Acceptance & Life Vision Creation

We all have a story to tell (even if you think you don’t!). What life choices have you made so far and how do those choices influence your career interests and potential paths?

During Designing Your Career @ Yale: acceptance and life vision creation, you’ll engage with a community of your peers to:

• Explore design thinking principles and how they can be used for life and career decision making,
• Begin the process of mining your own life to pull out the salient aspects of your story, and
• Craft three life visions that align with your story.

February 26, 2021. 10am-12pm ET. APPLY in Yale Career Link (deadline Feb 19).

Unlock the Power of Brainstorming

We may think there is one way to explore a career path, or one specific track required to accomplish our goals. As a primary tool of design thinking, brainstorming can help us to free up our minds and leave room for the less familiar choice. It’s time to get “unstuck” in how we approach exploring career interests, trying new experiences, and learning new skills.

During Designing Your Career @ Yale: Unlock the power of brainstorming, you’ll engage with a community of your peers to:

• Explore design thinking principles and how they can be used for life and career decision making;
• Examine adventurous problem-solving approaches;
• Exercise and strengthen generative brainstorming skills;
• Apply these newly sharpened tools to the expansion of personal and career interests.

March 19, 2021. 1-3pm ET. APPLY in Yale Career Link (deadline March 12).

Growing Your Network

Studies report that up to 80% of jobs are found through referrals. As a result, learning how to network and build a strong base of professional connections is essential to a successful career search.  Want to learn how to gather information about careers and uncover opportunities which are not advertised?

During Designing Your Career @ Yale: growing your network, you’ll engage with a community of your peers to:

• Explore design thinking principles and how they can be used for life and career decision making,
• Begin the process of recognizing myth versus reality in networking techniques, and
• Walk away with real referrals from your peers

April 14, 2021. 12-2pm ET. APPLY in Yale Career Link (deadline April 7).

Testing Your Way Forward

It’s easy to get lost in plotting the ‘perfect’ roadmap at Yale and beyond, but it’s also important to think outside the box and visualize other possibilities, ones that go beyond your major, current extracurriculars, and past internships/jobs.  After allowing these possibilities to come forward, let’s work together to develop multiple low-risk and efficient ways to prototype these options so that they’re no longer just possibilities, but accessible pathways for your life!

During Designing Your Career @ Yale: Testing Your Way Forward, you’ll engage with a community of your peers to:

• Identify and craft three versions of your future life
• Explore design thinking principles, especially in relation to prototyping and building your way forward to your visions
• Engage with other career designers and crowdsource ideas on how to move forward with one of your plans

April 30, 2021. 2-4pm ET. APPLY in Yale Career Link (deadline April 23).

Prototyping as Vocational Wayfinding

Design Thinking is all about building your way forward; but how do we do that? By prototyping! Prototyping allows you to engage with others with similar interests. You can bounce your ideas off each other and get feedback on your career wayfinding questions. Fundamentally, prototyping is about learning in a community of your peers. Join us for a Designing Your Career @ Yale program focused on: Prototyping as Vocational Wayfinding. [Please note that this session has similar themes to Designing Your Career @ Yale: Unlock the Power of Brainstorming.]

Using Stanford University’s innovative approach of applying Design Thinking principles to life and career decision-making, you’ll:

• Engage with a community of fellow life designers to learn the rules of brainstorming
• Explore Design Thinking as a way to build your way forward
• Identify life visions that align with your values and build on the ideas of others
• Build on the ideas of others and prototype one of your plans that align with your values and life vision

Special Thank You

Designing Your Career @ Yale is generously supported by The Hastings Foundation.

Upon completion of the program, participants receive a copy of Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived Joyful Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, along with the accompanying workbook, The Designing Your Life Workbook: A Framework for Building a Life You Can Thrive In.

DYC@Yale Participant Feedback

100% of surveyed participants think this program is valuable for all Yale College students.

Reflection

“The reflection of my personal worldview and workview make me aware of my inner motivation. I believe I could make a more proper decision at a future crossroad.” – 2019 DYC @Yale Participant

Community

“I really appreciated how considerate and vulnerable our instructors were. It was clear that they understood the pressure, frustration and indecision that chains down students from taking a more proactive role in their academic studies and in shaping their careers.” – 2018 DYC @ Yale Participant

Life Skills

“This program has taught me (1) that it is alright to be uncertain about the future, (2) how to approach the uncertainty and solve the problems it causes, (3) even if now is not the right time for something, the future might be, (4) how to brainstorm effectively, etc., etc. – all of which can be applied to multiple aspects of my life.” – 2017 DYC @ Yale Participant