Yolanda Polk

Excellence in Career Services
CHEP Status: Active
CHEP Awarded: 04/14/2026

Badge Evidence | Completed Courses (4 Hours Each)

Educational institutions have opportunities to create unique alumni associations which will look and feel more like alumni communities. This course will show you how you can create active alumni communities to increase enrollment, retention and placement for your entire institution. You will learn how to provide your alumni with valuable services and how to seek their help to enhance your educational programs and career services, as well as marketing and admissions. From getting started to setting up an alumni data base management system and determining the institution's return on investment, this course provides you with operational strategies for establishing an effective alumni association.
In the most competitive economy ever, crafting powerful job search documents, communicating strategically with employers, and presenting evidence of one’s qualifications won’t even necessarily get candidates jobs—it’ll barely get them interviews. This course covers advanced writing techniques, shows examples, and offers detailed strategy explanations to help career professionals enhance their ability to teach students how to craft modern job search documents and strategic employer communications. You'll be able to more effectively advise students on how to use impactful strategies that differentiate them from competitors through résumés, letters, portfolio evidence, and strategic post-interview correspondence. *This course also contains several downloadable resources to be used in your career center.
Effectively coaching students to achieve their goals in a way that builds autonomy, confidence, and accountability is fundamental to the role of a career services professional. Despite this fact, many career professionals have never engaged in professional development to build their coaching skills. This course helps career services professionals develop fundamental coaching skills so they can act as a catalyst and facilitator in assisting students to work towards their self-identified goals, with the belief that self-identified goals lead to increased student buy-in and motivation for attainment. Learn to put practical coaching techniques into action to maximize your results with students. *This course is relevant to a variety of career support professionals regardless of titles such as career counselors, advisors, coordinators, or "case managers" serving a variety of populations which may include students, out-of-school youth, or dislocated workers (youth or adults).
School hiring events are staples for many institutions, whether ground-based or virtual. They are a large undertaking. However, when done correctly, these events should yield many positive results for students, employers, and the school. This course examines each part of the process involved in a school hiring event: from the planning and ideation phase, to budgeting, staffing, logistics, marketing, student preparation, and a complete process for post-event surveying and follow-up. Beyond practical tips, ideas, and strategies, this course will provide a resource of documents that will help support a robust and dynamic school hiring event.
Professional networking is an essential career development skill that can lead to new job opportunities, higher salaries, and valuable relationships. Despite the numerous advantages of networking, many learners are unaware of its importance and not equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to effectively build and maintain professional relationships. Career professionals must be able to teach learners how to build the social capital they need to gain access to opportunities, information, and resources that drive career success. This course provides a structured, practical approach to helping learners develop the knowledge and skills needed to foster professional relationships that will assist in career advancement for years to come. *The course contains multiple done-for-you resources for download and use with learners.
Help students ace the interview with successful tactics to showcase their qualities and make them the best fit for the job. A career management specialist will be able to master the appropriate actions for students to take before, during, and after the interview. These tactics can then be implemented in a career management class or during the preparations for prospective job interviews. The goal of this course is to help develop a better understanding of the topic and produce tangible resources to help implement plans, strategies, and ideas at your school. In addition to lecture videos, resource links, and assessments, you will be able to utilize Journal and Learning Activities, which will continue to be useful after successful completion of the course.
In today's digital labor market, a strong online presence is a necessity. As the world's largest online professional network, LinkedIn is a critical platform for anyone serious about building their professional online presence and advancing their career. However, many learners may not know how to make the most of this powerful tool, and as a career professional, it's your job to help them succeed. This course will equip you with the knowledge and skills you need to teach your learners how to create a standout LinkedIn profile, expand their professional network, and tap into valuable resources that can help them stay ahead in their field. *The course contains multiple done-for-you tools and resources for download and use with learners.
In today's dynamic career support landscape, generative artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly gained prominence and is poised to become even more prevalent. For career support professionals, embracing this technological shift is not merely advantageous; it's essential. Generative AI offers the capacity to create personalized assessments, optimize resumes, and provide immediate responses, making it a powerful tool in empowering learners on their career journeys. Proficiency in generative AI is no longer a choice; it's a fundamental skill that defines the modern career support professional. By mastering generative AI, you not only invest in your own professional growth but also elevate the support you provide to learners. This course will elevate your career support skills, ensuring you excel in the AI-driven era.
This course is an introduction to work-based learning (WBL) foundations. Quality work-based learning is a continuum of sustained, meaningful experiences with industry and community professionals that fosters in-depth engagement in a given career field. Students are able to apply both their technical and professional knowledge and skills to real-life situations. As a work-based-learning coordinator, your roles are numerous and varied. This course is designed to give you the foundational knowledge to implement work-based learning in your course(s) to encourage student career awareness. A variety of work-based learning delivery models for students in different community settings will be shared. Strategies for model implementation will be provided to enhance WBL opportunities for all students.
This course covers the components needed to establish a work-based learning program. Included is information about expected outcomes for students, employers, and the school. A section of the course focuses on liability and risk management strategies that can be used to ensure that all those involved in the WBL program are aware of how best to establish a comprehensive program with minimum risks. The role of the coordinator is identified in relation to school and community settings and how the coordinator can be a resource to both students and employers. Program improvement and evaluation methods are shared to promote ongoing program development.
Derived from the feedback of over 100 institutions, empirical research, and case studies, course participants are presented with specific strategies and best practices that promote graduate employment. This course is for all education professionals seeking to understand the institutional practices that maximize graduate employment outcomes. Because employment outcomes are as much a function of institutional behaviors as they are of student behaviors, this course is based in systems thinking, which challenges participants to examine the interdependent relationship among institutional infrastructure, student career-readiness, and graduate employment rates.
Accurate representation of graduate outcomes is critical to upholding institutional integrity. All involved in employment reporting must continuously identify ways to strengthen their system for tracking, collecting, and verifying employment data. When documentation is both a quality and a compliance matter, staff must understand the verification program as a whole, the role they play in continuously improving it, and how to use professional principles and best practices in documentation. This course is designed to encourage participants to critically analyze their own employment reporting practices while sharing ideas and best practices that can help lead to the highest level of data integrity.
This course explores the critical differences between management and leadership. Participants will be introduced to definitions and myths about each area as well as how management and leadership must coexist for an organization to operate effectively. Participants will explore their own management/leadership tendencies through exercises to see leadership and management in action.
This course provides you with a framework to put your self-discovery and learning into a workable plan to further develop your leadership skills. A step-by-step process is offered to help you create a meaningful Personal Leadership Development Plan (PLDP) complete with the development of SMART Goals and advice from some of today's leaders in the higher education sector.