Working Your Core
By: Pat Donahue, Executive Director for Career Development
Stop reading if you think this article is about sixpack abs.
I’m a coach, but not one who teaches the proper form for planks, crunches or burpees.
As a career coach, I teach students how to figure out what they want to do and how to get there.
For the 25 years I have been career coaching, employers have asked me:
Are your students trained in soft skills? How about transferrable skills? Do they have core competencies?
Or the hot new term: Are students career ready?
According to the National Association of Colleges & Employers (NACE), “career readiness is the attainment and demonstration of requisite competencies that broadly prepare college graduates for a successful transition into the workplace.”
NACE has identified and defined these competencies:
- Critical Thinking/Problem Solving: Exercise sound reasoning to analyze issues, make decisions, and overcome problems. The individual is able to obtain, interpret, and use knowledge, facts, and data in this process, and may demonstrate originality and inventiveness.
- Oral/Written Communications: Articulate thoughts and ideas clearly and effectively in written and oral forms to persons inside and outside of the organization. The individual has public speaking skills; is able to express ideas to others; and can write/edit memos, letters, and complex technical reports clearly and effectively.
- Teamwork/Collaboration: Build collaborative relationships with colleagues and customers representing diverse cultures, races, ages, genders, religions, lifestyles, and viewpoints. The individual is able to work within a team structure, and can negotiate and manage conflict.
- Digital Technology: Leverage existing digital technologies ethically and efficiently to solve problems, complete tasks, and accomplish goals. The individual demonstrates effective adaptability to new and emerging technologies.
- Leadership: Leverage the strengths of others to achieve common goals, and use interpersonal skills to coach and develop others. The individual is able to assess and manage his/her emotions and those of others; use empathetic skills to guide and motivate; and organize, prioritize, and delegate work.
- Professionalism/Work Ethic: Demonstrate personal accountability and effective work habits, e.g., punctuality, working productively with others, and time workload management, and understand the impact of non-verbal communication on professional work image. The individual demonstrates integrity and ethical behavior, acts responsibly with the interests of the larger community in mind, and is able to learn from his/her mistakes.
- Career Management: Identify and articulate one’s skills, strengths, knowledge, and experiences relevant to the position desired and career goals, and identify areas necessary for professional growth. The individual is able to navigate and explore job options, understands and can take the steps necessary to pursue opportunities, and understands how to self-advocate for opportunities in the workplace.
- Global/Intercultural Fluency: Value, respect, and learn from diverse cultures, races, ages, genders, sexual orientations, and religions. The individual demonstrates, openness, inclusiveness, sensitivity, and the ability to interact respectfully with all people and understand individuals’ differences.
This list then begs the question: How do students develop these core competencies and become career ready?
The answer: Experiential learning.
Experiential learning is broadly defined as an environment outside the classroom where students can apply the skills they learn inside the classroom.
In other words, real life experience. Or learning by doing.
Examples of experiential learning include part-time & summer jobs, undergraduate research, student organization leadership, volunteering, and service learning.
Of course, this list would not be complete without the most celebrated or, shall we say, the Beyoncé of experiential learning: Internships.
You can find out more about these different types of experiences at http://bit.ly/CDCstep4
The easiest and smartest thing you can do is meet with your assigned career coach. For information on career coaching and scheduling an appointment, go to http://bit.ly/CareerApt
Your career coach will guide you through the different resources on experiential learning, help you develop a plan to work your core competencies and get you career ready so you can find a career you love.
Not even a crossfit instructor can do that exercise.