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What are employability skills?
What are employability skills?
You might hear from career professionals, faculty, and family about "employability skills" - these can also be called soft skills or career readiness skills too.
While the concept might seem broad and undefined, the National Association of Colleges and Employers has developed a task force between educational institutions and employers to come up with EIGHT important competencies every student should have when entering the workforce (either through an internship or an entry level job).
career curriculum - career readiness
career curriculum - career readiness
1: Professionalism/Work Ethic
1: Professionalism/Work Ethic
Career Competency: Professionalism/Work Ethic
Competency defined: Demonstrate personal accountability, effective work habits, e.g., punctuality, working productively with others, and time workload management, and understand impact of non-verbal communication on professional work image; demonstrate integrity and ethical behavior; act responsibly with the interests of the larger community in mind; able to learn from one’s mistakes.
CDP activity: Crafting your career plan/goals based on self-assessments, values, and professional desires. Working with your career coach, you will start mapping out your education-to-career journey (don't worry, it's not set in stone!).
IT specific activities: Group projects in your IT classes, CPIN 269, Hackathons
2: Teamwork
2: Teamwork
Career Competency: Teamwork/Collaboration
Competency defined: Build collaborative relationships with colleagues and customers representing diverse cultures, races, ages, gender, religions, lifestyles, and viewpoints; be able to work within team structure, and to negotiate and manage conflicts.
CDP Activities: Preparing and Critiquing Resumes - attend a resume workshop and participate in a peer review session.
IT specific activities:
3: Communication
3: Communication
Career Competency: Oral/Written Communication
Competency defined: Articulate thoughts, ideas clearly and effectively with persons inside and outside of organization; demonstrate public speaking skills; communicate new ideas to others; write/edit memos, letters and complex technical reports clearly and effectively.
CDP Activities: LinkedIN profile · Cover Letters · How to communicate through email · Thank you letter best practices • Mock interviews • Elevator pitch
IT specific activities: Technical documentation, team projects
4: Technology
4: Technology
Career Competency: Information Technology
Competency defined: Select and use appropriate technology to accomplish a given task, apply computing skills to problem-solving.
CDP Activities: Learning LinkedIn · How to use LinkedIn to help your career · How to identify alumni on LinkedIn · Tips and trick for LinkedIn
IT specific activities:
5: Career Management
5: Career Management
Career Competency: Career Management
Competency defined: Identify and articulate one’s skills, strengths, knowledge, and experiences relevant to position desired and career goals; identify areas necessary for professional growth; able to navigate exploring job options and how to take the steps necessary for pursuing opportunities; understand how to self-advocate for opportunities in the workplace.
CDP Activities: Searching for Jobs and Internships on HireIvy · Use HireIvy effectively · Create a job search strategy · Have ideas for internship back-up plans
IT specific activities:
6: Leadership
6: Leadership
Career Competency: Leadership
Competency defined: Leverage the strengths of others to achieve common goals; use interpersonal skills to coach and develop others; Ability to assess and manage one’s own emotions and those of others, using empathetic skills to guide and motivate; organize, prioritize and delegate work.
CDP Activities: Acing Interviews · Communication best practices · How to prepare for an interview · Expectations during the interview
IT specific activities:
7: Critical Thinking
7: Critical Thinking
Career Competency: Critical Thinking
Exercise sound reasoning and analytical thinking; obtain, interpret, and use knowledge, facts, and data to analyze situation, make decisions and solve workplace problems. Demonstrate originality and inventiveness in work.
CDP Activities: Getting Recognized & Recommended (LinkedIN) · How to develop professional relationships · How to overcome fears/rejection
IT specific activities:
8: Global/Intercultural Fluency
8: Global/Intercultural Fluency
Career Competency: 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.
CDP Activities:
IT specific activities:
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