Career-Related Class Assignments

Let the Office of Career and Professional Development (OCPD) help you to embed career-related topics into your curriculum. We can assist students with preparing for a job or internship search, creating résumés and cover letters, conducting interviews, and much more. Some instructors require these assignments and others offer them as extra credit options. To get started, complete the Classroom Assignment Request Form. See below for assignment descriptions.

Requirements for class assignment requests:

• Request must be made by the end of the first week of classes each term
• Limit of two types of assignments per class/group per semester
• Faculty must specify if they are requesting an in-person meeting or will accept a different method for the fulfillment of the assignment and communicate this to their students
• No class assignment may be made without confirmation from OCPD staff

After receiving your request, a staff member from the OCPD will contact you within 2-3 business days to follow up. Requests are granted based on availability and are scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis.

Check out our Faculty Grab-and-Go content for additional resources, including lesson plans, lecture slides with notes, handouts, and worksheets for a variety of career topics. Contact the Career & Internship Advisor for your college if you would like to brainstorm other assignments that may be of interest to your students.

Class Assignment Descriptions

Handshake Activation

Handshake is the University’s comprehensive job board for part-time jobs, internships, and full-time positions. Require students to activate their Handshake profile. Require students to find three jobs of interest and analyze what parts of the position or organization appeal to them. Students tell us they want to connect their majors to careers, and this is a concrete way for them to see the types of positions available to them upon graduation.

Career Fairs and Networking Events

Encourage students to attend career events. The OCPD and Handshake host career fairs, networking events, career panels, information sessions, and other workshops designed to help students explore career interests, meet alumni and employers, and gain access to opportunities. We encourage you to ask students to reflect on the experience by sharing what they learned at the event. The OCPD can provide a list of attendees so that you may verify students’ participation in the event.

FOCUS Assessment

The FOCUS 2 is an online resource that students can access for free to learn about their interests, skills, values, and personality through self-assessments, and to see how those aspects of self might correlate to various professions. The assessment also provides majors currently offered at Georgia Southern that translate to working in those career fields. Students receive their results automatically but may also schedule an appointment with an OCPD or Major and Career Exploration Center staff member to learn more about their results.

FOCUS Career Readiness Assessment

Students may take the “Am I Career Ready” self-assessment within FOCUS to learn more about the NACE career competencies.  Through the assessment, they may rate their development of each competency and then receive suggestions on how to further improve their skills.  Faculty may opt to add a discussion post or reflection paper assignment for students to summarize what they learned from the assessment and steps that they plan to take to further develop their career competencies.  

Meet with an OCPD Staff Member

Students can schedule appointments with Career and Internship Advisors to discuss majors and career exploration, résumé assistance, cover letter and other professional correspondence support, job, internship and co-op search, practice interviews, and graduate school exploration. Appointments are available Monday-Friday from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. with advanced notice and are scheduled via Handshake. With a class roster, the OCPD can verify student appointments that are completed.

Mock Interview – In-Person or Virtual Appointment

Students will meet with the appropriate staff member and must bring a résumé to the meeting. Attire may or may not be requested to be professional in nature. Students will be interviewed and will receive feedback from an OCPD staff member.

Mock Interview – Video

Faculty will work with office staff to create a video-based interview using the current AI-based system (Big Interview). Faculty will choose questions, set expectations for students’ attire, and will manage the dissemination of the information to students. Depending on how the assignment is set up, students may receive feedback instantly via artificial intelligence or at a later date from an OCPD staff member.

Résumé Review – In-Person or Virtual Appointment

Students must bring a résumé to the meeting with the staff member who has committed to the appointment. A review will take place during the appointment, with suggestions for improvement or changes, if appropriate. 

Résumé Review – Submission through Handshake 

Students will upload their document(s) through their Handshake account. A critique will take place by assigned staff and a response may include Changes Suggested (not approved for use) or a Complete Review (approved) comment. Students will receive an email from the staff regarding the status of their document(s). Documents marked Changes Suggested will be returned through the students’ Georgia Southern email with comments embedded for the student to address.

Last updated: 8/31/2023