Join the Skills for Success: Unlocking Your UC Berkeley Career Program to embark on a learning journey that will empower you to excel in your professional endeavors at UC Berkeley, gain transferable skills that will act as a foundation for your career success, and build a professional network to support your career growth today, tomorrow, and well into the future.
Program Overview
The Skills for Success: Unlocking Your UC Berkeley Career Program is designed for early career, individual-contributor staff who are interested in enhancing their success and growing their career at UC Berkeley. This program empowers participants to explore and develop transferable skills that are relevant to many different roles across the university, while building a professional network that will support their progress. Participants will gain valuable insights into their career interests and goals, while enhancing their skillset through a combination of synchronous live sessions, asynchronous E-course learning components, and experiential learning experiences.
Staff who participate in the Skills for Success: Unlocking Your UC Berkeley Career Program can expect to achieve the following:
- Identify and enhance skills that support career success: Learn about and practice skills that will enhance their job performance and career success, while also building a foundation that will allow them to grow their career at UC Berkeley.
- Create a plan to achieve their career goals: Develop a personalized roadmap to navigate their professional journey at UC Berkeley.
- Build knowledge of transferable skills: Explore a diverse set of transferable skills that are sought-after across many careers at UC Berkeley.
- Deepen their campus connections: Build connections from across campus that will allow them to gain clarity on the various career opportunities available within the university and develop a deeper understanding of the skills and qualifications needed to get there.
- Engage in networking opportunities: Connect with a community of fellow participants and other UC Berkeley staff, expanding their professional network and fostering valuable relationships for future collaborations and career advancement.
- Receive a certificate of completion: Upon successfully completing the program, participants will be awarded a certificate, recognizing their commitment to professional development and their dedication to enhancing their skills.
Program Description
The Skills for Success: Unlocking Your UC Berkeley Career Program offers a dynamic learning experience that equips participants with the tools and knowledge needed to excel in their careers at UC Berkeley.
The program is structured to provide a flexible learning environment, combining live sessions and self-paced E-course materials.
- The synchronous live sessions foster active engagement and collaboration among participants, and will cover a wide range of topics, including communication skills, problem-solving, project management, and more.
- In addition to the live sessions, participants will have access to asynchronous E-course learning components. These online resources provide an opportunity for self-paced learning, allowing participants to delve deeper into the content and reinforce their understanding of key concepts.
- The program also includes experiential learning activities for each session, providing participants with an opportunity to apply the skills they’ve acquired.
Program Dates and Time Commitment
Full participation is a requirement of this program. The Skills for Success: Unlocking Your UC Berkeley Career Program will be held twice per year, once during the Fall semester and once during the Spring semester. It will consist of 7 live sessions, 6 E-course sessions, and 5 experiential learning activities totaling approximately 25 program hours. Approximately 2-3 hours of time between each live session will be necessary for inter-session assignments. The live sessions in Fall will be held virtually (meeting via Zoom). In the Spring, live sessions will be held on-campus, in the People & Organization Development Warren Hall classroom.
The success of the Program depends upon each participant’s commitment to the program’s entire schedule, and therefore 100% participation is required. The program emphasizes team engagement as a fundamental component of career and professional development. Individuals should review their work commitments with their manager/supervisor before applying to ensure that they apply only if they are available to attend all sessions. Those who miss a session may be asked to excuse themselves from the remainder of the program.
Spring 2024 Cohort Schedule:
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February 20, 2024 |
Program Kickoff Live Session |
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February 21 - March 4 |
Introductory E-course and E-course + Experiential Learning 1 |
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March 5 |
Live Session 1 (in person on campus) - Maximizing Productivity Skills: Time Management, Decision Making, and Prioritization Strategies |
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March 6 - March 18 |
E-course + Experiential Learning 2 |
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March 19 |
Live Session 2 (in person on campus) - Enhancing Verbal Communication Skills: Giving Impactful Presentations and Organizing Information Effectively |
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March 20 - April 1 |
E-course + Experiential Learning 3 |
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April 2 |
Live Session 3 (in person on campus) - Impactful Written Communication Skills: Using Writing to Boost Critical Thinking and Problem Solving |
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April 3 - April 15 |
E-course + Experiential Learning 4 |
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April 16 |
Live Session 4 (in person on campus) - Leveraging Strategic Leadership Skills: Planning, Alignment, and Stewardship of University Resources |
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April 17 - April 29 |
E-course + Experiential Learning 5 |
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April 30 |
Live Session 5 (in person on campus) - Achieving Project Success Skills: Project Management and Ensuring Accountability |
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May 7 |
Final Live Session (in person on campus) - Program Wrap Up + Graduation |
Eligibility Requirements
Staff who are individual contributors (non-managers) in PSS 1-3 level roles may gain the most from this program, however, it is open to any UC Berkeley staff who wish to participate and meet the criteria below.
Participants must:
- Be employed in a Full-time Career or Contract position, (including non-represented and represented employees) at UC Berkeley,
- Have successfully completed their probationary period (if you are unsure about whether you have completed your probationary period, please ask your manager/supervisor),
- Be on pay status at the time of enrollment,
- Have the support of their direct manager/supervisor to ensure that they are able to participate in all program events as part of their professional development and supported by our Participation in Campus-Sponsored Activities Policy (see application information below), and
- Complete the program application.
Application Process/Timeline
The application for the Spring 2024 cohort will open on January 3, 2024.
Applicants will be asked to confirm that they meet all eligibility requirements above, provide insight into why they are interested in the program, and must provide their manager/supervisor’s name and email.
Once an application is submitted, each applicant’s manager/supervisor will be sent a form with the option to submit a message of support in the applicant’s participation.
The application will close on January 31, 2024. After this date, all applications will be pre-screened for eligibility, and a total of 20 cohort participants will be randomly selected from the applicant pool. Applicants can expect to receive an email notification from the Program Coordinator on February 6, 2024 with information on whether or not they were selected into the current cohort, and any next steps to confirm their participation.
Those interested in joining the Fall 2024 cohort can expect to submit an application in August 2024. Please refer back to this webpage for more details at that time, or add your name to our mailing list to be notified when the next application cycle opens.
