Connecting to Career-Readiness Competencies

This blog post discusses the NACE Career-Readiness Competencies and which ones I believe best apply to my internship experience and will help in my future career.

Career & Self Development

I believe this competency is exactly what I have been doing by having an internship in college and trying to prepare for the future. Within my internship I spent a lot of time trying to prepare for the future, first with the event that has now passed, and now with next year's event. A great example of how I have been preparing and focusing on the successes and necessary changes is the PDCA I created for the golf tournament. A PDCA is about what was successful in an event as well as the not so successful parts that could be altered for the next one. Knowing how necessary it is to continue to look inward during a job at what is going well and not so well will be very helpful in my future career.

Communication

One of the required skills for this internship, like many, is strong communication skills. As a communications major, this is exactly what is being taught to me but I find that I am able to learn more every day. My internship was able to help me build more professional communication skills as well as how to communicate in a professional office environment which I have not experienced before. I was able to learn who was best to ask for help and when it was appropriate to go to the higher ups with specific questions. These, now strengthened, communication skills will be essential in any future career I have in order to best communicate within the office space as well as with other business professionals.

Critical Thinking

My internship required the use of critical thinking skills and was able to build on mine even more. I found that during the event this was the most important time for me to stay alert and aware of everything that still needed to be done. I also had to remember that I knew what I was talking about and could assist others who were looking for new tasks. There were many days at work where I was multitasking different assignments and trying to get everything done accurately so my critical thinking competency was able to help significantly. I can also see how this will help in my future career as multitasking and quick thinking are important skills in the workplace.

Professionalism

I believe this competency applies well to my internship as I must use professionalism to communicate with sponsors and my coworkers. A great example of this is the list of emails I put together that I have previously sent to sponsors throughout the process of planning and closing the golf tournament. These show how I was able to use professionalism to appropriately communicate with business professionals. I also made sure to complete every task that was given to me as accurately and efficiently as possible. The opportunity to write these sponsor emails and communicate with sponsors in person has developed the potential I have in my future career when communicating with professionals.