Become Career Ready: Skills Employers Seek
What is Career Readiness and why does it matter?
Career readiness is all about developing and demonstrating key skills that will set you up for success in your career. The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) has identified a set of core competencies—often referred to as transferable career skills—that employers value and consider essential for long-term success. At Florida Atlantic University and beyond, you have countless opportunities to build and refine these competencies through internships, coursework, research, campus involvement, work experience, and other on- and off-campus activities. Engaging in these experiences will help you confidently pursue your career goals and stand out in today’s competitive job market.
Learn the Career Skills:
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.
Ways to Build This Competency
- Show an awareness of strengths and recognize areas for development.
- Identify areas for continual growth; pursue and apply feedback.
- Develop plans and goals for your future career.
- Professionally advocate for yourself and others.
- Display curiosity; seek out opportunities to learn.
- Assume duties or positions that will help you progress professionally.
- Establish, maintain, and/or leverage relationships with people who can help you professionally.
- Seek and embrace development opportunities.
- Voluntarily participate in further education, training, or other events to support your career.
Specific Examples
- Meet with a Career Coach to develop a personalized Career Action Plan.
- Participate in internships, undergraduate research, student employment, or other experiential programs.
- Attend Career Fairs and career networking events.
- Utilize premium resources, such as, Big Interview, JobScan, Major KnOWLedge and Stepping Blocks.
- Seek out campus student leadership opportunities, such as Student Government, Residential Assistants, Orientation Leaders, or become involved as a leader of and registered student organization.
Communication
Clearly and effectively exchange information, ideas, facts, and perspectives with persons inside and outside of an organization.
Ways to Build This Competency
- 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 different 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.
Specific Examples
- Actively participate in coursework, including class discussions, papers, class presentations.
- Practice professional communication during internships, campus-based experiential learning, and off-campus jobs and volunteer experiences.
- Seek opportunities to deliver presentations in front of small and large groups.
- Visit the Speaking Center.
Critical Thinking
Identify and respond to needs based upon an understanding of situational context and logical analysis of relevant information.
Ways to Build This Competency
- Make decisions and solve problems using sound 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.
Specific Examples
- Take courses that involve data and analysis.
- Complete projects in Forage to demonstrate skills.
- Seek opportunities to understand problems and contribute to solutions using available data.
- Use LinkedIn Learning to complete courses.
Leadership
Recognize and capitalize on personal and team strengths to achieve organizational goals.
Ways to Build This Competency
- 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.
Specific Examples
- Get involved in student organizations or campus leadership opportunities through Student Activities & Involvement or the Weppner Center for Leadership.
- Mentor fellow students, formally or informally.
- Seek opportunities to contribute to or lead a project, such as with student organizations, internships, volunteer work, or part-time jobs.
Professionalism
Knowing work environments differ greatly, understand, and demonstrate effective work habits, and act in the interest of the larger community and workplace.
Ways to Build This Competency
- 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 on time, present, and prepared.
- Demonstrate dependability.
- 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 your work.
- Show a high level of dedication toward doing a good job.
Specific Examples
- Be positive when talking about your experience and career goals.
- Manage your time effectively to organize your schedule so that you meet all your commitments. If needed, prioritize your activities, and make decisions about where you can reduce time commitments.
- Update your professional headshot with the Iris Air Photobooth.
- Create a digital presence using LinkedIn.
Teamwork
Build and maintain collaborative relationships to work effectively toward common goals, while appreciating diverse viewpoints and shared responsibilities.
Ways to Build This Competency
- Listen carefully to others, taking time to understand and ask appropriate questions without interrupting.
- Effectively manage conflict, interact with and respect different 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.
Specific Examples
- Seek opportunities to collaborate with others, such as on student organization efforts, internship projects, or campus initiatives.
- Join an intramural sports team or other groups that emphasize team involvement.
Technology
Understand and leverage technologies ethically to enhance efficiencies, complete tasks, and accomplish goals.
Ways to Build This Competency
- 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.
Specific Examples
- Seek opportunities to learn new or specialized technologies and systems, such as an industry-specific digital tool used at an internship site.
- Complete certification programs or training opportunities for specific technology relevant to your chosen field.
- Use LinkedIn Learning to get additional skills.
Access Your Career Readiness Using the Suitable Career Readiness Competency Assessment Tool:
- Go to
suitable.fau.edu
- Log in using your FAU credentials
- Go to "Activities" on the left-hand side
- Click "Career Readiness Student Assessment - General Students"
- Click the blue "Next" button to get started
- When you get to the "Experience Description" page,
select "Pre-assessment"
as the assessment type
- Complete the assessment and click "Submit Form"
Become Career Ready Through:
