Georgia State University (GSU) is redefining the way higher education prepares students for the workforce, embedding career readiness into its educational framework.
As a leader in achieving equitable graduation rates for all students, GSU is equally committed to ensuring their graduates are well-equipped for post-graduation success.
Daniel Varitek, a 2020 B.B.A. graduate, exemplifies the university’s successful approach to career preparedness.
After a 10-week internship at The New York Times, Varitek climbed the ranks to occupy leadership roles within the company’s marketing division and is now working with Verizon on national marketing campaigns.
He credits his success to the vital blend of hard and soft skills he acquired during his studies.
“Honestly, I still think back to my GSU classes all the time,” Varitek said. “They gave me the confidence to show up, to lead and to make an impact.”
This focus on career-ready skills aligns with a comprehensive Quality Enhancement Plan introduced during GSU’s reaccreditation process in 2019, titled “College to Career: Career Readiness Through Everyday Competencies.”
From the moment first-year students arrive on campus, GSU aims to integrate career preparation into every aspect of their university experience.
Senior Vice President for Student Success Allison Calhoun-Brown emphasized that GSU is currently building a robust career-readiness ecosystem that enhances students’ learning experiences.
“Infusing and scaling career experiences throughout the entire university is crucial,” Calhoun-Brown stated.
The curriculum is tailored to enhance students’ awareness of the skills they are learning while providing practical opportunities to practice those skills in real-time.
Recognizing the importance of being able to articulate their abilities during job interviews, GSU helps students frame their experiences effectively.
Calhoun-Brown noted, “We’re helping the faculty with the language to talk about career readiness in a consistent way and giving our students the language to think about it and recognize it when they’re engaging in the classroom.”
In an innovative move, GSU has recently introduced the Steppingblocks platform, providing students access to real-time salary data and job market analyses tailored specifically to Georgia State graduates.
This platform equips students with insights on the skills that lead to successful employment, drawing from data related to nearly a quarter-million anonymous alumni.
Kelly Strickland, a recent B.B.A. graduate and a current analyst at Visa, attests to the myriad career services and extracurricular opportunities available at GSU, which were instrumental in her professional development.
Strickland credits the university’s workshops, job fairs, and on-campus employer engagements for making her transition from college to career less daunting.
“I wouldn’t be here today without Georgia State,” Strickland remarked.
As part of its strategic initiative, BluePrint to 2033: Our Place, Our Time, GSU has outlined a commitment to extend its career readiness programming under the pillar of “Beyond College to Career.”
This aims to bolster existing career readiness tools, such as the Skills Briefcase and Portfolium, allowing students and alumni to effectively showcase their projects and demonstrate their skill sets alongside valuable accomplishments.
One of the pilot initiatives gaining momentum is a student employment program offering practical work experience alongside constructive feedback from employers.
This program is designed to highlight student strengths and areas needing improvement, with training provided for supervisors to effectively mentor the student employees.
Additionally, GSU has launched the VMock SMART Career Platform, which serves as a virtual career assistant.
This platform offers resume reviews and feedback catered to different academic levels.
Moreover, it provides students with mock interview simulations, which ensure that they are better prepared for real-world job interviews.
Calhoun-Brown expressed the importance of this tool in serving the university’s population of more than 52,000 students.
“With VMock, we would never be able to hire enough staff to review 52,000 resumes and provide constructive feedback,” she stated.
The platform allows the limited Career Services staff to focus on innovative initiatives and developing employer partnerships rather than manual resume reviews.
Collaborating with its National Institute for Student Success (NISS), GSU is in the process of creating a new AI-enabled career coaching platform.
Thanks to a grant from the Strada Foundation, the university is set to launch a chatbot designed to assist students in making informed career choices.
The institution’s pioneering efforts in technology began with the Pounce chatbot in 2017, which helped facilitate the onboarding process for new students.
This success has led to the development of more specialized chatbots aimed at reducing withdrawal and failure rates in challenging courses through reminders and interactive chats.
Moreover, GSU is exploring virtual experiential learning modules and simulators that replicate real-world projects, allowing students to engage in meaningful learning experiences even when traditional internship opportunities are limited.
This approach ensures that regardless of external circumstances, every student can build their resumes while gaining applicable skills.
The university is committed to employing a data-driven framework similar to its advising services to track students’ career-readiness milestones effectively.
Calhoun-Brown explained that GSU is focused on identifying achievements such as attending job fairs and creating a complete Skills Briefcase, leading to improved readiness indicators.
“We can say this is how we know they’re ready,” she said, outlining how the success of the initiatives will be measurable.
Through its holistic, integrated approach to career readiness, alongside innovative tools such as VMock and the chatbot, GSU is ensuring every student is supported throughout their university journey and is adequately prepared for success in their post-graduation endeavors.
“Career services is not just a specific place to go,” said Calhoun-Brown.
“It’s infused as part of the experience throughout the entirety of the university.”
image source from：https://saportareport.com/georgia-state-university-is-ensuring-tomorrows-workforce-is-career-ready/thought-leadership/higher-education/georgia-state-university/
