Career Readiness

The Career Center has identified eight professional Career Readiness Competencies to help you prepare and succeed in the workplace. Employers want to hire students and recent graduates who can demonstrate these skills, talents, and strengths. Mastering these competencies can make you a competitive candidate for future employment!

• Creativity & 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.

• Communication: Articulate thoughts and ideas clearly and effectively in written and oral forms to persons inside and outside of the organization. An individual with public speaking skills; is able to express ideas to others; and can write/edit memos, letters, and complex technical reports clearly and effectively.

• Global Perspective: 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• Technical Application: Leverage existing technologies ethically and efficiently to solve problems, complete tasks, and accomplish goals. The individual demonstrates effective adaptability to new and emerging technologies.

• Professionalism & Work Ethic: Demonstrate personal accountability and effective work habits, e.g., punctuality, working productively with others, and time management, and understand the impact of non-verbal communication on professional 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.

ARE YOU CAREER READY?

The Career Center has identified eight professional competencies to help you prepare and succeed in the workplace. Possessing these skills can make you more competitive in the marketplace and help you make the transition to a career after high school.

Here are some suggestions for how to gain experience in each area:

Creativity & Problem Solving:

• Get inspired with TED Talks

• ​Take an art class

• Select volunteer opportunities that promote arts in the community

Communication:

• Become a brand ambassador for a product or service you use everyday

• Become a peer advisor

• Write a letter to your local newspaper on an issue that concerns you

• Publish substantial thought pieces on social media (such as LinkedIn)

• Practice your interview skills through mock interviews

Global Perspective:

• Study abroad (if attending college); sign-up for distance learning opportunities

• Learn a foreign language

• Volunteer to teach/tutor English as a second language at local schools

• Attend free cultural programs and/or events on campus

Leadership:

• Take a on a leaderships role in a student organization/club

• Participate in leaderships programs through ASB

• Take part in Public Service opportunities (such as volunteering in the community)

Teamwork & Collaboration:

• Join an intramural sports team or club

• Be an engaged & contributing team member in all class and student group projects

• Join (or start!) a student club you are interested in

Technical Application:

• Go beyond the basics of using Excel

• Take a LinkedIn Learning tutorial and other online courses to develop technical skills

• Seek out social media responsibilities in a student organization

• Create a LinkedIn profile and use it regularly

• Create a GitHub account and develop an app

Professionalism & Work Ethic:

• Get a part-time job on or off campus

• Excel in academics and take your studies seriously

• Volunteer with a local non-profit organization

• Start an entrepreneurial venture or your own club

Career Management:

• Seek internships to clarify your career interests

• Conduct informational interviews with professionals in your fields of interest

• Utilize Career Center resources to find opportunities & learn to articulate your skills

• Join LinkedIn groups related to your career interests

Did you know - meeting with the Career Center, you can:

• Identify your existing work and transferrable skills, as well as, new skills to develop.

• Learn about, and learn to use, effective job and internship/apprenticeship search strategies.

• Review your resume and cover letter; build your interviewing and networking skills.

• Develop a plan of action for the job/internship/apprenticeship search or college applications.

Resources from the Google Engineer Career Panel:

• Career Panel Video (Recorded Session) | Passcode: V=Wbz1Z2

• Code with Google - Education programs and curriculum for learners interested in technical careers

• Code Next - Apply to participate in year-round CS workshops (Grades 9-12)

• CS First - Learn to code using Scratch and block-based programming (Grades 3-7)

• Computer Science Summer Institute - Apply to attend a 3-week CS bootcamp (Graduating HS seniors)

• Grasshopper - Build simple apps using Javascript (High school, adult)

• Google Scholarships - Scholarship and conference travel opportunities for students 18 and over interested in careers in technology

• Software Product Sprint - 11 week virtual programming and community building opportunity for university students

• Tech Dev Guide - Curated resource by Googlers to help students practice technical skills and prepare for tech careers

• Grow with Google - Programs for learners looking to grow their digital skills and careers in tech

• Applied Digital Skills - Practice digital skills by creating practical portfolio of projects (All ages)

• Grow On Air - Practicing digital skills and preparing for tech careers

• Google Career Certificates - 140+ hour courses to kick start technical careers (All ages)

Below is the link to the Cybersecurity certification, once on that page you can click the "Explore training options" and there will be a "self paced" option that is free, that's the one that I took and would be good for anyone interested in security.

It only gives the user 180 days to complete all the modules, the test will have a voucher code for the students if they wanted to pursue certification.

https://www.isc2.org/Certifications/CC?filter=featured&searchRoot=A82B5ABE5FF04271998AE8A4B5D7DEFD