Once a week, on Wednesday evenings during the first half of fall term, a group of Clark Honors College students gather in University Hall. This isn’t a typical class with essay writing or lab analysis at its core.

In fact, the students in Tobin Johnston’s class are more likely to be filling out a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test than anything else. Johnston, the job and internship developer for the UO’s Career Center, asks students to send their results to a friend to explain why they reflect their personality types – and to their family members to explain why they don’t.

Johnston’s class, “From Honors to Internships,” is in its second year at the CHC. It begins with lectures and group activities that teach students about career readiness and help them understand the importance of networking with professionals. Personal reflection, critical thinking, and decision-making are all skills that Johnston builds into the curriculum.

The class was created last year as part of the Honors College’s embrace of Oregon Rising, the UO’s strategic plan. By enhancing its career and employment guidance to students, the college will give students the skills and confidence to advance their careers and life goals.

In Johnston’s class, students explore their own unique strengths. They leave the class with genuine, practical content: a résumé, cover letter practice, and networking skills. They even get to experience the Career Expo, where they network in person with potential employers and organizations. The course helps them develop the skills to thrive in any internship or job opportunity that comes their way.

Johnston greets each of his students by introducing himself and asking for a name. He reviews the basics of cover letters, résumés, and other aspects of an application with expertise and authenticity. He encourages students to stand in front of the class and tell a story that grounds them so they can practice public speaking.

During a recent class, group members shared dreams of becoming a chef or getting lost while traveling in Europe. One student told the story of how a coach changed their life. Another mentioned a bad experience talking to journalists in New York City. Collectively, the stories they share allow the students to open up as they learn to use anecdotes to explain who they are as people. Johnston encourages them all and explains that each of these experiences will be what helps get the attention of potential employers.

Students’ reactions to the course have been overwhelmingly positive. They’re passionate and driven about their futures. One of Johnston’s favorite parts of the job is watching how his students’ interests intersect with their intended career paths. Helping students learn what they love and how to achieve it is why he teaches, he says.

“There is something special about the honors students; I’ve never seen it anywhere else,” Johnston says. “Such well-read students are exactly what employers are looking for.”

Johnston attended Gutenberg College in Eugene, where he fell in love with philosophy. To this day, in his office at the Career Center, shelves are stuffed with books and other reading materials.

After he graduated, he got a job at the Oregon Department of Human Services’ vocational rehabilitation program, where he helped people with disabilities gain employment across Oregon. He later worked with the Oregon Employment Department before coming to UO.

“Working with a government agency, you work a lot with people who are struggling, people who are looking for jobs because they need it to live,” Johnston says now. “But working with the students, you see it’s because they are filled with optimism and excitement about getting jobs. Less of a sense of urgency and more of a sense of excitement about their future.”

The Employment Department was participating in a job expo at UO, and Johnston met Holly Tate, a job and internship developer who works at UO’s Career Center. He stayed in touch with her, and when a position opened at the center, he applied. Now he is at the helm of this new class, in addition to his other duties at the Career Center.

Last year, sophomores Gus Murino-Brault and Grace Boyer were two of the CHC students who took the course when it was first offered. During Johnston's class, Boyer and Murino-Brault were both able to quickly build applications that showcased their personalities and professionalism – and both secured internships shortly after the class concluded.

“It felt like a fever dream,” Murino-Brault says, describing the speed and efficiency of the five-week course. He walked away after finishing with a personalized cover letter, a pristine résumé, and a newfound sense of confidence, which Johnston helped instill. “It was an entertaining class, and everything I learned was useful,” he says.

Boyer serves as a research assistant at the Hutchins Lab of Cognitive Neuroscience. It’s a role she landed by applying what she learned in the class. “Tobin is incredibly intentional with how he teaches, and he helped me understand how to confidently pursue opportunities,” she says.

Johnston says he will continue to work with students and push them to their limits.

“I want honors students to be audacious,” says Johnston. “They’re discerning in their judgment, imaginative with their goals. Every student is diverse in their interests, too; they do the perfect job of reflecting the values of the CHC.”