“Winternships” J Term course offers career exploration

During the 2016 J Term at the University of Rhode Island, the Center for Career and Experiential Education offered a truly unique opportunity to a small group of students.

That opportunity was ITR 300, a course in career exploration that promises to expose students of all majors and interests to a wide variety of work environments and potential employers.

During just a few weeks in January, students travelled around Rhode Island shadowing employees at a multitude of different companies in the area. During the course, students often met and connected with URI alumni, and some have even been offered future full-semester internships as a result of these connections.

The program’s director, Dr. Kim Stack, affectionately refers to the class as something of a “Rhode Trip” — a fitting title considering how many companies ITR 300 students visit during the abbreviated term. Some notable employers that have been a part of the course include Mystic Aquarium, FM Global and Swipely. Dr. Stack said that the variety in the featured employers is especially valuable to students about to enter the workforce, as the modern “world of work is very different . . . [there’s] lots of job-switching.”

Because the winter term is so short, and the program is so broad in scope, Dr. Stack said that she and her group had to think creatively in order to plan a course of study that would accommodate it. As the course is focused on shadowing, exploration and personal development, students also complete supplemental coursework to build on their experiences. Throughout the class, students complete personality assessments, research their interests, create resumes and create their own “All-Star” LinkedIn accounts in order to connect with the people they met on the trips.

Overall, the purpose of the course is not only to expose students to real-world work environments, but to allow them to focus on their own strengths and individual personalities. Dr. Stack said that students are called to answer questions about how “[their] personality shapes the ability to work in an environment” and understand the many “different pathways to different career goals.”

The work that students do, Dr. Stack says, equips them to “translate” their experiences, skills and passions into “employer language.” In addition, they learn fundamental skills in interviewing, such as in the behavioral interview and the evaluative interview, among others.  The experience is perfect for students who are “not sure for what career niche is right for them,” Dr. Stack says. ITR 300 in winter 2017 will be open to all students with at least sophomore standing and to all majors except for business.