Career Catalyst

Kick-start your career preparation with CFG’s foundational career module.

Career Catalyst
career-catalyst-revamp

As a student in the early stages of your studies, you must be excited about the vast number of career paths in front of you! You may not know it yet, but the preparations you make today will impact your career options by graduation.

Enrol in Career Catalyst to equip yourself with essential career skills such as resume writing, creating your personal brand and elevator pitch, and sharpening your interviewing skills. When done well, they will set you apart and help you maximise your chances of getting the internship and job that you have always wanted!

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Get Internship-ready

Discover the importance of internships in securing full-time employment
and how to land your first internship

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Career Pathways

Identify your career interest(s) and
build a personal brand aligned to it

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Captivating Resumes

Learn how to craft a resume and cover letter
that stands out among other applicants

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Interview & Networking Excellence

Receive expert tips on interview preparation
and build a networking strategy that works for you

Programme Details & Registration

Modular Credits: 2MC, Unrestricted Elective Module (UEM). CFG1002 does not count towards the limit on the number of Level-1000 modules in fulfilment of graduation requirements.

Assessment and Grading Basis: CS/CU

Pre-requisites: No requirements

Schedule: In Semester 1, AY 2020/21, Career Catalyst will be offered as an e-learning module in Term 1 (weeks 1-6) and Term 2 (weeks 7-12) with no face-to-face lectures. Since there is no fixed curriculum time for the lessons (e-learning sessions), students will be able to read this module at their own time and own pace without clashing with their other commitments. The learning activities and assessments need to be completed within the 6-weeks duration of this module.

Mode of Enrolment:

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS): Cohort 2019 onwards: CFG1002 Career Catalyst is a graduation requirement for FASS undergraduates

Faculty of Engineering (FoE): Pre-allocated to all Year Two students

Faculty of Science (FoS): Offered to Year One students on an opt-in basis and preallocated to Year Two students who have not taken Career Catalyst

School of Computing (SoC): Offered to Year One students on an opt-in basis

School of Design and Environment (SDE): Offered to Year One students on an opt-in basis

Register Now

For any questions on this module, please e-mail
Mr Dave Singh at careercatalyst@nus.edu.sg.

Module Structure

E-learning Session 1:
A Perspective on Multiple Career Pathways

E-learning Session 2:
Effective Resume and Cover Letter

  • Purpose of a resume and 4 main steps to develop a resume using VMock.
  • Crafting results-oriented C.A.R. statements
  • Drafting effective and targeted cover letters

E-learning Session 3:
Personal Branding and Elevator Pitch

  • Basics of personal branding
  • Crafting an elevator pitch
  • Creating and maintaining a professional online presence
    (Example: LinkedIn)

E-learning Session 4:
A Recruiter’s Perspective on Hiring Trends and Interview Preparation

  • Types of interviews and selection processes
  • How to prepare for interviews
  • Introduction to the interview response frameworks & techniques
  • Sharing of hiring trends by employers

E-learning Session 5:
Networking and Professional Presentation

  • Developing networking skills and strategy
  • Projecting a positive image for career success
  • Activities on networking strategies and techniques

E-learning Session 6:
Excelling as an Intern

  • Importance of internships
  • Tips for being a super intern
  • Workplace behaviour

In addition to the above e-learning sessions, there will be live Zoom sessions held by your Faculty’s Career Advisors with invited alumni and senior students during the opening and closing weeks of this module.

You will receive more information regarding these live webinars on email before the start of the module.

While the attendance to these live Zoom sessions are not graded and are optional, you are strongly encouraged to participate to deepen your knowledge in career planning.

Learning Content

E-learning Videos

Students currently enrolled in Career Catalyst can access videos on LumiNUS during Weeks 1–6 (Term 1) or Weeks 7–12 (Term 2) of the semester.

E-learning Session 1:
A Perspective on Multiple Career Pathways

  • View e-learning video on LumiNUS and answer the in-video quiz questions
    • CFG1002 Career Catalyst > Multimedia > CFG1002 – Perspective: Multiple Career Pathways
  • Access post-module resources

E-learning Session 2:
Effective Resume and Cover Letter

E-learning Session 3:
Personal Branding and Elevator Pitch

E-learning Session 4:
A Recruiter’s Perspective on Hiring Trends and Interview Preparation

E-learning Session 5:
Networking and Professional Presentation

E-learning Session 6:
Excelling as an Intern

Assessment Instructions for Students

All assessment components for this CS/CU graded module must be completed and submitted for review by the instructors by the due date indicated in the table below. If you miss the stated deadline for any assessment component, no late submissions will be allowed and you will score 0 marks for that assessment component.

Grading Components:

Assessment Talks Assessment % Due Date
In-video Quizzes1 40% As stated in weekly emails
Completion of NUS TalentConnect profile2 10% End of week 5 of the module
Resume Score on VMock3 50% End of week 5 of the module
Total Module Score 100%  

1. In-video Quizzes (40%)

Students will receive instructions on weekly emails to view E-learning videos on LumiNUS.

For E-learning sessions 1, 2, 4, and 5, you will need to complete the in-video quizzes to score marks for this assessment component. You must diligently view the entire video and answer all the quiz questions. The marks for this assessment will be based on the percentage of video viewed as recorded by the software, as well as the number of questions answered correctly. Therefore, do not skip the video and feel free to repeat the quizzes until you get them right to maximise your score.

2. Completion of NUS TalentConnect profile (10%)

During E-learning Session 1, you will see instructions in the video to log in to your NUS TalentConnect account and complete this assessment component.

At menu on the left of your NUS TalentConnect homepage, go to My Account > Personal. You will enter two technical skills and two transferable skills in the text boxes provided. This must be completed by the end of week 5 of the module.

3. Resume Submission on VMock (50%)

You must upload the PDF version of your resume by logging by logging onto https://www.vmock.com/nus with your given NUS student email (for example, e1234567@u.nus.edu), by the end of week 5 of the module. Please take note to upload your resume at this NUS VMock site and not the main VMock website.


You are allowed a maximum of 10 uploads on your VMock account per academic year so that you can improve your resume (and thereby its score) based on the feedback provided by the VMock algorithm. The score out of 100 for your latest upload on VMock will be converted to a score out of 50 to arrive at the marks for this assessment.

You may start working on your resume after E-learning session 2 where you will learn about the best practices in resume writing.

Do use your re-submissions wisely as you may wish to make changes and re-upload when applying for internships during an academic year.

Passing Criteria for CFG1002:

To obtain a CS grade in this module, you must satisfy all of the following requirements:

  1. Obtain a minimum of 60/100 for your resume score on VMock
  2. Score a minimum of 60% in your Total Module Score (refer to the above Grading Components table)
  3. View and complete all the six E-learning sessions within the 6-week duration of this e-learning module

What our students say

“I recommend this module even if you have attended similar workshops or seminars before. It is essential to know what to write in your resume.”


Year 1 SoC student

“This is a very meaningful and effective module! I really appreciate all the resources, insider information and advice CFG has shared. Thank you so much for planning this for us, and for putting in all the evenings for this module. ❤”


Year 1 FASS student

“One of the more informational lectures thus far! Appreciated :)”


Year 1 FoS student

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