Career Blueprint

Start today. Succeed tomorrow.

Career Blueprint is a comprehensive career development program specifically tailored for UB School of Management graduate students. The program will allow you to plan, track and achieve career progress through four coexisting foundations of development: personal assessment, career market research, job readiness and conducting a job search. It also allows for sharing of career goals and tracking of progress between you and your career advisor.

Career Blueprint resources

Foundations of Career Blueprint

Personal Assessment

What are your professional skills?
What type of work do you enjoy?
What are you good at doing?
What motivates you?
How do you lead?

Career Market Research

What job function best matches you?
What skills are required?
What are the hiring trends (and timelines) for the job you want in that location and industry?

Job Readiness

What is your career strategy?
Do you have a master's-level résumé and cover letter?
What is your personal brand?
Where is the gap between your current skills and job requirements?

Conduct Job Search

Can you convert contacts to professional allies?
How are you executing your internship or job search?
Are you effectively leveraging your resources?

The Career Blueprint is made up of several parts, which mirror your steps through the career development process.

By using these you can build your own career blueprint, understand where you are in relation to reaching your career goals, devise action steps to make progress, and be more strategic in working toward your graduate degree goal of better employment.

The four foundations of Career Blueprint listed above focus on different parts of your career development.

Personal Assessment = Internal: understanding yourself (likes, dislikes, skills, goals, motivation).
Career Market Research = External: knowing what jobs exist in your job market, companies, salaries, skills required, etc. Determine jobs you plan to apply for and what skills or experience you need to gain in your degree program to qualify and succeed.
Job Readiness = Planning and Preparation: having your résumé, cover letter and networking introduction ready to submit.
Conduct Job Search = Execution: taking action to apply to appropriate opportunities, interview and land the job you want.

Career Blueprint is yours to identify and reach your individual career goals. You are the project manager building your career and it is up to you to drive this build.

Getting Started: Personal assessment, career market research and job readiness
Learning Through Conversation: Informational interviewing
Internship Search
Job Search

Answer questions about your individual career goals, interests, skills and your career development plan.

The Blueprint is located in BizLink and is administered as surveys. Some parts are very short while others may be longer and require you to use the various career resources available to you. The questions are based on the four foundations and provide links to resources. In some cases, you may be unsure of a question...and that is expected. In fact, by understanding that you do not have the answer you will be prompted to take action.