Gies Professional Pathway Foundations Course
This course helps you clarify your career direction and build your personal brand early. In a competitive job market, being able to clearly tell your story – your skills, experiences, and goals – sets you apart.
Before arriving on campus, you’ll complete this program to better understand your strengths and how they connect to your future career.
What You’ll Gain from This Course
This program is designed for incoming Residential Graduate Students who want to start strong.
By completing the course, you will:
- Define your personal brand and career direction
- Connect your past experiences to future goals
- Create strong job search materials (resume, LinkedIn)
- Build essential career-ready skills
👉 Next step: Start the course early and pace your progress
Why This Course Matters
Your Gies education is built around developing key career competencies that employers value.
This course is your starting point – it helps you:
- Understand those competencies
- Begin developing career readiness skills
- Build a foundation for networking, interviews, and recruiting
👉 What this means: You’ll arrive on campus more prepared and confident
What Students Are Saying
Students consistently find this course valuable for launching their careers.
“The course content was well-structured and directly applicable to my career.”
“It helped me understand how to optimize my resume and LinkedIn and gave me insight into the job market.”
“It was a great refresher and helped me start thinking about graduate school and the job search.”
How to Complete the Course
Stay on track by understanding expectations early.
Timing
- There is no set number of hours
- Work at your own pace
- Start early and spread out the workload
Earning Your Certificate
To receive your certificate, you must:
- Complete all assignments and quizzes
- Submit everything by the first day of instruction
After You Finish
- Certificates are sent via email
- Processing begins after the deadline
- Expect delivery within a few weeks after classes begin
Missed the Deadline?
- You will still have access to the course
- You will not receive a certificate if incomplete by the deadline
Feedback and Support
Will I receive feedback on assignments?
- Assignments are completion-based (not graded)
- No formal feedback is provided during the course
👉 After arriving on campus: You can schedule a career advising appointment to get feedback on your materials
How do I meet with a Career Advisor?
- Appointments are available after you arrive on campus
- You will receive scheduling instructions during orientation