Career Readiness
Career readiness is about more than landing your first job—it’s about building the skills to grow, adapt, and lead throughout your life. The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) has identified eight core competencies that help students thrive in the workplace and beyond.
These competencies—valued by employers across industries—reflect your ability to communicate effectively, collaborate, solve problems, and manage your career with confidence and integrity. Strengthening these areas will empower you to pursue your goals and make meaningful contributions wherever your path leads.
Career & self-development
Proactively develop oneself and one’s career through continual personal and professional learning, awareness of one’s strengths and weaknesses, navigation of career opportunities, and networking to build relationships within and without one’s organization.
Sample behaviors
- Show an awareness of own strengths and areas for development.
- Identify areas for continual growth while pursuing and applying feedback.
- Develop plans and goals for one’s future career.
- Professionally advocate for oneself and others.
- Display curiosity; seek out opportunities to learn.
- Assume duties or positions that will help one progress professionally.
- Establish, maintain, and/or leverage relationships with people who can help one professionally.
- Seek and embrace development opportunities.
- Voluntarily participate in further education, training, or other events to support one’s career.
How can I build this skill?
- Attend Career Success workshops on resume writing, interview skills, and networking
- Create a LinkedIn profile and begin actively networking with professionals in the field
- Create a personal development plan, updating skills regularly through online courses like LinkedIn Learning and Coursera
Communication
Clearly and effectively exchange information, ideas, facts, and perspectives with persons inside and outside of an organization.
Sample behaviors
- Understand the importance of and demonstrate verbal, written, and non-verbal/body language, abilities.
- Employ active listening, persuasion, and influencing skills.
- Communicate in a clear and organized manner so that others can effectively understand.
- Frame communication with respect to diversity of learning styles, varied individual communication abilities, and cultural differences.
- Ask appropriate questions for specific information from supervisors, specialists, and others.
- Promptly inform relevant others when needing guidance with assigned tasks.
How can I build this skill?
- Take courses emphasizing presentations, such as communication studies, rhetoric, and technical writing.
- Engage in group projects where students must present findings collectively.
- Write for campus publications or serve as a student ambassador, practicing professional and persuasive communication.
- Start a personal blog, write LinkedIn articles, or join clubs where persuasive speaking is needed.
- Volunteer to give presentations in community organizations, develop a YouTube channel, or record podcasts.
- Practice networking at local events, which improves informal and professional communication skills.
Critical thinking
Identify and respond to needs based upon an understanding of situational context and logical analysis of relevant information.
Sample behaviors
- Make decisions and solve problems using sound, inclusive reasoning and judgment.
- Gather and analyze information from a diverse set of sources and individuals to fully understand a problem.
- Proactively anticipate needs and prioritize action steps.
- Accurately summarize and interpret data with an awareness of personal biases that may impact outcomes.
- Effectively communicate actions and rationale, recognizing the diverse perspectives and lived experiences of stakeholders.
- Multi-task well in a fast-paced environment.
How can I build this skill?
- Engage in case studies, simulations, and labs that require hypothesis testing and data analysis.
- Take courses emphasizing analytical thinking, such as philosophy, statistics, economics, cultural analysis, and logic.
- Participate in research assistant roles where students analyze data or conduct literature reviews.
- Engage in real-world problem-solving activities, like planning events, where quick, efficient solutions are needed.
- Practice personal projects that involve learning new skills or troubleshooting, such as coding a website or building furniture.
Equity & inclusion
Demonstrate the awareness, attitude, knowledge, and skills required to equitably engage and include people from different cultures and backgrounds.
Sample behaviors
- Solicit and use feedback from multiple cultural perspectives to make inclusive and equity-minded decisions.
- Actively contribute to inclusive and equitable practices that influence individual and systemic change.
- Seek global cross-cultural interactions and experiences that enhance one’s understanding of people from different demographic groups and that leads to personal growth.
- Keep an open mind to diverse ideas and new ways of thinking.
- Demonstrate flexibility by adapting to diverse environments.
How can I build this skill?
- Explore study abroad, global internships, and Global Classrooms
- Join cultural or identity based student organizations
- Attend multicultural events or international student mixers
Leadership
Recognize and capitalize on personal and team strengths to achieve organizational goals.
Sample behaviors
- Inspire, persuade, and motivate self and others under a shared vision.
- Seek out and leverage diverse resources and feedback from others to inform direction.
- Use innovative thinking to go beyond traditional methods.
- Serve as a role model to others by approaching tasks with confidence and a positive attitude.
- Motivate and inspire others by encouraging them and by building mutual trust.
- Plan, initiate, manage, complete, and evaluate projects.
How can I build this skill?
- Take on leadership roles in clubs or class projects,where decision-making and responsibility are required.
- Lead presentations or take on teaching assistant roles where mentoring or guiding others is involved.
- Take responsibility for planning or organizing group activities with friends or family.
- Develop mentorship skills by tutoring younger students or peers.
Professionalism
Knowing work environments differ greatly, understand and demonstrate effective work habits, and act in the interest of the larger community and workplace.
Sample behaviors
- Act equitably with integrity and accountability to self, others, and the organization.
- Maintain a positive personal brand in alignment with organization and personal career values.
- Be present and prepared.
- Demonstrate dependability (e.g., report consistently for work or meetings).
- Prioritize and complete tasks to accomplish organizational goals.
- Consistently meet or exceed goals and expectations.
- Have an attention to detail, resulting in few if any errors in their work.
- Show a high level of dedication toward doing a good job.
How can I build this skill?
- Meet deadlines consistently, maintain attendance, and actively participate in classes.
- Take on roles that require reliability, such as a student ambassador or research assistant
- Work a part-time job and focus on punctuality, dependability, and clear communication with supervisors.
- Volunteer consistently, developing a reliable track record.
Teamwork
Build and maintain collaborative relationships to work effectively toward common goals, while appreciating diverse viewpoints and shared responsibilities.
Sample behaviors
- Listen carefully to others, taking time to understand and ask appropriate questions without interrupting.
- Effectively manage conflict, interact with and respect diverse personalities, and meet ambiguity with resilience.
- Be accountable for individual and team responsibilities and deliverables.
- Employ personal strengths, knowledge, and talents to complement those of others.
- Exercise the ability to compromise and be agile.
- Collaborate with others to achieve common goals.
- Build strong, positive working relationships with supervisor and team members/coworkers.
How can I build this skill?
- Engage in collaborative projects, labs, and group study sessions where roles are divided, and tasks are delegated.
- Take part in team-oriented extracurricular activities, like student council, study groups, or intramural sports.
- Participate in simulations or case competitions, where teams work towards a common outcome.
- Join volunteer organizations or local sports teams, where team success requires effective cooperation.
- Work part-time jobs where teamwork is essential, such as retail or food service.
- Organize or participate in community events that require collaboration, like fundraisers or local festivals.
Technology
Understand and leverage technologies ethically to enhance efficiencies, complete tasks, and accomplish goals.
Sample behaviors
- Navigate change and be open to learning new technologies.
- Use technology to improve efficiency and productivity of their work.
- Identify appropriate technology for completing specific tasks.
- Manage technology to integrate information to support relevant, effective, and timely decision-making.
- Quickly adapt to new or unfamiliar technologies.
- Manipulate information, construct ideas, and use technology to achieve strategic goals.
How can I build this skill?
- Enroll in courses requiring specialized software (e.g., Excel, CAD, programming languages).
- Participate in online collaborative tools for project management, such as Slack, Trello, or Microsoft Teams.
- Engage in self-directed learning through platforms like Coursera.
- Practice by creating personal projects, such as building a website or starting a digital portfolio.
- Stay updated on tech trends by following tech blogs or attending tech meetups.
Take the “Am I Career Ready?” assessment
Learn how to develop your competencies and prepare for success in the workplace.
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