The National Association of Colleges and Employers, an association of career services professionals and employers from a wide range of sectors, launched the Career Readiness Initiative in 2015. The initiative sought to address a fundamental need for new college graduates and the professionals who serve their career development needs and recruit them into the workforce: a shared understanding of what is needed to launch and develop a successful career, a common vocabulary by which to discuss needs and expectations, and a basic set of competencies upon which a successful career is launched. The resulting Career Readiness Competencies apply, more or less, to any professional career.
Number one on the list? Career and Self-Development. But what does this mean?
From the lens of CPD, with masters degree candidates at Yale School of the Environment in mind, it means having the knowledge and skills needed to manage one’s own career. This includes everything from identifying personal skill or knowledge gaps that may be strengthened through coursework or independent learning, to knowing how to access Yale’s online subscription to the Foundation Directory. It includes learning how to use LinkedIn as a tool to explore and build a robust online professional network, mastering the art of writing a compelling and targeted cover letter, learning how to manage job and internship searches while studying full time, being able to research and identify job and internship opportunities, and knowing how to write brief outreach emails to alumni and potential employers.
NACE describes this first career readiness competency, Career and Self-Development as:
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.
Interested in learning more, or working with the CPD team to grow or polish career and self-development competencies? Read more on Career and Self-Development, and reach out to meet with us individually by scheduling a time in YSENext.
