Career Prep

Nā Hokua offers a variety of Career Preparation supports for program participants. Students can earn stipends, gain valuable career experience, and access coaching from Nā Hokua staff to support career development goals. Successful completion of program requirements will also provide the student with a University of Hawaiʻi certificate of achievement that can enhance the student's job-readiness profile. Below the Nā Hokua Career Preparation program requirement options are further activities beneficial for developing career readiness, including information and resources for crafting a successful résumé, composing an effective cover letter, and requesting references or letters of recommendation.

For opportunities with stipends, please ensure you have submitted a WH-1 tax form if you have not already done so.

Current options for the Nā Hokua Career Preparation program requirement include:

Informational Interviews

Program Requirement Option #1, Stipend Available*, Level of Effort: 10 hours per interview (up to 8 interviews)

Students can develop valuable professional connections and communication skills through informational interviews. Please review the documents below and discuss next steps with your coach. Contract must be completed and approved by Nā Hokua staff prior to submitting stipend requests. Review the Guide for Informational Interview Form and use it to record your progress. Use those notes to complete the Informational Interview Report Form. See the flowchart below to identify all of the required steps.

*This career prep option can be selected as a program make-up activity. The process and workflow remains the same with the exception of receiving a stipend. Please review the Non-Stipend contract link below.



Internships

Program Requirement Option #2, Stipend Available, Level of Effort: 20 hours min, 80 hours max

Students can develop valuable work experience and professional contacts through internships. Employer paid internships are fantastic opportunities, but may be difficult to find. Nā Hokua can provide a stipend in lieu of an employer paying for an internship. This opens up many more opportunities, and it may also address liability concerns that prevent some organizations from hosting unpaid interns. Please discuss with your coach if liability is a concern and how the Nā Hokua program can support both you and the host organization.

Please review the documents below and discuss next steps with your coach. Contract must be completed and approved by Nā Hokua staff prior to submitting timesheets. Timesheets must be submitted and approved for stipend disbursements.

Non-stipend option (program make-up): For students considering internships as a program make-up activity, please review the Internship Program Description and Contract linked below and discuss with your coach. The proposed internship should meet the objectives outlined in the contract document and have a duration of at least 20 hours. A contract is not required for this non-stipend option, but a timesheet will need to be completed by the student, signed by the internship sponsor, and submitted to nahokua@hawaii.edu and your coach for review and approval. Please refer to the contract for details on tracking the Key Developmental Areas (KDAs) during your internship. Schedule a reflection meeting with your coach upon submission of your completed timesheet. Nā Hokua project staff will contact you to confirm make-up satisfaction if all requirements were met.


ePortfolios

Program Requirement Option #3, Level of Effort: 10 hours per academic year*

You know that you will need a résumé and a cover letter when you start applying for jobs. But, as a student, you may not have a lot of formal experience to include in your résumé. This is a common concern for college students, and employers understand this as well. So, how do you stand out from the crowd? How do you demonstrate your academic and career development interests and achievements outside of a résumé?


An electronic portfolio (e-portfolio) is a purposeful collection of sample student work, demonstrations, and artifacts that showcase your learning progression, achievement, and evidence of what you can do and what you are interested in. The collection can include essays and papers (text-based), blog, multimedia (recordings of demonstrations, interviews, presentations, etc.), graphics and photos.

 

In some career fields (e.g. architecture, graphic design), a portfolio is essential to the hiring process, so students in those fields are thinking about and building their portfolios from day one. In the context of career preparation, we are encouraging you to develop an ePortfolio of your own, even if it is not traditionally used in your particular career field.


An ePortfolio is also a tool to help you build and protect your personal brand online. Without your direct input, what is discoverable about you may come from social media and other sources of personally identifiable information on the internet. You might have been tagged in a photo or otherwise connected with something that you would rather not be, in a professional/career context. While you can try to remove those online associations, we recommend building an online presence that would benefit your career goals. 


**Quick exercise: Google your name and review the results. Google Nā Hokua staff members, Sean Nagamatsu, Esben Borsting, and Kepano Kekuewa. Note the sources of those results.**


What a portfolio is NOT: A portfolio is not a placeholder for all or random student work. In order to ensure that the portfolio process is educational and that it serves as a way to assess student learning and career preparedness outcomes, carefully consider what you include in your ePortfolio and if those assets help to tell your story.


How to get started

If you haven’t documented career relevant activities in your life, start doing that today. Journal and take photos of the things a future employer might find interesting. Informal activities such as projects around the house or mālama ʻāina volunteer work could help a hiring manager know more about your passions and work ethic. Pictures or videos of you in action can be powerful assets for your ePortfolio. 


**Tech Tip: clean the lens on your phone camera and have someone take a photo or video of your activity in landscape/horizontal mode.**


As you develop your visual assets, put your interests and activities into words. This is not academic writing, but good grammar and spelling are equally important here. Communication skills are highly desirable in any field, and demonstrating your ability to clearly articulate your thoughts is crucial. At the very least, don’t let poor writing negatively impact your efforts here.


Consider what employers are looking for as you describe your activities. You may not think much of the work you did in retail, for example, but there could be great qualities worth pointing out. Stocking shelves - attention to detail and organizational skills; cashier - responsibility with money and customer service; helping with the family business - financial and business skills; etc. 


Creating your initial ePortfolio as part of Nā Hokua’s career prep efforts is a starting point (approximately week 6). When you feel you have produced a viable ePortfolio, please share the link with your coach and schedule time to discuss with them (approximately week 12). Consider their feedback to improve your ePortfolio and continue to look for content to add over the course of each semester. At the end of the semester, or at any point where you may have made significant updates to your ePortfolio, schedule follow up reviews with your coach.


*If ePortfolio is selected as a make-up option for other missed requirements, students are expected to complete the ePortfolio within the same semester of the missed requirement.

Minimum of four sections: 


Rubric (what we are looking for)


Samples

Malia Martin


Platforms

Google Sites (be sure you are logged in to your UH Google account)

Wix

Wordpress

Independent Career/STEʻĀ M Exploration

Program Requirement Option #4, Conference/Participation Fees Reimbursed

The Independent Career Exploration (ICSE) option supports Nā Hokua students to participate in activities that fulfill your pikoʻu, your interests, experiences, and sense of purpose and personal connection. This career preparation activity will help you gain confidence and perspective in career paths you are interested in pursuing. Students will be asked to participate in the Nā  Hokua Student Share-Out Workshop. The ICSE can consist of a variety of different experiences:

Please review the documents below and discuss next steps with your coach. The Guide for Independent Career/STEʻĀ M Exploration can be used to monitor your progress through the experience and take notes on key dates and lessons learned. The ICSE Report Form is where you enter these notes when you have completed the ICSE activity.

Staffing Agency

Program Requirement Option #5, Stipend Available, Level Effort: 10 hours

Students can improve their job readiness and marketability by working with a staffing agency. This option takes a student through the screening and application process with a firm such as Altres. Students will review the jobs listed on the staffing agency’s website and submit an application to join the team. The agency’s staff will guide participants through the process of becoming “job ready” with the goal of being added to the agency’s roster of available talent for their clients to engage. Altres has offered to support Nā Hokua students whether or not they find job listings directly related to their long-term career goals. If this describes you, please email Nā Hokua and copy your coach to indicate your interest.

To receive a stipend for this career prep option, the student will need to submit the Staffing Agency Option Stipend Contract. Upon approval, the student will then contact a staffing agency and follow their application and talent development process (which may include activities such as resumé refinement and interview strategies). Whether or not you are ultimately placed on the agency’s staffing roster, we believe active and thoughtful participation in this process is a powerful developmental experience. Please complete the Staffing Agency Reflection form below to initiate the stipend request. If you are qualified as “job ready” by a staffing agency and placed on their roster, congratulations!

If you did not attend the Staffing Agency workshop, please watch the interview linked below to learn more about this career preparation option.

Interview with Emi Yamauchi-Wong from Hawaii-based Altres Staffing

Other Career Prep Activities: Résumé, Cover Letter, and References

A résumé or curriculum vitae is an important document to develop and evolve over the course of your career. The résumé you submitted as part of the Nā Hokua program requirements is a starting point. Through your time in the program, you will work with your coach to identify and utilize resources that will assist you in improving your résumé. At the end of the academic year, you will include a review of your resume as part of the final meeting with your coach.

We are planting this seed early in your career to encourage you to curate your academic and work experiences in a way that supports your résumé development over time. Taking note of key dates, responsibilities, and people you work with will make résumé updates easier and more accurate.

On the topic of people, know that most job and academic applications will ask for references which could be a list of three professional contacts or letters of recommendation. Are you doing really well in a class or at a job? Consider asking those who can vouch for your performance if they would like to be a professional reference in the future. If they agree, be sure to get their contact information, and follow up with a thank you note. It is common to list a reference's name, title/position, phone number and email address, so be sure to ask for that information if you don't already have it. Also make note of any highlights from your experience with that reference - good class participation or grades, strong performance at work, etc.

References are more typical during a job search, but letters of recommendation may be required in academic and scholarship applications. In either case, it is good form to contact your reference to reconnect and confirm that they would be willing to serve as a reference. You may even need/want to remind them of your work with them and even provide them an update on your most recent academic or career accomplishments. If it has been some time since you last spoke with your reference, a little reminder can go a long way. If a letter of recommendation is required, we suggest you provide your reference with a template that they can work from. This template should include any important contact information (e.g. name and email for the employer or institution you are applying to), highlights of your interactions with your reference (e.g. you were active in class discussions, you led the night shift at work, you were great with customer service, etc.), and if applicable, include some of the achievements you have made since last talking with your reference. You might even go so far as to provide a pre-written letter of recommendation and ask your reference to use as much or as little of your sample as they would like. The easier you make if for your reference the better.

Résumé vs. Curriculum Vitae

Résumés and Curriculm Vitae (CVs) serve similar purposes. CVs are more commonly found in academic and research settings where résumés are standard just about everywhere else. This article is a concise description of both with great writing tips.

Cover Letter

Where a CV/résumé lists the essential facts of your education and work experience, a cover letter is usually included to help you express your interest in the job and to make connections between your experiences and the position requirements, especially if those connections are not obvious. For example, if you worked in retail or in food service, you might point out your strong customer service and communication skills or responsibility with financial transactions and handling money. A number of jobs will list minimum qualifications (MQs) and desirable qualifications (DQs). You can use the cover letter to list each MQ and DQ and describe how you meet them. Some of this may be a bit repetitive from your résumé/CV, but making it absolutely clear that you meet all of the MQs (and, hopefully, hit a number of the DQs) will help move your résumé forward. Make it easy for your résumé reviewers (it's often a committee) see that you at least meet the MQs for the position. Don't make them hunt for those connections in your résumé. If the reviewer cannot identify that you have met the MQs, your application will very likely be rejected without further consideration.

Customize

At this early stage in your career, your résumé/CV will likely be fairly generic. But, as you identify job opportunities to apply for, you will want to tailor your résumé/CV to match those positions. This could mean moving more relevant experience to the top or otherwise highlighting relevant experience. Perhaps consider removing or shortening non-relevant experiences. For example, if you were a deckhand on a SCUBA charter for a summer, and you were applying for an EMT position, your safety certifications and responsibilities may be more important to highlight than your ability to serve snacks to customers.

Activity

1) Review the links below for relevant résumé/CV writing advice and update your résumé based on what you have learned. Create a general cover letter. Review with your coach.

2) Find the career support center on your campus and schedule a résumé/CV and cover letter review session with them. Report back to your coach on that experience.

3) If you have an immediate job opportunity, customize your résumé and cover letter and review with your coach.

4) If you don't have an immediate job opportunity, find a job you'd like on LinkedIn or Indeed.com (or other job listing site) and customize your résumé and cover letter for that position. Identify the gaps between your actual résumé at this time and the MQs for the job. Discuss with your coach.

5) At the end of the academic year, identify three individuals (non-family members) and ask them if they would be professional references. These could be people at work, faculty members, or people at organizations you volunteer with. Provide this list to your coach and discuss.

6) Write a sample letter of reference from the viewpoint of one of your listed references and share with your coach for discussion.

7) At the end of the academic year, update your résumé and highlight any significant academic or work related achievements. Share with your coach.

General Resources

Résumé Resources

Cover Letter Resources

Reference/Recommendation Resources


University of Hawaiʻi Career Centers & Services