Take advantage of these events and learn more about job opportunities, graduate school prospects, the application process, how to set up your LinkedIn, best practices for resumes and cover letters, interview success guidelines, and more.
Students may start participating in professional development activities in their junior year. Only events occurring in the junior and senior years will go toward FILA 450 credit and must be designated as a FILA 450 event or activity. Most of the professional development events are facilitated by the Center for Career Development (CCD). Look for the FILA 450 credit designation or contact the CCD if you have questions. These programs and events focus on skills that are not major- or discipline-specific and will be useful to you now and after graduation, whether you plan to go into the job market or graduate school. Even if you switch professional paths and go in a different direction, the skills that you will gain from these professional development exercises will be of significant benefit.
Programming that Counts for FILA 450 Credit:
1) Career Development Workshops (the published schedule is on the CCD Google Calendar and on Handshake). Workshops cover a wide variety of topics, including writing resumes and cover letters and how to optimize your LinkedIn account.
2) 1:1 Appointments with CCD Staff Members (make an appointment on Handshake):
– Career Advising
– Resume Reviews (resume follow-up appointments do not count)
– Cover Letter Reviews
– Job + Internship Searching
– Graduate School Exploration
– Interview Preparation
3) Career Fairs, Graduate School Fairs, Panels, Employer Info Sessions, and Networking Events (find the published schedule on the CCD Google Calendar and on Handshake).
NEED TO CHECK YOUR FILA 450 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT EVENT ATTENDANCE? FILA 450 Professional Development attendance through Handshake. “Check-in” upon arrival by scanning the Handshake QR code to ensure your attendance is counted* toward the FIVE (5) REQUIRED FILA 450 professional development events.
*Without proper check-in, there’s no way to verify your professional development attendance and that event will not count toward your required professional development events. Events cannot be added to your Handshake record after the event has concluded.
Some academic departments already offered some professional development content to students in their majors. When this is the case, up to two (2) professional development events from a student’s own department/major may count toward the FILA 450 portfolio.
Why only two? The FILA 450 senior portfolio is an interdisciplinary project, and the professional development portion is also interdisciplinary: it should go beyond a specific major and provide students with skills and tools that can be applied to a variety of fields and industries. This way, if you graduate and make any career changes down the line, you will still be well equipped with professional development savvy that works in many settings.