Avoid feeling overwhelmed. This Career Project (paper) is only five (5) paragraphs and includes a Works Cited Page.

At the end of the project, you will gain knowledge about the following areas:

• Your career and whether it is a good fit with your interests and abilities
• The requirements for your pathway, and/or transfer, and/or additional credentials
• The employment and salary outlook for your potential career
• The soft skills and/or hard skills required for your career
• The primary professional organization available to you in this career

Timeline: YOU ARE EXPECTED TO WORK ON THIS PAPER BEGINNING IN THE FIRST WEEK OF THE SEMESTER

Timeline

Week 1 Career Project Paper & Presentation introduced in class

Week 4 Career Project Paper Due no later than Week 4; you are encouraged to submit early

Week 5 Career Project Presentation Slides Due no later than Week 5; you are encouraged to submit early

Week 6 Students present their Career Project Presentation to their peers; you will lose 40 points if you do not do this presentation.

Grading:

Part #’s of Paper	Parts of Career Project Paper	Points
One	Introduction with TypeFocus Results	30 points
Two	Educational Requirements	30 points
Three	Employment Outlook	30 points
Four	Professional Organization	30 points
Five	Conclusion	30 points
Six	Works Cited	30 points
	Spelling/Grammar/Clarity	20 points
Total		200 Points

Explanations & Instructions for the Career Project Paper:

These explanations and instructions pertain only to the Career Project Paper. The information for the Career Project PowerPoint Slides Presentation is provided separately. Below are the required sections of the paper. The paper is to be typed in paragraph form. You are to use the below bullets in each part to guide you as you type each section. BEFORE you begin typing, review the Tips and Technical Guidelines for Career Project Paper provided at the bottom of this page.

Part One: Introduction with TypeFocus Results (1 paragraph) (30 points)

• Identify the school of which you are a member, School of Education and Public Services, and what specific degree/pathway you are seeking: Early Childhood, Education, Criminal Justice, Human Services, or Paralegal.
• Discuss your choice of career and your reasons for this decision.

• Discuss your TypeFocus results in detail (all sections of the report) and be specific about what those results were.
• Discuss how your TypeFocus results connect to the career you have chosen. If the results don’t seem to connect, discuss that as well.
  • Source to use to complete: The TypeFocus assignment done previously (in Week #2) is to be used as a reference

Part Two: Educational Requirements (1 paragraph) (30 points)

• Describe the pathway related specifically to the degree you are seeking by identifying the number of credit hours.
• Discuss the types of courses in your pathway and process why these courses are significate/needed for your degree. How will they benefit you or prepare you for your career choice?
• You are likely to need further education beyond the Associate Degree from MTC. If so, discuss the additional education needed for your Bachelor’s Degree (4-year Degree) and even your Master’s Degree (Post Bachelor’s Degree).
• Many fields require further licensing or exams. If so, discuss the licensing or exam requirements.

• • Sources to use to complete: Contact your Advisor to use as a resource, review Student Planning under MyMTC, and use the Occupational Outlook Handbook in the COL-101 LibGuide

*Planning to transfer? Consult the website of your transfer destination. Provide information on the four-year institution you have chosen, the entrance requirements for transfer students, the credit hours required for a degree in your major, and some of the subject-specific courses you will take.*

Part Three: Employment Outlook (1 paragraph) (30 points)

• Discuss the personal characteristics or traits of workers in your chosen field of study.
• Discuss the qualifications required for people working in the field (degrees, certifications, licensing, etc.)
• Discuss the recent trends in employment in terms of demand or decline in this field and future predictions of job availability.
• Discuss the salary ranges in SC and nationally.
• Discuss the availability of in-state jobs and/or the need for relocation to another part of the country.

• • Sources to use to complete: Occupational Outlook Handbook and one source of your choice from COL-101 LibGuide Career Exploration

Part Four: Identify a Professional Organization (This is an organization you can be a member of in your chosen field as a graduate and even as a student) (1 paragraph) (30 points)

• Identify the primary professional organization you can be a member of.
• Identify the requirements for membership as a graduate and even as a current student at MTC in your chosen field.
• Discuss the categories of membership and costs (especially look for a student membership category).
• Discuss the benefits of this organization in terms of any goods received (newsletter, a professional journal, and/or other benefits such as conferences, job postings, networking opportunities, etc.
• FYI: All career fields have Professional Organizations you can be a member of once you graduate and many you can be a member as a student as you emerge as a professional in your field.
  • Sources to use to complete: Website of a professional organization from COL-101 LibGuide

Part Five: Conclusion (1 paragraph) (30 points)

• Discuss your overall conclusions about your career of choice to include what you learned that was helpful related to this project.
• Discuss your commitment to the career choice you have made (Are you still committed? If yes, why? If not, why not?)

Part Six: Works Cited Page (last page of the project) (30 points)

• Provide citations for all your sources in APA formatting. APA formating is designated by the School of Education and Public Service for all papers in your discipline. See Purdue Online Writing Guide link below. You can also download an APA Template from the Toolbar of Microsoft Word (google this if needed for more information on this).

• All programs in the School of Education & Public Service use APA formatting for written papers. This is a specific guide of rules on how to write and document research/academic papers.

Entire Project: Spelling/Grammar/Clarity/APA Formating (20 points)

• Tips for Writing a Good Career Project Paper:

  • Before typing, read all requirements in Parts One through Six and jot down the first ideas and examples that come to mind.
  • Review notes from previous assignments for ideas you can include.
  • Read your work out loud (or have someone else read it out loud to you) so you can “hear” where an idea isn’t clearly expressed.
  • Show engagement with assigned requirements in terms of answering fully (do not use yes/no answers), and showing that you have thought about the questions by providing support and specific examples.

• Technical Guidelines for Career Project Paper:

  • Typed WORD document in APA format
  • 12 point font: Times New Roman
  • 1″ margins
  • Double-spaced

[APA format is a writing style and format for academic documents, and it’s commonly used for citing sources within the field of behavioral and social sciences which is related to your chosen field of study in the School of Education and Public Service. This relates to font, headers, spacing, running head, title page, reference page, etc.]

• • For APA formating assistance you are encouraged to use the Purdue Online Writing Lab
  • You can also download an APA Template from the Toolbar of Microsoft Word (google this if needed for more information on this).