1. Navigating Career Conversations for the Humanities and Social Sciences

2. Goals Discuss where students are and how we can help
Explore common misconceptions
Provide activity ideas to guide career conversations
Share some of the UW resources available

3. Where students are The concept of career is a source of anxiety
Think picking a major sets students on career path
Struggle to identify skills, strengths, and interests
Hear external messaging that their major is useless

4. How can we help? Dive in to career conversations
Help students make values based decisions
Integrate career myth busting into discussions about major
Teach strategies and build confidence

5. Myth #1: I don’t have any marketable skills
Many students don’t know how to talk about their skills and strengths
A major concern by employers that students don’t know how to translate skills to a job description

6. Activity 1: Skills brainstorm
What skills do your students have as Humanities and Social Sciences students?
Brainstorm a list with a partner
Share out

7. What skills do employers seek?
According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers:
Critical thinking
Communication
Collaboration
Leadership
Professionalism

8. Activity 2: Skills storytelling
Look at the list of skills employers seek
Tell your partner about an experience where you demonstrated one of those skills
Work
Volunteer
Student activities
Classes
Should be a complete story: Task, actions taken, and the result of the work

9. Myth #2: My major defines my future
Significant source of anxiety
Too limiting
Overwhelmed by too many options
Goal to help students think more broadly
Connect experiences
Identify what they enjoy
Identify what are they good at

10. Activity 3: What do you enjoy?
Brainstorm a list of all the things you are good at
Add to the list the things you love to read about, talk about, or do
If I spoke with a past professor, what would they tell me about you?
If I spoke with your friends, what would they tell me about you?

11. Activity 3: What do you enjoy?
Building confidence
Combine skills and strengths list to help expand options
People find job satisfaction in many ways
Day to day work activities
Mission or values of a company
Working with likeminded people
Reframe career in a positive way

12. Myth #3: There are very few jobs for people with my major
In student minds:
Law, Society, and Justice major = Lawyer
English major = Editor
Spanish major = Translator
Need to disrupt this idea and help students think more creatively
Seeing the winding paths of alumni with the same major can help

13. Activity 3: Alumni LinkedIn Tool
Discover companies that hire recent graduates
Learn about the many pathways possible with a major
Work backwards: How did an alumni build their way towards a career path that sounds interesting?
Set up career conversations with alumni to learn more, build a network, and eventually find jobs

14. UW Resources Advisers and career coaches Mentorship programs
Small group career coaching
Career Launch
Internships
Workshops
Drop-ins

15. Questions?