Step 7: Strengthen Career Readiness Skills

Employers hire for skills and mindset.

💡 What: Build the Skills Employers Expect

Landing the job is just the beginning; thriving in it takes essential workplace skills. The good news? You’re likely already building them through classes, campus jobs, leadership, and service. The key is to recognize, strengthen, and communicate them.

💼 Career & self-development: Set goals, seek feedback, and take ownership of your personal and professional growth.
🗣️ Communication: Share your ideas clearly and respectfully, whether you’re writing, presenting, or collaborating with others.
🧠 Critical thinking: Think through problems, ask good questions, and make thoughtful decisions using logic and creativity.
🤝 Equity & inclusion: Work respectfully with people from all backgrounds, and help create spaces where everyone feels welcome.
👩‍💼 Leadership: Inspire and support others, take responsibility, and help your team succeed, whether you’re leading or contributing.
👔 Professionalism: Be dependable, prepared, and ethical. Show up, follow through, and handle feedback with maturity.
🧑‍💻 Technology: Use digital tools effectively to complete tasks, solve problems, and collaborate in modern workplaces.
🤝 Teamwork: Build trust, share responsibilities, and bring your best to group projects and professional relationships.

🛠️ How: Build & Track Your Career Readiness

➡️ Review the Viking Score Career Readiness Competencies
Understand what skills matter most to employers and how you can develop them.
🔗 NACE Career Readiness Competencies
🔗 Viking Score: Career Ready Activities

➡️ Assess Your Career Readiness using the NACE Ready: Career Readiness Report
Take the self-assessment, plus have a supervisor assess your skills as well. You’ll get your Career Readiness Score in a report you can share with others and use as a guide for skill development.
🔗 Link to Assessment (through Suitable) Launching September 2025!

➡️ Intentionally plan how you will Gain Experience
Using the Action Plan for Experiential Learning guided worksheet, you can clarify your goals and determine the best path forward through an internship, research, or study away experience. 
🔗 Download the Action Plan Worksheet

➡️ Gain Experience through Internships & Volunteering
Apply your skills in real-world settings and keep track of your impact. Complete an Internship, Study Away, or Student Research experience (consider using your Augie Choice) and process & reflect with your Career Coach.
🔗 Signature Experience Activity 

➡️ Reflect on and Articulate Your Career Readiness Skills
Think back upon all of the skills and experiences you have had that allowed you to gain considerable skills in each of these competency areas. Keep them top of mind and share them with your network using the Networking Brief.
🔗 Signature Career Ready Activity 
🔗 Networking Brief Template