Career Navigation and Professional Skills

This unit develops students’ career planning, workplace communication, and professional development skills for agribusiness contexts. Students explore educational and career pathways, practice networking and interviewing, and build soft skills—public speaking, stress and time management, and ethical workplace behavior—to prepare for applied tasks in subsequent units.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze personal interests, strengths, and labor-market information to compare at least three educational or training pathways (e.g., certificates, online degrees, graduate programs) and determine their alignment with specific agribusiness careers
• Apply networking and informational-interviewing strategies to create and implement a contact plan that results in at least two informational interviews and documents growth of a professional network
• Demonstrate effective job-search and interview techniques by producing a targeted résumé or CV, participating in a scored mock interview, and practicing ethical salary or role negotiations
• Evaluate and improve workplace communication and professional behavior by planning and delivering a short presentation, implementing stress- and time-management strategies, and proposing steps for career transition or entry into entrepreneurial opportunities