Professional Relationship Building and Branding

This unit develops practical skills for building, sustaining, and adapting professional relationships across careers and life stages. Students practice active listening, effective follow-through, networking strategies (including referrals, mentoring, and community engagement), and personal branding to support job search and business development.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze active listening and follow-through techniques by critiquing recorded or simulated conversations and identifying at least three improvements that increase relationship trust and reciprocity
• Apply targeted networking strategies (mentoring, referrals, word-of-mouth, community events, and online/offline tactics) to create a personalized 6-month networking plan that supports career or business goals
• Demonstrate inclusive networking behaviors by role-playing interactions across personality types, genders, cultures, generations, and life transitions, showing appropriate adaptations in at least four different scenarios
• Evaluate personal brand and job-seeking effectiveness by producing a portfolio (resume, elevator pitch, online profile summary, and outreach template) and measuring its impact through peer and instructor feedback