Finding the Helpers: Developing Their Key Career Skills is a course-based internship experience that provides undergraduate social science students opportunities to develop and refine career skills working on real-world projects. Course projects may vary due to the wide variety of people who “help”: Legal, medical, educational, governmental, community organizations, non-profits, and others, but learners have the opportunity to engage in consulting projects with industry partners, allowing them to apply their classroom knowledge in a practical setting.

Learners will explore a wide range of "helping" careers as a foundation for the types of organizations that help and for an overview of skills necessary for helping-type projects. Student research and analysis of industry partner challenges prepare them to provide innovative, interdisciplinary solutions for issues addressed by “Helpers.” Learners work in small virtual teams to tackle real-world challenges of industry partners while honing their (1) communication skills, (2) critical and innovative thinking skills, (3) teamwork skills, (4) professionalism, and (5) leadership skills. By collaborating with company project managers, learners will gain insights into industry practices and deliver tangible results within a defined timeframe.

From the course perspective, deliverables are negotiable between the course coordinator, learners, and the industry partner. Learners will demonstrate their applied research, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills to explore and develop an innovative solution for their industry partner's challenge. Working virtually in small groups, learners will professionally demonstrate their leadership, project management, and teamwork skills to evaluate solutions and present their final deliverable for the industry partner.

This course promotes the development of the following competencies:

• applied research
• critical thinking
• problem-solving
• innovation
• professionalism
• leadership
• project management
• teamwork
• written and oral communication

Deliverables can include, but are not limited to:

• Comprehensive project report with analysis and recommendations
• Presentation of findings and solutions to company stakeholders
• Implementation plan for proposed strategies
• Market research summary and insights
• Process improvement proposal