Faculty Resources

Online Career Tools

We provide free, self-guided, online software to support students with each step of their career planning and development. Faculty and staff can create a student account to view the online tools and choose activities for class or advising activities. Some software allows for a faculty account so you can design assignments. Contact [email protected] for more information.

Focus 2 Career is an online, self-guided assessment service that provides valid and reliable assessments, including the Holland code (work interest), MBTI types (personality), values and abilities. Each assessment takes about 5 to 10 minutes to complete.

Students can combine their assessment results to explore career options and academic majors that align with their qualities. The career options provided are limited to the approximately 867 detailed occupations defined by the Standard Occupational Classification system. For help getting started, watch our instructional videos on How to Use the sections of Focus 2 Career.

Students must create a free student account using the access code: EAGLESLA

Career advisors can help students make meaning of the results; Students must schedule a Career Exploration & Planning appointment.

Log In: Self-Assessments

If you would like to help students explore which jobs relate to their major, the resources below can help them obtain information about the career possibilities. Additional resources are provided in our student resources under Explore Career Paths.

What Can I Do With This Major? helps students see common career areas they can enter with the major, typical employers that hire in this field and strategies to maximize career opportunities. The majors listed are general academic majors named by CIP code designation.

View: What Can I Do With This Major

Vault Guide to Jobs includes industry guides, ranking guides and guides to key careers and industries.

View: Vault Guide to Jobs

Employers by Major lists employers in California who have hired grads within the major. 

View: Employers by Major

Candid Career provides video interviews with professionals in their careers. Students can explore career videos by industry, major, career titles and more. 

CareerSpots videos provide career advice from industry experts. Channels include career-ready skills, job-search skills and student success stories. 

We provide a free online résumé and letter builder called Skills First. This AI-augmented résumé builder helps students create modern, keyword-optimized résumés and employment letters (e.g., cover  letters, interview thank-you letters, reference request letters). For help getting started, watch this video on Getting Started with the SkillsFirst Résumé and Letter Builder.

Log In: Résumé and Letter Builder

We provide a free online job interview practice system called Big Interview. This AI-feedback interview practice tool mimics a real-life interview, evaluates students' answers and provides feedback for improvement. Students can also participate in the training courses provided to increase their confidence.

Log In: Job Interview Practice

Internship & Job Postings

Cal State LA Handshake is the campus job platform that connects students with student jobs on campus, off-campus part-time jobs, internships and entry-level careers. Employers hiring on Handshake are looking to hire Golden Eagles. In addition to employment, students can register for employer information sessions and career fairs. They can share their career profiles and network with peers and employers. For more about Handshake, watch their Campus to Career video and the How to Search for Jobs on Handshake video.

Create your free student account using your Cal State LA email.

Get Started: Cal State LA Handshake

Micro-Internship Postings

Micro-internships are short-term, paid, professional projects that are similar to those given to interns or new employees at companies or emerging start-ups. Students apply for projects that companies post across their departments including technology, marketing and finance to name a few. Projects can include research and strategy, operations and support, IT and cyber, marketing and others. 

Unlike traditional internships, micro-internships can be done year-round. Projects typically take 5 to 40 hours to complete and are due between one week and one month after you are offered the project. 

We connect students with micro-internships using Parker Dewey. Parker Dewey provides short-term, paid, professional projects for college students and recent graduates. You will not have to negotiate pay, send invoices or create a contract as Parker Dewey manages these for you. 

Get Started: Cal State LA Micro-Internships

The Career Center provides an online job search tracking software called Huntr. This tool helps students organize their job search by tracking every detail about your job opportunities regardless of where you found them. Track contacts, notes, dates, tasks, documents, job descriptions, salaries, locations, company data and more. Students can add jobs across the internet using the Chrome browser and the Huntr Chrome Extension. For help getting started watch this video on Introducing Huntr Job Search Tracker and review the Huntr Job Seeker Guide.

Log In: Job Search Tracker

Classroom experience

Instructional Materials

We provide assignments and rubrics you can use in the classroom. If you have questions or would like guidance, please contact [email protected].

Career Readiness

Education and Labor Market

The resources below help students understand how to explore careers while in college in a way that aligns with employer expectations. For more support regarding choosing a major or career pathways, please visit our student resources under Career Exploration and Planning.

Career Planning: Gaining Experience While in College

Professional Identity Exploration

Professional identity is shaped by lived experiences, community cultural wealth, world-of-work skills, and profession-specific/major-specific skills. The college experience can give voice to students' professional identity in a future career.

Professional Brand Development

A professional brand is how employers see students in the major and career. Students demonstrate their professional identity in classroom assignments and campus activities. These experiences are included in the college résumé, job applications and job interviews.

Our professional brand template helps students start telling their professional story, including introducing themselves to employers (elevator pitch) and creating résumés and cover letters. The scoring rubric can be used to evaluate how students can continue to develop their brand.

The resources below help students understand how to develop résumés and cover letters that showcase their college experience. 

Brainstorming Skills, Experiences and Strengths

The College Résumé: Introduction, Samples, Worksheets, Scoring Rubric

The résumé for college students and recent graduates highlights experiences on and off campus. It includes what students do in the classroom and how they explored academic and career interests. Employers want to see what students have accomplished in these experiences. We provide these resources to help you guide students in writing a résumé.
 
To get started, review our College Résumé Sample (handout). 
 
You can use our College Résumé Scoring Rubric (handout) to evaluate how to improve a résumé.
 
For more information on writing a college résumé, review the guides below. 
 

The Customized College Résumé: Introduction, Checklist

Now that you have helped students write a general résumé, use these resources to customize it to each job or internship they seek.
 

The College Cover Letter: Template, Samples, Scoring Rubric, Customization

Now that students have reviewed the positions they seek and have customized the résumé, they are ready to write the cover letter. We provide these resources to help you guide them in starting a draft.
 

Interview Expectations

Whether students are interviewing for an internship, a student job on campus, an entry-level position or graduate school, it's important to know about the interview standards and norms. We provide these resources to help students know what to expect.
 

What should I wear?

If you know a student who is experiencing financial hardship that prevents them from purchasing professional clothing, please help them to apply for our Career Clothing Closet. 

General Interview Questions

General interview questions tend to be broad and assess your general knowledge, qualities and aspirations. These include interview prompts like "Tell me about yourself" or "Why should we hire you?" We provide examples of general interview questions and how to answer them using the M.S.R. method.

Situational Interview Questions

Situational interview questions allow the interviewer to assess how you would handle a particular situation on the job. These include interview prompts like "What would you do if...?" We provide examples of situational interview questions and how to answer them using the A.R.C. method.

Behavioral Interview Questions

Behavioral interview questions allow the interviewer to ask about your past experiences and hear examples that demonstrate your character and abilities. These include interview prompts like "Tell me about a time when...?" We provide examples of behavioral interview questions and how to answer them using the S.T.A.R. method.

Closing the Interview and Following Up

The interviewer may have finished asking their questions, but it does not mean the interview assessment is finished. We provide examples of how to answer the closing question, "Do you have any questions for us?" and how to follow up after the interview.
 

Having effective search strategies will bring better results for students seeking internships, jobs or nontraditional career pathways. The resources below can help students advance their employment search. For more support regarding these employment for college students, please visit our student resources under Employment Search.

Handshake: College Student Job Board

Employers seeking Cal State LA students post jobs on Handshake. Opportunities include student worker jobs on campus, part-time jobs, internships and fellowships, and full-time jobs post-graduation and for career advancement.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is an online social networking site for working professionals and college students. You can view the profiles of working professionals and message them to connect. Use the resources below to get started.

Employers Recruiting at Cal State LA

We work to make connecting with employers easy and impactful. Here are some of the ways that employers recruit college students.

Outreach Tables

Employers set up outreach tables in front of the Career Center to provide part-time and internship openings.

Information Sessions

Employer present about the organization's mission, values and work culture, which career pathways are available and how to successfully apply. Students can sign up for employer events using Cal State LA Handshake; Get Started: Handshake

On-Campus Interview Program

Employers conduct interviews on campus. Students can apply to positions and be invited to interview for the opportunity. Students can apply for on-campus interviews using Cal State LA Handshake; Get Started: Handshake

Career Fairs

Employers attend our campus-wide career fairs offered twice a year, typically in September and March. Students sign up for the career fair using Cal State LA Handshake; Get Started: Handshake

An internship is an off-campus activity that provides real-world exposure to professional development in a business, non-profit or government setting. This opportunity allows students to use and refine the skillsets developed in the classroom. Students also engage firsthand with employers eager to contribute to their career development. For more support regarding these documents, please visit our student resources under Internship.

About Internships

How to Find Internships

On-campus student jobs are a great way to gain skills and experience in a professional setting. No experience is required to apply to many student positions on campus.

Additional Support

The campus provides a number of services to support your work to enhance student career success in partnership with our office. We invite you to use the resources below.

Career Center Photo Booth 

Free professional headshots with our self-service photo booth.

Career Clothing Closet

We accept donations of gently used and in-style professional clothing for students experiencing financial hardship.

Career Presentation Request 

We provide a range of presentations and can customize a workshop to fit your goals.

Career Engaged Departments Program

The Center for Effective Teaching and Learning (CETL) provides programs to certify a course as “career engaged."

Partner with Us

We welcome opportunities to collaborate and share our best practices. Email [email protected] to set up an exploratory meeting.