Faculty and Staff Resources
"Faculty make such a difference! Faculty help with career readiness and build students' confidence. They open opportunities for students they didn't know existed." - Lelannie Mann, Interim Director, Community Education and Career Pathways.
"When students have clear goals, they succeed and retain at higher rates" - Jessica Hooper, English Department.
Connecting Students to Campus Career Resources for Students:
- Refer students to Career Resources with Daisy Lopez Jimenez, the Career and Academic Pathway Specialist at djimenez@gavilan.edu. Arrange for her to provide an in-class presentation on career services customized to student needs and interests.
- Arrange to have in-class guest speakers, panels, or tours for your class or department. Encourage career exploration by providing extra-credit assignments, such as getting assistance from the Career Services in drafting a resume, creating a LinkedIn profile, or doing a mock interview, Daisy Lopez Jimenez is a resource to help set up activities.
- Suggest employers, alumni or job opportunities to Daisy Lopez Jimenez that you think your students would be interested in having come to Gavilan's annual career fair and other on-campus employer events.
Providing In-Class Career Activities for Students
Encouraging Career Exploration
Look for opportunities to encourage students to learn more about careers they can pursue in their academic field. Students (and often faculty) are not aware of what is possible, the world of work is quickly changing, and employers are looking for talent, especially local, diverse talent. Career exploration in your curriculum helps motivate students and give them confidence.
Here are some examples of activities that Gavilan colleagues are doing, they will be happy to tell you what they did and give you advice.
Career Exploration Lesson Plan
- Gateway and intro courses are an excellent way to help students start thinking early about possible careers, which students say they want to do. Jessica Hooper in the English Department shares an what she does for a career exploration lesson plan.
Lesson Assignments on Careers in our field of Study
- An assignment on career exploration provided by Debbie Klein, in the Anthropology Department. Watch the video where Debbie shares what she did and what a difference it made for students.
- Career Panel with Practitioners, Denise Besson-Silvia has done an annual alumni panel for communications majors for ten years. Nick Fortino just had his first panel with professionals in psychology, asking panelist these panel questions. Here is the video of the psychology event.
- Classroom Transfer and Career Sessions with University Faculty, Marla Dresch, of the STEM program organized faculty from transfer universities to come and talk to students in first year math classes about their research, their career journey, and career exploration. Here is her debrief.
- Career Readiness Assignments, Catherine Ames of the Water Resources Department works with Career Services on assigning students to prepare resumes, mock and informational interviews, cover letters and career research. Students get incentives, including class credit or extra credit. These are small assignments, and Daisy Lopez Jimenez can provide prompts and assistance.
- Organize a Community Event, Blanca Melchor, Elizabeth Flores, and Gladys Elizondo held a Community Forum that was bilingual (Spanish and English) which included panels on careers, it was a big success. Here is their debrief.
Teaching Soft Skills
Many employers consider soft skills to be as or more important than technical skills, and are concerned most college students are not proficient in them (even though many college students think they are).
Soft skills relate to communication, critical thinking/ problem solving, digital technology, equity and inclusion, leadership, professionalism/ work ethic and teamwork/ collaboration.
Career based soft skills align with many of our PLOs and SLOs and can often be naturally woven into classroom curriculum to benefit students.
As an instructor, you can help students acquire or develop soft skills.
- Group projects and interactive assignments are especially helpful, as well as encouraging students to do service learning, volunteer work, or get involved in on-campus leadership opportunities. Here are resources to learn more about soft skills.
- Career Readiness Resources from the National Association of Colleges and Universities. There are a variety of materials and assessments available on their website.
- Teaching Soft Skills to College Students article on LinkedIn
- 15 Tips for Teaching Soft Skills Online or in the Classroom
Thank you you for your work to support students as they explore and get ready for careers. Our students want to make a difference in the world. Small efforts and adjustments in their classroom learning experiences can open up new possibilities and help them discover a future they may not have know possible.
Testimonials
What it Takes To Be an Accountant
"My accounting teacher gave our class information on what it takes to be an accountant, including accounting websites and told us about the qualifications to work in the field. I didn’t know anything about accounting before I took this class. He's encouraged me and been helpful. Now on my own, I am looking up the qualifications for different jobs on LinkedIn and plan to major in finance when I transfer." - Gavilan student
Encouragement Towards More Information
"I want to be a physical therapist. My teacher is encouraging me, telling me what this career is like and helping me find programs where I can get qualified. He is very important in helping me in reaching my goals." - Gavilan student
Prepare for Employment
"A key role I play is helping students be prepared to get a job. The subject-matter material we communicate only matters so much, I also want to help students learn about possibilities that are available to them." - Timothy Thomas, Professor, Biology
Key to Opportunities
"Like me, many of my students had never even heard of anthropology when they walked into their first anthropology course. It's so exciting to provide opportunities for students to discover the range of opportunities to apply anthropology in the "real world”. My students explore career possibilities and gain confidence and experience through assignments, service learning, and counseling support. " - Debbie Klein, Professor, Anthropology
Thank you for your work to support students as they explore and get ready for careers. Our students want to make a difference in the world. Small efforts and adjustments in their classroom learning experience can open up new possibilities and help them discover futures they may not have known possible.