Assess your Career Readiness Competencies, and find out what you can do to build your skillset and grow.
The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) is a professional association that connects colleges with thousands of recruiting professionals across all industries.
Employers responding to NACE’s 2020 Job Outlook survey identified 8 top competencies for career readiness. These 8 competencies reflect what employers most want to see in the college graduates they hire for full-time positions and the college students they hire for internships.
Our Career Readiness Competency Worksheet below will help you assess your strengths and identify ways to continue developing all 8 competencies.
Career & Self-Development
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.
□ Need to Develop □ Currently Developing □ Excelling
Examples of how you can develop this competency:
- Meet with a CPD Career Coach or your Undergraduate Dean to cultivate awareness of your own strengths and areas for development.
- Learn more about yourself through credible and valid assessments of your strengths, values, skills, or personality. Reflect on emerging themes and connections as you begin to plan for your future.
- Reach out to alumni using LinkedIn, Handshake or Dartmouth Connect. Establish, cultivate, and maintain relationships with people who can help you professionally without making it feel transactional.
- Reach out to, and have conversations with, fellow students with similar interests. You can find them on Handshake, on your preferred social media platform, and in relevant student organizations.
- If research interests you, find a faculty mentor and research project through the Undergraduate Advising & Research department.
- Identify upcoming Dartmouth events that are meaningful to you and your personal growth. Use the Dartmouth Groups page, and departmental websites to browse upcoming offerings.
- Develop connections with faculty and staff. Participate in the Take a Professor to Lunch program to share your goals and seek advice.
How I will develop this competency:
Communication
Clearly and effectively exchange information, ideas, facts, and perspectives with persons inside and outside of an organization.
□ Need to Develop □ Currently Developing □ Excelling
Examples of how you can develop this competency:
- Take a class that requires individual or group presentations.
- Use the resources at RWIT (Research, Writing, and Information Technology Center).
- Adapt your communication to a diversity of learning styles, varied individual communication abilities, and cultural differences. One way to develop this skill is as an Academic Skills Center tutor.
- Practice active listening skills (be attentive, clarify, ask open-ended questions) by joining a mentoring program. There are youth mentoring programs offered through the Dartmouth Center for Social Impact, and the Dartmouth Student Mental Health Union has a mental health peer support program.
How I will develop this competency:
Critical Thinking
Identify and respond to needs based upon an understanding of situational context and logical analysis of relevant information.
□ Need to Develop □ Currently Developing □ Excelling
Here are a few examples of how you can develop this competency:
- Join a project-based team at Dartmouth, such as the DALI Lab. Take a class that involves a multi-week problem-solving project, or explore one of the many Design Thinking-related courses at Dartmouth.
- Select classes in an area that introduce you to a new method of academic inquiry (e.g., studio art if you are a scientist, computer science or linguistics if you are a historian, hands-on film editing for someone who likes to write papers).
How I will develop this competency:
Equity & Inclusion
Demonstrate the awareness, attitude, knowledge, and skills required to equitably engage and include people from different local and global cultures. Engage in anti-racist practices that actively challenge the systems, structures, and policies of racism.
□ Need to Develop □ Currently Developing □ Excelling
Examples of how you can develop this competency:
- Look through the Diversity Resources on our website to better understand how to make inclusive and equity-minded decisions.
- Learn how to eliminate barriers resulting from individual and systemic racism, inequities, and biases by engaging with OPAL and attending their programs.
- Learn how to start necessary conversations through OPAL’s resources. Address systems of privilege that limit opportunities for members of historically marginalized communities by understanding power & privilege.
- Make an effort to connect with people who come from different backgrounds. One way is to attend one of Dartmouth’s many heritage & history celebrations.
- Become involved in Dartmouth’s Sexual Violence Prevention Project.
- Be intentional as you select and complete your World Culture distribution requirement.
How I will develop this competency:
Leadership
Recognize and capitalize on personal and team strengths to achieve organizational goals.
□ Need to Develop □ Currently Developing □ Excelling
Examples of how you can develop this competency:
- Inspire, persuade, and motivate yourself and others under a shared vision. Develop this ability by participating in one of the Rockefeller Center’s many leadership programs.
- Participate in one of the Center for Social Impact’s mentoring programs, where participants mentor youth in the local community.
- Step up and take an active role in a student organization.
Recognize that you do not need to occupy an official position to practice leadership. Learn about situational leadership and document cases where you have made an impact.
How I will develop this competency:
Professionalism
Knowing that work environments differ greatly, understand and demonstrate effective work habits, and act in the interest of the larger community and workplace.
□ Need to Develop □ Currently Developing □ Excelling
Here are a few examples of how you can develop this competency:
- Be present and prepared. Work with the Academic Skills Center to learn about Developing good work habits.
- Demonstrate attention to detail, dependability, and an ability to prioritize tasks. Read the Student Employment Office’s tips for a positive work environment.
- Intentionally develop your professional network (faculty, staff, friends, mentors, former coworkers, alumni). For tips on how to do so, read our Networking Guide and meet with a CPD career coach. Register in Handshake to attend a variety of employer information sessions, and learn more about expectations within different industries and work settings.
Schedule a mock interview on Handshake with a CPD Career Coach to receive feedback on how you convey yourself in a professional setting.
How I will develop this competency:
Teamwork
Build and maintain collaborative relationships to work effectively toward common goals, while appreciating diverse viewpoints and shared responsibilities.
□ Need to Develop □ Currently Developing □ Excelling
Examples of how you can develop this competency:
- Explore Dartmouth’s Institute for Writing and Rhetoric’s Guide to Collaborative Learning. Join a Dartmouth intramural team or club sports team.
- Become a Dartmouth Learning Fellow to collaborate with professors and other students.
- Participate in a group social impact program, such as the Sustainability Office’s Green Groups or the Center for Social Impact’s Outdoor Leadership Experience.
- Build strong, positive working relationships with your supervisor and team members/coworkers. Listen carefully to others without interrupting, take time to understand, and ask appropriate questions.
How I will develop this competency:
Technology
Leverage technologies ethically to enhance efficiencies, complete tasks, and accomplish goals.
□ Need to Develop □ Currently Developing □ Excelling
Examples of how you can develop this competency:
- Engage in opportunities with Dartmouth’s digital and design organizations. Two examples are DALI lab and the Design Collective.
- Take some technology-centric classes such as Math Computational Methods or anything in the Computer Science Department.
- Student organization possibilities include: Dartmouth Hacker Club, Women in Computer Science. Be intentional as you fulfill your Technology or Applied Science distribution requirement.
How I will develop this competency:
Schedule your CPD Career Coaching Appointment through Handshake to discuss your results!