The Interplay of College, Career and Work Readiness for Success

Whilethe terms college, career and work readiness are distinct, they are also complementary. For example, in order for an individual to be work ready for a specific occupation, they will also need to satisfactorily meet the levels of career readiness needed for that occupation’s career pathway. Without the necessary education and training credentials needed for a career (including academic degree, occupational certificates, and workforce certifications), most job seekers would not be considered to be fully qualified to enter a job or to be able to successfully perform on-the-job duties. Individuals will need to achieve different levels of career readiness for a given career pathway as they enter and exit the education and workforce development systems throughouttheir lifetime, a pathway that at some point will likely necessitate the need to achieve college readiness.  

Figure 1. below provides a framework for how college, career and work readiness are complimentary. It expands on past models that are limited to measures of only academic and workplace cognitive skills, as opposed to competencies, which take into account knowledge, skills, abilities and behaviors that are important for career success.  

Readiness for college and career are similar in that an individual needs to acquire certain academic foundational skills and competencies to be successful in a 1st year general post-secondary education programs as well as workplace competencies needed to be successful across most occupations. While the majority of new jobs created in the United States will require at least some form of post-secondary education or training, U.S. employers have indicated that a substantial percentage of college graduates are not adequately prepared to perform in entry-level jobs that require post-secondary education. As a result, it is important to recognize the value of acquiring both foundational academic and workplace competencies needed for workplace success.

Once an individual identifies a career cluster or pathway to pursue, the type and level of academic and workplace competencies required become more specific to the requirements of those academic majors and occupations within the target career cluster. Within the career cluster, an individual may identify a specific occupational target and the skill level and requirements become even more specific to a target major linked to a specific occupation. This model provides the basis for identifying academic and workplace competencies needed to acquire stackable credentials that will support an individual’s career progression.