What is career camp?

You’ve spent your whole life preparing to be a good student, but school for most people ends after college. Are you prepared for taking the next step of learning how to find a job and career, and more importantly, being happy and fulfilled in your professional life? 

Career Camp 2024 took place
Monday, July 8 - Friday, July 12, 8:30-10:30 AM Taipei time
Sunday, July 7 - Thursday, July 11, 8:30-10:30 PM Eastern time

Stay tuned for big changes coming up fall 2024!

Why should I take this course?

For the last ten years, I have worked with high school students, college students, and graduate students in the US and in Taiwan on admissions to US universities and graduate schools, how to prepare for interviews, how to write essays, and how to find jobs. 

In my experience, schools, teachers, and parents do an excellent job of preparing students for academic success by achieving good grades and good test scores. But one of the main reasons why getting into a good college is so important is because it is supposed to be the stepping stone to professional success, which means finding good jobs and having a successful and fulfilling career. Why don’t we talk about preparing for career success as well? 

When I started college, like many students, I had no idea what I wanted to do and how to successfully transition to the workforce after graduating. What jobs should I apply for? How was I supposed to get hired with no experience? What could I do that would change the world? Should I just do what my parents want me to do? What jobs would earn enough money, and how much was enough money?

What you will learn in Career Camp will help you answer those questions for yourself. 

Career Camp will help you begin to understand your own interests and career options and give you a compass for how to navigate those challenges in college and beyond. I was fortunate enough to stumble onto some of these ideas myself and to meet mentors and friends who helped me understand the ins-and-outs of the professional world. Career Camp is how I am choosing to pass on that wisdom. 

The truth is that preparing for school will help you get through the next four years, but preparing for career success can benefit you for a lifetime. 

What does Career Camp include?

Career Camp is a one-week online course to introduce high school and college students to:

Best of all, we will hear directly from industry professionals on how they found their path and learn to discount the stories and stereotypes we hold about jobs and careers. 

This course will help you become more knowledgeable and confident in presenting yourself as a young adult entering the workforce, and it will position you for success in college and beyond.

What does the course look like?

Day 1

Introduction. Vocabulary and basic terms. What do you want to get out of this course?

Decide on what industry/ career path to do an informational interview on. You will present on this interview on Friday.

Day 2

What is fit? Why does it matter? How to ask for things like informational interviews, recommendations, and referrals.

Conduct an informational interview with a professional in your field of choice.

Day 3

Knowing and representing yourself. How to write cover letters, resumes, conduct interviews, introduce yourself, elevator pitches.

Conduct an informational interview with a professional in your field of choice.

Day 4

Professional behavior. Handshakes, professional dress, etiquette, workplace norms, working with your boss, and workplace relationships.

Create a short 5-slide presentation on your informational interview.

Day 5

Industry deep-dives. Present on your job or career of choice. Learn from others. 

Prepare for next steps in college and beyond.

How much does Career camp cost?
What is the commitment?

This online course is completely free to attend for any participants around the world. It does not cost anything to take this course.

This course is for high school students on track to attend college (in the United States) as well as current college students. This course is conducted in English virtually through the Zoom platform.

All participants will do an informational interview on a job or career path of their choice and share it with other students through a presentation on Day 5 of the course.

You are required to attend all five days of this course if your application is accepted. Showing up for the entire course will create a good experience for everyone taking the course as well as our instructor and guest speakers. You will commit in good faith to attend all five days.

HERE'S A PREVIEW!

Check out this video on informational interviews for a little bit on my favorite topic and what we do with them in Career Camp.

three tips for college

What are my top three tips for making the most of your time at college? Check it out in this video. In Career Camp, we also invite other professionals to talk about their time in college and career path.

What are STUDENTS saying about Career Camp?

"My first year at Johns Hopkins was quite successful. If any of the students at Career Camp are worried about academics, let them know it’s not as crazy-difficult as one may believe. The hardest part of going to college is learning to be independent (mom isn’t doing laundry for me anymore!) and for me, expanding your network in a foreign country from scratch! Career Camp definitely helped me recognize the importance of this! With that being said, college still has many of its own support systems that one can benefit from, it is just up to you to find it. 

Additionally, the connections just from being a student at college is quite unbelievable. Cold-emailing professors/researchers of interest (key point is that you should be interested in it, it will make any sort of effort seem fun rather than grunt work) can help you begin networking. Moreover, the informational interview I did in Career Camp helped me learn more about research and what it takes to be an MD-PhD. Meeting with Dr. Hufnagel has been very fruitful as he has given me a ton of advice on whether the path is for me and how to achieve it if I do find that it is the one for me. He is another wise and kind mentor that I can comfortably reach out to in the future! Thank you for organizing Career Camp and giving many great insights into finding my future career - it has been really helpful for me! " - Sean H., 2022

"I highly recommend this course for students who hope to learn about skills for professional success and put them into action. During this course, I learned about multiple topics such as informational interviews, job fit, resumes, and more. 

"Additionally, I had wonderful opportunities to interact with guest speakers in various fields and had a chance to conduct my own informational interview. Overall, I believe this course has provided me with a solid foundation and resources that will support me in the future." - Student, 2021

how do I get started?

The annual Career Camp course takes place in the summer. Applications open in May.

To learn more about Career Camp and how it can help you, book a free, 30-minute consultation with me today!