We asked two campus experts for their insights on how instructors can support students’ career readiness: Angi McKie, assistant provost and executive director, Pomerantz Career Center, with contributions from Mallory Becraft, associate director, career coaching and campus partnerships, Pomerantz Career Center.
Q: What kinds of skills and competencies do employers most consistently seek in early career candidates across disciplines?
A: Across industries, employers consistently emphasize a core set of transferable skills. Written and verbal communication is at the top of the list, along with the ability to collaborate effectively with others. Employers also value critical thinking and problem-solving, particularly the ability to navigate ambiguity and make decisions without having all the answers.
While discipline-specific knowledge is important, what often differentiates candidates is how effectively they can apply what they have learned through their experience in real-world contexts. These priorities are reinforced by many years of employer research from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), which identifies eight career-readiness competencies that support success across fields.
Students develop these skills through a combination of coursework, experiential learning (such as internships, research, service-learning), co-curricular involvement and even things like student employment. It’s important that they can recognize and articulate these experiences—especially on their resumes and in interviews—to show their readiness for professional roles.
Q: What suggestions do you have for instructors who want to help their students think about career readiness within their courses?
A: One of the most impactful things instructors can do is make career learning visible in what they are already doing in the classroom. Many courses are already building career-relevant skills, but that connection may not be obvious to students.
Small, intentional shifts can make a big difference without requiring a full course redesign. For example:
- Naming the skill behind an activity or assignment
- Adding a brief reflection question
- Connecting course content to how it applies beyond the classroom
Even a short prompt, such as “How might this skill show up in a future role?” can help students translate their learning into career-relevant language.
Career readiness develops through many experiences, and it’s essential to help students recognize the skills they are building and learn how to articulate them.
Instructors can also partner with the Pomerantz Career Center to incorporate career readiness in ways that align with their course goals, using existing assignments or adding simple enhancements.
Q: At the Center for Teaching, we often talk with instructors about transparent teaching approaches that support student learning, such as making sure students understand the purpose of an assignment. How can instructors explain the ways an assignment connects to students’ career preparation?
A: Transparency provides a natural opportunity to integrate career connections. When instructors explain the purpose, task, and criteria of an assignment, they can also highlight how the work supports students’ development beyond the course.
This can be as simple as expanding the purpose statement to include how the skills or ways of thinking apply in professional or real-world contexts. Even a brief explanation can help students see the broader relevance of their work.
Another effective approach is to encourage students to think backward from a potential career and consider the skills required. Online tools can help illustrate both technical and transferable skills associated with specific careers. When students see how classroom activities align with workplace expectations, they are more likely to engage meaningfully.
With intentional framing, students begin to view assignments not as isolated tasks, but as part of a larger process of building skills, confidence, and readiness for what comes next.
Q: What advice do you have for instructors when an assignment is critical for disciplinary thinking or learning in the field but isn’t obviously tied to a specific job or role?
A: Even when an assignment isn’t directly connected to a specific career, it plays an important role in developing broadly applicable skills. Disciplinary thinking helps students become adaptable, thoughtful learners who can navigate complexity and respond to new challenges.
By clearly communicating the learning goals and highlighting the underlying competencies, such as analysis, problem-solving, or communication, instructors can help students see the long-term value of the work. These skills align closely with the career-readiness competencies employers consistently seek and are essential for success in a rapidly evolving world of work.
Q: How can instructors partner with the Pomerantz Career Center to support students’ career readiness?
A: There are many ways instructors can collaborate with the Pomerantz Career Center at the course, program, or departmental level. Faculty can incorporate resources like My Career Path, a platform that helps students explore career development activities and track their progress throughout college. Linking it directly from a course site allows for seamless engagement.
The Career Center also offers a Faculty and Staff Toolkit with ready-to-use materials, and staff are available for consultation to help tailor career integration strategies to specific courses or programs.
For a more in-depth experience, instructors can participate in Career Connectors, a three-part training program that provides practical strategies for supporting students’ career exploration, experiential learning, and preparation for jobs or graduate school. The program also offers regular electives on a variety of topics.
Later this month, for example, the elective session “From Career Coursework to Career Confidence—Practical Career Integration for UI Faculty,” will focus specifically on helping instructors uncover natural opportunities to make the career relevance of coursework more visible. The session is scheduled for Monday, April 27, from 10:30 a.m.-noon. Register on Self-Service.