Introducing USC’s Career Launchpad
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By: Lanie Brice ‘24
USC Career Launchpad is your answer to your internship or post-grad job anxieties. For the last couple months, we’ve all been stressing over landing an internship for the summer or landing the perfect post-grad job offer. Figuring out the future is always daunting, and it can be a challenge to curate the perfect resume, make the right connections with people in your field, and have the skillset to stand out. Luckily, the new Career Launchpad program has arrived to hopefully make Trojan’s journey into the workplace a little easier.
Career Launchpad is an online program that you can register for this summer that allows you to make guided use of all the Career Center has to offer as well as additional skill building programs that will set you apart in a job search. As USC notes on their website, “The program provides you with the practical tools needed to apply for your dream job and succeed in the workplace.”
As a part of the program, students will be able to go through a number of modules that help you prepare for job applications and interviews. The career companion will act as a guide through discovering career specific skills, writing effective resumes and cover letters, locating internships, and connecting with professionals in your field for informational interviews to provide insight into your chosen career field. For international students, there are additional modules to guide you through the unique challenges securing internships and employment post-grad.
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Once everything is polished up, the program introduces you to the Trojans 2 Trojans network where you can connect with alumni around the globe who work in your chosen field. Being able to talk to an industry professional who was once in your shoes can be really helpful in finding opportunities and learning ways to maximize the resources you have while in college. Finding mentors is incredibly important in any career journey, and Trojans 2 Trojans makes it easy to connect.
The most unique part of Career Launchpad, though, is the chance to take skill building modules that directly pertain to assets needed in the workplace today that you won’t necessarily learn in classes. These Skill Boosters will appear on your transcript and you’ll receive a certificate of completion that you can share on your resume and LinkedIn. These modules range from Data Visualize to How To Be An Influencer to Fundamentals of Project Management. Through these courses, you can move at your own pace in the asynchronous lessons and rewatch portions that you want to catch multiple times. It only takes 6-8 hours of online coursework, created by USC faculty, to receive the certification and some helpful new skills.
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Jennifer Lee, a USC student majoring in Psychology and minoring in Statistics, tested out the program and found it to be a helpful compliment to her degree program. “The Career Launchpad supplements my psychology and statistics degrees by helping me understand how I can present what I’ve been learning and working on during school when I try to apply for jobs,” Lee remarks. She’s also found benefits in using the Skill Boosters and other tools to add to what she’s learning in classes. Lee adds, “Also, the skills I’ve learned from the modules help me understand what kind of career paths I can do since psychology and statistics are pretty broad. For example, if I were to go down the career path of organizational behavior, the decision-making module helps me as well as the people skills for polarized the world moduled helps me understand how I can support consumers and also co-workers.”
Reflecting on her experiences with the program, Lee concludes, “I think the Career Launchpad helped me with a starting position on how I can prepare to enter the workplace since I haven’t done much in investigating in how to look for jobs and what skills people are looking for in candidates.”
If you’re a USC student interested in taking part in the Career Launchpad program this summer, visit the Career Launchpad page to register before June 1st. You’ll be able to access these resources throughout the summer from May 16th all the way until August 19th.
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