BCIS 4385 is a career-readiness seminar for BBA: MIS, BAAS: IT, and BS: CIS students who are gearing up to land internships and first roles in tech. You’ll turn classroom learning into marketable skills, build a polished professional brand, and practice the tools and tactics hiring managers actually use to evaluate candidates. Along the way, you’ll connect ethical reasoning with real hiring scenarios and prepare targeted application materials that align with your goals.
Grounded in Quality Matters design, the course blends short videos, readings, module assessments, discussion boards with video posts, a multi-part semester project, and a proctored final that ties directly to module outcomes—so every activity moves you toward tangible career artifacts and measurable progress. You’ll use our OER text, Launching Your Tech Career, embedded in Canvas.
What you’ll learn to do
- Align your strengths and goals with roles across IS/IT, then build a growth plan (resume, portfolio, interview prep).
- Analyze today’s tech job market and use proactive strategies—including the hidden job market—to find opportunities.
- Build a credible online presence (LinkedIn/GitHub) and optimize for real ATS and recruiter workflows.
- Practice behavioral/technical/video interview techniques and structured follow-up.
- Negotiate salary and total rewards with a repeatable framework.
- Address job-search challenges with resilience and iteration.
- Evaluate employers and offers for ethical fit, CSR, and long-term alignment.
How you’ll learn (and be assessed)
Weekly module assessments (auto-graded), discussion boards with an initial video post plus replies, a program-level ethics assessment, a multi-stage semester project (market scan → gap analysis → action plan → application assets), and a proctored final exam mapped to module outcomes. Extra credit options include LinkedIn optimization and course feedback.
Key Topics Include
- Understanding today’s tech job market & the hidden job market
- Digital branding, LinkedIn/GitHub, and ATS-ready materials
- Interviewing (behavioral, technical, video) & professional communication
- Salary negotiation & post-interview follow-up
- Overcoming search challenges; building resilience & networks
- Self-assessment, employer research, and offer evaluation
- Ethics & corporate social responsibility in IT practice
- Leveraging internships and Career Services effectively
By semester’s end, you’ll have a recruiter-ready toolkit—resume, LinkedIn, interview stories, negotiation plan, and a targeted search strategy—aligned to program outcomes in critical thinking, technical proficiency, ethical decision-making, and discipline-specific knowledge.
Testbook: Schuessler, J. H. (2025). Launching Your Tech career: A Professional Development Guide for MIS, CIS, and IT Graduates. Self-published.