career skills

Derived from blog originally
posted on WCET Frontiers I
had the opportunity to partner with WCET and talk about soft skills—what
they are, why they matter, how they impact employability and why the current
workplace demands them. I’ve continued this conversation by speaking with educators across
the country, often hearing similar feedback: “We all know the primary reason students pursue education is to get a job or a better job—yet employers consistently tell us students graduate without the requisite skill set to be successful. When it comes to hiring, a whopping 92 percent of HR professionals tell us that soft skills matter as much Read More…

Cengage recently launched Skill Map, a new online tool to help learners explore in-demand skills and jobs and get started on the right “Career Journey.” Read on to learn more about this valuable new resource. What is Skill Map? Skill Map is a new, free career exploration tool from ed2go, a Cengage company.  Skill Map provides actionable information and data learners can use to make smart career decisions. With Skill Map, learners can explore career options (for hundreds of careers) and find local job demand data and local salary information. They can also learn about the specific skills employers are Read More…

As a college student, you quickly learn that there are good habits and bad ones. Unfortunately, sometimes you may need help learning how to translate tips for success into your study habits. Read on for help setting priorities along with other tactics to improve your college experience.

Good habits for college students

When setting priorities, there are three main things all college students should remember: Don’t put yourself in an impossible situation. Prioritize which classes are most important, use your time wisely to create success, and plan for two hours of studying for every hour of class.
Be sure to define priorities. Read More…

According to former presidential candidate Jeb Bush, psychology majors are doomed to a career in fast food. How is it that the psychology degree gets such a bad rap? Dr. Ellen E. Pastorino thinks it’s because psychology majors don’t know how to articulate to employers the many valuable skills that their studies have taught them. In this week’s podcasts, Dr. Pastorino pointed out that the skills psychology students develop during their studies: collaboration, communication, intrapersonal, quantitative analysis, and critical thinking, are those skills most valued by employers. Faculty can help students to transition from the classroom into the workplace with Read More…

Guest Contributor: Scott Rudeen, Ph.D.(ABD), MBA, MA, MSM   The criminal justice field has changed so greatly over the past decade. My goal in the classroom is to help prepare my students to become fully job-ready. We focus on improving their communication skills, their reading comprehension, and their decision-making ability through dynamic scenarios. When students begin their CJ career, they learn quickly that every written word and every action can be used in court, captured on video, and easily shared on social media. As a state trooper who is passionate about law enforcement, my primary goal is to act Read More…

Summer break is a great time for students to develop marketable skills to prepare for the transition from academia into the workforce. We’ve all heard that summer internships are instrumental in helping students gain valuable professional experience, develop on-the-job skills, and determine if they’re on the right career path—but what if you don’t have an internship? Whether they didn’t have enough experience, bombed the interview, or simply can’t afford to work for free for 20+ hours a week, many students are currently facing a summer sans-internship. However, this doesn’t mean they can’t still use their summer break to develop Read More…

You may be dreaming of a break from June through August, but summer employment, particularly a job within your major, can offer a tremendous boost to your future career prospects. Figuring out how to find a summer job that parallels your major can be a challenge. Here are some tips for college students hoping to do a bit more to get ahead in their future career.

Beyond summer employment

Figuring out your future career may seem pretty daunting to most college students. Finding summer employment is good practice and can actually be treated with the same discipline and approach. In Read More…

This summer, thousands of students will take the first step in their career and undertake a summer internship in order to develop marketable skills and build their professional network. Internships have become an invaluable step on the journey to career success for many, and while most employers know not to assume a wealth of professional experience from their interns, they will expect their interns to have the soft skills necessary to get along in a professional work environment. “Soft skills” are associated with a person’s emotional intelligence quotient and generally characterize how a person relates to others—essentially, people skills. Read More…

While there are thousands of STEM positions open and waiting for workers to come and fill them, there is a lack of work-ready STEM professionals graduating from higher education institutions. However, rather than lack the technical skills necessary to complete the work, many of these candidates lack the ability to be an effective employee to the organization because they lack the necessary soft skills for success. Read More…

While every industry comes with its own set of specific technical knowledge and proficiencies, there are universal “soft skills” that are applicable to any industry, and workers who lack them could be setting themselves up for failure. We’ve all seen the trend pieces criticizing recent graduates’ dearth of these skills, but consider that many graduates haven’t had a chance to practice them when they were in school. If we want to set students up for success outside of the classroom, then they’ll need opportunities to learn and hone these skills BEFORE graduation. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, there are Read More…