Career Planning – METU CPC

Course Code: BA 100 (3120100)
METU Credit: Non-credit Must course
ECTS Credit: 2
Department: Business Administration
Language of Instruction : English
Level of Study: Undergraduate
Course Coordinator: Prof. Dr. Y. Eren Kalay
Offered Semester: Spring Semesters

Catalogue Description

Career planning is not just about finding a job after graduation. It is a recurring process that students should utilize at any time throughout the degree and professional life. Therefore, students should be encouraged to begin their career development in their first year. In that sense, this course aims to equip students with the necessary principles, methods, and practices in designing their career paths, help them identify their own strengths and weaknesses, develop their social skills, and develop diction and body language. Moreover, this course focuses on using social media to develop a network, follow career opportunities, write a resume and cover letter, and prepare for a job interview. Career-oriented centers of METU (i.e., Career Planning Center, Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching (ÖGEM), International Cooperation Offices) are introduced, and corresponding opportunities are explained to the students.

Course Objectives

At the end of this course, students should be capable of

acquainting themselves with career-oriented offices, i.e., Career Development Office, ÖGEM, Erasmus Exchange and International Cooperation Offices, Technopolis,
understanding the essential components of the career choice, including personal and educational awareness,
articulating career fields that they are pursuing during their undergraduate studies,
building a notion of job seeking, developing CV and resumes, writing cover letters, performing effectively in job interviews,
developing in utilizing social media and technology in the job search process,
creating a professional network,
developing soft skills.

WEEKLY PROGRAM

WEEK 1: 9 March 2022/17.40-18.30

Lecture Topic: Introduction of Career Planning Course and METU Career Planning Center

Lecturer: Prof. Y. Eren Kalay (Course Coordinator /ODTÜ KPM)

Details: Course aim and scope; introduction of the career center services and career center’s online platform. The team members of METU Career PlanningCenter introduce themselves.

Reference material(s):

https://kpm.metu.edu.tr

WEEK 2: 16 March 2022/17.40-18.30

Lecture Topic: Soft skills (that employers look for)

Lecturer: Ülkü Önder (ODTÜ KPM)

Details: What are the soft skills that are important in recruitment and success in business life? Can they be learned or improved? What can be done on this subject during university years?

WEEK 3: 23 March 2022/17.40-18.30

Lecture Topic: Effective CV Preparation

Lecturer: Ülkü Önder (ODTÜ KPM)

Details: “Why should I hire you?”, “What are the reasons why I chose you over other candidates?”. If your CV answers these questions, it is likely that it was prepared correctly. Information about the titles and sequences that should be in a correctly prepared CV will be revealed.

WEEK 4: 30 March 2022/17.40-18.30

Lecture Topic: METU Student Clubs

Lecturer: Prof. Gaye Teksöz (Advisor to the President / Dean of Students)

Details: In this lecture, we will talk about METU student clubs. At METU, almost 100student clubs organize more than 1,000 scientific, professional, intellectual, or artistic events per year. With these activities, students learn new things and have the opportunity to develop their soft powers. Being involved in these clubs can profoundly impact your future career in a hugely positive way. In that sense, we will talk about why you should join a student organization during your undergraduate education.

WEEK 5: 6 April 2022/17.40-18.30

Lecture Topic: How to prepare for your future career?

Lecturer: Deniz Dönmez (ODTÜ KPM)

Details: When you think about preparing for your future career, what comes to your mind? In this course week, you will learn about some tips and advice that can help you better understand what you should do to build your future career.You will also learn how to get out of your comfort zone and take advantage of all the resources that you already have.

WEEK 6: 13 April 2022/17.40-18.30

Lecture Topic: Internationalize Yourself

Lecturer: Dr. İbrahim Yorgun (METU International Cooperations Office)

Details: Career life suggests that experience is one of the top priorities in finding a job or starting a business as an enthusiastic and dedicated entrepreneur. However, experience with an international dimension is regarded crème dela crème. This type of experience is highly prioritized not only in the private sector but also in the public one including the higher education. Such is the vision of this session and it will focus on potential mechanisms and programs which are available to the undergraduate students at METU so that they finish their degrees with some international experience.

Reference material(s):

WEEK 7: 20 April 2022/17.40-18.30

Lecture Topic: Introduction to Entrepreneurship and Opportunities at the METU Ecosystem

Lecturer: Assoc. Prof. Elif Sürer (Multimedia Informatics, GİMER (Entrepreneurship Research Center))

Details: Entrepreneurship is an essential asset in numerous domains, including engineering, game technologies, and health. In this lecture, the fundamentals of entrepreneurship will briefly be introduced, followed by the opportunities at theMETU ecosystem—research centers, incubation centers, new and international entrepreneurship courses, international projects, hackathons, and students clubs.

WEEK 8: 27 April 2022/17.40-18.30

Lecture Topic: What will happen in the future and how to benefit from it

Lecturer: Jason Steinberg (Department of Modern Languages)

Details: We have entered a period of history that is increasingly volatile, and this volatility will remain for the rest of your adult life. It will impact the career that you pursue, the place that you choose to live, and your friends and family. Bringing a historical perspective, we will frame the “big picture” of the current era in an attempt to identify risks and opportunities in your personal planning.

WEEK 9: 11 May 2022/17.40-18.30

Lecture Topic: Entrepreneurship

Lecturer: Serdar Alemdar (METU Alumni / General Manager, METU Technopolis)

Details: We will discuss about entrepreneurship as a career option for students. METU & METU Technopolis offers variety of programs addressing undergraduate students in order to inspire and enable founder teams to learn and develop enterpreneurial skills. Finally we will discuss professional career option startups which could be best of both worlds for many people.

Reference material(s):

https://bkm.com.tr/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Dijital-Girisimcilik-101-online.pdf
https://bkm.com.tr/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/digital-girisimcilik-rehberi.pdf
Rework – Jason Fried David Heinemeier Hansson
The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Ben Horowitz
The Startup Owner’s Manual – The Step-By-Step Guide for Building a Great Company – Bob Dorf
Zero to One: Notes on Start Ups, or How to Build the Future – Blake Masters, Peter Thiel
Crossing the Chasm – Geoffrey A. Moore

WEEK 10: 18 May 2022/17.40-18.30

Lecture Topic: Designerly Way of Thinking and Thinking the Design

Lecturer: Prof. Arzu Gönenç Sorguç (Department of Architecture/METU Design Factory)

Details: Design, in general, is an act of problem-solving, however, solving a problem does not mean that you are designing. Problem-solving requires vertical thinking, design on the other hand requires lateral thinking which helps to see the“solutions” that no one can see. Designing is a creative process, novelty is in it sessence. Today, with the advances in technology and computational tools, design becomes very interdisciplinary and designers should also orchestrate data, use technology, and should be good team players. A way to achieve this is to develop a new mindset and design thinking is an approach to develop such thinking skills and help you think designerly.

WEEK 11: 25 May 2022/17.40-18.30

Lecture Topic: New Possibilities and Opportunities of Metaverse as a Future Planning

Lecturer: Dr. Ozan Yavuz (ODTÜ KPM)

Details: The shift toward the virtual world of the metaverse is already beginning to take place. This new world has begun to offer us new possibilities in quite different fields. Although it seems a bit scary to adapt to this world, many companies, freelancers, and artists have already started to modify themselves in this field. New career and job descriptions specific to the field started to give some clues likeEcosystem Developer, Metaverse Storyteller, and NFT Domain Consultant. This talk briefly will be on the new possibilities and opportunities in the virtual world and the metaverse from fields of social sciences, art, and engineering.

WEEK 12: 1 June 2022/17.40-18.30

Lecture Topic: My Story, My University 😊

Lecturer: Mete Uslukılınç (METU Alumni / General Manager, Dyson Turkey)

Details: In this lecture, we will host our alumni (BA 2000) Mete Uslukılınç. He is the general manager of Dyson Turkey. He will share his valuable experiences and best career advice with our students.

WEEK 13: 8 June 2022/17.40-18.30

Lecture Topic: Alumni Stories

Moderator: Mehmet Auf (METU Alumni / Fenomen Prodüksiyon)

Details: Panel with METU Alumni

WEEK 14: 15 June 2022/17.40-18.30

Lecture Topic: BA100 Career Festival

Lecturers: METU Career Planning Center (ODTÜ KPM)

Details: We will have fun.

Contact Info

Phone: (0312) 210 4129 – 7107 – 4137

E-mail: ba100@metu.edu.tr

Address: ODTÜ Kariyer Planlama Merkezi, Rektörlük Binası 1. Kat,

Dumlupınar Bulvarı No: 1 06800 Çankaya/Ankara