Faculty and staff
What can you do to help your students? How can students prepare for their careers?
We recognize the powerful impact VCU faculty and staff can have and we want to be your partner in the success of VCU students. We have a shared desire to prepare VCU students to enter the world of work as highly sought-after professionals. We know that you’ve got a lot on your plate. Maybe you know how to help students, but you don’t have the time to work with them one-on-one. Or maybe you have students asking questions about the job market that you’re not quite sure you have the answers to.
We are happy to support faculty and staff in bringing career services to your students. If you would like to request a class presentation or workshop, please fill out our Request a Presentation Google Form and someone from our team will be back in touch with you within the week. We ask for at least two weeks notice prior to any program so we can assign a staff member and they can plan appropriately. We thank you for your patience and look forward to working with you again soon.
Navigating requests from employers
The Employer & Experiential Development Team develops and expands strategic relationships with leading companies locally, nationally and globally. As representatives of VCU, they generate employment opportunities for all student populations while assisting employers in building brand awareness on the VCU campus. We serve as the conduit between VCU, students and employers, and strive to know about the various organizations who wish to work with the university, their hiring needs, and make recruiting as seamless as possible.
Resources for faculty and staff
We understand that as faculty members you are interested in teaching students both in and outside of the classroom. You recognize that the student’s journey doesn’t end at graduation. You also know that success in the workforce requires that your students understand more than what they learn in class.
So how can you prepare your students with the career competencies that today’s employers are expecting? What are the critical career skills your students need for success? Look over our career curriculum information below to learn how to integrate career development activities into your syllabus.
For additional information or consultation, please contact Haley Sims, hgsims@vcu.edu, senior associate director of career advising.
If an employer asks me to recommend a student for an opportunity with their organization, or asks me to send them a “short list” of my best students, can I help them?
In order to ensure equal access to all students, faculty should not provide direct referrals, student recommendations, or any type of list of “top” candidates to any party. All employers must post their opportunities and select their own candidates using Handshake in order to recruit from VCU.
If an employer reaches out and asks me to share a job posting with my students, am I allowed to do that?
Yes! As long as opportunities are posted and approved in Handshake, faculty members can encourage all students in their/the department’s classes to take a look at the opportunities and consider applying. Faculty/ staff should not share with specific students as this is an issue of equitable access to opportunity, and could result in legal liability for VCU. To obtain the direct link for the Handshake posting(s) you want to share, please reach out to hirevcurams@vcu.edu.
Can I have employers and industry professionals visit my classroom?
Yes! If you have a request for an employer or industry professional to visit just your classroom, you are welcome to set that up as it fits in your schedule. Otherwise, we request that employers coordinate multiple class visits or other on-campus recruiting events through our Employer Development Team to ensure that organizations do not host conflicting events, and that their events comply with university policies. They are welcome to contact us at hirevcurams@vcu.edu for more information.
How can I direct students to career/internship fairs happening on campus?
Our career fairs are outlined on our website annually, so feel free to share this page with your students: https://careers.vcu.edu/experience/career- fairs-and-events/ (updated annually). Students can view the specific details for each fair, including the list of participating employers, in Handshake. The fair details are viewable for the two months leading up to, and through the date of, each fair.
How can I guide my students to employers that might be of interest to them?
Handshake is VCU’s career and internship platform that connects students and alumni with employers, jobs, internships, career advisors, and career- related events. Built for college students and alumni, Handshake offers early-career opportunities and allows employers to recruit directly from VCU. Students should use Handshake to connect with employers and advisors, find and apply for jobs and internships, register for career fairs and events, and get personalized job recommendations based on their career interests.
- The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) is a professional association that connects over 17,000 college career services professionals, early talent recruiting and university relations professionals. As the leading source of information on the employment of the college educated, NACE provides standards, ethics, advocacy, and guidance for the recruiting and hiring process. VCU follows NACE’s Principles for Ethical Professional Practice as the guidelines for our campus recruiting practices.
- A Faculty Guide to Ethical and Legal Standards in Student Employment
- Case Study: When Faculty Refer and Rank Students for Employers
In our effort to maintain the integrity of recruiting at VCU, our three career centers—VCU Career Services, School of Business Career Services and College of Engineering Career Services—have developed standards for recruitment across the University. All activities must adhere to these policies in addition to VCU’s universitywide policies. Employers are expected to adhere to our policies and guidelines when recruiting from VCU. If you are uncertain if their recruiting efforts comply with our policies, please direct them to us at hirevcurams@vcu.edu
How to support your students
We understand that as faculty and staff you are interested in teaching students both in and outside of the classroom. You recognize that the student’s journey doesn’t end at graduation.
So how can you prepare your students with the career competencies that today’s employers are expecting? Check out the resources below for more information.
For additional information or consultation, please contact careers@vcu.edu.
What is Big Interview?
Whoever said practice makes perfect had Big Interview in mind. Big Interview is a web-based mock interview platform that combines a curriculum of video lessons with virtual practice to help students improve their interview skills. Utilizing a webcam and a microphone, students respond to a series of pre-recorded interview questions from their computers. Students are recorded and are then able to review their responses. We use Big Interview frequently to assist students with preparing for interviews, eliminating the dreaded umms and ahhs from speech, and helping non-native speakers feel more comfortable interviewing in English.
How you can use Big Interview
As a faculty member, you have the ability to create your own assignments. You can select pre-recorded questions, record your own custom questions and then review student responses at your convenience and provide feedback.
Getting started
To learn more about how to incorporate Big Interview into your curriculum and receive access to create assignments, contact Melinda Snyder at mwsnyder2@vcu.edu.
Implementing career development into your courses
As your partner in preparing students for personal and professional success, we have created a series of easy-to-implement career development exercises for your courses. Our activities are based upon 11 primary career-related learning goals that align with our advising model and with the mission, vision and existing outcomes of the university.
These learning goals were identified with the intent that all students participating in career-related courses would achieve these goals by engaging in activities and assignments meant to foster active consideration and exploration of career opportunities.
These activities are part of a collaborative effort to:
- Assist staff and faculty in developing career-related courses.
- Ensure that students are acquiring core professional development knowledge essential for post-graduate success.
When creating a course syllabus, it is important to take into account how the 11 primary career-related learning goals are directly measured. In other words, each learning goal should have an assignment or activity that measures whether or not the student achieved the goal.
How to implement these activities in your courses
Each of the career-related learning goals and specific student learning outcomes is outlined Career Course Activities Workbook. For additional consultation or assistance, please contact Haley Sims, hgsims@vcu.edu.
Exercises based on our advising model
Discover
Gain self-knowledge. Explore industries. Research the market.
- Career Genogram
- Industry Research on Social Media Platforms
- Interests Assessments
- Super's Rainbow and Life Role Pie Chart
- LinkedIn Activity
- Mad Lib Mini Biography
- Exercise: Note to Self Activity
- Roadtrip Nation
- SMART Goal Setting Worksheet
- Salary Research
- Transferable Skills
- Values Sort Activity
Reflect
Evaluate and reflect on the factors that influence your career decisions.
- Identifying Organizations by Interests and Values
- Interview With Board of Advisors
- Picture of Excellence
- SWOT Analysis
- Write Your Own Job Description
- What Does It Cost to Be You?
Focus
Craft your message and "brand" for your defined audiences.
Connect
Learn to effectively apply the tools to articulate goals and find success.
Enrich
Continue to grow and learn within your profession.
Staff and faculty from VCU Career Services, VCU Relevant, Experiential and Applied Learning (REAL), and the Department of Psychology within the College of Humanities and Sciences collaborated to actively address career-readiness gaps and find ways to intentionally infuse career exploration, skill building, and experiential learning into curriculum. Efforts resulted in an interactive College-to-Career (C2C) Blueprint, focused on eight key steps for academic departments, starting with assessment and assembling an action team, moving to thoughtful evaluation of current curriculum and employer/industry connections, coming up with new ways to add or boost career content within course syllabi, and finally sharing success stories and data with current and prospective students, family, and campus community members. Please see the Blueprint and its many embedded links for samples and resources to engage in this work within your specific academic unit. You are also welcome to reach out to VCU Career Services for more information and to partner on Blueprint-related efforts.
Click below to download the Blueprint PDF
The Career Development Collaborative is a career community dedicated to equipping faculty and staff by sharing resources and advancing our practice and ourselves as career development facilitators to provide excellent support to students. This group is a resource for both people in career development roles and those who want to be in career development roles. All are welcome!
The Career Development Collaborative hosts four meetings a year:
- Fall
- Winter
- Spring
- Summer
Members of the Career Development Collaborative are invited to join our Blackboard organization page where we share information about resources, past and upcoming meetings.
For information on our schedule of meetings, upcoming topics and how to get involved, contact a member of our executive board:
- Cody Rogalski, chair: rogalskict@vcu.edu
- Samara Reynolds, advisor: sreynolds4@vcu.edu
To sign up for the Career Development Collaborate listserv, visit the VCU listserv subscription page.
To learn more about Career Communities visit the VCU Human Resources website.
The VCU Career Champions training program is designed to provide faculty and staff with helpful tools, theories, and resources to draw upon when supporting students through their career development, experiential learning, and job search process. Everyone who participates will be recognized as a VCU Career Champion and receive a certification sticker similar to other programs on-campus such as Safe Zone, Rams in Recovery, Green Zone, etc. For more information, see our program webpage.
Through engaging with VCU Career Services, students and alumni will be able to...
- Determine their values, skills, and interests and connect them to academic and career choice.
- Understand how to establish and manage their professional relationships
- Communicate the value of their experiences in relation to role, employer, community, and/or industry needs
- Develop and assess a strategic approach to goal-setting for their career and professional opportunities.
Apply career development techniques to pursue their professional options.