BCOM 222: Job Search Skills
Course Syllabus
Course Syllabus
This course is designed to help students develop occupational competence for obtaining desired positions in the workforce. The course covers self-evaluation, researching specific careers and companies, conducting informational interviews, preparing required documents (resume, cover letter) that get the interview, interviewing to sell yourself as the best candidate, and applying follow-up procedures.
Recommended Preparation: COSK 200 (Beginning Keyboard and Document Production)
Instructor: Assistant Professor Calip, Vincent
Classroom Location(s): Check your Viking Portal for exact class locations
Online / Hybrid / WEB via Canvas
PCC Campus, AA Building, Second Floor
LAC Campus, M Building, Second Floor
Length of Course: 12-16 Weeks
Develop a portfolio that showcases you as a strong candidate
Apply appropriate skills/strategies to an interview situation
Identify personal strengths and match these strengths to the best possible job and career targets.
Recognize the Internet as a valuable resource for employment opportunities.
Acquire skills/techniques for developing a strong career network.
Prepare job-related documents needed to acquire the interview.
Develop strategies and techniques to handle the interview process with confidence and less stress.
This course utilizes OER or “Open Educational Resources.” When a course uses OER, this means that the course utilizes resources at the discretion and direction of the instructor with no cost to the course participants.
This course utilizes an open educational resource entitled “LinkedIn Learning.” This website is designed as a repository of high-quality mini-courses, video tutorials, and webinars taught by industry professionals in various subject matters. To get started, all participants will need to establish a free account with LinkedIn or LinkedIn Learning and await further instructions from your facilitator on obtaining the free version as a college student.
To ensure a conducive learning environment that is positive and fair for all participants and students there are several policies and procedures the student must follow.
All students must attend all scheduled class sessions for the entire semester. If a student cannot participate in any particular day, they must obtain pertinent information about the day they missed from a classmate. Instructor notification is not needed.
(Online) All students must check their Canvas periodically (at least 2-3 times a week) throughout the course. Distance learning environments are subject to change; therefore, students need to check back frequently.
All course deliverables found in Canvas and distributed by the instructor are expected to be submitted through the Canvas Learning Management System by the due date. Late submissions may not be accepted for points.
All course deliverables will be given ample time to be completed. Due dates will be reflected on the assignment within Canvas or relayed during class sessions. Under no circumstances will late work be accepted. Late submissions will not be worth any points toward the overall grade.
If a student is tardy for any reason, they will have to obtain any missed information from a classmate so that they do not disrupt the class in session, lecture, or classwork. Information will not be repeated for students arriving past the scheduled start time.
Exams and quizzes may be administered in this course. See specific test-taking rules and procedures for our course. Typically exams and quizzes may only be taken once; exceptional circumstances or under student accommodations may warrant more time or additional tries on assessments.
In-person classes are typically conducted in rooms with sensitive and expensive equipment. Food & drink are not allowed. Liquids may be allowed only in closed containers or with spill-proof lids. No eating in the classroom.
All students are expected to act professionally; any inappropriate behavior may be subject to disciplinary actions and removal from the classroom (i.e., vulgar language, inappropriate computer activity, bullying, weapons, physical altercations, class disruption).
There may be some extra credit opportunities throughout the course. Extra credit will have due dates provided for them similarly to regular assignments and will only be accepted as “extra credit” if submitted on time. Extra credit is not required for this course and is at the instructor's discretion.
Suppose the student requires additional help or assistance with the subject matter or materials. In that case, they are at liberty to contact the instructor via [INBOX] on Canvas to set up a meeting or provide solutions.
The exact dates for each module/week will be available in the modules section of our canvas course; however, the schedule below is what to expect throughout BCOM 222.
Week 1 : Understanding Personality Types : self-assessments that will assist us in identifying our strengths and perhaps matching these strengths to the best possible jobs and career targets
Week 2 : Discovering your Strengths : identify personal strengths and match these strengths to the best possible job and career targets
Week 3 : Finding a Job : opportunity to dive into the plethora of internet resources not only utilized for this course; but an instrumental and necessary component of the job-seeking process
Week 4 : Digital Presence : fine-tune your online job board profiles, review and analyze your LinkedIn Account Page, as well as a bookmark all resources discovered in Weeks 3 and 4 so far
Week 5 : Professional Networking : acquiring skills and techniques for developing a solid career network
Week 6 : Online Networking Strategies : Incorporating tools and resources to increase the effectiveness of our networking processes and procedures.
Week 7 : Writing a Resume : Preparing job-related documents needed to acquire the interview.
Week 8 : The Cover Letter : looking at various cover letter samples and perhaps get a better understanding of where we see these types of correspondence fit into the job-seeking process
Week 9 : The Interview (Part 1) : learning about modern interview practices and even have several opportunities to practice our interviewing skills
Week 10 : The Interview (Part 2) : critical components of how to conduct a professional virtual job interview
Week 11 : Salary Negotiation : Take a closer look at what is involved in this negotiating process and what are some best practices when it comes to discussing the inquiry posed to you by the interviewer
Week 12(-16) : Final Project Submissions : Web/Digital Career Portfolio
A significant component of obtaining job searching skills relies heavily on technology, as I’m sure you’ve already been experiencing in modern business job-seeking practices. 90% of larger and more well-renowned corporations utilize technology via online databases to recruit or seek out proper candidates. Therefore, you will find that it is imperative for the modern job seeker to have an online presence to capture the various opportunities within their geographical vicinity.
There will be multiple projects and specific deliverables we will be working on as a class throughout this course to increase our exposure to employers and efficiently learn about opportunities. The following table reflects some of the numerous online resources we will be utilizing throughout the duration of this course.
This course utilizes a standard grading scale; please see the scale table below. No (-) or (+)’s will be added to the scale. The student's overall score for this period of instruction will be comprised of the following components:
Attendance
Participation
Course Involvement via Canvas
Individual Assignments
LinkedIn Learning Completion
Quizzes & Tests
After finalizing the students’ grades for this course, all components will be considered. Please consult with your instructor if you feel your overall score or status does not appropriately represent your performance thus far.
Only letter grades will be entered into the Viking Student System by the end of the course offering.
The success of this course will depend on how well you and I can communicate this semester. To that end, I promise to log in regularly during the week. On weekends...maybe not quite so much. During the week, if you email me a specific question, I will do my best to reply promptly and appropriately within 24 hours. Please do not wait until a few hours before an assignment is due to ask questions.
During the week, you can log in at your convenience. There are no mandatory times for you to be online. My suggestion would be to pick a specific day and time you log in every week to complete your assignments, tests, etc. You can expect assignments and discussions to be graded within five days of the due date.
Each week you will have a discussion to participate in. Please log in early and post your comments. This helps the discussion to get going. Make sure that you have made two posts by the end of the week.
If you have any questions or concerns, please get in touch with me through the mail function on your canvas site. I will check the course primarily on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (usually more often). You can expect a response within 24-48 hours (except on weekends and holidays).
There is no meeting time for this class, but you should plan to check in at least three times per week. It works best if you set up a consistent weekly schedule for working on this class. Treat this schedule respectfully as if you were setting aside the time to attend an in-person course. Don’t get left behind…chances are you will never be able to catch up. Please print out your syllabus and calendar and look at them frequently.
Whenever you enter the Canvas site, check the Announcements and your mailbox. This is how I alert you to changes or upcoming activities. Since we don’t meet as a class, class announcements are the best way I can communicate class news to you, so don’t miss these.
You will be given a weekly topic to discuss on the Discussion Board. The discussion will require you to submit a short but substantial response and a response to one other student's post, but you can respond to more as well. The responses will be due on Sunday of each week; please submit your initial response to the discussion topic by Thursday. This schedule will spark a more productive online conversation. If everyone waits until the last day to submit their response, you won’t have anyone to respond to, and the discussion will be less meaningful.
Check your grades frequently. Read my comments to you as well as your numerical grades. The comments are intended to be a helpful learning tool. I will try to grade and comment on all assignments and discussions within one week after the due date. Occasionally, I cannot be as prompt as I would like. If that happens, please be patient.
Throughout this course; we may have occasional live, pre-scheduled zoom meetings; we must try to encourage good communication during our class meetings. This will be different than communication in face-to-face courses that you might be used to. So, to help us have a good class, I want to encourage you to do the following:
Use headphones or earbuds. This cuts down on echo and extra noises while using the program. If someone is causing an echo or letting in extra noise during the meetings, I will mute them. Please don't be offended if I do that to you. It happens to the best of us.
Turn off your microphone if you are not engaged in conversation for class purposes. For the same reasons as above, turning off your microphone if you are not using it will help everyone hear better. Did you know that you can quickly mute and un-mute your microphone in zoom by using the spacebar on your keyboard? Try it out sometime.
Use Chat. If you can type your question in chat, you can do that. I will try to monitor the conversation as much as I can. However, if you need my attention, please turn on your microphone and ask me. Sometimes, I will miss the question in the chat.
Use your camera (Optional). Feel free to turn on your camera if you feel comfortable showing your background. This is not required but optional.
As we all get used to video conferencing, I am sure we can add to this list, but for now, think about these, and if there is anything else that would help you adjust to meeting online, let me know, and we can add it to this list.