Career Strategies

The course is designed to provide USI students with techniques, tools and hands-on skills that can be applied in different contexts to enhance their future careers. This course supports students in unlocking and understanding the value of their competencies in the labour market to prepare for and gain confidence to actively pursue their ambitions.
“Successful careers are not planned. They develop when people are prepared for opportunities because they know their strengths, their method of work, and their values. Knowing where one belongs can transform an ordinary person - hardworking and competent but otherwise mediocre - into an outstanding performer”
The course uses a learner-centred approach with active participation such that students assume responsibility for developing their own personal toolkit to be prepared to communicate their competencies. Emphasis on forming a professional image and developing professional skills allows students to "own" the process and thus learn how to effectively "manage oneself" for continued employability.
Starting with a self-assessment that leads to a dossier (master CV), standard CV formats, and social media presence, the course then addresses networking, research, and communication skills in the form of interviews and presentations. Interventions with human talent professionals and early- and mid-career professionals are interspersed throughout. The course finishes with an introduction to proposal writing. This concretises an important skill, linking it to the strategic aspect of matching job requirements. In today's fluid labour market, this is a crucial skill for optimising opportunities within a role or when seeking a new role.

The course will be taught partly in English, partly in Italian.

Students who successfully pass this course will be able to demonstrate that they are able to:

• Use critical thinking, adaptability, and flexibility.
  - Assess personal skills, values, and beliefs.
  - Filter personal traits with regard to career options.
  - Develop a "self-branding" concept linking competencies with opportunities.
• Be an effective communicator.
  - Create a professional toolkit to transition to the labour market.
  - Employ best practices in writing and speaking with contacts, including etiquette, timing, and content.
• Demonstrate commitment to excellence.
  - Ensure that all career-related materials are of the highest quality.
  - Take personal responsibility for one's career.
• Incorporate business acumen and leadership skills when networking and researching practical experience opportunities.
  - Give and receive feedback.

In presence

The course will consist of 7 meetings of 2 hours each.

Compulsory attendance for at least 80% of the classes.

Continuous assessment measures performance in the course by the degree to which a student fulfils the expected learning outcomes through assignments, participation in-class activities, peer- and self-evaluations of interviews and presentations (the pitch), and professional skills.
As the course focuses on developing skills for managing one's career, emphasis is placed on professional skills. These include listening, articulating thoughts and ideas, acquiring and applying knowledge, goal setting, showing initiative and responsibility, and accountability. A discussion on professional skills will be held in the first session explaining the assessment method.