Did the course fill up? Let us know so that we can keep track of interest! Email aidan.williams@charlotte.edu
What You'll Actually Do
This isn't a simulation. It's not a case study. You'll be matched to a real employer challenge, placed on a small team, and spend a semester doing the kind of work professionals do every day — with real feedback from real stakeholders.
- Work on an authentic project scoped specifically for your team
- Meet regularly with your employer partner throughout the semester
- Produce a professional deliverable you can show in interviews
- Earn course credit while building your résumé
Your 15-Week Journey
Weeks 1–3 — Get Started Meet your team, get matched to your employer, and kick off your project with a live session with your company partner.
Weeks 4–6 — Dig In Research the challenge, build your strategy, and start shaping your approach with your team.
Weeks 7–10 — Do the Work This is the heart of the experience. Build, present, get feedback from your employer, and iterate like a professional.
Weeks 11–13 — Make It Great Polish your final deliverable, get sign-off from your employer partner, and prepare to present.
Weeks 14–15 — Own It Present your work, reflect on what you've learned, and walk away knowing exactly what you're capable of.
Who are the customers? What do they need? Help a company understand their audience and uncover new opportunities. Skills: Research, analysis, customer insight
What's everyone else doing — and where's the gap? Dig into an industry and help a company find its edge. Skills: Strategic analysis, benchmarking, critical thinking
Where should this company go next? Build the roadmap to get them there. Skills: Strategic planning, business thinking, prioritization
How does this company connect with people? Develop the messaging, campaigns, or content strategy to make it happen. Skills: Brand thinking, content strategy, creative planning
How could this work better? Map the process, find the friction, and design a smarter way forward. Skills: Process thinking, systems design, problem-solving
Projects and companies are looking for candidates that want to contribute and learn while also building a professional brand.
What You'll Walk Away With
A work sample that's actually yours. Not a hypothetical. A real deliverable produced for a real company — something you can pull up in an interview and say "I made this."
Five career competencies employers look for — and proof you have them.
- Critical thinking you demonstrated solving a real problem
- Communication skills shown through professional deliverables and presentations
- Professionalism built through real employer interactions
- Teamwork developed through accountability to actual colleagues
- Self-awareness deepened through guided reflection all semester long
Clarity on what you actually want. A lot of students finish Career Catalyst knowing for the first time which industries excite them — and which ones don't. That's just as valuable.
A professional network you built yourself. Your employer partner, your cohort, your team — these are real connections you earned, not ones you inherited.
Yes. It's employer-engaged learning built into your coursework. You won't be commuting to an office or working 40-hour weeks, but you will be doing real work for a real company with real expectations.
No. Career Catalyst is open to students from any major. Whether you're studying Biology, Business, Communications, or anything in between, there's a project category that fits you. Interdisciplinary teams are actually a feature — you'll work alongside students from different backgrounds, just like in a real workplace.
Employer partners span a range of industries and sizes. Every project is vetted to make sure it's a real, meaningful challenge — not busywork. Companies come to Career Catalyst because they want fresh thinking from students, so your work genuinely matters to them.
Yes. You'll have seven structured touchpoints with your employer partner throughout the semester — roughly every other week — starting with a kickoff meeting in Week 3. These are real conversations about your project direction, your progress, and your deliverables. You'll also receive feedback through mid-project and end-of-project surveys.
Expect a similar time commitment to any upper-division course. The work is project-based, so your effort will naturally ebb and flow — lighter in the early discovery weeks, more intensive as you build toward your final deliverable.
It depends on your project category, but deliverables are professional-quality outputs — things like market research reports, strategic plans, brand frameworks, or process improvement recommendations. These are documents and presentations you'd be proud to include in a portfolio.
Team dynamics are part of what you're learning to navigate — that's intentional. There are structured peer evaluations and regular instructor check-ins built into the course specifically to surface and address team issues before they become serious problems. You won't be left to figure it out alone.
Your grade is made up of four components:
- Project Deliverables — 40%
- Structured Reflections — 25%
- Professional Engagement (including employer and peer feedback) — 20%
- Final Presentation — 15%
Does my employer grade me? No. Your employer provides feedback, but your instructor makes all final grading decisions. Employer input informs your Professional Engagement score, but it's one piece of a bigger picture.