How the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) defines Career Readiness:
“Career readiness is a foundation from which to demonstrate requisite core competencies that broadly prepare the college-educated for success in the workplace and lifelong career management.
For higher education, career readiness provides a framework for addressing career-related goals and outcomes of curricular and extracurricular activities, regardless of the student’s field of study. For employers, career readiness plays an important role in sourcing talent, providing a means of identifying key skills and abilities across all job functions; similarly, career readiness offers employers a framework for developing talent through internship and other experiential education programs.”
What are Group Appointments?
In general, group appointments are an opportunity to enhance peer-to-peer engagement. Students gain skills in career and self-development through the intentionally designed sessions. The students are the driver, and our resources are the GPS to help them achieve all they hope to accomplish during the bridge from college to career.
- Faculty & Staff are encouraged to request a group appointment for smaller student groups.
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What specific topics are available?
Exploration
- Learning Objectives:
- Students will develop and research information skills to make an informed decision about academic and career interests.
- Students will use assessment resources to practice connecting with professional development opportunities that align with career interests.
- Students will demonstrate interpersonal exploration that supports academic and professional interests.
- Students will gather and analyze information to identify opportunities for future vocation.
- 60 minutes
- NACE Career Readiness Competencies: Critical Thinking, Equity & Inclusion, Teamwork
Experience
- Learning Objectives:
- Students will connect with experiential learning opportunities to enhance prospective career trajectories (such as internships, shadowing, informational interviewing, etc.).
- Students will learn how involvement can make the transition from college to career smoother and more accessible.
- 60 minutes
- NACE Career Readiness Competencies: Professionalism, Career & Self-Development, Communication
Resume
- Learning Objective:
- Students will understand the role of a resume in articulating value to a future employer
- Students will employ best practices for creating an effective resume that articulates professional proficiencies and qualifications.
- Students will develop resume tailoring techniques that reflect education, experience and measurable achievements in the pursuit of specific professional opportunities.
- 60 minutes
- NACE Career Readiness Competencies: Communication, Professionalism, Leadership
Mock Interview
- Learning Objectives:
- Students will perform mock interviews to gain confidence communicating individual abilities that add value to an employer.
- Students will connect their experiential learning outside of the classroom to future career opportunities.
- Students will practice critical thinking and communication skills to articulate acquired (or first-hand) experiences that demonstrate employability.
- 60 minutes
- NACE Career Readiness Competencies: Communication, Professionalism, Career & Self-Development
- Learning Objectives:
Why are Group Appointments important?
The UAB Career Center strives to offer dynamic resources through several mediums that simultaneously match the interests of students with future opportunities. This resource is tailored to ensure greater outcomes and the convenience for the student to interact with our office. The goal is to foster peer-to-peer interaction. These sessions will be facilitated by a career consultant or Peer Career Advisor.
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How the UAB Career Center incorporates NACE career competencies into the Group Appointment framework
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Career & Self Development: Students proactively develop oneself and one’s career through continual personal and professional learning, awareness of one’s strengths and weaknesses, navigation of career opportunities, and networking to build relationships within and without one’s organization.
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Communication: Students learn to clearly and effectively exchange information, ideas, facts, and perspectives with persons inside and outside of an organization.
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Critical Thinking: Students begin to identify and respond to needs based upon an understanding of situational context and logical analysis of relevant information.
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Equity & Inclusion: By working in small groups, students can demonstrate the awareness, attitude, knowledge, and skills required to equitably engage and include people from different local and global cultures.
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Leadership: Peer to peer engagement helps students recognize and capitalize on personal and team strengths to achieve organizational goals.
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Professionalism: Students build skills that demonstrate effective work habits, and act in the interest of the larger community and workplace. This helps students better understand how work environments differ.
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Teamwork: Build and maintain collaborative relationships to work effectively toward common goals, while appreciating diverse viewpoints and shared responsibilities.
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Technology: Students should understand and leverage technologies ethically to enhance efficiencies, complete tasks, and accomplish goals.
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FAQs
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What is the difference between group appointments and workshops?
Group appointments offer a broad opportunity to learn as appointments are heavily designed around peer input/feedback. Whereas workshops are designed to deliver content. One has more of an active approach and the other passive in order to appeal to various learning styles.
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Who is the targeted audience?
We currently have four (4) appointment types available that are open to any UAB student.
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What experience can students expect?
Students can expect an interdependent-reciprocal learning atmosphere. Students should come prepared to actively participate and engage with their peers. Their experience will depend on how much they are willing to get involved.
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What are affinity groups?
Affinity groups are a group of people who share a particular interest/identity. For example: students who are members of the same club, members of a collegiate athletic team, students who live in the same residence hall, share cultural similarities, etc. One benefit of affinity groups engaging in group appointments is that trust amongst the group has already been established.
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Who will facilitate the group appointments?
Peer Career Advisors and Career consultants facilitate group appointments.
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How to request a group appointment?
All inquiries may be directed to the UAB Career Center via careercenter@uab.edu. If you have identified a small group of students who may benefit from peer-to-peer engagement, simply complete the request form below, two weeks prior to the desired date.
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What is the ideal number of student participants for group appointments?
Ideally, 6-10 students for in-person sessions. If a virtual session is requested, upwards of 20 students that can be separated into breakout rooms. Group appointments are well suited for affinity groups.
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What is the format for group appointments?
Group appointments are currently offered virtually; however, the intent is to transition to in-person as safely as possible. Please email the Career Center for clarification on the delivery method post pandemic. The hybrid model will remain as an option.
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Can the content be tailored?
Yes, we can invite employers from specific industries to co-facilitate group appointments. We can also incorporate industry specific job descriptions/resources to engage with students.
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Can group appointments be offered in a series?
Yes, the recommendation is that small groups request the following sequence: Exploration, Experience, Resume, Mock Interview to complete the full series.