The Career Development Center at Minnesota State University, Mankato is committed to supporting students' career development both in and out of the classroom. Check out our assignments that focus on various career topics. Assignments are created as guides and are editable to best fit your classroom needs.

Assignment learning goals:

  1. Student will demonstrate the ability to create a professional resume suitable for applying to pursuing internships, co-ops, jobs, and/or or other experiential education opportunities.
  2. Student will produce a resume with proper grammar, spelling, and format.
  3. Student will be able to communication previous experiences and skills through bullet point development for the targeted purpose.
Assignment & Resources:

- Resume Writing Assignment 

- Resume Rubric

Assignment learning goals:

  1. Students will identify transferable skills from the list below (or other skills of their choosing) that they have developed through work, experiential learning, campus involvement, and/or volunteer experiences.
  2. Students will be able to articulate their skills using the “STARR” method that provide examples of their use of those skills. Students will write one example for each identified skill.

Assignment learning goals:

  1. Student will demonstrate a broader understanding of potential career paths emerging from a major.
  2. Student will analyze and describe the degree of alignment of two career paths to personal skills, interests, and values.
  3. Student will build skills in navigating at least three online career resources and document their use.
Assignment & Resources:

- Career Exploration Assignment 

Assignment learning goals:

  1. Students will attend a Career Development Center sponsored Career Fair/Event and network with three or more employers about career opportunities.
  2. Students will prepare and submit a professional resume to use in conversations with employers.
  3. Students will reflect on the event and then submit a short essay about their impressions of the event, experience, outcomes, next steps.
Assignment & Resources:

- Career Event/Networking Assignment

Assignment learning goals:

  1. Students will demonstrate ability to navigate Handshake’s job search resources.
  2. Students will learn how to construct an effective search for employment opportunities.
  3. Students will be able to critically analyze job postings and judge validity and fit for their current job search goals.
  4. Students will complete job analysis for positions in Handshake and compare positions to their experiences, skills, and qualifications.

Using provided resources as a guide, students will utilize Handshake to explore jobs, internships, and/or co-op opportunities.

Assignment learning goals:

  1. Students will demonstrate the ability to connect with professionals in field of potential career interest.
  2. Students will produce evidence of developing thoughtful questions to elicit personally meaningful insight into field of interest.
  3. Student will demonstrate the ability to write a professionally acceptable thank-you letter.
  4. Student will articulate in writing knowledge and insight gained into career field of interest.

Assignment learning goals:

  1. Students will develop the ability to create and maintain a professional online presence.
  2. Students will build an online professional network.
  3. Students will learn basic functions of LinkedIn.

Assignment learning goals:

  1. Students will demonstrate the ability to connect with professionals in field of potential career interest.
  2. Students will produce evidence of developing thoughtful reflection of their current skills, strengths, and areas of improvement
  3. Students will demons trate the ability to write a professionally acceptable thank you letter.
  4. Student will articulate in writing the knowledge and insight gained into career field of interest