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Partner with Us

Collaboration with faculty and staff across campus is key to the success of our students and the Office of Career & Professional Development.  We offer a variety of resources and opportunities for you to engage with our office.

Interested in working with us on a special project or networking event?

CONTACT US

    

SCSU Engagement Survey

To better serve your departmental needs, please extend our Employer Engagement Survey to your current industry/employer partners and SCSU alumni.

Employer Engagement Survey

Completing this form will add partners to our engagement inquiry list and help source future initiatives including partnership ideas, programming initiatives, and will provide us with a better sense of our external partners' highest priorities.

 

Essential to Becoming Career Ready is the development of eight *Career Readiness Competencies. The one thing that all eight competencies share is that they are important to employers and how employers evaluate job candidates and employee performance. The experiences that students undertake at Southern Connecticut State University and beyond offer many opportunities to develop and enhance the Competencies. These opportunities and experiences include, participation in classroom learning, internships, co-ops, research, on-campus involvement, leadership programs, work experience, or other on- or off-campus endeavors. 

A group of people at a career fair

What is Becoming Career Ready?

Essential to Becoming Career Ready is the development of eight Career Readiness Competencies that you might also think of as employability skills or behaviors. All eight competencies have been identified to be important to employers. Your experiences here at Southern, including participation in classroom learning, experiential learning, internships, co-ops, research, on-campus involvement, leadership and work experience, or other on- or off-campus endeavors will provide you with the opportunity to develop and grow in the different competency areas.

Why is Becoming Career Ready Important?

  • Career Readiness Competencies have been identified through research 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.
  • They have been adopted by Southern through the Office of Career and Professional Development and will be referred to as Career Readiness Competencies, ‘NACE Competencies’ or ‘Career Competencies’.
  • Furthermore, the NACE Career Readiness Competencies are not only important for your success post-graduation, they can also add to your accomplishments as a student, in courses, campus activities, internships, jobs and other opportunities.
  • If you want to prepare for success and set yourself apart from your peers, it’s important to not only to learn more about Becoming Career Ready and the NACE competencies, but to take action and intentionally build on the competencies you already have and enhance those that need more development.

Career Readiness Competencies

The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) has identified 8 core competencies that employers seek in candidates.  Career readiness is defined as “a foundation from which to demonstrate requisite core competencies that broadly prepare the college-educated for success in the workplace and lifelong career management.”

NACE Career Readiness Website

The Eight Career Competencies

Career Assessments

For students who are unsure of a career or major? OCPD offers assessments that can help you gain clarity.

Focus 2 Assessment

Focus 2 Careers is an online, interactive self-guided major and career exploration tool. It is meant to introduce you to your career interests, and we encourage you to explore your results using these resources as well.

Cost: Free
Length: 30-40 minutes total

Additional Resources

Many of the materials provided here have been shared by NACE members. * Please provide attribution to the original source if you use or adapt a resource.

The Office of Career & Professional Development offers a number of online tools to help students in their career exploration and professional development. Several of these tools could be incorporated into the classroom, too. Creating classroom experiences that focus on career development can help students feel more prepared to enter the workforce. Read below for ways that you can encourage students to utilize these online tools. 

Faculty Resource Guide

Defining College and Career Readiness: A Resource Guide

The Faculty Resource Guide, curated by the Office of Career and Professional Development, serves as a comprehensive toolkit for faculty members. This guide aims to bridge the gap between academic instruction and career readiness, equipping educators with resources, best practices, and collaborative opportunities to seamlessly integrate professional development components within their curriculum. Whether it's about introducing students to career opportunities, understanding industry trends, or enhancing employability skills, this guide ensures faculty have the tools they need to prepare students for the dynamic world of work. 

Faculty Resource Guide

JOBSs

Students can use JOBSs to explore thousands of jobs and employers; find details on SCSU industry and career fairs, employer events and workshops; and connect with the OCPD coaches.

Student access to JOBSs 

Big Interview

Big Interview is a software program that provides free, online interview practice for students. Practice tough interviewing questions with the ability to record, review, and share your answers.

Read the Big Interview user guide

Focus 2 Career

Focus 2 Career helps students learn about themselves and explore career options through career self-assessments, including modules on career planning and career readiness. 

Learn about Focus 2

Why is Becoming Career Ready Important to Faculty and the University?  
Engaging In and Integrating Competencies and Career Readiness Skills
Why is Becoming Career Ready Important to Faculty and the University?

Engaging In and Integrating Competencies and Career Readiness

SCSU faculty have been integrating Career Readiness Competencies into courses and class assignments long before the phrase emerged in the higher education landscape. As you review the list of eight NACE Career Readiness competencies, you may realize that you already have course content or assignments that provide students with opportunities to enhance or develop one or more of them. 

The Office of Career & Professional Development has designed a skills development organization via Black Board to connect all inside and outside of the classroom learning experiences to industry needs. The organization provides students with the opportunity to learn about the employability skills employers desire, as well as a variety of career readiness topics.  Each module takes 15-30 minutes and includes learning objectives, activities/action steps, and quizzes/assessments.

Goal of OWL Skills Development Organization

Skills Development Modules will help students:

  • build confidence in themselves

  • gain knowledge about career interests and the job market 

  • identify their skills and career competencies

  • connect classroom and outside of the classroom experiences to industry

  • provide easy access to resources and experiential opportunities

How to Use Online Modules

Each module includes an outline, learning objectives, activities and action steps, quizzes and assessments, and estimated duration. 

  • CONTACT US to see how the OWL Skills Development organization can be used with your students

  • Students can complete modules on their own to practice the topic associated with each module  (Blackboard Modules function/Extra Credit)

Integration Ideas to Consider
  • Access the OCPD website that is populated with career-relevant content including syllabi, assignments, and advising tools already created by SCSU faculty & staff.
  • You can review each Competency and the sample behaviors that demonstrate utilization of the competency here.
  • Consider identifying which competencies students will engage in while taking your course and highlight those on your syllabus, perhaps including them with learning objectives;
  • Taking a similar approach, review course assignments and consider adding proficiency indicators (sample behaviors) to grading rubrics;
  • When having an outside presenter join the class, ask the individual which competencies they use most widely in their work and how;
  • If journaling is part of your syllabus, consider creating reflection assignments relevant to each of the eight competencies as well as any other competencies that are integral to the course or academic field;
  • When students have a final project, research poster, or capstone, require them to include which of the eight NACE Career Readiness competencies they engaged in while working on the project, including examples of how the project contributed to their competency development. 

Find example syllabi that address NACE career-readiness competencies.

  • Use the Career Competencies in your syllabi, your PowerPoint presentations, and on Blackboard
  • Show how the liberal arts connect to life
  • Promote student engagement by demonstrating the real-life skills learned in projects and assignments
  • Identify the marketable skills gained in your course

Students decide to go to college for many reasons, many related to career and economic mobility.