Career Development (CAR)

This course provides students with an understanding of career decision-making and the opportunity to explore their career choices. Students will undergo a rigorous self-assessment and exploration process and learn how to write resumes and cover letters, prepare for interviews, and create professional LinkedIn profiles.

This course prepares students to develop a portfolio to justify the awarding of academic credit based on learning gained through life and/or work experiences. The student will learn how to evaluate and document prior learning, to match prior learning to the goals and objectives of qualifying GCU courses, and to make a case for the granting of credit by documenting how prior learning achieves the goals and objectives of the targeted course. Students do not automatically receive credit for prior learning by completing CAR199. Portfolios are reviewed through a separate evaluation process. Rewarding of credit for prior learning is determined by that process.

Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.

This course explores the fundamentals of career preparation and leads students through job/internship search: exploring career options, creating a resume, writing a cover letter, generating a list of references, and learning how to network. By the end of this course, students will obtain the necessary tools to begin applying for internships and jobs. Open to all undergraduates with junior or senior status.

This experiential course designed to meet twice a week will provide students with the career/life management skills needed to thrive at home, school and work. Students will be introduced to concepts of contemplative living to establish long and short-term goals. Specifically, they will develop skills in reflection, self-awareness, communication, time management and financial planning, integrating an understanding of the Hidden Rules of Class and the Mercy core values. This will enable them to understand the impact today’s behaviors will have on their long-term desired outcomes.

This course prepares students with disabilities and those interested in supporting the employment of people with disabilities in the principles and practices related to career management strategies. Students will learn about disability-related employment history, messaging, legal requirements, policies, and best practices. They will gain experience with career exploration approaches designed to increase a job seeker’s self-confidence, choices, and knowledge of career options, explore accommodation strategies in the workplace, and discuss disability disclosure strategies. Broader workplace skills necessary for career success are also covered.

Non-credit internships fulfill one of the university’s experiential learning requirements and may satisfy a requirement in a student’s academic program but do not replace a program’s for-credit internship requirement. In the academic session in which students expect to complete a non-credit internship, they enroll in this zero-credit course to have completion of their GCU-approved non-credit internship recorded on their transcript. This is a zero-credit course that will be graded pass, indicating students completed all non-credit internship requirements, or failed, indicating students did not complete all non-credit internship requirements. Students may repeat the course as needed.

Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor.