career and professional development assignments or modules, and experiential learning opportunities like including internships, co-ops, or service-learning. To see examples of career readiness courses at UWM, check out this toolkit.
UWM has a career readiness pre and post survey assessment that instructors can use in their course. Additionally, through annual partner surveying, UWM gathers feedback from employers, community partners, and other stakeholders to assess the effectiveness and relevance of the programs.
Career readiness courses provide students with opportunities to engage in career discernment, to explore and translate workplace skills through resume writing and interview practice, and / or gain real-world experience to enhance their employability. Experiential learning courses emphasize hands-on, real-world experiences as a central part of the learning process. They encourage students to actively engage in activities, reflect on their experiences, and apply their learning to new situations. These types of courses are not completely distinct from another and often courses can include both career readiness and experiential learning.
Faculty and staff can play a crucial role in supporting career readiness by integrating it into their teaching and advising practices, serving as a primary point of contact for students, and ushering them to resources offered through SET. For more information about faculty and career readiness see Faculty Attitudes and Behaviors: The Integration of Career Readiness into the Curriculum.
Help students be aware that career readiness refers to the attainment of skills, knowledge, and attitudes that prepare individuals to enter and succeed in the workforce. Their activities will help develop a range of competencies and attributes that enable people to navigate their career paths, adapt to changes in the workplace, and achieve their professional goals. A syllabus should list key components of career readiness including specific academic skills, technical skills, digital literacy, cultural awareness/competence, and more.
Sample language may be found on this syllabus.
A self-reflection activity, such as a reflective essay, allows students the opportunity to look back on their experiences in experiential learning and delve into skills they gained, allow time to make sense of what they learned, and value the time they had with the activity. They see the importance as faculty provide feedback on their experiences as well.
Sample questions could include:
- Describe the skills you’ve learned through your experience and/or the skills you’ve practiced and honed so far. Then, discuss the impact of these skills as they relate to your potential career path. How do you apply them in your experience ? In the classroom?
- In what ways has this experience changed your perspective on the community(ies) you work with outside the classroom?
- How do you push past discomfort in experiences outside the classroom?
- For a sample internship reflection, see this example.
Whether creating a new course, or reimagining and existing course SET is here to help in all stages of course development. SET meets with instructors to discuss ideas and develop a plan for the course. We also support course implementation and logistics such as securing partnerships or experiential learning opportunities. Beyond individualized support, SET coordinates the Community of Practice, a place for professional development for all things related to career readiness, community engagement, and experiential learning. SET also has an online toolkit accessible to support instructors who want to integrate career readiness into their courses.
The SET office facilitates and helps to coordinate community and employer partnerships. Please contact SET here to begin the conversation.
There is no liability for faculty and instructors who have students engage in career readiness or experiential learning as part of a UWM course. UWM students participating in career readiness activities as part of a course are covered as if they were partaking in any other campus activity. As best practice, organizations that host students on site as part of experiential learning or career readiness activities should have liability insurance and worker’s compensation coverage for paid staff and/or volunteers. Organizations should go through a vetting process to ensure they are equipped to host students. The Center for Student Experience and Talent can support organizational vetting as needed.