Self-Awareness and Career Success (graded)

(Please note that these are general questions that I am expecting you to answer AFTER you have read the text and reviewed the week one lecture and materials. It is perfectly acceptable to reference the text or the course shell–with the proper citations, of course. I will review what I expect in the threaded discussions in class so you may wish to wait until after class to begin posting on this question for week one.)

Why is understanding yourself important in your career development? How can you ensure that an employer will realize that you have a clear grasp of who you are and what you have to offer?

week 2

Job-Hunting Techniques (graded)

The prospect of searching for a job can be very intimidating. What techniques have you used in the past when you were job hunting? Which ones were most effective? Least effective? What do you attribute their effectiveness (or lack of effectiveness) to?

week 3

The “Hidden” Job Market (graded)

Although estimates vary, it is suggested that 80% or more of the job openings that exist are in thehidden job market. What is the difference between thepublishedjob market and the hidden job market? What techniques would you usually use to access the published job market? What techniques would you use to access the hidden job market?

week 4

Marketing Yourself (graded)

InCareer Focus: A Personal Job Search Guide, Martucci Lamarre (2006) suggests that if we want to realize our job dreams, we need to think about ourselves as products to be marketed, and in order to do this, we need to contextualize ourselves within the five Ps of marketing: product, price, place, presentation, and promotion (p. 4). Please reflect and respond to the following questions taken from our textbook.

What exactly is your product and how is it different from (or better than) other similar products?
Where will you sell your product?
Who are the potential buyers of the product and how does that price compare to similar products being offered?
How will you let others know about your product, and how will you develop its presentation to appropriate markets?

Preparing for Your Interviews (graded)

Experts will tell you that it is important to prepare for an interview. What type of preparation could and should you do?

week 6

Responding to Interview Questions (graded)

Once you have a resumé that gets noticed by employers, the next step in securing the job that you want is to interview successfully. The key to interviewing successfully is your ability to respond appropriately and well to the questions asked during the interview. Pick three questions from the following list (Martucci Lamarre, 2006, p. 121) and tell us how you would respond to them.

Tell me something about yourself.
Why should I hire you?
What are your strengths?
What are your weaknesses?
Why are you applying for this position?
How are you qualified for this position?
Why are you interested in working for our firm?
What can you contribute to this company?
What are your short-term goals?
What are your long-term goals?

week 7

Evaluating a Job Offer (graded)

Review the “Criteria for Evaluating a Job Offer” on pages 138–139 in the textbook. What are your top two criteria out of each of the four basic areas? Why did you choose these criteria?

n Week 1, you should have completed the following assessments from your textbook.

Marketing Readiness Quiz (pp. 8–16)
Self-Awareness Checklist (pp. 16–17)
Ability Assessment (pp. 17–19)
Transferable Skills Checklist (pp. 19–20)
Work Environment and Life Preferences (pp. 20–21)
Self-Assessment Summary Sheet (pp. 21–22)

You will be using these results to prepare your Self-Assessment assignment that is due this week.

The assignment template and grading rubric are available in Doc Sharing. Save the template file by adding your last name to the template filename (e.g. Week2_Self-Assessment_Template_Smith.docx). Be sure to proofread and spell check your work before you submit it.

The grading rubric is also available below:

Component	Points
Part 1: Award full credit if all sections meet minimum requirements. Deduct up to 20 points depending on how incomplete the responses are. No points awarded if the section is not completed. Deduct up to 5 points for spelling and grammatical errors.	30
Part 2: Award full credit if the ideal job is described sufficiently. Deduct up to 10 points for incomplete responses. No points awarded if the section is not completed. Deduct up to 5 points for spelling and grammatical errors.	20
Part 3: Award full credit if all sections meet minimum requirements. Deduct up to 20 points depending on how incomplete the responses are. No points awarded if the section is not completed. Deduct up to 5 points for spelling and grammatical errors.	30
Part 4: Award full credit if the student has provided a reflective summary of their learnings. Deduct up to 10 points if the response is incomplete. No points awarded if the section is not completed. Deduct up to 5 points for spelling and grammatical errors.	20
TOTAL POINTS	100