Important: As of March 2023, customers will no longer be able to purchase Career Coach licenses as it is being deprecated. The product will still be supported until June 30, 2023, after which customers will no longer have access to it. To save your data from Career Coach, please follow the instructions on this page. For further information, refer to the Career Coach Deprecation FAQs.
The lessons below are part of a Career Coach resource. Each module in the resource has lessons designed to support diverse learning styles and adapt to different learning situations. You can find more Career Coach lesson resources here. If you're new to Career Coach, visit the quick planning guide and the students quick start guide.
For this lesson, you'll need:
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A mobile device or computer
Learning objectives
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Develop professional relationships.
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Build effective communication skills.
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Learn different networking strategies.
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Connect with advisors and professors using LinkedIn.
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Connect with alumni who share your skills and interests.
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Join professional groups that support your career interests.
Lesson 1: Practice communication skills
Estimated duration: 1.5 hours, Level: Beginner
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Watch the LinkedIn Learning course to learn about developing communication skills (1h 17m).
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Reflect on some of the common and challenging communication situations you’ve experienced. What do you find easy and difficult about communicating in each? How can you start practicing the four building blocks to improve your communication skills?
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Pair with a peer in-person or on Microsoft Teams to share your reflections, compare, and discuss each other’s answers.
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Get advice from career services or your faculty advisor about how to improve your communication skills.
Lesson 2: Develop networking skills
Estimated duration: 1 hour, Level: Beginner
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Watch the LinkedIn Learning course to learn about building networking skills (27m).
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Reflect on how to use research while networking. How can you use the four building blocks to develop your professional relationships?
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Pair with a peer in-person or on Microsoft Teams to share your reflections, compare, and discuss each other’s answers.
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Get advice from career services or your faculty advisor on how to research careers and roles and how to use that information to improve your networking skills.
Lesson 3: Get started building your network
Estimated duration: 1 hour, Level: Intermediate
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Watch the LinkedIn Learning course to learn about how to use digital platforms to network (40m).
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Reflect on what strategies from the course can be used to build your network. What strategies are new to you? How can you start using them?
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Pair with a peer in-person or on Microsoft Teams to share your reflections, compare, and discuss each other’s answers.
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Open Career Coach. Select People. Explore alumni profiles and identify three profiles that interest you. Choose an alumnus from the three alumni you identified to connect with. Select Connect to send a personalized message. Select and add a Greeting and Why you want to connect. Select Send LinkedIn Invite in the bottom right corner.
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Get advice from career services or your faculty advisor to review your connections on LinkedIn. Invite your advisor to connect on LinkedIn.
Lesson 4: Join professional groups
Estimated duration: 2 hours, Level: Beginner
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Watch the LinkedIn Learning course to learn about LinkedIn Groups (1h 38m).
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Open Career Coach. Select People. Identify 3 alumni profiles and look for the professional groups they belong to. Join any of the LinkedIn groups that match your skills and interests.
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Pair with a peer in-person or on Microsoft Teams to share your reflections, compare, and discuss the groups you each joined and how they align with your skills and interests.
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Get advice from career services or your faculty advisor about professional groups you can join and campus networking opportunities that align with your field of study and interests.
