NACE Career Competencies
A core purpose of work-based learning is to prepare students for a lifetime of meaningful work, civic contribution, and personal growth. To do that, students need to be able to identify and communicate the skills and competencies they’ve learned in ways that enables them to market themselves to employers, community organizations, and graduate and professional programs.
Faculty across JMU have expressed strong interest in better understanding and teaching these skills—and in having a shared language for naming, assessing, and reflecting on them in the classroom. J
The University Career Center uses the NACE Career Readiness Competencies because these are a nationally recognized set of skills that many employers and institutions are already familiar with.
Why use the NACE competencies?
Using and promoting this shared set of competencies across campus offers benefits:
Shared language for learning and reflection
When competencies are integrated into course design and reflection prompts, students are better able to recognize the skills they are developing—and talk about them in interviews, applications, and professional settings.
Alignment across academic and co-curricular programs
A common framework allows for clearer alignment between courses, advising, employer partnerships, and career development services. It also enables departments to track and assess skill development over time.
Support for inclusive and equitable learning
Making competencies explicit helps ensure that all students—not just those with industry exposure or social capital—have access to the language, feedback, and coaching they need to succeed.
Assessment of student learning and WBLE impact
Competency-based frameworks provide a foundation for measuring the outcomes of workbased learning across departments. This enables JMU to evaluate the effectiveness of WBLEs and demonstrate their value to students, faculty, and institutional leaders.
Select Competencies Relevant to your Course and Learning Objectives
Faculty do not need to teach every competency in every course. Rather, they can choose to highlight those most relevant to their learning goals and disciplinary focus—whether that’s teamwork, intercultural fluency, ethical decision-making, or digital literacy. Competencies can be introduced through short reflection prompts, included in rubrics, or discussed in end-of-semester conversations.
Ultimately, identifying and integrating career readiness competencies into WBLEs helps ensure that students graduate with more than academic knowledge. It positions them to thrive in the workplace and contribute to society with purpose and confidence.
