Required Course at CSU Channel Islands Prepares Students for Transition to Career

In spring 2023, the California State University Channel Islands Martin V. Smith School of Business & Economics launched a career readiness course that all business majors are required to take.

“The course was created by the business faculty and the dean, who intentionally put it through the curriculum process a few years before it launched,” explains Jessica Muth, executive director of operations and career success at California State University Channel Islands.

At the time, Muth was the assistant director of career development and oversaw the day-to-day operations of the centralized career center, where she worked with the faculty on classroom presentations and other career-related activities and initiatives.

“We had become such great partners that I was able to help them design the course,” she says.

“But it was spearheaded by our business and economics chairs and business dean, who recognized that career development should be an academic expectation, not just an add-on.”

From there, the Martin V. Smith School of Business & Economics created Muth’s current role to expand the work, be the lead teacher of this class, and embed career readiness across all of the school’s programs.

BUS 411 Career Readiness teaches students—usually in their senior year—skills for searching for, applying for, and beginning a post-graduate job. It focuses on entry-level jobs for professional careers.

“It covers the skills necessary for the transition from graduation to a professional job, including helping students discover their personality types, interests and qualifications as well as creating professional resumes, cover letters, learning how to effectively network, negotiate, dress for interviews, and much more,” according to the course description.

This one-unit course employs a hybrid-flexible format, allowing students to choose to attend in person or join live class sessions remotely via Zoom.

The transition to faculty has allowed Muth to see career preparation from a different perspective. It also opened her eyes to new channels of developing and sharing information.

“Our university uses Canvas and, as a career services professional, I had no idea about all the things we could do with surveys, forms, and content creation, and then share those results and content with faculty to use in their classes,” Muth says.  

“Each university is a little different, but for example, we have a teaching and learning innovations team that helps us create modules and videos. I didn't know that was available to me as a staff, but faculty use the LMS every day to figure out how to best deliver content to students. A challenge for career services professionals is often not knowing the best way to share job opportunities, career resources, and events directly with faculty to share with students. Our system allows module creation that can share information more efficiently than perhaps an email with an attachment that then the faculty need to reformat to post to their courses.”

At the start of the class, Muth conducts a learner information survey where she gets a pulse for where students are. For example, some are already working in their field, but want to learn how to get a better position within their company. Others will be completely entry level and have different goals for the class.

“I also use the NACE competencies to do pre- and post-class career readiness assessments followed by a first-destination survey,” she notes.  

To achieve favorable outcomes, the class needs to be intentionally designed. Muth says the NACE competencies provide a framework for this.

“The NACE competencies offer a structure of what you want students to learn, like understanding how skills such as communication and professionalism connect to their employability,” she explains.

“In addition, I'm big on technology integration. We use AI-assisted tools to optimize resumes, kind of making something that could be intimidating a practical learning opportunity. I think turning an intimidating process—such as interviewing—into something that they can learn is critical for a career preparation program.”

The career readiness class offers a great opportunity to leverage relationships with employers and alumni, who participate on student-run panels, and members of the School of Business & Economics’ business advisory council conduct mock interviews with the students.

“Through these activities, our students are building their social capital and creating their own networks because they are the ones moderating the panels with employers and alumni, and then they're walking them to their cars and talking to them afterward,” Muth says.

“It’s a mutually beneficial opportunity because employers want to be in front of our students and our students want to forge these relationships.”

Muth says this experience has taught her that strong partnerships can be created when career services is present and available to demonstrate its value.

“If you're invited into a classroom, that faculty member is trusting you to teach their class. It builds credibility and value. You're demonstrating your expertise and faculty listen and remember it. Be available and provide information and resources that align your work with what they already care about,” she points out.

“You never know the opportunities that might come out of these partnerships. Seeing the dean and chairs acknowledge the gap in our students’ readiness for the workforce and take meaningful action by developing a required course to bridge that gap has been deeply gratifying for all of us committed to their success.”

Jessica Muth will be a presenter during NACE’s 2025 Competency Symposium.