Career Education & Planning Support
Welcome faculty and staff partners! Career Services recognizes the importance of faculty and support staff in a student’s career journey. You are the face students come to know and trust, and research tells us that you are one of the first places they go for career guidance. We want to make sure we’re providing you with support so you can help students connect their classroom and extracurricular experience to their careers!
Career Services has a dedicated team to support you in providing career development assistance with your students. Learn more about the Career Education & Planning Team HERE and contact careerplanning@ucf.edu with any questions. Additionally, major specific liaisons are available who work with employers, faculty, and staff in each of their service areas. Your liaison is the best person to connect with to begin a partnership with Career Services.
If you’re unsure who your liaison would be, you can also reach out to our office at CareerPlanning@ucf.edu
We offer several ways for faculty to partner with Career Services on assignments. For more information on any of the below tools, please reach out to your liason. Contact careerplanning@ucf.edu to learn more about each tool and how to access them.
Career Services Toolkit and Webcourse – In this faculty webcourse, you will find lesson plans, presentations, and assignment ideas to include in your curriculum. Our modules are available for you to refer to, infuse into your own webcourse, or use in instructing your students on popular career topics and assign useful career readiness tasks. It’s also a great way to receive announcements and recordings from Career Services. Faculty and staff can self-enroll here.
Handshake – Job postings, Career Fairs, and events/workshops can all be reviewed and RSVPed for in Handshake. Handshake is the primary tool used by Career Services and Experiential Learning for coordinating and promoting recruiting activities at UCF. Faculty and staff are able to request a “student account” so that you can view and promote upcoming activities or employment opportunities to your students.
To create a Handshake account as a faculty or staff members, fill out the online request form.
UCF partners with VMock SMART Career Platform* to help students create a powerful resume and accelerate students’ career journey. VMock leverages technologies like data science, machine learning, and natural language processing to provide instant personalized feedback on resumes based on criteria gathered from employers and global best practices – from anywhere, at any time of the day.
Ready to create your VMock “Faculty” account? Fill out the online request form.
*In fall 2024, Career Services launched VMock to replace Big Interview. If you are using Big Interview currently, we suggest transitioning to VMock. Big Interview will no longer be available for use as of December 31, 2024. E-mail careerplanning@ucf.edu if you would like support transitioning from Big Interview to VMock.
FOCUS 2 – Guides students through a reliable, intuitive career and education decision making model to help them choose a college, select a major, explore occupations, make informed career decisions and take action in their career development. The five assessments available will provide an overview of strengths, interests, skills, values, and personality type, and will reveal careers and majors at UCF that may be a good fit based on those results.
Faculty and staff who are interested in gaining administrative access to FOCUS 2 CAREER must complete the online request form. You can learn more about how you can incorporate these assessments into your course by viewing sample assignments in the Career Services Toolkit and Webcourse.
Workshops – Career Services offers a variety of workshops including Resume Building, Networking, and Job Searching. The list of upcoming events can be seen in Handshake, and on the right side of this page. Faculty are able to require students attend workshops as part of assignments or extra credit. You can also encourage students for the sake of their own career development. Connect with your liaison to discuss any participation tracking needed for your course.
Forage – A virtual experience program that’s free for all students. This tool provides projects for students to complete that will teach them practical employment skills that employers value. Each project is created by a named employer and helps students learn how to complete specific professional tasks. The students are then given an example of the complete project done by the organization for comparison. Students can share the completed project with employers associated with the projects, and faculty can incorporate the projects into assignments. Check out this Setup Guide to learn how to create a class page, select assignments, and track participation.
This learning track at the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning Summer Institute provides an opportunity for faculty to collaborate with Career Services and integrate the NACE Competency framework into their classes. Through syllabi statements and assignments, faculty will engage students in the identification, understanding, and application of skills sought by employers. If you’re interested in learning more about this track, please reach out to CareerPlanning@ucf.edu.
There are many sources of industry information, but we generally recommend the following resources for initial research:
MyFloridaFuture – College and career planning tool from the State of Florida to research State University System level or by individual institution information regarding salary, graduate employment, and student debt.
O*Net – Includes both Industry and occupational information in a consolidated and easy to read format.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics – Industry data collected by the United States Federal Government.
Looking to have Career Services present to your students? Our staff is available to present to your student class or group, or table at your upcoming event.
Career Services Toolkit for Faculty & Staff
Want resources and support in providing career advice to your students? Join our webcourse to access lesson plans, presentations, and assignment ideas to include in your curriculum or career programming. Our modules are available for you to refer to, infuse into your own webcourse, or use in instructing your students on popular career topics and assign useful career readiness tasks. It’s also a great way to receive announcements and recordings from Career Services. Faculty and staff can self-enroll here. Included content covers:
- Career Services Overview
- Major/Career Exploration
- Resume Building
- Job Search Strategies
- Interview Preparation
Career Services also uses this toolkit to share announcements about upcoming events and news related to career planning. It is a great way to stay informed about all the amazing opportunities Career Services has for students to connect with employers and develop key employability skills.
Additional content covers resources and materials on the NACE Career Competencies and additional professional development strategies.
Don’t Cancel that Class
Don’t let unexpected absences disrupt your students’ learning. Sign up now for Career Services’ “Don’t Cancel That Class” initiative!
Transform your canceled class time into a valuable career readiness session. Act now to secure your spot and make every class count!
Available presentation topics:
- Career Readiness (Career exploration, resumes, NACE skills, job search, interview prep, networking strategies, social media, salary negotiation)
- High Impact Practices (Research, internships, Lockheed Martin CWEP, graduate school preparation)
- General overview of Career Services, Office of Undergraduate Research, Academic Advancement Programs, and/or Experiential Learning
Outreach Requests
Please complete an Outreach Request Form if you would like UCF Career Services to facilitate coordination of a Career Planning and Academic Engagement (CPAE) workshop/speaker/external partner for your organization, class, or department. Upon submission of this request form, you can expect to receive an email from the appropriate contact within 48 business hours to receive further assistance with your request.
Requests for CPAE speakers/workshops must be made at least 3 weeks’ prior to the event date. Requests for external speakers, which include special guests, require a minimum of 4 weeks’ notice.
Additional time may be required depending on size and scope. If you have any questions, please call Career Services before proceeding with this form at 407-823-2361 or email careerplanning@ucf.edu.
Work+ Supervisor Hub
Equipping supervisors with the tools to empower working learners with essential skills today, ensuring their lasting success in the careers of tomorrow.
The Career Education & Planning team offers resources for UCF faculty and staff supervising student employees. As part of the Work+Collective, we aim to equip supervisors with tools to promote student employees’ professional development and align their work experience with career goals using NACE Competencies. Click the button below to access the Work+ Supervisor Hub for essential materials and information.
