Focus: Building Skills, Experience and Professional Identity
As students progress through their Centennial journey, they continue developing technical knowledge, transferable skills, and experiences that prepare them for the workplace.
Students recognize the value of what they are learning, gain meaningful experiences, reflect on their growth, and communicate their skills to employers.
Faculty and staff help students make connections between classroom learning and career readiness.
Students who can recognize and communicate their skills are better prepared to:
- Understand the value of their academic experiences
- Identify transferable and discipline-specific skills
- Build confidence communicating their strengths
- Develop professional materials
- Prepare for workplace opportunities
- Make informed career decisions
Career readiness develops through practice, experience, and reflection.
Students are often:
- Building technical and professional skills
- Participating in projects, placements, co-op, or work-integrated learning
- Developing confidence in their abilities
- Learning how to communicate their experiences
- Creating professional profiles and career materials
- Building professional relationships and networks
- Connect Learning to Workplace Skills
- Help students identify the career value of their coursework.
- Examples:
- Highlight skills developed through assignments
- Connect projects to workplace expectations
- Use employer language when discussing skills
- Reflection Prompt:
- "What skills did you demonstrate through this assignment?"
- Encourage Reflection
- Students often complete meaningful experiences without recognizing their career value.
- Encourage students to reflect:
- What did you learn?
- What skills did you develop?
- What challenges did you overcome?
- How would you explain this experience to an employer?
- Reflection helps students translate learning into career language.
- Promote Career Experiences
- Encourage students to explore opportunities that build confidence and skills:
- Co-op
- Work-Integrated Learning
- Internships
- On-campus employment
- Volunteer experiences
- Leadership opportunities
- Industry projects
- Help students recognize that experience can come from many places.
- Encourage students to explore opportunities that build confidence and skills:
- Support Professional Identity Development
- Students need opportunities to practice communicating their value.
- Encourage students to develop:
- Resume
- Cover letter
- LinkedIn profile
- Professional introduction
- Interview skills
- Workplace communication skills
- Small Actions, Big Impact
- Ask students what skill they gained from a project
- Encourage students to add meaningful experiences to their resume
- Highlight transferable skills in assignments
- Share employer events and networking opportunities
Faculty Resources
| Classroom Resources | Suggested Use |
|---|---|
Transition Through Webinar – Build, Develop Experience and Career Confidence | Students build skills, gain experiences, reflect on their learning, and communicate their value. |
Help students identify and articulate skills developed through coursework and experiences | |
Provide students with career preparation resources and strategies | |
Support students in creating professional application materials | |
Help students build their professional online presence | |
Support professional communication skills | |
Workplace Norms are everywhere and whether we are aware or not, we follow them most of the time. Norms help create a sense of security and provide orientation. |
Student Resources
Share these resources directly with students.
- Experience Centennial Job Portal
- Browse Jobs
- Listen to Get Ready Career Webinars (online recordings)
- Download Resume and Cover Letter templates
- Download LinkedIn profile checklist
- Review Career Events Calendar for career events, networking opportunities & employer information sessions
- Career Success Guide
- BigInterview – Interview Practice Tool
- Devant – Skill Development & Career Growth
- Ten Thousand Coffees - Networking
Career Learning Outcomes
By the end of the "Through" stage, students should be able to:
- Demonstrate the ability to identify, communicate, and apply transferable and discipline-specific skills in professional contexts.
- Create career materials and engage in professional practices that support meaningful employment or further education.
- Build and leverage professional relationships and networks to support their career development.
Reflection Prompt
Consider reflecting on the following questions:
- How are students in your course recognizing and communicating the skills they are developing?
- Have students started developing their career materials, such as resumes, LinkedIn profiles, or interview skills?