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Skills for Career Success in Science (SCIENCE 2C00)

In Science 2C00, you’ll develop foundational career skills and knowledge, essential for gaining meaningful experiential & work-integrated learning opportunities. This course utilizes active learning and the Science Professional Competency Framework to equip you with strategies, best practices and tools in career exploration, networking, and job search strategies.

How students have described this course: “The information provided is incredibly helpful and tailored specifically to science students. It touches on a lot of things I probably wouldn’t have come across myself, like how resumes in this field should look, the fact that interviewers expect you to use the STAR method to answer questions, and much more.”

This is a 0-unit pass/fail course open to Faculty of Science students in Level I or above. This course is required to participate in a science co-op program.

Expandable List

Health Sciences students can enroll in SCIENCE 2D00, which is the same course and runs concurrently with SCIENCE 2C00.

These are some quotes from alumni of the course that were collected through end-of-term surveys.

“I didn’t think this course would actually help me develop any new skills, but I was pleasantly surprised. I learned about the importance of cover letters, the value of networking, and about the fact that most jobs don’t hire off of cold applications.”

“The course is well worth the time you need to put into it in order to get lots out of it, especially if you haven’t taken a careers class since high school. The information is up-to-date and can help you acclimatize to the modern job-search environment (for people like me without older siblings/cousins/friends to help with this, this is especially helpful). (I got my first job using skills I learned in this course!)”

“You’ll learn so much about your career journey, no matter what stage you’re in! Make sure to start the career workbook early! Always reach out to your instructor if you’re unsure about something, they’re always willing to help :)”

Science 2C00 is offered during the Fall, Winter, and Spring terms.

The Spring term is condensed and fully virtual- the two in-person workshops are conducted over Zoom instead.

This course consists of the following eight units:

  1. Career Exploration: What Can I Do with a Bachelor’s Degree in Science?
  2. Professional Identity: How Do I Represent Myself?
  3. Job Application Materials – How do I write non-generic resumes and CVs?
  4. Job Application Materials – How do I write non-generic cover letters?
  5. Interview Skills – How do I prepare and confidently articulate my professional experiences?
  6. Gaining Experience and Job Searching – How do I effectively search for opportunities?
  7. Networking – How do I build my professional community?
  8. Professionalism in the Workplace

To pass the course, all of the following tasks and assignments must be completed:

  1. Eight quizzes as you go through each unit. These act as learning checkpoints and you will have unlimited attempts to achieve 100%.
  2. Two in-person workshops. Attendance is mandatory, and each workshop has pre-work that needs to be completed.
  3. Career workbook. Consists of eight activities corresponding to each unit. Recommended to be completed as you go through each unit weekly.
  4. Career-relevant event or service attendance. You must attend any career-related event or service, and complete a reflection afterwards.

This course is a requirement for co-op as it teaches you how to job search and prepare your applications, giving you an advantage going into your first job search cycle.

Outside of co-op, it is also a requirement for some other experiential education courses.

 

The job search and networking knowledge you gain through this course can be applied to gain other types of experiences including summer jobs, research positions, volunteer roles, and more.

Additionally, when it comes to graduate education and professional school, these experiences can make you a stronger applicant and the course also teaches you to articulate your skills and value in future applications.