HA COUN 120

PART 1-

Review Chapters 10, 11 and 12 in College Success. In your own words, write a one-page double-spaced journal reflection summary of these chapters. You should have one paragraph for each chapter that highlights the things that are important to you. Please answer these questions in your one page summary reflection.

1. What did you learn and how will you apply this to yourself and your college success?

This link will open in a new window. If you want to work in the window within Canvas, click on the next item in this module titled “College Success Textbook.” Once you are in the Book, make sure to click on the “Contents” icon in the left menu bar so that you can see the table of contents of your book.

PART 2

Goal

After taking the TruTalent Skills assessment, you will measure your skillset, match it to careers, then build the skills critical for your success at work.

This assessment looks at the skills that are critical in both the workplace and for learning. They ensure you are prepared and work-ready with a greater understanding of their skillset and ways to develop those skills, as well as access to a searchable career database and Indeed job search.

This assessment will show you your top aptitudes and soft skills, how they can be built over time, and their relationship to career selection.

This assessment provides insight into the complex skills identified as critical for learning and employment success. 15 distinct skill facets comprise five skills within the report: conscientiousness, creativity, critical thinking, leadership and social-emotional. Along with their results, youll find details for each skill, ways to develop independent skills, a list of careers that match top skills, and included job search.

Instructions

Take the TruTalent Skills Assessment. Go through each part of the assessment report. Rate your report, take a look at careers, and developing skills. What are your strongest skills and which skills do you want to work on? Reflect on your report and write about it in this discussion. Save your report in a PDF on your computer (see a PDF/Printer icon at the top right of the report). Upload your PDF report to your Discussion post.

Submission

Respond to this Discussion by writing and reflecting on your top skills and which skills you would like to develop. What career choices match your skills? Are there skills you need to develop for the career choices you are interested in? Upload the PDF of your report to this discussion.

• Click on “REPLY” to respond to these questions in your post of about 200 words.
• Write two responses to other student posts (respond to two different student posts). Each response post needs to be approximately 150 words. A response post can include similarities you noticed, suggestions that have helped you personally and/or questions you may have.
• See rubric for details.

• PART 3-

  Goal

  One of the best sources for gathering information about what’s happening in an occupation or an industry is to talk to people working in the field. This process is called informational or research interviewing. An informational interview is an interview that you initiate – you ask the questions. The purpose is to obtain information, not to get a job.

  Good reasons for conducting an Informational Interview

  • to explore careers and clarify your career goal
  • to discover employment opportunities that are not advertised
  • to expand your professional network
  • to build confidence for your job interviews
  • to access the most up-to-date career information
  • to identify your professional strengths and weaknesses

  Instructions

  Steps to Conduct and Informational Interview

  1. Identify the Occupation or Industry You Wish to Learn About Assess your own interests, abilities, values, and skills, and evaluate labor conditions and trends to identify the best fields to research.
  2. Prepare for the Interview Read all you can about the field prior to the interview. Decide what information you would like to obtain about the occupation/industry. Prepare a list of questions that you would like to have answered.
  3. Identify People to Interview Start with lists of people you already know – friends, relatives, fellow students, present or former co-workers, supervisors, neighbors, etc… Professional organizations, the yellow pages, organizational directories, and public speakers are also good resources. You may also call an organization and ask for the name of the person by job title.
  4. Arrange the Interview Contact the person to set up an interview: o by telephone, o by a letter followed by a telephone call, or o by having someone who knows the person make the appointment for you.
  5. Conduct the Interview Dress appropriately, arrive on time, be polite and professional. Refer to your list of prepared questions; stay on track, but allow for spontaneous discussion. Before leaving, ask your contact to suggest names of others who might be helpful to you and ask permission to use your contact’s name when contacting these new contacts.
  6. Follow Up Immediately following the interview, record the information gathered. Be sure to send a thank-you note to your contact within one week of the interview.

  NOTE: Always analyze the information you’ve gathered. Adjust your job search, resume, and career objective if necessary.

  Questions
  

  Prepare a list of your own questions for your informational interview. Here are some good questions to consider and use. You choose the questions you want to ask for the information you want to gather and learn about the career and person in the job.

  1. On a typical day in this position, what do you do?
  2. What training or education is required for this type of work?
  3. What personal qualities or abilities are important to being successful in this job?
  4. What part of this job do you find most satisfying? most challenging?
  5. How did you get your job?
  6. What opportunities for advancement are there in this field?
  7. What entry level jobs are best for learning as much as possible?
  8. What are the salary ranges for various levels in this field?
  9. How do you see jobs in this field changing in the future?
  10. Is there a demand for people in this occupation?
  11. What special advice would you give a person entering this field?
  12. What types of training do companies offer persons entering this field?
  13. What are the basic prerequisites for jobs in this field?
  14. Which professional journals and organizations would help me learn more about this field?
  15. What do you think of the experience I’ve had so far in terms of entering this field?
  16. From your perspective, what are the problems you see working in this field?
  17. If you could do things all over again, would you choose the same path for yourself? Why? What would you change?
  18. With the information you have about my education, skills, and experience, what other fields or jobs would you suggest I research further before I make a final decision?
  19. What do you think of my resume? Do you see any problem areas? How would you suggest I change it?
  20. Who do you know that I should talk to next? When I call him/her, may I use your name?

  You can interview a teacher, relative, friend, friend of a friend, and much more. If you are having trouble finding someone to interview, go to a department on your school campus and interview a professor in the field.You can conduct your interview remotely via Zoom. It is okay to do more than one interview (this is encouraged). Get creative! You have options to complete this assignment:

  Write a one-page reflection or create a video of the person and career field you interviewed:

  • Who did you interview? What is their job title?
  • What does a day in the life look like? Was it similar to your expectations?
  • What steps would you need to take to get there from where you are now?
  • What types of work-experience or internships would be valuable as you are working toward your final goal?
  • What is the salary range of the job you chose?
  • What are some aspects of the job that are most appealing to you? What aspects of the job do you think you would find most challenging or unappealing?
  • What surprised you?
  • How did you feel going in to the interview? How do you feel about it now?
  • Did you find this assignment to be valuable? Why or why not?

  Submission

  Upload your Informational Interview document to Canvas. (You have the option to upload something different than a paper. For example, you can do a PowerPoint Presentation OR Video OR audio podcast, if you prefer. If you choose to do a video/audio, this must be a video/audio of the interview. Feel free to post a Youtube link in the comment section if you decide to create a video. Get creative in your Informational Interview.