Career readiness broadly prepares students for success in the workplace by providing a foundation of the essential skills for and information about working in their chosen field. However, as traditional education has evolved through the years, it has shifted from skill development toward a more theoretical curriculum.
This means that while every college student should receive career courses in Ohio that include teaching them the skills needed for real-world employment, not all colleges or universities offer this kind of career preparation. This is not only a loss for the students but a lost opportunity for the institutions that educate them. In a climate where the value of a degree is a hot topic of debate, institutions focusing on career readiness would be wise to highlight it — and use it as a powerful way to attract value-minded students.
The Value of Career Readiness for non-traditional Students
Non-traditional students — students who have not taken a direct pathway from high school to college — tend to enroll in postsecondary programs with a specific job outcome in mind. Looking to update their current skills, gain new ones, or switch careers, they need to earn the credentials necessary for success and advancement in the workplace. This ongoing demand for reskilling and upskilling presents an ideal opportunity for the colleges and universities to drive enrollment. These institutions should focus on their continuing, professional, and workforce education program offerings to attract and retain these career-focused, non-traditional learners.
Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathways, which offer another vital avenue to career readiness, provide millions of non-traditional learners of all ages and backgrounds the skills and knowledge they need to obtain and succeed in a quality job. Though CTE student populations are high, CTE students need to be more often deprioritized against credit programs and overlooked in discussions about guided pathways. This is an area ripe for change.
Integrating CTE programs with degree pathways in student career courses in Ohio would improve the student experience while boosting enrollment at these schools. Not only do CTE programs bring in a great deal of funding, but they have also been delivering impressive student outcomes — a win for the community, workforce, and the community colleges themselves.
Using career readiness to boost enrollment and retention
Explicitly bridging the gap between education and career is a way to help students of all ages and at all types of institutions find actual value in their education while providing them with a more straightforward pathway to their careers.
Improve career readiness through coaching
All students — traditional and non-traditional, actual first-year students, and adult learners — would benefit from individualized guidance that connects the classroom to on-the-job scenarios. Checking Out Career Paths with Chaz is uniquely qualified to help equip learners with the necessary career readiness skills. This tool can guide students to understand which career path is right for them and also what learning, training, or courses need to be undertaken to follow that particular career path.
Designed to prepare learners for today’s workplaces, our career guidance discovery helps participants maximize educational offerings to get a job, internship, or apprenticeship in their chosen field, aiming to promote long-term career success. Career-ready students can more easily and successfully move into their chosen jobs once they complete their degree, certification, or training.
While this gives these students a competitive edge in any employment landscape, providing career readiness and coaching offers an equally important benefit for institutions by helping them retain and support them to completion. The positive impact extends even further than that. Equipping individuals to enter their careers with essential employability skills and as productive members of the workforce provides a real benefit to employers and society.
More than ever, the key is to make career readiness part of prospective student engagement right from the start. Not only does this give students a better sense of the connection between their studies in school and their career goals at the end of their journey, but it also gives them a clearer vision of the path they need to take to achieve their goals and begin their career.
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