There are so many posts and articles about career and workforce readiness issues in higher education, let’s start with an easy fix. Career exploration. Prior to searching for a job, have you taken any career exploration courses about the occupation? What do you know before spending years and capital about the profession?

According to the 2022 National Association of College and Employers (NACE) Career & Workforce Preparation and National Survey of Student Engagement, among first-year students, about 12 percent have either completed or are taking a career exploration, planning, or development course in their first college year, whilst 45 percent indicate that they plan to take a similar course before they graduate.

Twelve percent? Really?

I strongly urge every parent, student, guardian, sibling, friend, guidance counselor, advisor, teacher—you name it—to please determine that the school that the student attends is one of the 12 percent. Meaning: Does the school offer career exploration, planning, or development courses early in the college experience? Even if a student is convinced they want to become an anthropologist (or anything else), they should still hear diverse perspectives about what opportunities await them—and how to actually get there. Twelve percent is simply unacceptable.

To showcase this point, whenever I prepare to market to a college, I start by reviewing their calendar of events to see what they’re offering for career readiness, such as speakers, events, and activities. The majority of the time, I find they might have a career fair once or twice a semester—and that’s it. I then review student clubs to see what they’re doing and its usually social activities (such as retreats).

To wit: One large state university in California had a few events and the majority were on artificial intelligence; they also had a few career fairs.

So, always take a gander at that when you’re looking into a school—whether you’re a prospective student, a parent, a guardian, or a loved one—to see what they have to offer. If the career fair is Tuesday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and you have a class or work during that time, you will miss it entirely. That is why I advise the schools I reach out to that I can speak multiple times a day for multiple days so it can fit in with students’ and professors’ schedules.

Shout out to Middlesex Community College in Bedford, MA. Through an online catalog search, I easily found five career-related courses! Go Bolt the Colt!!!

For more information about career readiness, workforce readiness, career preparation please visit my website at www.careersbythepeople.com view the blogs, YouTube videos, the book sample, podcasts and if your schools has speakers please connect.

Thank you