NACE Career Competencies

Communication is clearly and effectively exchanging information, ideas, facts and perspectives with individuals through written, oral and non-verbal forms.

 

Employers rate COMMUNICATION as the most important career readiness competency for recent graduates but rate graduates' proficiency of COMMUNICATION as 5th out of the 8 competencies.

 

 

Assess your level of communication:

• Do others seem to have to often ask me to repeat myself or clarify my comments when speaking?
• Am I comfortable speaking in front of others?
• Do others ask clarifying questions in my written communication, or am I clear and concise?

 

Employers are seeking students who:

• Understand the importance of and demonstrate verbal, written, and non-verbal/body language, abilities.
• Employ active listening, persuasion, and influencing skills.
• Ask appropriate questions for specific information from supervisors, specialists, and others.

Critical thinking is processing and organizing facts, data and other information to define a problem and develop effective solutions.

 

Employers rate CRITICAL THINKING as the 2nd most important career readiness competency for recent graduates but rate graduates' proficiency in CRITICAL THINKING as 4th out of the 8 competencies.

 

 

Assess your level of critical thinking:

• How well do I formulate an argument to support a conclusion?
• Am I able to easily evaluate conflicting information?
• Have I helped resolve problem recently?

 

Employers are seeking students who:

• 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.

Equity and inclusion is demonstrating openness, inclusiveness, sensitivity, and respectful interaction with all people and continually strive to account for and respect individual differences.

 

Employers rate EQUITY & INCLUSION as the 4th most important career readiness competency for recent graduates and rate graduate's proficiency in EQUITY & INCLUSION as 2nd out of the 8 competencies.

 

 

Assess your level of equity and inclusion:

• Do I respect cultural differences and preferences among my peers?
• Have I respectfully participated in a class discussion about a controversial issue?
• Have I viewed an issue that I feel strongly about from another person's viewpoint?

 

Employers are seeking students who:

• Keep an open mind to diverse ideas and new ways of thinking.
• Demonstrate flexibility by adapting to diverse environments.
• Seek global cross-cultural interactions and experiences that enhance one’s understanding of people from different demographic groups.

Leadership is motivating a group of people to act toward achieving a common goal, directing workers and colleagues with a strategy to meet the organization's needs.

 

43.9% of employers seek LEADERSHIP on a candidate’s resume and 54.1% of employers rate LEADERSHIP as very (4) or extremely (5) important but only rate graduates’ proficiency in leadership as 3.22 - somewhat proficient - 8th out of the 8 competencies.

 

 

Assess your level of leadership:

• Am I flexible when it comes to different tasks?
• Do I want to be a leader?
• Can I change how I communicate depending on the situation?

 

Employers are seeking students who:

• Serve as a role model to others by approaching tasks with confidence and a positive attitude.
• Plan, initiate, manage, complete, and evaluate projects.
• Use innovative thinking to go beyond traditional methods.

Professionalism is demonstrating integrity, resilience, accountability and ethical behavior; the ability to maintain effective work habits to produce high quality results.

 

91.2% of employers responded that PROFESSIONALISM is either very or extremely important for college graduates to have to enter the workforce. However, these same employers responded that only 48.6% of recent college graduates were either very or extremely proficient in PROFESSIONALISM.

 

 

Assess your level of professionalism:

• Do I have an understanding of business etiquette?
• Do I regularly meet deadlines and due dates?
• Is my social media presence (e.g., LinkedIn, Handshake) professional or do I need to reassess my online presence?

 

Employers are seeking students who:

• Demonstrate dependability (e.g., report consistently for work or meetings).
• Act equitably with integrity and accountability to self, others, and the organization.
• Maintain a positive personal brand in alignment with organization and personal career value.

Teamwork is the ability to successfully build & maintain collaborative relationships to work effectively together as a team through shared responsibility, respect, & empathy to complete a shared goal for a common good.

 

TEAMWORK is one of three career readiness competencies that scores the highest proficiency ratings from employers - 3.84 on a scale of 1 to 5. Employers also rate TEAMWORK as the 3rd most important career readiness competency for recent college graduates.

 

 

Assess your level of teamwork:

• Am I a good listener to others on my team?
• Am I willing to help other members with their work even if it makes more work for me?
• Am I comfortable sharing my point of view in a team setting?

 

Employers are seeking students who:

• 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.

Technology is the ability to leverage current and emerging digital technologies ethically and efficiently to solve problems, complete tasks, and accomplish goals.

 

Employers rate recent graduate's proficiency in TECHNOLOGY as the highest career readiness competency - 3.98 on a scale of 1 to 5. This is the only competency where employers rated recent college graduates higher in proficiency than they rated the importance of the competency - 74% of respondents.

 

 

Assess your level of technology:

• Are others in my classes able to get work done more quickly and efficiently using technology?
• Do I want to put the time in to learn and become proficient with technology?
• Do others in my classes seem to have more knowledge than me?

 

Employers are seeking students who:

• Use technology to improve efficiency and productivity of their work.
• Navigate change and be open to learning new technologies.
• Identify appropriate technology for completing specific tasks.