Faculty & Staff Toolkit

Welcome to the Faculty & Staff Career Development Toolkit

Empowering students for life beyond the classroom starts with meaningful conversations—right in the spaces where learning happens. Whether you’re teaching, advising, mentoring, or supporting students in co-curricular experiences, you play a vital role in shaping how students see their future and make connections between their education and career aspirations.

This toolkit is designed to equip faculty and staff with user-friendly resources to help integrate career development resources and strategies into classroom instruction, advising sessions, and student support programming. With easy access to career content, reflection prompts, skill-building activities, and up-to-date industry insights, this hub supports you in preparing students for the ever-changing world of work—without overhauling your course or schedule.

Why Integrate Career into the Classroom?

Students are thinking about their futures—often with uncertainty. By connecting course content and campus experiences to real-world applications, you can help students:

• Understand how their academic learning applies to a range of career paths

• Identify and articulate transferable skills developed in your class

• See how what they’re doing now can lead to opportunities later

• Build confidence and clarity as they navigate their major and career decisions

You don’t need to be a career expert to make an impact. Small additions—like weaving in career-related examples, introducing alumni stories, or highlighting transferable skills—can leave a lasting impression.

Career Learning Outcomes

At BSU, we believe all students deserve to have the necessary career education, professional network, practical experiences, and life design plans to navigate their career endeavors. 

At the end of their academic journey, BSU students will have had the opportunity to:

• Create and implement career and life design plans
• Participate in experiential learning and high-impact practices
• Develop and articulate industry-relevant skills
• Build lifelong professional skills to manage their careers
• Establish and utilize a professional network  to become an engaged citizen

NACE Career Readiness Competencies: A Common Language for Skills

The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) has identified eight core competencies that define what it means to be career-ready. These competencies align closely with the skills students are already developing in the classroom and through co-curricular activities.

NACE’s 8 Career Readiness Competencies:

1. Career & Self-Development

2. Communication

3. Critical Thinking

4. Equity & Inclusion

5. Leadership

6. Professionalism

7. Teamwork

8. Technology

By incorporating the language of these competencies into assignments, discussions, and feedback, you help students recognize their skills—and begin to communicate them effectively to employers, graduate schools, and other future opportunities.

This shared vocabulary also strengthens cross-campus collaboration and supports a unified approach to preparing students for life after graduation.

What You’ll Find in This Toolkit

• Sample Syllabus Statements & Assignments

• Career Exploration Resources for every major and discipline

• Skill-Building Activities aligned with NACE competencies

• Slide Decks, Handouts, and In-Class Prompts

• Strategies to Collaborate with Career Services & Internships Office

• Data on Student Career Outcomes to share in your department

Start Small. Think Big. Make an Impact.

You don’t have to change your entire curriculum to support students’ career development. Whether you’re adding a career reflection to a paper, inviting a guest speaker, or encouraging students to visit the career center, every touchpoint helps students connect the dots between college and career.

Let’s partner to prepare our students not just for their first job—but for a lifetime of growth and meaningful work.