Unit 14: Career Readiness and Work-Based Learning

Lesson at a glance

| Item | Detail | | --------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Suggested length | 4 × 60 minutes | | Recommended placement | Week 20 | | Prerequisite | All prior units | | Materials | Resume template, LinkedIn checklist, GitHub portfolio template, sample interview questions, employer panel scheduling |

Safety: Standard course safety.

Standards & credential alignment

• VA CTE Work-Based Learning standards.
• NICE Workforce Framework - work role mapping.

Learning objectives

By the end of this unit, students can:

1. Produce a one-page resume that maps coursework to NICE work roles.
2. Configure a LinkedIn profile that recruiters can find.
3. Publish a GitHub portfolio with sanitized lab artifacts.
4. Articulate a 24-month certification + experience plan.
5. Perform in a mock interview and incorporate feedback.

Vocabulary

• NICE Work Role - Standardized cyber job role definition.
• STAR - Situation / Task / Action / Result interview format.
• Apprenticeship / Internship / Co-op / WBL placement - Common entry pipelines.
• Soft skills - Communication, collaboration, ownership, learning under pressure.

Pacing

| Day | Focus | Deliverable | | --- | -------------------------------- | -------------------------------- | | 1 | NICE work roles + 24-month plan | Personal plan | | 2 | Resume + LinkedIn | Submitted resume + live LinkedIn | | 3 | GitHub portfolio + sanitization | Published repo | | 4 | Mock interviews + employer panel | Recorded interview + reflection |

Day 1 - Work roles + plan

Walk through NICE Workforce Framework categories:

• Securely Provision (SP)
• Operate and Maintain (OM)
• Oversee and Govern (OV)
• Protect and Defend (PR) - likely target for SOC analysts.
• Analyze (AN)
• Collect and Operate (CO)
• Investigate (IN) - DFIR roles.

Personal 24-month plan template:

0–6 months: <Cert>, <Project>, <Volunteer/WBL>
6–12 months: <Cert>, <Internship>, <Skill area>
12–18 months: <Cert/AAS>, <First role or extended internship>
18–24 months: <Advanced cert>, <Specialization>

Common starter cert ladders:

• Defensive: CompTIA ITF+ → A+ → Network+ → Security+ → CySA+.
• Offensive bridge: EC-Council EHE → CEH or OffSec PEN-200 (later).
• Cloud: AWS Cloud Practitioner → AWS Security Specialty.
• GRC: Security+ → ISACA CRISC (later).

Day 2 - Resume + LinkedIn

Resume bullets that work:

• Start with a verb.
• Quantify when possible.
• Map to a NICE work role implicitly.
• Show outcomes, not activity.

Examples (good vs. bad):

Bad: "Learned about networking." Good: "Designed and built a 3-tier segmented lab network using pfSense; documented firewall ruleset in default-deny posture."

Bad: "Used Wireshark." Good: "Captured and analyzed network traffic in Wireshark to identify lateral-movement indicators across 3 simulated incidents."

LinkedIn checklist:

• Professional photo.
• Headline that names a role goal ("Aspiring SOC Analyst | Cybersecurity Student").
• Summary that previews capabilities and a portfolio link.
• "Open to Work" turned on (visible to recruiters only).
• Skills section populated with course skills.
• Connect with teacher, classmates, and 5+ practicing professionals.

Day 3 - GitHub portfolio

Publish a portfolio repo with sanitized artifacts:

• Lab write-ups (Markdown).
• Screenshots with all environment-specific data redacted (no real IPs, no real names, no real hostnames beyond lab acmewidgets.example).
• A clean README that explains what the project shows about your skill.

Sanitization checklist:

• No real production IPs.
• No real credentials anywhere - even ones you "rotated."
• No company names beyond fictional.
• No screenshots showing other students' names.

Anti-patterns: pushing the entire ~/.ssh directory, committing .env files, pushing real engagement notes to a public repo.

Day 4 - Mock interview + employer panel

Mock interview pairs (record video):

Common questions:

1. Walk me through what you'd do as the first analyst on shift seeing a 4625 storm from one external IP against ten accounts.
2. Tell me about a time you got stuck in a lab. What did you do?
3. What's the difference between a vulnerability and a risk?
4. What's the difference between authentication and authorization?
5. You see PowerShell with -enc running on a sales laptop at 2AM. What do you do in the next 5 minutes?
6. What are you weakest on right now? What's your plan to improve?

STAR format scaffold:

Situation: 1–2 sentences of context.
Task: what you were responsible for.
Action: what you specifically did (use "I", not "we").
Result: outcome with as much quantification as you can.

Employer panel (2–4 invited professionals; teacher coordinates): Q&A on what they hire for, what they reject, and what an internship at their org looks like. Students write 3 actionable takeaways.

Common misconceptions

• "I have to be perfect to apply." - Apply. Iterate. Apply again.
• "Certifications get you hired." - Certs get you the interview. The interview gets you hired. Be ready to do, not just to recite.
• "I'll start the portfolio after I get good." - Start now. Iteration in public is the portfolio.

Assessment

• Day 1 personal plan.
• Day 2 submitted resume + screenshot of live LinkedIn profile.
• Day 3 link to GitHub portfolio.
• Day 4 recorded interview + 1-page self-evaluation.

Career connection

Entry roles at $55K–$80K in this region; high cost-of-living markets $70K–$110K. Internships pay $20–$35/hour at most US tech employers. WBL placements can convert to offers.

Homework

Apply to at least one internship, scholarship, or apprenticeship before the next class. Bring a screenshot of the submitted application.