9 Theoretical Underpinnings of the NACE Career Readiness Competencies Based on the work of Casner-Lotto and colleagues as well as NACE members’ expertise in career development and talent attraction, the NACE Career Readiness Competencies reflect the eight competencies required to launch a successful career. The following sections briefly review their theoretical basis. Career readiness overall With few established definitions of Career Readiness, NACE relied on the available literature while developing a construct that was specifically focused on the competencies college graduates need to enter the professional workforce. The seminal work put forth by the Partnership for 21st century was used heavily by the first task force. Around the same time as NACE, OCTAE developed its employability framework, and the parallels are clear. Designed for a slightly different audience, OCTAE’s framework for employability skills is more focused on preparing people to be employable, which is a bit broader and more inclusive of the entire workforce, including high school graduates and non-graduates. As such, OCTAE’s definition is generally used for the Career and Technical Education (CTE) audience. In defining the construct, OCTAE notes that “Individuals require many skills to be college and career ready, including academic knowledge, technical expertise, and a set of general, cross-cutting abilities called ‘employability skills’” (OCTAE, 2021). Similarly, Casner-Lotto and Silvert (2008) define workforce readiness as the combination of basic skills and knowledge, e.g., reading, writing, and arithmetic; applied skills, e.g., teamwork, critical thinking; and emerging content areas, e.g., career management. Both of these definitions are comprehensive of the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to enter the workforce. Rather than define career readiness as encompassing all types of skills, the NACE task force chose to focus on a core set of competencies that are transferable across occupations and industries, instead of the direct or hard skills involved in the range of occupations and industries. Drawing on the core purpose of the construct, the definition reflects the importance of navigating one’s career toward success. Aligned largely with the work done of the U.S. Department of Education through OCTAE and the work of Casner-Lotto and colleagues, e.g., 2006, 2011, NACE offers the following definition of career readiness in 2020: Career readiness is a foundation from which to demonstrate requisite core competencies that broadly prepare the college educated for success in the workplace and lifelong career management. Please see Appendix A for the full set of definitions and associated behaviors for the following eight competencies. Appendix B contains the initial set of eight competencies.
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