How to Develop a Career Map

BUSN 1101 – PFS Paper 3: Commitment to Success

Learning Outcome

Students will identify specific and realistic goals for their collegiate experience, develop or exhibit strategies for achieving those goals, and recognize the need to make change in light of experience.

Students who are active partners in the learning experience have the ability to identify who they want to become, and the skills, knowledge, and motivation needed to get there. Therefore, a true commitment to success goes beyond the academic performance in a single course, and instead focuses on a student’s entire collegiate experience and beyond.

Please re-read the sections in the textbook on Strategic Management: Setting Goals and Formulating Strategy (17 pages into chapter 5).  As you read the text again, replace the words “organization” and “company” with “you” and “your”.  For example, to ensure your success, you should set goals and develop strategies to achieve those goals.  As discussed in the text, but modified for you, there are four purposes for you to set goals.  Goal setting…

1. … provides direction and guidance for you,
2. … helps you allocate resources available to you,
3. … helps you measure your own individual performance and successes, and
4. … helps you be successful in your personal and professional life.

Assignment: 

This assignment consists of two steps: (1) development of a Career Map, which is your personal and professional planning document, and (2) a reflective paper commenting on the purpose, benefits and process of developing the Career Map.

• Due Date: You must upload your paper, including the Appendix to the course Canvas site by Sunday, December 12 at 11:59 pm. 

Create a four-year (or up to and including your final semester before graduation) planning document for your collegiate experience that will help you set and achieve realistic goals for your college, personal, and professional success in order to make the most of your college experience.  There are three sections in a Career Map.

Section 1: 

Develop a minimum of 12 SMART goals for the remaining years of your college life.  These goals should be a combination of short-term goals (up to one year) and intermediate goals (one to four years).  Be sure to develop SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time bound).

Develop goals related to the following areas of your life:

• Academic including a major to pursue at UNC Charlotte and an anticipated month and year for graduation*
• Activities (Organizations) and Interests
• Career
• Financial
• Health
• Social
• Spiritual

Please visit edu/academic-programs“>https://belkcollege.uncc.edu/academic-programs for a listing and description of all majors in the Belk College which include:

1. Accounting
2. Business Analytics
3. Economics
   1. Concentration in Business
   2. Concentration in Liberal Arts
4. Finance
   1. Concentration in Finance
   2. Concentration in Accounting and Finance
   3. Concentration in Real Estate
   4. Concentration in Risk Management and Insurance
5. International Business
6. Management
   1. Concentration in Organizational Management
   2. Concentration in Talent Management (HRM)
7. Management Information Systems
8. Marketing
   1. Concentration in Marketing Analytics 
   2. Concentration in Marketing and Innovation
9. Operations & Supply Chain Management

Section 2:

Identify and developed strategies that will help you reach these specific goals by listing specific activities you can do to (1) achieve the goals you have established, and (2) be motivated and committed to your success.  Begin by selecting items from the list of strategies and resources on the next page, and place them under appropriate semesters or terms.  Then develop additional strategies that will assist you in achieving your goals using other on-campus and off-campus resources.

SUGGESTED STRATEGIES and RESOURCES FOR YOUR CAREER MAP:

1. Schedule and meet with my Academic and Career Coach, M_. _____________ during this semester.
   1. To find your assigned Academic and Career Coach:
      1. Log into my.uncc.edu
      2. On your Student Home page under “Your Success Team” you should see your “Major Advisor”
   2. To schedule an appointment with your Academic and Career Coach
      1. Select “Make an Appointment”
      2. Select “Academic Advising”
      3. Select “Advisors (Your Major/Minor/Secondary Advisor)”
      4. Select “Academic Advising”
      5. Select “Niblock Student Center, Virtual”
      6. Select your assigned Academic and Career Coach
      7. Select an appointment time from the available dates and times
   3. For more information visit https://belkcollege.uncc.edu/academic-programs/undergraduate-programs/current-undergraduate-business-students/schedule-appointment
2. Attend events sponsored by the Niblock Student Center.
   1. Visit https://belkcollege.uncc.edu/scpd-calendar
   2. Read the Niblock Student Center E-Newsletter published on a weekly basis during the fall and spring semesters for a listing of more activities and events.
3. Join one or more of the following Belk College of Business student organization(s): 
   1. Visit https://belkcollege.uncc.edu/academic-programs/undergraduate-programs/current-students/student-organizations

• Actuarial Science Program
• Alpha Kappa Psi – Professional Business Fraternity
• American Marketing Association (AMA)
• American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS)
• Association of Information Systems (AIS)
• Association of Latino Professionals for America
• Beta Alpha Psi (BAP)
• Business Honors Program: https://belkcollege.uncc.edu/academic-programs/undergraduate-programs/academics/business-honors-program-bhp
• Enactus
• Future Leaders of Accounting
• Gamma Iota Sigma (GIS)
• Global Business Brigades
• IntersectionsUNCC
• Management Consulting Club
• National Association of Black Accountants (NABA)
• Real Estate Club
• Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)
• Sports Analytics Club
• Student Managed Investment Fund: https://belkcollege.uncc.edu/departments/finance/student-managed-investment-fund
• Women in Business Initiative:  https://womeninbusiness.uncc.edu/

1. Attend a presentation in the Belk College of Business CEO Speaker Series

These are usually offered every fall and spring semester

1. Attend tutoring, PAL sessions, personal consultations appointments, and/or the workshops offered by the University Center for Academic Excellence (UCAE)
2. Attend the Career and Internship Fair, Majors Day and the Part-Time Job Fair, and other events and activities offered by the University Career Center
   1. Visit https://career.uncc.edu/ 
3. Schedule and meet with a Career Coach in the University Career Center
   1. Visit https://career.uncc.edu/directory
4. Attend the Study Abroad Fair and other events sponsored by the Office of Education Abroad
   1. Visit https://edabroad.uncc.edu/ 
5. Join a UNC Charlotte student organization
   1. Visit https://ninerengage.uncc.edu/organizations
6. Schedule and meet with the staff of the University Writing Center
   1. Visit https://writing.uncc.edu/writing-resources-center
7. Schedule and meet with the staff of the University Speaking Center
   1. Visit https://communication.uncc.edu/university-speaking-center
8. Center for Wellness Promotion
   1. Visit http://wellness.uncc.edu/
9. CAPS – Center for Counseling and Psychological Services – visit http://caps.uncc.edu/
10. Fitness Center, Group Fitness Classes, Personal Training – visit https://urec.uncc.edu/
11. Job-shadowing events – visit http://career.uncc.edu
12. Leadership Development – visit https://leadership.uncc.edu/
13. Mock Interview Sessions – visit http://career.uncc.edu/
14. Office of Identity, Equity, and Engagement
    1. Bringing together the Multicultural Resource Center, Religious and Spiritual Life, LatinX Student Services, and S.A.F.E.
    2. Visit https://identity.uncc.edu/ 
15. Personal academic consultations – visit http://ucae.uncc.edu/

Section 3:

List the management (business professional) skills we discussed in class and from Chapter 5, Managing the Business (pp. 158-60). Then list specific activities, events, readings, etc. you can complete to learn, develop and sharpen a minimum of 12 of these skills. 

• First, make a copy of the template file and save it as Word document with the file name: PFS Paper – Commitment to Success – Last Name, First Name Middle Initial for Fall 2021- section # (example: PFS Paper – Commitment to Success – Kreamer, Liana M. for Fall 2021-001). 

• Format of all PFS Papers:
  • Use 8 ½ x 11 paper
  • Margins should be set at 1” top, bottom, left and right margins
  • Typed doubled spaced using Times New Roman 12 point font 
  • Page numbers should be located at the bottom, right side of each page.
  • Using the “Tab” key, indent the first sentence at the beginning of each new paragraph
  • See template for more details

Content structure:

• Title page: see template

• Body of the Paper must be between 2 and 4 complete double spaced typed pages and should include:
  • The definitions for goals setting and A Career Map
  • A discussion of the purpose and benefits of having SMART goals and having a career map
  • A list of 5-6 of your previously identified 12 SMART goals (single-spaced)
  • The strategies and resources used for achieving your specific stated goals
  • A discussion of the need for flexibility, including a willingness to make changes to your career map, as you work towards your goals.

• Appendix: Career Map that includes a:
• Minimum of 12 listed S.M.A.R.T. goals
• Variety of specific strategies (meetings, events, activities, etc.) to achieve these goals, listed on a semester by semester basis
• List of management/business skills, including specific information on how and where (when) each skill will be obtained and/or maintained