Career Management: Skills Development Summit

Issued by Merrimack College

Earners of this badge have successfully completed Merrimack College's Skills Development Summit, developing necessary skills around career exploration and development, career management and professionalism. Earners can draw upon their strengths, skills, and experiences to articulate a professional brand. They can also align their skills with the needs of potential employers and leverage the assessment of their strengths to communicate their fit for a role.

Type Learning
Level Foundational
Time Days

Additional Details

Skills

Earning Criteria

Participants learn the importance of online brand and how employers use a LinkedIn profile for evaluation of potential employees. They learn best practices for a LinkedIn profile, including connection to colleagues and future employers, as well as how to keep profiles engaging, up-to-date and notable.
Participants learn how to format a resume to comply with an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and to format a resume to attract the attention of a recruiter. Participants use Quinncia to analyze and edit their resumes to ensure they are relevant, concise and reflect top skills and credentials in demand for their future careers.
Participants will learn about and use technology tools for career exploration and development, including AWATO, What Can I Do With This Major, Burning Glass Career Insight and LinkedIn Learning. These tools enable participants to recognize the demand for the career they have chosen to pursue, strategies for pursing that career, identify which skills are necessary for work in the career they have chosen, and identify which skills will increase their future salaries.
Participants will use What Can I Do With This Major, Burning Glass Career Insight and LinkedIn Learning to identify skills and strategies for a skills pursuit plan. Participants identify eight skills and create a three-year action plan with goals to develop those skills for the remainder of their college experience or the beginning of their professional journey. Goals must be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely action items.
Participants learn best practices for online presence and job-searching in a virtual world. Participants will learn how to translate in-person professional presence to an online professional presence and troubleshoot common technology issues. Participants will also learn best practices for identifying someone for an informational interview, as well as connecting and conducting that interview.
Participants craft talking points for individual strengths that showcase experiences and connect skills and strengths to what employers seek when hiring. Participants leverage technology to conduct virtual interviews using artificial intelligence.

Standards

NACE Career Readiness Competencies

The National Association of Colleges and Employers, through a task force of college career services and HR/staffing professionals, has developed a definition, based on extensive research among employers, and identified eight competencies associated with career readiness.