Welcome! Academic Strategies Unit 7 Seminar

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Weekly Reminders & Announcements Announcements Unit 5 & Unit 6 Grades Late Assignments

Unit 7 Assignments Complete the Unit 7 Reading Reading: Goal Setting Networking Review Networking Basics and Networking Tips Attend the Unit 7 Discussion Begin working on the Unit 7 Assignment Interview with a Professional

Unit 7 Interview with a Professional Assignment Select Unit 7 on your Course Menu and then select the Assignment tab. Follow all guidelines listed on the Unit 7 template. Begin planning and preparing for your interview with a professional this week. Double-check to make sure you have completed all items listed on the template. Proofread and revise as necessary. Submit the completed template to the Dropbox area of the course on or before the last day of Unit 9

Final Course Project Interview with a Professional & Career Action Plan PART I: INTERVIEW WITH A PROFESSIONAL: You will conduct an interview with a professional and record the results of your interview on the Unit 7 template. PART II: CAREER ACTION PLAN: You will complete all items listed on the Unit 9 template. Item I. Reflect upon what you gained from the interview experience in a five-sentence paragraph. Item II: Develop a Career Action Plan for yourself by setting short-term and long- term professional (career) goals and talking about why those goals are important and describing how you will achieve those goals.

Interview Planning Steps STEP I: Think about a career you would like to investigate. You might also want to take time to research careers by visiting Kaplan's Career Services site. The O*Net OnLine is also a great career search tool as well: The idea is to take time to explore your career interest as you prepare for your interview. STEP II: Decide upon the person you would like to interview. This person should be a professional who works in a career field that you would like to pursue (current or retired), so you can ask questions and learn more about what you want to do with your career. ADVICE: When you begin to think about the person you wish to interview, let your own interests guide you. TALK with friends, family members, neighbors, classmates and co-workers as you try to locate someone for this interview. You might be surprised at how many people will be willing to help you get connected with someone who would be appropriate for this interview.

Interview Planning Steps (cont.) STEP III: Contact the person you want to interview and set up the day and time. You may conduct your interview in person, over the phone or by . Explain that you are conducting the interview as a requirement for your Academic Strategies course and let the person know that you have a strong interest in their career area or a related area for a future career. Make it clear that you will need only minutes for the interview to ask the 10 questions. STEP VI: Prepare for the interview. The 10 interview questions are already prepared for you—you’ll see them on the Unit 7 template (located in the Unit 7 Assignment area and in Doc Sharing). Use these questions and feel free to include a few that are of special interest to you as well. Conduct yourself professionally at all times and strive to keep the interview to no more than minutes. That is a courtesy on your part—time is valuable!!

Questions?

Goal Setting The goals that you set for yourself must be based on YOUR values and beliefs. No one else can choose goals for you. Others can make suggestions, but YOU must "own" your goals for them to be useful. YOU must decide what you want to achieve.

Why do YOU think these three points are important when it comes to goal- setting?

Every goal you plan, whether short, intermediate, or long-term, should be S.M.A.R.T.: Specific, Measurable, Action- oriented, Realistic, and Timed.

SPECIFIC: What do you really want to accomplish? Your goal needs to be specific enough to be able to determine what actions are required to achieve the desired result. MEASURABLE: How will you know you have reached your goal – what marker or milestone will identify success? ACTION-ORIENTED: What exactly will you do to reach your goal? You will need to take ACTION!

REALISTIC: A goal must be achievable. Have you researched enough to know it’s possible? Do you know someone else who has accomplished this goal? Goals set too high may be discouraging, but setting the bar too low will not provide motivation. TIMED: Each goal must have some sort of deadline. Some flexibility may be necessary, but deadlines help keep us motivated and focused towards completing our goals.

Why do you think it’s especially important for your goals to be Action- oriented? In other words, why is it important to know exactly what you must do to reach your goal?

What happens if you set goals that are not realistic? Too high maybe or too low?

Why should we set deadlines as we set goals?

Why do you think it’s important to have a mixture of short-term goals and long-term goals?

What are some of the short-term goals that you are focusing on right now?

The Case of Lara Lara is a stay-at-home, married mother of two small children. The past few years have been financially difficult for the family, so Lara has decided to go back to school to get a good paying job and help support her family. She would like a career that allows her to stay at home with her children as much as possible. Her goals right now are to get in and out of college quickly and start earning money as soon as possible. Lara is into arts and crafts and has always been interested in starting her own business to sell them. Although she has no prior experience or knowledge about owning a business, she frequents craft shops and fairs and has some knowledge of what other people sell. She has decided to go back to school to become an entrepreneur.

As Lara talks about her career and degree plans with her Academic Advisor, he encourages her to take some time to think very seriously about where she is going and how she will get there. He advises her to begin her career planning by setting a few short-term goals for herself. What are some short-term goals Lara might set for herself that will help her to achieve her long-term goals of earning her degree and starting her own business?

As you talk with Lara, you find that she is mainly focused on the long-term goals of owning her own business and making more money for her family. In fact, you feel that she is being a bit unrealistic about the time and effort it’s going to take to reach these goals. How might you explain to Lara that it isn’t enough to focus on just her long-term goals?

Lara’s Academic Advisor is concerned that Lara really has no prior experience or knowledge about owning a business, so he suggests that she set up some interviews with people who own their own businesses. How might Lara go about finding someone to interview and why might this be a valuable experience for her?

DID YOU KNOW? Informational Interviews have consistently been rated among the TOP 10 career planning activities!

Lara’s advisor also provides Lara with information on S.M.A.R.T. goal setting. He tells her to evaluate her goals (long-term and short-term) and make sure they are S.M.A.R.T. In light of our discussion, why do you think it is especially important for Lara to follow this advice?

S.M.A.R.T. GOALS = STRONG + REALISTIC + ATTAINABLE GOALS

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Final Questions?