Career Readiness
A CAS education will prepare you for success in a great variety of careers. Our major and minor programs will help you develop widely transferable abilities highly valued by employers, including spoken and written communication, quantitative reasoning, critical thinking, creative problem solving, ability to engage with diversity, and empathetic understanding.
We recommend that you begin thinking about your career goals and researching possible career paths by the end of your sophomore year, so that you can acquire the credentials and experiences you will need to land the job you want.
Career Coaching
The Career Coaches of the University Advising and Career Development Center (UACDC) offer free career coaching to all EMU students and alumni. Career Coaches can help you explore different career options matching your skills, passion, and talents, and they can also help you with the job search process, including preparing professional resumes and cover letters. We strongly encourage all CAS students to make an appointment with a Career Coach by the end of your sophomore year.
Career Readiness Courses
In winter 2024 the College will offer two five-week, one-credit, elective courses designed to help students prepare to seek employment after graduation.
- In CASI 177: From College to Career, students will gain an understanding of the workplace value of a liberal arts education and learn to articulate the skills and experience gained through their program as evidence of qualification for internships and employment. Students will take part in career exploration, assessments, informational interviews, and internship searching, and they will have the opportunity to formalize their resume and application materials during the course.
- In CASI 277: Your Professional Identity, students will articulate workplace skills gained through enrollment in a CAS major through creation of a professional resume, LinkedIn profile, elevator pitch, and phrasing to use in networking engagements and interviews for full-time employment. Students will gain an understanding of workplace etiquette and professionalism, identity at work, their own leadership capabilities, how to employ skills gained through a liberal arts education for workplace success, and personal career management. Students will take part in informational interviews, professional networking, mock interviews for professional opportunities, and career fair participation, and will have the opportunity to formalize their resume and application materials and create a professional identity statement during the course.
Both courses will be taught by University Advising and Career Development Center (UACDC) Career Coach April Calkovsky. Students may take either class or both classes, and the classes will carry LBC credit (area 4). While enrollment is open to all EMU students, From College to Career is intended especially for sophomores who are CAS-declared majors or exploratory students, and Developing Your Professional Identity is aimed at sophomore and junior CAS-declared majors.