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Abstract

Students face substantial challenges in readying for their professional lives. They must select a field, find a suitable job within that field, and lay a foundation for their career. To aid with this, we present the career project, an efficient career- and self-exploration assignment. The project comprises a resume assessment, identifying short-term and long-term career goals, backup plans, personal strengths and selling points, conducting organizational research, an informational interview with someone in their desired field, and a market assessment by a knowledgeable professional. We tested the project efficacy with 803 students (two treatment groups and two controls) during an ‘Introduction to Management’ undergraduate course, using a between- and within-subject quasi-experimental design. The results strongly demonstrate the effectiveness of the project for accomplishing those goals. We note that the project can increase placement rate and salaries at graduation, which are major components of business school rankings and AACSB accreditation.

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