Gain real-world experience with Career Coach

Learning objectives 

• Improve interpersonal skills and healthy workplace habits.

• Learn about the importance and value of real-world experiences.

• Learn how to be a team player.

• Prepare to find real-world experiences.

• Explore the options to gaining real-world experiences.

Lesson 1: Develop good workplace habits

Estimated duration: 1 hour, Level: Advanced 

1. Watch the LinkedIn Learning course to learn about developing good workplace habits (39m).

2. Reflect on the habits from the course that you identify most with. What habits do you want to change or develop? What actions can you take to make those changes?

3. Pair with a peer in-person or on Microsoft Teams to share your reflections, compare, and discuss each other’s habits and plans to change or develop those habits.

4. Get advice from career services or your faculty advisor about their experiences and opinions on good workplace habits.

Lesson 2: Importance of real-world experiences

Estimated duration: 1.5 hours, Level: Advanced  

1. Watch the LinkedIn Learning course to learn about using informational interviews to find real-world experiences (49m).

2. Reflect on the real-world experiences of people in your network to identify the types of real-world experiences you’d like to have. Are there people in your network who work in industries or for companies that interest you? How can you use what you’ve learned in all the courses when you reach out to your network?

3. Pair with a peer in-person or on Microsoft Teams. Exchange ideas for questions to ask in an informational interview to learn about the career paths of people in your network and find open opportunities. Write down the questions you brainstorm to use when you need them.

4. Open Career Coach. Select People. Use Filters to search for alumni by company and industry. Select three alumni to connect with. Your goal is to learn more about their real-world experience and find what aligns with your interests. When you’re ready to connect, select Connect to send a personalized message. Select Add a note, then add a Greeting and Why you want to connect. Select Send LinkedIn Invite in the bottom right corner.

5. Get advice from career services or your faculty advisor about alumni and peers who are in the field you’re interested in and how you can get in touch.

Lesson 3: Find real-world experiences

Estimated duration: 1 hour, Level: Advanced   

1. Open Career Coach. Select Dashboard. Go to the Find real-world experience section. Explore opportunities in volunteering, internships, co-ops, and more to gain real-world experience.

2. Go to LinkedIn. Identify companies that interest you and follow them for updates.

3. Consider starting a job application log for real-world experiences that interest you. When you identify a potential opportunity, record it in your job application log. Apply for experiences you identified in your job application log.

   Note: To learn about how to apply for experience check out Prepare to apply with Career Coach.

4. Get advice from career services or your faculty advisor. Ask them to review any real-world experiences you identified, and find out which ones would help you gain the experience you want. Ask if they know of other open opportunities that align with your interests.

Lesson 4: Improve interpersonal skills for working in teams

Estimated duration: 1 hour, Level: Advanced   

1. Watch the LinkedIn Learning course to learn about building strong workplace relationships (26m).

2. Reflect on how strong workplace relationships can help you in your career. Which skill from the course would you benefit from the most and what actions can you take to start building it?

3. Pair with a peer in-person or on Microsoft Teams and discuss the importance of workplace relationships.

4. Get advice from career services or your faculty advisor on the importance of workplace relationships and networking.