Overview
The Career Development Connection (CDC) Series is a series of workshops designed to equip all UC Merced staff members for career growth and internal mobility, while making meaningful connections with peers and colleagues.
About the Program
The CDC offers a series of workshops focused on career-based skill development, personal exploration, and developing purposeful networks. This series is developed with the intention to take the workshops in order, yet participants may take any of the following individual workshops as stand-alone activities.
Workshops:
- Writing a Winning Resume
A resume is your first and perhaps only opportunity to sell yourself to a potential employer. Hiring managers have limited time to review all the resumes they receive so it is important to make a good first impression. This workshop will guide participants to develop or revamp their resume, provide formatting techniques and an overview of the most frequent resume mistakes.
- Creating Cover Letters
A cover letter is a necessary companion to a resume. Candidates often spend hours working on their resume, but the cover letter is just as important given that is received on top of the resume. The cover letter should enhance qualifications and compliment the resume, NOT simply restate the resume in prose form. During this workshop, participants will practice writing an efficient cover letter, learn how to address it, and review a sample cover letter.
- Preparing for the Interview
An interview is about more than just presenting the candidate’s qualifications it is about presenting goals, demonstrating communications skills, leadership potential, self-awareness, and most importantly the work ethic. Interviews also present the opportunity for candidates to get more information about the position to assess if the job and company culture is a good fit. This workshop will address:
- How to prepare before the interview
- How to navigate the interview
- The kinds of interview questions you will be potentially asked.
- How to formulate questions for the employer to learn about organization culture, working environment, professional development, and growth opportunities.
- Actions to take post-interview
- Build Personal Branding Through Your Unique Story
We each have a personal brand whether we know it yet or not. Our brand affects how others perceive us and this is based on how we project through our words, body language, appearance and more. This workshop will provide participants an opportunity to explore who they are, what they want, understand how they are being perceived and remembered by others and deciding their market. Participants will also be introduced to My UC Career and learn how to utilize this tool to their advantage.
- The Power of Career Networking
Networking is all about getting out there and making social and career contacts. While it can be difficult when searching for a new job to look beyond those in your current and immediate circle, building new relationships and connections can lead to new opportunities you may not have found on your own. During this workshop, participants will learn:
- The importance of networking
- How to identify potential informal mentoring relationships
- How to use techniques to become a better networker
Participants will also put their networking skills to practice by networking and engaging with current UC Merced leaders and colleagues.
- Career Navigation Through an Individual Development Plan (IDP)
An individual development plan (IDP) is exactly what the name implies – a personal plan for your development. An IDP not only focuses on skills necessary to succeed in an employee’s current job, but it also focuses on building a skill set that will help employees aspire to their next level on their career path. During this workshop, participants will:
- Learn the three important guidelines in the creation of an IDP
- Create an implement an IDP
- Assess development progress
Who should apply?
All UC Merced Staff are invited to participate in the Career Connection Workshop Series offerings.
How to apply?
To Register, please:
Log in to the UC Learning Center, and
Search for “Career Development Connection”
NOTE: You must register for each individual workshop in the series.
If you are unable to register through the UC Learning System please send an e-mail to hrtraining@ucmerced.edu.
For more information:
If you have questions or need more information, please contact Human Resources, Talent Development – hrtraining@ucmerced.edu.
