Earning a degree or certificate is important — but today’s employers are looking for more. They want graduates who demonstrate career readiness: the ability to communicate effectively, think critically, work well with others, solve problems, manage their time, and show professionalism from day one.
Your academic program builds your knowledge and technical expertise. Having career readiness skills ensure you can apply that knowledge in real-world settings and add value in the workplace. These skills help you adapt to change, navigate challenges with confidence, and stand out in a competitive job market.
At JJC, you build career readiness through your coursework, campus involvement, on-campus employment, internships, and community involvement. Developing these competencies intentionally will position you not just to get a job, but lifelong career success.
The National Association for Colleges and Employers (NACE) has identified eight career-readiness skills that employers look for when hiring. Each skill can be demonstrated in a variety of ways.
Continuously seek opportunities to develop your career through personal and professional learning, be aware of your strengths and weaknesses, navigate career opportunities, and network to build relationships.
Ideas for Action:
- Take the Focus2 or MBTI assessment and discuss with a career coach ways you can build and leverage your talents.
- Meet with a career coach to discuss career goals and interests.
- Consider applying to internship opportunities aligned with your career goals; earn academic credit for your internship.
- Gain skills and experience through student involvement, student employment, and/or volunteer work.
Clearly and effectively exchange information, ideas, facts, and perspectives with peers, mentors and professionals inside and outside of JJC.
Ideas for Action:
- Display professionalism and etiquette in all forms of communication with peers, faculty and others you engage with daily.
- Employ active listening, persuasion, and influencing skills through experience serving in a student leadership role.
- Communicate with respect to diversity of learning styles, varied individual communication abilities, and cultural differences.
Recognize and leverage personal and team strengths to achieve optimal performance.
Ideas for Action:
- Inspire, persuade, and motivate self and others under a shared vision.
- Seek out and leverage diverse resources and feedback from others to inform direction.
- Use innovative thinking to go beyond traditional methods; enhance these skills by participating in a JJC student organization.
Build and maintain collaborative relationships to work effectively toward common goals, while appreciating diverse viewpoints and shared responsibilities.
Ideas for Action:
- Listen carefully to others, take time to understand and ask appropriate questions without interrupting.
- Build strong, positive working relationships with supervisor and team members/coworkers.
- Collaborate with others to achieve common goals.
Recognize that work environments differ greatly, understand and demonstrate effective work habits, and act in the interest of the larger community and workplace.
Ideas for Action:
- Act with integrity and accountability to self, others, and the organization.
- Be present and prepared – ready to learn, take notes, and contribute your ideas.
- Maintain a positive personal brand and establish your online presence via LinkedIn.
- Show a high level of dedication, ask for feedback, and strive to do quality work.
Identify and respond to needs based upon an understanding of situational context and logical analysis of relevant information.
Ideas for Action:
- Make decisions and solve problems using sound, inclusive reasoning and judgment.
- Gather and analyze information from a diverse set of sources and individuals to fully understand a problem.
- Proactively anticipate needs and prioritize action steps.
- Recognize the problem-solving skills you have acquired through your service, retail and customer service jobs.
Understand and leverage technologies ethically to enhance efficiencies, complete tasks, and accomplish goals.
Ideas for Action:
- Navigate change and be open to learning new technologies.
- Identify apps and digital programs to increase efficiency and productivity.
- Manage technology to integrate information to support relevant, effective, and timely decision-making.
- Be versatile in all social media channels.
Demonstrate the awareness, attitude, knowledge, and skills required to equitably engage and include people from diverse local and global cultures. Engage in anti-racist practices that actively challenge the systems, structures, and policies of racism.
Ideas for Action:
- Solicit and use feedback from multiple cultural perspectives to make inclusive and equity-minded decisions.
- Advocate for inclusion, equity, justice, and empowerment for historically marginalized communities through volunteerism and community outreach.
- Consider travel abroad to experience global cross-cultural interactions and enhance your understanding of people from different demographic groups.
- Demonstrate flexibility by adapting to diverse environments.
Descriptions and icons adapted from NACE Career Readiness Competencies, 2026