BSHE:IntroductionToCareerDevelopment

Introduction to Career Development

• Course name: Introduction to Career Development
• Course number: R-01

Course Characteristics

Key concepts of the class

• Value systems of organizations and Corporate culture
• Soft skills and hard skills
• Personal Brand
• Career Planning and Development
• Curriculum vitae (CV) and Cover Letter
• Interview
• Negotiation for salary
• Job market
• Employees’ rights

What is the purpose of this course?

The course provides students with an opportunity to learn and develop the necessary skills to engage in life/career planning. During the course students will learn resume writing and formatting tips, how to go through a various types of interviews, and will cover job search strategies. In addition, we will analyze the main labor market development trends and study the importance of knowledge about Labour law.

- What should a student remember at the end of the course?

By the end of the course, the students should be able to remember and recognize

• how to compose a selling CV and how to write a cover letter
• how to pass a job interview, what questions could be asked and how to answer them
• how to negotiate for salary
• how to build personal brand and stand out from the crowd
• what is “corporate culture” and why it is important when you drive your careers
• what is “soft skills”
• employees’ rights
• wage systems
• more about IT labor market in Russia, Tatarstan, Innopolis

- What should a student be able to apply at the end of the course?

By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...

• identify organization’s corporate culture
• to write a CV and a Cover letter
• to pass job interviews and negotiate for salary
• to start building their personal brand
• to plan and develop their careers
• make their own Self-Development Plan and build Career Development Paths

Course evaluation

Course grade breakdown

Type	Default points	Proposed points
Labs/seminar classes	20	30
Interim performance assessment	30	50
Exams	50	20

If necessary, please indicate freely your course’s features in terms of students’ performance assessment.

Grades range

Course grading range

Grade	Default range	Proposed range
A. Excellent	90-100	85-100
B. Good	75-89	70-84
C. Satisfactory	60-74	60-69
D. Poor	0-59	0-59

If necessary, please indicate freely your course’s grading features.

Final assessment:

To pass a mock interview

1. Familiar with and can answer all types of questions – 20%.

2. Provide a convincing answer to the question: Tell me about yourself – 30%.

3. Not avoid eye contact, communicate clearly and precisely, look friendly, self-confident – 10%.

4. Provide compelling examples for competency-based questions, follow the structure of answering those kind of questions – 20%.

5. Communicate clearly their brands, what value they can bring to business giving a clear answer to the question Why should we hire you – 20%.

Resources and reference material

1. Ted Talk by Amy Cuddy ‘Your body language may shape who you are’ https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_may_shape_who_you_are?language=en

2. Tone Crabbe, How to thrive in a world of too much

3. Ted talk by David Phillips on How To Avoid Death By Power Point https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwpi1Lm6dFo

4. Useful presentation phrases

5. The Commencement address delivered by Steve Jobs at Stanford University, 2005

6. The Labour Code of the Russian Federation

Course Sections

The main sections of the course and approximate hour distribution between them is as follows:

Course Sections

Section	Section Title	Teaching Hours
1	Soft skills and Personal Brand	6
2	How to write CV/Resume/Cover letter and pass job interviews	6
3	Work environment	4,5
4	Career development paths	6
5	Total	22,5

Section 1

Section title:

Soft skills and Personal Brand

How to position and differentiate yourself in your personal and professional life.

Topics covered in this section:

• Soft skills and Networking
• Self-confidence and Body language
• Personal Brand
• Making presentations
• Leadership skills

What forms of evaluation were used to test students’ performance in this section?

Form	Yes/No
Development of individual parts of software product code	No
Homework and group projects	Yes
Midterm evaluation	No
Testing (written or computer based)	No
Reports	No
Essays	Yes
Oral polls	Yes
Discussions	Yes

These sessions require much reflection on your own personality and much effort to identify your core identity and brand.

Outcomes:

by the end of the lessonsv you will learn

• you will identify your brand; develop your own first brand statement; check your hypothesis; learn the key principles to live up to your brand

• you will be able to give an effective presentation by clearly communicating your main message

• you will learn how to use your body to communicate your confidence

• you will learn what soft skills you need to be successful and why networking is essential for your career

Typical questions for seminar classes (labs) within this section

• How to develop soft skills including presentation skills?

• What is personal brand and why it is important in driving career?

• How does our body language govern how we think and feel about ourselves?

• Can power posing for a few minutes really change your life in meaningful ways?

• What is leadership? What type of leadership do you know?

Test questions for final assessment in this section

1. Write a personal brand statement

2. Make a presentation

3. Evaluate your peers’ presentation skills

Section 2

Section title:

How to write CV/Cover letter and pass job interviews

Topics covered in this section:

• CV and Resume, their differences
• Cover letter
• References
• Types of Job interviews, types of questions in an interview
• Negotiation for salary

What forms of evaluation were used to test students’ performance in this section?

Form	Yes/No
Homework and group projects	Yes
Midterm evaluation	No
Testing (written or computer based)	No
Reports	No
Essays	No
Oral polls	Yes
Discussions	Yes

Outcomes:

by the end of the lessonsv you will learn

• how to write CV, Resume and cover letter

• what makes negotiations successful

• if Negotiation is a skill that can be learned

Typical questions for seminar classes (labs) within this section

• Tell about yourself

• Tell about your work experience

• Tell about your achievements

• Why we and why you

Test questions for final assessment in this section

• Write a CV, Resume

• Write a Cover Letter

• Pass a mock interview - practice

• Tell a story: About myself

• Tell me: Why we and why you?

Section 3

Section title:

Work environment

Topics covered in this section:

• Employees’ rights, The Labour code of the Russian Federation

• Organization’s corporate culture

• Wage systems

• Organization’s structure

What forms of evaluation were used to test students’ performance in this section?

Form	Yes/No
Homework and group projects	Yes
Midterm evaluation	No
Testing (written or computer based)	No
Reports	No
Essays	No
Oral polls	Yes
Discussions	Yes

Typical tasks to evaluate ongoing performance:

• Discussion about organization’s culture

• Analyze real employment cases (payment, termination of employment, increasing salary, making mistakes and getting penalties for that)

Typical questions for seminar classes (labs) within this section

• What is a job offer, what is its official status?

• What to check in labor contract?

• What kind of organization’s document should be read at the first day of your employment?

• How to fire an employee?

• How to make safe resignation and protect your rights as an employee?

Test questions for final assessment in this section

1. What is a job offer, what is its official status?

2. What to check in labor contract?

3. How to identify corporate culture?

4. What kind of organization’s document should be read at the first day of your employment?

5. How to fire an employee?

6. How to make safe resignation and protect your rights as an employee?

7. What types of organizations’ structures exist

Section 4

Section title:

Career development paths

Topics covered in this section:

• What is capitalization and monetization

• What paths to choose: vertical and horizontal careers

• How to transform career

• Key trends in the job market

• Salary level of different IT jobs

What forms of evaluation were used to test students’ performance in this section?

Form	Yes/No
Homework and group projects	Yes
Midterm evaluation	No
Testing (written or computer based)	No
Reports	No
Essays	No
Oral polls	Yes
Discussions	Yes

Typical tasks to evaluate ongoing performance:

• What paths are there you can pick to drive your career?

• How can you analyze job market in your area?

Test questions for final assessment in this section

1. What professions in IT area do you know?

2. What are the key trends in IT market?

3. What paths are there you can pick to drive your career?

4. How can you analyze job market in your area?