Faculty and Staff Resources

The National Association for Colleges and Employer (NACE) has a defined set of Career Readiness Competencies*:
1. Career & Self-Development
2. Communication
3. Critical Thinking
4. Equity & Inclusion
5. Leadership
6. Professionalism
7. Teamwork
8. Technology

*Additional details related to each competency can be found on the NACE website, including sample behaviors for each.

These skill areas are being built in the classroom, but we see a gap in our students’
ability to reflect and translate those skills to their professional and personal journey. Faculty can help build that competency bridge.

The goal in providing this quick context of career readiness is to allow faculty to identify attributes students are already gaining through their curriculum. By intentionally highlighting the broader skills gained, students can begin to better articulate what they are developing through
their academic pursuits.

• Career Readiness Competencies have been identified through extensive research and observations conducted by the National Association of Colleges & Employers (NACE), with input from employers across all industries, as necessary skills for success in today’s workforce and other post-collegiate pursuits.
• Engaging in NACE Career Readiness Competencies can contribute to students’ accomplishments in courses, campus activities, internships, jobs, and other opportunities.

• Appalachian faculty want students to succeed, not only in their classrooms, but also in their post-graduation pursuits. When integrating NACE Career Readiness Competencies into their courses, faculty can help students enhance and articulate these critical skills that employers and graduate programs seek. Students benefit from seeing where and how they are engaging in career readiness and competency development within their courses and academic field(s).

Instructors teach career readiness (competency skills) every day. However, for students, these skills are not always nameable and translatable. The goal is for students to be able to: 1) name competencies and translate them to new contexts, 2) practice and reflect on their growing competencies, and 3) translate their academic uses of the competencies into relevant careers. In addition to using the strategies below, the Career Development Center’s staff is available to support students, including by delivering presentations in classes.

From the lens of the Career Development Center, our aim is to meet students where they are and help them engage in the Career Development Lifecycle. This developmental cycle is characterized as:

• A conceptual framework for how career services support students and alumni with their career journeys
• A cycle that allows students to start at any point and move through the steps in any direction, as needed
  There are four stages:

Self-Discovery:

• Building a strong foundation on what is important to the student
• Think through goals, skills, interests, values, decision-making process, and personality type, and how these can help develop a career path

Exploring Careers:

• Focus on collecting information about career paths that are of interest and are a good match
• Support with resources, events, and advice

Building Skills:

• Gaining hands-on experience and skills from coursework, study abroad, campus activities, and internships/jobs
• Support with how to conduct job/internship searches, write and target resumes, prepare for interviews, and engage in networking

Making it Happen

• Building on all the steps in the cycle to go for that internship/job
• Launching from school with a solid foundation on which to build a successful career

The Career Development Center is eager to support faculty in the classroom and provide ways you can integrate career readiness. To get started, you can add career competency language to your syllabus. Faculty are in a great position to link classroom learning to post-graduation goals to help students see the value of their major coursework and common curriculum requirements. For each assignment on the syllabus, consider adding the competency that the assignment is helping them develop. You can also add a narrative in the syllabus that speaks to competencies. Writing, research, verbal communication, critical thinking, and data analysis are just a few examples of skills developed in the classroom that are highly sought by employers for a wide variety of positions.

Here are some examples:

“This course will provide you with knowledge and skills related to these NACE Competencies:[insert relevant competency/competencies]. These skills will help prepare you in securing
internship, employment, or continuing education opportunities, as well as realizing a fulfilling, civically engaged life. Your academic courses not only provide you with discipline-specific knowledge, but also opportunities for you to practice these competencies which are transferable to all career paths and industries.”

“The learning objectives for this introductory course will develop critical thinking skills that employers seek. They include: (1) discovering the qualitative differences between primary and secondary historical sources; (2) observing different time periods of politics, economy, and culture, and (3) expressing the complexity of American history in regards to significant social topics and events.”

“This upper division course will progressively improve those collaboration and leadership skills valuable in the workplace. Course outcomes: (1) contribute to an assigned team task; (2) strategize a task solution in a way that fosters positive team relationships; and (3) lead a group task that makes a contribution to team goals.”

Integrated Assignment Examples
In the following examples, you will see how faculty have partnered with us to integrate common career topics into the classroom and engage in their career development process.

Major & Career Exploration
Students are encouraged to connect with us as early as their first year to discuss their career plans and aspirations. We support them in exploration of their passions, values, strengths, and other attributes, and connect those to potential career paths and industries.

Collaboration Opportunities:

• Writing assignment based on identifying and researching career or major options
• Take FOCUS (Career Interest Inventory) and reflect on results
• Informational interviewing with a professional or alumnus (LinkedIn/Ask a Mountaineer) in their field Career Development staff presentation in class on a specific topic, careerhub.appstate.edu, Labor Market Insights activity

On-Campus Employment

Professionalism
Developing the habits and behaviors of professionalism starts in the classroom. Students must be ready to embody their professional brand as they develop in their careers.

Collaboration Opportunities:

• Including a professionalism statement in the syllabus that speaks to the importance of traits such as promptness, positive attitude, accountability, and being respectful of instructors and peers
• Creating a LinkedIn profile
• Capstone course project of creating a portfolio

Resumes and Job Searching
Resume formatting and the job search are industry-specific, and students should be familiar with the best ways to find employment in their field of interest.

Collaboration Opportunities:

• Make creating or updating a resume to Handshake an assignment and provide feedback for students, which can be done through our office
• Encourage students to attend campus networking events and job fairs, and if possible, incentivize attendance

Interviewing
Interviewing can be intimidating. Help your students become more confident with the process and their answers to commonly asked questions.

• Collaboration Opportunities:
  Students in internship preparation or capstone classes receive interview presentations or complete mock interviews with classmates.
• Assign students to schedule an in-person mock interview with the Career Center or complete a virtual assignment through Big Interview.

Utilizing Career Topics in Applying Theory
The content taught in each course is unique to the major, professor, and learning outcomes. We have seen great examples of faculty using a career topic as a practical example of discipline-specific theory or content area.

Examples:

• Organizational Communication Theories taught through the lens of communication with applicants from the onset through the interviewing phase of a job search.
• Theater classes with mock interview dramatizations
• Early level math or finance classes that discuss budgeting (paying for college, research on potential salaries and cost of living expenses)
• Give students a five-minute reflection prompt that asks them how they could apply what they learned at the end of the semester, module, or assignment to the work they are interested in pursuing.
• Bring colleagues or former students to class, in-person or virtually, who can speak to how they’ve applied the knowledge, skills, and frameworks that make up your discipline to their lives and work.