A new website created by Oregon State University Human Resources aims to be a one-stop shop for anyone looking for tips to help them advance their career.
The Career Growth Resources page brings together checklists, worksheets and other documentation to help guide folks through job searching, applications, interviewing, settling into a new job, and finding opportunities for professional development in their current career.
“We designed this toolbox with the idea that this could support internal OSU employees looking for career growth, or for interdepartmental transitions, so they can build up skills and explore within OSU,” said Katy Ahlvin, associate director of learning and development in UHR. “We also wanted to have this site available on the worldwide web so other folks could access these resources as well. We’re a university, so we should be sharing knowledge.”
The resource website builds on UHR’s mantra of “Grow, build and stay,” Ahlvin said.
The site contains a key of symbols used to denote different types of resources: a pencil for a downloadable and editable checklist; a beaver tail to indicate an existing OSU resource.
The project team curated resources offered by different departments across the university, along with materials from LinkedIn Learning and other peer universities, while graduate student intern Francesca Lear designed and developed relevant tools for the site. Lear is a student in the Ecampus master’s program for adult and higher education.
The team was careful to include higher ed-specific guidance for career growth. For example, Lear created a worksheet called “Resumes in Higher Education” that speaks directly to what university hiring committees are looking for and what candidates can find in universities’ outward-facing pages, like their mission statement.
Another unique offering on the website is a tutorial for how to navigate OSU’s job portal.
“We try to keep accessibility at the forefront, for whoever might be looking at the site,” Lear said. “Something we focused on was asking, ‘Are we using words that are going to be understood by everybody, whether they’ve spent 10 years in higher ed or 10 minutes?’ Things like the difference between a CV and a resume.”
The site also links to resources from the Office of Institutional Diversity and the Office of Equal Opportunity for more information on diversity, equity and inclusion learning and on accommodations relating to disability.
The website is just a first step, Ahlvin said. She plans to continue adding resources as they crop up, and would also like to organize workshops in the future, working with campus partners to give people more hands-on experience in interviewing or professional development.
“I see big things for this site,” Ahlvin said.
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