Exploring the World of Business: Pairing Domain Business Knowledge with Professional and Career Development in the Undergraduate Business Core

This paper describes a personal, professional and career development program required of all undergraduate students earning the BA in Business Administration at Dominican University of California. Paired with business domain knowledge, this 4-year course sequence is a component of the business degree’s core requirements. This paper highlights the junior and senior years where business students explore career choices, practice effective interviewing and networking techniques and conduct a job search. . They also develop professional behaviors required in the workplace and to launch and maintain a successful business career. A review of college business career curricular literature is described related to networking, mentoring, interviewing and job search strategies utilized in the development of the curriculum. Future research will include program assessment utilizing a four-step model for evaluating the pairing of domain business knowledge with personal and career development for undergraduate business students.