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Career Development Support
As part of our commitment to your professional growth and development, we’re excited to offer you access to LinkedIn Learning resources, specifically tailored to career support. You will find courses designed to help you enhance your skills, explore new areas of interest, and advance your career. LinkedIn Learning offers a diverse range of topics that are easily accessible to you. Please refer to the LinkedIn resources below to help you with your career planning.
I need a change in my current job.
5 Reasons Your Career Is Stalled and How to Get Unstuck
Do you feel like your career has hit a wall and you can’t figure out where to go next? In this audio-only course adapted from the Modern Mentor podcast, Rachel Cooke provides advice to help you get your career back on track when you feel stalled or unmotivated. Rachel shows how to identify the source of your discontent and provides techniques to help you make career moves. She explains why even a lateral move has its benefits! No matter how frustrated you may be with where your career is, this course will show you how to refresh your personal brand, take advantage of your network, polish your resume, and prepare for a new opportunity. This course was created by Macmillan Publishers. We are pleased to offer this training in our library. (7 minutes)
Get Unstuck: Make a Plan to Move Your Career Forward
Momentum is motivating. So, what do you do when you feel like you’re not moving forward in your career? “Stuckness” is a real issue in the modern workplace. But it doesn’t have to end with you leaving your company or industry. Learn how to advance your career by identifying what you don’t like about your job and being proactive about asking for what you need. Emilie helps you practice self-advocacy, clarify your goals, understand your audience, and make your move. Using these tips, you can turn your current rut into an opportunity to scale new career heights. (27 minutes)
How to Pivot Your Career
Embark on a career pivot with Desiree Booker's expert guidance. Learn why pivots are now common, key elements for success, and how to avoid mistakes. Desiree's three-step plan offers clarity on job preferences, assesses transferable skills, and strategies to bridge skill gaps, preparing you for a successful transition. (55 minutes)
Will networking help me in my job search?
Building a Diverse Professional Network
A diverse network of people with different interests and experiences can help you succeed in your career and in life. In this course, walk through how to build a diverse professional network. Discover tactics for how to make new connections. Find out how to assess your own strengths and areas for improvement. Learn how to identify people who can help you grow and go places where you can meet them. Explore how to establish professional relationships and then nurture your network to maximize its benefits. The instructor, Dr. Shirley Davis, also offers tips and insights on how to handle the unexpected nuances of having a diverse group of contacts. (19 minutes)
Managing Your Professional Network
A strong network can help you land your next job, grow your career, and generate sales leads. That’s why networking is such a crucial skill, especially for young professionals and those breaking into a new industry. Learn how to network and build a team that’s always in your corner. In this course, Elise Gelwicks explains how to define a networking strategy based on your individual goals, identify networking opportunities, and navigate different networking environments. She also explains how to develop a strong elevator pitch for yourself, stay in touch with new contacts, and tap into your relationships with colleagues and mentors to transform your career. After taking this course, you will understand the value of networking and be prepared to build long-lasting professional relationships. (21 minutes)
I am thinking about a career change.
Making a Career Change
Unhappy with your current job? Thinking about changing roles or industries? Learn how to make a career change that leads to greater job satisfaction and professional growth. Coach Stacey Gordon provides a roadmap that will help you navigate from where you are to where you want to be-even if you don't know the exact destination. She reviews the steps you need to consider before switching roles or industries, so you can be confident you're making the right move. Then she walks you through the best practices to set yourself up for success-such as exploring a new career while remaining in your current job, using your skills in a volunteer capacity, and leveraging your network to find more connections and opportunities in your desired field. Everyone has their own reason for wanting to make a career transition, and Stacey's goal is to help you achieve yours. Use this course as a starting point to help you evaluate your path and set your new career up for success. (47 minutes)
Switching Your Career
You've finally identified your dream job—in another industry or profession. How do you get that job and stand out from candidates with more experience? The secret to successfully switching careers lies in identifying your transferrable skills and creating personal and professional personas that work in your new industry. Dr. Dawn Graham, author of Switchers: How Smart Professionals Change Careers and Seize Success, explains why the same old job-hunting rules don’t apply when you’re making a career change. You need to be able to convince employers you can make the leap to a new role or industry. To help, Dr. Dawn provides insider information from a hiring manager’s point of view and illuminates the psychological principles that underlie the job search process. She also provides tips for rebranding yourself and nailing the interview by turning tough questions to your advantage. Get ready to make the switch with these smart, actionable tips.(60 minutes)
How to Change Careers by Building a Powerful LinkedIn Profile
Join Nickquolette Barrett as she demystifies the process of using LinkedIn for career growth. In this course, you'll learn how to effectively narrate your career story, manage your professional narrative, and craft a standout LinkedIn profile that attracts the right recruiters. With Nickquolette's expert guidance, you'll gain the skills to present yourself in the best light, leverage the platform's features for networking, and position yourself as a top candidate in your industry. (58 minutes)
Where do I begin?
A Career Strategist's Guide to Getting a Job
Explore strategies designed to increase the chances of hearing back from potential employers, including how to get a resume past applicant tracking systems (ATS). Job search expert Jenny Foss walks through the elements of a successful job search, from crafting a great resume to finding the right job listings. She discusses how to create a career plan, how to prepare for an interview, and how to negotiate for the best salary and benefits. Plus, Jenny covers how to make your first 60 days on the job a success. (50 minutes)
Taking Ownership in Your Career
Having ownership, or full control and accountability, over your career goes beyond basic planning or career conversations. When you truly take ownership, you empower yourself to be honest about where you're at in your career, figure out tangible ways to get to where you want to go, and advocate for yourself along the way. In this course, career strategist Julia Toothacre leverages her many years as an academic career advisor to guide you on a path to ownership. Julia first explores how to identify and manage your current mindset, as well as assess your career journey thus far. She then discusses how to create your work happy place by staying true to your strengths, values, and interests. Julia also reviews skills gaps and steps you can take to solidify your next step; actions you can take to set yourself up for success when opportunities arise; and tactics for establishing long-term goals. Upon completing this course, you'll have a clearer idea of the mindset shifts, tasks, and activities that can help you take more ownership on your career journey. (52 minutes)
Job Seeker Tips
Have you wondered how to answer open-ended interview questions? Or are you struggling to market yourself to employers in an authentic way? Career strategist Jenny Foss is here to help. She is back with five essential job seeker tips, designed to make the job search less overwhelming. Learn to make your LinkedIn profile stand out, answer tricky interview questions, improve your résumé, and get the most value out of informational interviews. Jenny offers practical, actionable advice to speed up your job hunt, get your resume in front of the right people, and land the job of your dreams. (17 minutes)
Managing Your Job Seeker Mindset
In a job search, your mindset can be your biggest asset or your most glaring liability. A negative mindset can sabotage your job search, and seasoned interviewers can often sniff out a lack of confidence not just in person, but through email, text, or over the phone. A positive mindset is the foundation of a successful job search, and in this course, Kelley Biskupiak and Susan Rietano Davey cover effective strategies for developing and sustaining the proper mental state to propel you forward as you seek your next position. They show you how to create your best physical and mental space, calm your body, ask questions with confidence, and how to build resilience and bounce back from missteps. (31 minutes)
Finding a Job
Ready to find your next job? Learn how to prepare yourself for today's job market and land a gig that you'll love. Jolie Miller shows how to create a great job-hunting plan that connects you with opportunities that mesh with your interests and goals. Jolie explains how to present yourself to employers in the best light with a well-designed LinkedIn profile, resume, and cover letter. She explores how to tailor your experience for each job and for any special situations, such as layoffs, reentering the workforce, or switching roles or industries. Plus, she shares quick tips that can help you make a great first—and lasting—impression in your interviews, negotiate an offer you're proud of, and prepare for your first day at your new job. (40 minutes)
Not sure what I am looking for.
Invest in You: Personal and Professional Development Tips
There are points in our lives where we find ourselves spinning and stagnant in our development. We reflect on what we've accomplished and compare our achievements with those of people close to us, often judging ourselves in a way that adds little value. What can we do to start investing in ways that build momentum and flip the script on this narrative? In this course, tenured L&D professional and coach Jason Weeman shares his knowledge about ways to successfully invest in your personal and professional development. Jason starts by helping you explore what you really want for yourself by identifying your purpose and possibilities. He then spends time connecting you to what is getting in your way of prioritizing your development and making a shift from planning to action. Finally, Jason shares lessons and tools on how to sustain these changes in behavior by implementing habits aligned with what you really want for yourself. (41 minutes)
Creating a Career Plan
The employment landscape can be volatile and scary. But with a solid career plan, you will be prepared and adept at finding work for the rest of your life. An effective career plan includes knowing how to determine, articulate, and sell your personal brand. In this course, Dr. Chaz Austin guides you through the key steps of career planning, from identifying your dream job and your monetizable passion to branding and networking, so you can be sure to land that next opportunity. (41 minutes)
You Need a Career Development Plan
You can't navigate your way to career success without first plotting a course. Having a career development strategy can be extremely helpful to figuring out where you want to go and exactly how to get there. This course, adapted from the Modern Mentor podcast, helps you plot your route to career success by providing a roadmap for professional development. Podcast host Rachel Cooke identifies the strategic actions you can take to build your knowledge, skills, and experience. She presents step-by-step advice for identifying career goals, finding mentors, cultivating unique and necessary skills, maintaining accountability, staying flexible, and investing in yourself. (8 minutes)
Setting Team and Employee Goals Using SMART Methodology
Employee goals should be driven by the organization's needs—whether it's to cut costs, drive revenue, or build skills—and keep employees motivated to succeed. Mike Figliuolo, managing director of thoughtLEADERS, helps you set employee goals that are SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Using the SMART framework, he shows you how to develop goals that are achievable and appropriate to your employees' roles. Mike walks you through bottom-up, zero-based, commit, and stretch goals. He also helps you use goals to change behaviors, build new skills among employees, and make goals actionable with incentives. He concludes with a comprehensive plan for setting and implementing goals, and tips on dealing with challenges such as conflicting goals. (56 minutes)
I need help with my image.
LinkedIn Quick Tips
This collection of LinkedIn quick tip videos is designed to demonstrate helpful tricks, explain useful features, and provide quick answers to the most common questions about how to use LinkedIn. Follow along as LinkedIn staff instructor Oliver Schinkten shares easy ways to improve your profile, grow your network, search for jobs, customize settings, and make the most of LinkedIn. He covers how to connect with individuals and groups, research careers and apply for jobs, update your profile, post original content, improve your feed, and more. (8 minutes)
Personal Branding on Social Media
When it comes to social media, you need more than just a well-lit headshot and a witty tagline to cut through the noise. Professionals of all stripes—from amateur food bloggers to CEOs—need to craft a strong, authentic personal brand that’s consistent across multiple social media platforms. In this course, instructor Jennifer Jessie shows how to do just that, explaining how to create a profile that’s tailored to your ideal customer, craft compelling content, and target your audience on top social media platforms. Jennifer explains how to highlight your expertise without sounding like you’re boasting, determine how often to update your profiles, and track your progress. Plus, learn when to invest in ads, how to create a cross-platform plan for posting content, and more. (38 minutes)
Business Etiquette: Meetings, Meals, and Networking Events
Setting the right tone in business communications is essential to success in every career. Knowing the proper etiquette for many types of professional interactions can help you avoid conflict and foster healthy relationships with colleagues. In this course, productivity and etiquette coach Suzanna Kaye shows how to navigate common business situations with professionalism. Suzanna illustrates how to identify and work with different personality types, and how to understand body language and vocal cues. She also covers proper etiquette for various business situations, including in-person meetings, video conferences, business meals, and networking events. Along the way, Suzanna reveals some of the most common errors in etiquette and shows how to handle conflict and difficult situations gracefully. (40 minutes)
Accelerating Your Career with Personal Branding
When it comes to accelerating your career, you can’t ignore the importance of your personal brand. Your brand is your voice, your reputation, and a key part of your professional persona. In this course, explore how to use your personal brand to boost your career with award-winning leadership strategist Shadé Zahrai. Learn how to get started crafting a standout brand of your own, with practical advice to help you grow, gain recognition, and open new professional doors. Find out how to create compelling and unforgettable personal content, develop authentic work relationships, and elevate your influence along the way. By the end of this course, you’ll be better poised to manage your brand online and cultivate a lasting impression on the job. (39 minutes)
Creating Your Personal Brand
Your personal brand is your reputation and legacy. A strong personal brand can lead to job and career opportunities. A weak personal brand leaves you liable to be passed by. In this course, personal branding expert Lida Citroën helps you identify what your personal brand is now and align it with the brand you want for yourself in the future. In the process, she helps you target the individuals or groups who have the opportunities you seek, strategize the marketing for your brand, and identify who you need to know and where to find them. She also helps you figure out how to portray your personal brand on social media outlets such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube. Plus, learn how to craft an elevator pitch for your personal brand so you can make a good impression even on short notice. (33 minutes)
I need help with my resume and cover letter.
Cover Letter Tips
Cover letters offer job seekers an opportunity to explain how their education, skills, and experiences line up directly with the job they’re vying for. A great cover letter connects the dots for hiring managers—and allows applicants to showcase a bit of their personality in the process. In this course, career strategist and Certified Professional Resume Writer Jenny Foss answers some of the most common questions people ask about how to create a memorable, results-generating cover letter. Get tips on how to tie your strengths to what the employer is seeking, explain missing skills, address a career gap, ensure that decision-makers actually read your letter, and land the interview. (15 minutes)
Find Your Dream Job: Interview Techniques and Resume Writing
Find your dream job. This course is for people who want to be excited to go into work each day. It’s designed to teach practical skills to write an eye-catching resume and excel in a job interview. But it also encourages you to take the time to decide what job will truly make you happy and enhance your talents. Instructor Chris Croft has been teaching interview and presentation skills to companies for over 20 years. He helps you write a fantastic resume, prepare for an interview, answer tough questions, give a presentation, and follow up afterward. He offers concrete details, such as what to wear and what to say, and provides real-life interview and resume examples (some humorous, some not) along with practical tools you can use in your job search right away. (2 hours)
Mastering Common Interview Questions
Preparing for an interview can be daunting. Learn how to master the top 10 most common interview questions you'll encounter when looking for a new job. The tips provided in this course will help you craft authentic answers that showcase your experience and your enthusiasm for an organization. For each question, career coach Valerie Sutton explains why the interviewer is asking it and then provides you with the best response. She also provides advice for tailoring your answer to entry-level or midcareer roles. In each chapter, we provide role-playing scenarios to illustrate the questions—and answers—in action. (50 minutes)
Expert Tips for Answering Common Interview Questions
There are certain questions that interviewers volley at nearly all interviewees—regardless of the position or industry—in an attempt to get a read on their personality and potential. Whether you're vying for a gig as an IT specialist or sales manager, you'll likely be asked about your strengths and weaknesses, your leadership style, and other basic professional attributes. In this collection of bite-sized videos, get expert tips that can help you confidently tackle these and other common questions—and, ultimately, ace your next job interview. Plus, get insights on how to dress for your interview, project confidence with your body language, negotiate your salary, and more. (60 minutes)Resume Makeover
A resume is a key tool in your job search, so how can you really make it shine? In this course, career coach Jenny Foss gives you fresh guidance on how to make over your resume: homing in on the most important message, tailoring it to the roles you plan to apply to, getting the look and content right, and leveraging generative AI as a tool to build a stellar resume. Jenny guides you through how to refine and polish your resume to get through ATS and make a great impression with recruiters and hiring managers. Plus, she coaches you on particular resume challenges, like addressing gaps and effectively framing career pivots. (59 minutes)
Interview tips
Video Interview Tips
Video interviews are an important part of today's recruiting process. Love them or hate them, they're not going away. This course teaches job seekers like you how to ace your next video interview. Learn why companies use video interviews and the difference between one-way and interactive video interviews. Instructor Jenny Foss—of the popular career site JobJenny.com—also shows how to set up your environment and leverage the technology to put your best foot forward. Plus, find out how to practice for a video interview before the big day, so you’re comfortable and confident in front of the camera. (24 minutes)
How to Succeed in an Internal Job Interview
Many candidates and even hiring managers consider internal interviews a formality, but taking the process seriously and preparing appropriately can help you avoid common mistakes. Instructor Jena Viviano shares the right way to approach an interview at your current company, including research to do in advance and questions to expect during the interview. Jena also covers how to answer questions about your current position, how to follow up after the interview, and how to behave if you aren't selected for the position. (24 minutes)
The Step-by-Step Guide to Rock Your Job Interview
In this course, founder of The Career Diet and career coach Anna Belyaeva provides a step-by-step guide to prepare for, and rock, a job interview. Anna begins by sharing her own experience on the hiring side to share what companies are really looking for in job interviews and how to prep accordingly. She then guides you through creating a plan for your interview, including aligning your experience and skills to the role you’re applying for, anticipating questions you’ll get in the interview, preparing effective questions for the interview, managing nervousness, and navigating effective body language, eye contact and small talk—all to interview strong and leave a great impression. (40 minutes)
Interviewing Techniques
Successful hiring means successful interviewing. The right techniques can attract the best talent—while eliminating bias and emotion from the process. With a new generation of candidates on the horizon, it’s a great time to refresh your interview skills. In this course, expert recruiter Barbara Bruno highlights practical strategies for planning and conducting job interviews. Barbara explains how to determine the purpose of the interview, set interview expectations up front, and ask effective questions. She also teaches you how to conduct different types of interviews—including screening, courtesy, and panel interviews—and evaluate and select the best candidate. Plus, learn how to improve the candidate’s experience, stay in touch with new hires, and connect and network with future talent. (60 minutes)
Mastering Common Interview Questions
Preparing for an interview can be daunting. Learn how to master the top 10 most common interview questions you'll encounter when looking for a new job. The tips provided in this course will help you craft authentic answers that showcase your experience and your enthusiasm for an organization. For each question, career coach Valerie Sutton explains why the interviewer is asking it and then provides you with the best response. She also provides advice for tailoring your answer to entry-level or midcareer roles. In each chapter, we provide role-playing scenarios to illustrate the questions—and answers—in action. (50 minutes)
Competencies are observable and measurable skills and behaviors that play a crucial role in workplace and career success. We encourage you to take advantage of the online competency curriculum developed by the Talent Development Office. This resource is designed to help you understand and enhance their job-related competencies.
Consider talking to your manager about being
nominated for Penn Career Navigator. This program is a strategic addition to the Talent Development suite of career planning resources. It provides you with the structure, time, and resources to engage in a reflective career focus,
so you can plan, goal-set, participate in learning activities, and build relationships. The cohorted program includes six half-day sessions, four one-on-one coaching sessions with a dedicated executive career coach, several assessments, and completion
of a career portfolio.
We encourage you to take advantage of these resources and invest in your personal and professional development.
Career Advising for Staff/Faculty
If you're a current employee and student or an alumnus, Career Services offers personalized career advising to help you navigate your career path. For those outside these categories, we invite you to explore the wealth of online career resources available to the public, including the Penn Career Services YouTube channel.
Other Resources
Career development and education/training resources
General career sites