15 Methods and Results NACE began the work of developing and validating a construct of Career Readiness in 2014 with a task force and has deployed subsequent task forces in the following years to refine and revise the competencies periodically. To provide an overview, initial development of the competencies was undertaken by the first task force, and then refined by second task force when it added global/intercultural fluency. Following that work, the Career Readiness Project launched with SkillSurvey to add observable behaviors to the conceptual definitions. The third task force used the work of the Career Readiness Project to make revisions, along with other sources of evidence, including public comments, empirical literature, and factor analyses. In all, the NACE Career Readiness competencies have been developed and validated iteratively, while relying on the expertise of leaders from career services and talent attraction. Presented chronologically, the following sections will detail the development and validation work of these task forces from 2015 to 2021. Original task force work in 2015 During 2015, NACE convened a task force that consisted of college career services and HR/recruiting professionals to define career readiness for the college educated. Informed by the body of research on 21st century skills and their professional experience, the task force identified seven competencies that define career readiness: critical thinking/problem-solving, oral/written communication, teamwork/ collaboration, application of digital technology, leadership, professionalism/work ethic, and career management. Following the task force’s work, NACE surveyed 606 of its employer members, querying them on the importance of these competencies in the workplace. See the table below for the results of this survey. Figure 1. Career Readiness Competencies Identified as “Essential” or “Absolutely Essential” COMPETENCY PERCENT OF RESPONDENTS Professionalism/Work Ethic 97.5% Critical Thinking/Problem Solving 96.3% Oral/Written Communications 91.6% Teamwork/Collaboration 90.0% Information Technology Application 72.0% Leadership 55.9% Career Management 45.0% Total Respondents 606
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