Workplace-Relevant Skills and Experiences

A passion for and knowledge of human rights issues is invaluable for finding meaningful careers that advance human rights. What can also help you get an edge are marketable, transferrable skills. Fortunately, the Human Rights and Human Diversity program provides you with many opportunities to develop skills that are relevant to careers in advancing human rights. Some examples include:

HR261: Multiculturalism (Required Course)

This course is taught as a Community Service-Learning (CSL) course that gets you experience in real workplaces. CSL is a teaching method that encourages you to draw connections between the knowledge you gain through your studies and practical applications in the community. You are engaged in voluntary activities while integrating your experiences with academic course work. CSL's objectives are balance between specific academic goals on the one hand and building community capacity on the other. CSL fosters student leadership and enhances connections to the community at large.

HR300: Professionalization Seminar (Required Course)

In HR300 you can hone many professional skills; the centrepiece is an assignment in which you work in a team to write real grant proposals for local non-profit organizations. How would you like to add that to your resume? Grant writing will prove useful whether you work in a non-profit NGO or continue with graduate studies.

HR/JN252: Designing Digital and Social Media (Elective Course)

If you read some job ads for non-profit NGOs that work on human rights and social justice issues, you will find that everyone is looking to hire people who can work with social media.

HR305: Fundraising (Elective Course)

Professional fundraising is the lifeblood of non-profit NGOs. Whether you want to pursue a career in fundraising and development, or hope to work in another capacity with a non-profit, an understanding of fundraising is a key skill to have on your resumé.

HR306: Human Rights Education (Elective Course)

If you are interested in a career that involves advocacy for human rights and social justice issues, this is the course for you.

HR391: Canadian Internship/Field Placement (Elective Course) / HR392: International Internship/Field Placement (Elective Course)

Internships and field placements can be valuable to you both academically (they're a chance to reflect on the relationship between material studied in class and practice in the field) and as career preparation (you can use practical job search techniques, learn work-related skills, and develop contacts and networking skills that may lead to full-time employment). HR391 and HR392 have been designed to provide qualified students an opportunity to gain academic recognition for relevant experience they may gain through internships or international volunteering during the years that they are registered as undergraduates at Laurier.

OL481: Project Management (Elective Course)

Human Rights students are encouraged to consider taking this leadership course. Much like fundraising, you can pursue a career as a project manager, or, if you work in almost any role in a non-profit NGO, you will find that project management is a major element of your job.