Iemand achter een laptopscherm waarop de Brightspace omgeving Career Orientation te zien is
Iemand achter een laptopscherm waarop de Brightspace omgeving Career Orientation te zien is

A treasure chest of career orientation at your fingertips

What kind of work suits me? How do I find an interesting internship? How do I conduct a good job interview? Each step in the development from student to professional has its unique challenges. Career officers Sophie Raaijmakers and Ranah Baptist developed the Career Orientation Toolbox for social science students to support them each step of the way.

"During workshops, we noticed that existing instruction videos were often not relatable for students." explains Sophie Raaijmakers. "The average career tips are often meant for people who have been working for a long time and have a lot of experience, or they contain many obvious pitfalls and are very exaggerated and 'American'. That is why we developed material that better reflects the experience of our students."

Working independently

The Career Orientation Toolbox can be found as a course on Brightspace in both Dutch and English. All students are automatically registered for this and can go through the modules independently. In the job interview module, for example, students learn how to talk about their strengths, weaknesses and motivations using examples. The e-learning contains short videos with realistic examples of the do's and don'ts.

The toolbox provides material for every stage in the career orientation process. For instance, students can take a competency test to gain more insight into their strengths, but it also includes a module on internships, a tutorial for creating a powerful LinkedIn profile, sample cv's and cv checklists, practice assignments for making an assessment, and much more. 

Career Orientation in your education?

Not only can students work with the toolbox independently, but the modules are also very suitable for incorporating into a course or professional development programme. "Several courses are already successfully using the toolkit. For example, the competency test and handout on 360-degree feedback are used in 'Professional Skills 2' in the Artificial Intelligence Bachelor's, and the module on job application skills is part of the continuous course 'Professionalisation' at Communication Science," says Sophie Raaijmakers.

Are you wondering if the Career Orientation Toolbox could be suitable for your education, or are you just curious about the content? As a teacher, you can request access to the Brightspace environment by sending an email to career [at] socsci.ru.nl. Career officers Sophie and Ranah will be happy to advise you on the possibilities.