Faculty Resources
The Boerigter Center for Calling and Career is excited to partner with faculty both in and out of the classroom to help you reach your course goals for calling and career readiness.
Below you will find information about four ways that we can partner. If you have additional questions, please feel free to contact Ryan White or Shannon Schans.
Calling and Career Curricular Engagement
- FYS Designated Assessment Sessions
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Where Will You Go: Calling, Vocation and Strengths (pt I)
- SESSION DESCRIPTION: This session will introduce you to the concepts of calling and vocational discernment (i.e. the intersection between one’s strengths, interests, and the needs and opportunities of your communities) through a variety of interactive activities and discussion. Student self-awareness will be particularly enhanced through the use of StrengthsQuest, a significant assessment tool used as a means of helping foster self-understanding. The tool is used in various places at Hope, including academic advising, orientation, and within the Boerigter Center for Calling and Career. This session helps students learn to articulate strengths and talents to others (e.g. faculty, students, employers) as well as how to apply that information to academic and career direction. This session is well suited for First Year Seminar students and is 50 minutes in length. Are you interested in learning how to include StrengthsQuest in your FYS Course? Here's more information.
- ASSIGNMENT: Students will complete the SQ assessment before arriving at Hope College. Additionally, before the session, students are asked to read chapters 1 and 2 of Parker Palmer’s Let Your Life Speak. Finally, students will complete a Vocation and Strengths Pre-Class Reflection Worksheet before participating in the interactive session.
- LINKED RESOURCES: Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 of Parker Palmer’s, Let Your Life Speak, Vocation and Strengths Pre-Class Reflection. If a student needs to access their SQ Top 5 Results, they can follow the instructions here.
- CONTACT: With questions or to schedule this session, please contact Shannon Schans, Amy Freehafer or Yoli Vega.
Where Will You Go (pt II): PathwayU, Values, Interests, Personality & Workplace Preferences
- SESSION DESCRIPTION: This session builds upon the Where Will You Go (pt I) Calling and Strengths session, by diving into a variety of areas of self-awareness and student interests. This session utilizes an assessment platform at Hope called PathwayU (accessible via hope.pathwayu.com) that considers values, interests, personality and workplace preferences to determine academic and career paths with which students have a strong match.
- SESSION ASSIGNMENT: Upon visiting the website, students will create an account, and take 4 short assessments, and will immediately be given their results. Students should then watch the video discussion from the Boerigter Center, and then revisit PathwayU to complete the activities “Understanding Your Assessment Results” and “Career Match #1” found under the “Tools” section of their account.
- LINKED RESOURCES: For additional information, students can watch a video tutorial here.
- StrengthsQuest: Articulating Your Strengths
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SESSION DESCRIPTION
Using StrengthsQuest as a tool to help students articulate their skills and abilities that are unique to them can help them in all phases of their vocational discernment. An hour long presentation facilitated by a BCCC staff member can prepare students to better understand themselves prior to things like résumé building, networking, internship searches and interviews. This session is particularly well suited for 100 and 200 level courses and is generally 50 minutes in length.
OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT
Students gain additional insight into their strengths in action by reflecting with those who know them best by completing the ‘Getting Feedback on Strengths’ worksheet Students gain additional insight into their strengths in action by reflecting with those who know them best by completing the ‘Getting Feedback on Strengths’ worksheet
LINKED RESOURCES
CONTACT
With questions or to schedule this session, please contact Shannon Schans, Amy Freehafer or Yoli Vega.
- PathwayU: Exploring Majors and Careers
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SESSION DESCRIPTION
While assessments never tell a student ‘who they are’ they can be an engaging way to prompt the questions ‘Is this who I am?’ Using PathwayU to explore values, interests, personality and workplace preferences can help to determine career paths with which students have a strong match. This session will help walk students through how these matches can point them toward majors at Hope College that will help prepare them for that type of work. Additionally, this session can assist students already in a major by explaining career exploration within a specific area of study. This session is well suited for 100 and 200 level courses and is between 30 and 50 minutes in length.
LINKED RESOURCES
CONTACT
With questions to schedule this session in your class, please contact Amy Freehafer or Yoli Vega.
- Résumé Overview
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SESSION DESCRIPTION
For students who are looking to begin building out their experiential learning and/or career readiness toolkit, this session will focus on how to strategically create a strong résumé and cover letter. Students will learn how to format, add content, and write materials that will be useful to them now and in the future. This session is well suited for 100 and 200 level courses and can be between 30 and 50 minutes.
OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT
Students will create a résumé and add it to Handshake.
LINKED RESOURCES
Handshake and Résumé How-To Guide
CONTACT
With questions or to schedule this session in your class, please contact Shannon Schans.
- Mentoring
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SESSION DESCRIPTION
In an effort to create on-going systems of support, reflection and community for students, the BCCC offers a session to help students begin to understand the importance of mentorship along with hands-on resources to begin building their mentor map and network. This session is well suited for 100, 200, 300 and 400 level courses and is generally 50 minutes in length.
OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT
Students operationalize what they heard by completing their Mentor Map.
LINKED RESOURCES
CONTACT
With questions or to schedule this session in your class, please contact Mary Ellen Kettelhut.
- Employer or Alumni Classroom Engagement
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SESSION DESCRIPTION
If your class would benefit from connecting with an alumni and/or industry expert, the BCCC can assist in facilitating those relationships. Examples for you to consider would include classroom career panels, local industry leaders as guest speakers, compny tours and networking events.
CONTACT
Kasey Petro (petrok@hope.edu) or careers@hope.edu.
- Networking
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SESSION DESCRIPTION
New technology, programs and opportunities continue to be helpful to students as they work to build their network. BCCC staff can offer information not only about the ways in which students can connect, but also around the how-to best practices. We work to help make this process easy, beneficial and rewarding for all involved. This session is well suited for 200, 300 and 400 level courses and is generally 30 minutes in length.
OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT
Students will be asked to complete an Informational Interview. The purpose of these interviews is to provide students with the opportunity to learn about certain academic majors and careers as a way of considering one’s potential and fit in those areas. This two-part assignment encourages students to both network and reflect on what they’ve learned.
LINKED RESOURCES
Informational Interview Assignment Description
CONTACT
With questions or to schedule this session in your class, please contact Megan Scheldt.
- Internship: Preparing for and Pursuing Experiential Learning
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SESSION DESCRIPTION
Understanding the important role that internships can play within a student’s vocational discernment and career readiness process is critical. BCCC can assist students seeking internships by educating them on helpful resources, providing a step-by-step timeline for successful searches, and in answering questions about the process and importance of experiential learning. This session is well suited for 200 and 300 level courses and is generally 30 minutes in length.
OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT
Students will use the Résumé How-To Guide to develop a working résumé. Students will then be asked to use Handshake to find and apply for an internship opportunity using Handshake
LINKED RESOURCES
Handshake and Résumé How-To Guide
CONTACT
With questions or to schedule this session in your class, please contact careers@hope.edu.
- Leadership at Hope College and Beyond
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SESSION DESCRIPTION
Within the mission of Hope College, we promise to prepare students for lives of leadership. This session delivers a brief information about popular leadership approaches while helping students identify where they can thrive within their own leadership development. This session is well suited for 300 level courses and is generally 50 minutes in length.
CONTACT
With questions or to schedule this session in your class, please contact Ryan White.
- Graduate School Search and Application Process
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SESSION DESCRIPTION
Students will have the opportunity to learn about the process of exploring and applying for graduate school. Students will learn about personal essay writing, seeking and asking for professional and personal references, and will have the opportunity to ask questions about their experiences. This course is well suited for 300 and 400 level courses and is generally 30 minutes in length.
LINKED RESOURCES
Hope College Graduate School webpage
CONTACT
With questions or to schedule this session in your class, please contact Dale Austin.
- Job Trends and Search Strategies
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SESSION DESCRIPTION
Helping students understand job trends within any field can assist them in their preparation for post-college life. BCCC staff are able to provide information about local, national and global trends, markets and future projections that can help inform and prepare students for life after Hope. This session is well suited for 400 level courses and is generally 50 minutes in length.
OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT
Students will be asked to participate in a mock-interview either in a one-on-one format or in a group format. Students will use Handshake to find an opportunity that they would like to ‘interview’ for and staff in the BCCC will develop questions based on that opportunity. Students will have the opportunity to hear constructive feedback from BCCC experts on their interview performance. Students will write a reflection about what they did well and what they hope to improve on and how they will take those steps to improve in terms of interviewing skills.
CONTACT
With questions or to schedule this session in your class, please contact Dale Austin.
- Capstone and Senior Seminar
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SESSION DESCRIPTION
The BCCC works to partner with Senior Seminars and Capstone courses as a way to bookend their experiences with calling and career preparedness. Capstone students will have the opportunity to hear about job search and interviewing success strategies while Senior Seminar students will be offered the opportunity to learn about how to use the StrengthsQuest assessment within their lives outside of Hope College. These sessions are designed specifically for either a Capstone course or a Senior Seminar and can run between 30 and 50 minutes in length.
CONTACT
With questions or to schedule this session in your class, please contact Dale Austin.
COURSE OFFERINGS FOR MAJOR AND Career EXPLORATION
The BCCC offers two courses specifically designed for students interested in learning more about their individual calling and career readiness.
- IDS 295: Designing a Life That Matters, 2 cr.
- APPL 200-400: Applied Learning for Internship, 1-4 cr.
LEADERSHIP MINOR
The BCCC, in partnership with the CFL, is now home to Hope’s Leadership Minor.
INTERNSHIP INFORMATION FOR FACULTY
Staff at the BCCC can assist faculty in the development and implementation of internship courses in three unique ways.
- Internship consultation - advising faculty on internship design best practices
- Internship curriculum resources - sharing resources and assignments for your consideration as part of your internship course curriculum
- Internship student resources - resources and guidance for your students who are interested in seeking an internship
Experiential Learning
Additional Resources
DeWitt Student Cultural Center141 East 12th StreetSuite 136Holland, MI 49423
workP. 616.395.7950
careers@hope.edu