Career Camp
COLLEGE EDITION
Modern career readiness helping students connect who they are to what they want next.
You’ve likely experienced it: Working with students as they juggle coursework, internships, family commitments, and anxiety and uncertainty about their career. Many can list what they’ve done, but not necessarily how to convey it in ways that immediately connect the dots for prospective employers.
Career Camp equips students with the tools to connect the dots. It’s packed with healthy work perspectives, insider knowledge, practical tools, and reflective frameworks to navigate internships, next roles, and long-term career growth. It’s a fresh and timely career readiness and professional development experience that flips the hiring process inside-out designed by seasoned HR and talent professionals who have led hundreds of searches.
“Career Camp is so hot! The content is 🔥. It should be required for every college student!” —Jenna R.
What’s Career Camp?
Self-Paced Online Content
Access videos, exercises, templates, and tools when it’s convenient.
Resources Bank
12-month portal access to Camp toolkits and A.I. prompt packs
Thought Partnership
Independent and facilitated reflection and exercises
Time Investment
10-15hrs including live facilitated coworking sessions
Career Camp helps students move through the real stages of career development—not just résumé polishing, but internal alignment and how to articulate their Knowledge, Skills, and Expertise. It’s structured enough to make progress, yet flexible enough to meet students where they are and fit within established program demands.
Identify what matters most. Students clarify their values, deal-breakers, and motivators, grounding their choices in purpose and self-awareness.
Connect the dots. Using our Chronological Crawl and Greener Grass Scorecard frameworks, they uncover transferable skills from academics, current and previous roles, and lived experience.
Craft career materials that sound like them. Through empathy mapping and guided AI prompts, students learn how to tailor résumés and cover letters with authenticity and precision.
Develop an intentional search strategy. Students build a sourcing plan, organize applications, and track progress using our templates and tracking system.
Practice interviews with confidence. We teach storytelling frameworks and reflective techniques that help students convey their unique strengths.—not just résumé polishing, but internal alignment and how to articulate their Knowledge, Skills, and Expertise.
“Katrina and Tim are amazing instructors. I left feeling inspired and motivated to implement what I learned… an amazing and insightful experience!” —Daljeet M.
What Students Learn
College students are entering an incredibly competitive and rapidly shifting job market where success depends as much on adaptability, storytelling, and self-awareness as domain expertise. Career Camp complements classroom learning with real-world career strategy.
Created by Tim Cynova and Katrina Donald, seasoned HR executives and talent strategists who have led hundreds of searches, interviewed thousands of candidates, and designed Career Camp reverse-engineering the hiring process to bring agency to the job search and reframe how we think about our work lives.
Camp builds career readiness competencies for students with tools, frameworks, and mindset shifts helping them:
Debunk pervasive career myths to encourage healthier relationships with work-life.
Articulate their top values, strengths, and deal-breakers.
Craft compelling stories, resumes, and materials that spark curiosity and connection.
Navigate power dynamics, bias, and ambiguity in hiring.
Use A.I. tools as job search partners not just to mass produce materials.
Create a personal career search plan aligned with their goals.
Prepare for interviews and negotiations with strategies that center clarity, confidence, and agency.
Report higher confidence in career decision-making and self-efficacy.
Why It Works for Students
✔ Aligned with real-world hiring practices. Developed by seasoned HR and Talent Acquisition leaders who’ve run hundreds of searches for roles from entry-level to C-suite across sectors and industries.
✔ Values-centered. Supports students in making intentional and strategic choices, not just “getting a job.”
✔ Practical + Reflective. Combines concrete tools and approaches with deep reflection and sensemaking.
✔ Enduring Habits. Helps students stay organized and develop helpful patterns around their career journey and job seeking long term.
✔ Transferable Skills. Builds self-awareness, storytelling, and networking strategies that they can use throughout their career.
“Tim and Katrina helped me rethink what’s possible in my career. I moved forward with clarity, intention, and values alignment.” —Veronica C.
Curriculum At-A-Glance
Module 1
(Re)defining Success on Your Own Terms: Cut through career myths, clarify what matters most to you, and start shaping your personal definition of meaningful work.
Focus Area: Career myths, Values & dealbreakers, Bringing your whole(ish) self to work
Tools & Activities: Career Path Myths, Work Values & Dealbreakers Exploration, Greener Grass Scorecard, Early reflection on alignment and agency
Module 2
Turning Experience into “Evidence”: Translate experiences—from class projects to internships, volunteer experiences to previous roles—into stories and skills that convey your value and potential.
Focus Area: Chronological Crawl, Skills-based résumé, Case Stories, and an A.I. partner orientation
Tools & Activities: Guided reflection across prior roles, projects, or experiences; Building a skills-based résumé and Story Bank; Introduction to using A.I. tools strategically in career materials
Module 3
Finding and Framing Your Next Opportunity: Discover where your interests, strengths, and values meet opportunity, and learn how to tailor your applications with purpose.
Focus Area: Sourcing strategy, Empathy mapping, Connecting the dots, Application tracking
Tools & Activities: Sourcing Schematic + Application Tracker; Empathy Mapping; “Connecting the Dots” to link Knowledge, Skills, and Expertise to opportunities
Module 4
Showing Up with Clarity and Confidence: Practice how to show up confidently in interviews, ask great questions, and make decisions that fit your goals and values.
Focus Areas: Interview prep, Greener Grass Scorecard Part 2, Negotiation, Onboarding
Tools & Activities: Interview Prep Playbook and STAR/CARL frameworks; Mock Q&A; Using the Greener Grass Scorecard to evaluate offers; Negotiation and early-onboarding reflection
Implementation Options
EMBEDDED INTO PROGRAMMING
Embed content into existing career service-related offerings.
Students participate as a group, with optional facilitation and coaching.
CAMPUS COHORT MODEL
Students engage self-paced, with optional group debriefs.
STANDALONE ACCESS
Ideal Participants:
First-Year Experience or Capstone courses
Career-Readiness or Life Design programs
Summer bridge or pre-internship preparation
Student leadership development cohorts
Alumni engagement or “what’s next” workshops
“Working with Katrina was incredibly helpful in preparing me for the next phase of my work life… and I ultimately got the job I was aiming for!” —Melissa M.
Sampler Pack | Videos
Sampler Pack | Toolkits
“Katrina and Tim distinguished themselves beyond all expectations.” —David D.
Meet the Camp Counselors
Katrina Donald
Tim Cynova
Designed and led hundreds of values-driven recruitment and hiring processes.
CHRO/SPHR and organizational strategist with 20+ years leading hiring, talent development, and professional growth across nonprofits and start-ups.
Faculty teaching hiring and organizational design for thriving workplace practitioners.
Certified recruiter, coach, and strategist with 20 years helping individuals and teams expand capacity for growth, leadership, and change.
Built adaptive hiring and leadership development systems that help individuals thrive in complex, evolving environments.
Data-informed, curiosity-driven approach that supports job seekers.
Career Camp leverages our years of hiring expertise and insights, and converts it into an actionable strategy for students. Instead of shaping a job search around a predefined set of requirements, and the same dusty old job search steps, we help students get curious about their work history, think creatively about the kinds of opportunities that appeal to them, think critically—and creatively—about what a fit for them might look like right now, and reframe their approach to finding their next role.
Career Camp is about experimenting, iterating, and taking a flexible, fun, and values-aligned approach to a student’s career journey.
As longtime advocates for candidate care, we know hiring and job searching are deeply relational, even though power dynamics and legal constraints often make it feel otherwise. That’s why we’ve reverse-engineered our tools: to unpack what’s happening behind the scenes, and help students show up with clarity, confidence, and agency.
We also understand the emotional side of transitions—the stress, the uncertainty, the hope. That’s why Career Camp doesn’t just focus on tactics. It’s designed to reframe outdated ideas about career paths, normalize growth and change, and support students in crafting a next chapter that feels like theirs.
Career Camp is about discovery—and we’re excited to go on this adventure with you and your students!