Everybody should take a course in CMS

There is more happening at the Department of Biology than research in ponds and forests. In collaboration with SDU Business, the Department of Biology has set up the course Career Management Skills. It is a subject that focuses on making biology students aware of their own competences and how to deal with connecting to the job market and prepares them for starting a job.

The course has many benefits for the students; they get answers to many questions:

"Which professional and personal competences do they have? What are their strengths and weaknesses? And what does it take to get their dream job? The biology study programme is very broad, and therefore there are many educational routes the students can choose. Students can immerse themselves in exactly what suits them best, but afterwards the question inevitably arises as to where the demand is for precisely these competences. It's easier when the students know which opportunities there are at the end of their studies and what works best for themselves in terms of a job," says Marianne Holmer, Head of the Department of Biology.

23-year-old Malene Tærsbøl Jepsen is on her sixth semester of studying biology and has a study job as a guide at Odense Zoo. She is one of the students who took the course in the autumn semester in 2015. For her, there has never been any doubt about which direction she should take.

After spending time in South Africa, and before studying biology, Malene fell in love with the culture and the preservation of nature and animals. This is something she dreams of passing on to children so that they know how important it is:

"So I'm going to South Africa again soon - this time to gain experience with field guiding and research, which I can use later in my career," explains a very determined Malene.

Even though from the start of her studies Malene was certain about which direction she wanted to take, the course has given her many tools she can take with her when she enters the job market:

"I now know how an application and a CV should be written. When I read the application I sent to the zoo back in the day, I just can't understand why they employed me. And now I also know how important it is to have a good and broad network - it's a great opportunity to get a job," says Malene.

Mentor and mentee programme

On the course, the student is linked with a mentor - a former biology student with several years' experience of working life. The student, the mentee, has ongoing contact with his/her mentor in order to gain a deeper insight into applying for jobs and the job market. This happens in different ways, such as through sparring meetings and going to work with the mentor.

The mentee is also challenged by his or her mentor so that they can develop in a way which makes it easier to find the right job after finishing the study programme.

Signe Klokker is 38 years old, has a Master of Science in Biology and Sports and is a teacher at Tornbjerg Gymnasium. She is one of the mentors who took part in the course in 2015. As to the question of what has been successful about her experience in the role of mentor, she says:

"The fact that I can pass on my experience. It has been wonderful to see how the mentee has learnt to take responsibility and choose their own career path. On the other hand, the challenge has been to find time when my workday is so busy."

For Malene, the positive outcome of the mentor/mentee programme has been getting a touch closer to the job market.

"It has been positive to learn how work life functions in the mentor's area. And that you can always ask questions like: What did you do when you were looking for a job? How does the practical stuff work in your job now? They have experience they can pass on, even though you perhaps want to go in a slightly different direction. For instance, I would like to work with communicating nature and animal protection to children, which is outside my mentor's professional area. But because he worked as a high school teacher, I could learn from his experience with teaching and the best way to build up a teaching programme, which is something I can definitely use in the future," says Malene, who cannot see any disadvantage of having your own mentor during the course.

Signe and Malene were mentor and mentee, respectively, in different programmes.

Success seen from the top

Not only mentors and mentees are experiencing the success of the course. The positive vibration has spread to the Head of the Department of Biology, Marianne Holmer.

"There has been very good feedback about the course. The most enthusiasm has been about the clarification the students get about the opportunities they have for finding a job. This can be through company internships where the student can end up writing their thesis in an organisation and thereby specialising in the direction they want to take. The mentors are also very happy about participating in the programme, and many of them are coming back to help new mentees. They feel that they can give something back," says an enthusiastic Marianne Holmer.

Choose the CMS course

"Absolutely! Everybody should do it," is mentee Malene's comment when she is asked whether she can recommend the course to other students.

Mentor Signe adds:

"Yes, especially students who don't have contacts in the right work area - they'll benefit from building up a relevant network, and that will help make it easier and quicker for them to find the right job."So there is good reason to take the course, which can help with personal development and make it easier to get closer to that dream job.

Facts about CMS

The course is based on the Faculty of Science's strategy: visible and valuable science, which includes employability as an important strategic focus area. CMS is a further development of SDU Business's own career planning course and is targeted at biology students.

The programme is built up over seven teaching sessions with the topic CMS as the introductory point. The students are subsequently engaged in subjects such as career strategy, job interview, network, application, CV and exam, and they gain insight into their own personality type and other types through a personality test.

The next CMS course for biology students starts in the autumn semester 2016 - read the course description.