A North Central College student conducts a mock interview with an alumnus.

Career Readiness

Center for Career and Professional Development

what is the career readiness requirement?

Data show that the number one thing employers look for on a recent graduate's resume is related professional experience like an internship, research experience, practicum, projects, etc. For these reasons, North Central College is committed to helping every student graduate with at least one meaningful professional experience on their resume. At North Central, we believe in investing in the development of our students through guided and meaningful mentorship; our career readiness requirement ensures that every student is equipped with the skills and experiences they need to translate their classroom learning to the workplace. 

The requirement

You will complete one 2-credit course in the classroom and one 2-credit experience to get your required four credit hours in career readiness.

Career Preparation

In this course, you'll learn more how to explore different career paths related to your major and interests and what the typical job search looks like. Think: everything from creating a resume to interviewing to developing a network for lifelong success.

Career Experiential

You will do a minimum of 90 hours of "field work" — completing a professional experience of your choice such as an internship, a research project, a practicum, etc. Besides completing the experience itself, you will also be reflecting on your experience classrooms that you can describe it in cover letters and job interviews.  

Step-by-step guide

Three North Central College students looking through want ads.

Step I: Take a career readiness prep course

This is where you'll learn about resumes, the types of jobs out there, and how to find one. You'll set up appointments with a coach from Career and Professional Development to help you search.

North Central College students touring a job fair with booths from local companies.

Step II: Find your internship/experience

You will search for your professional experience. Our Center for Career and Professional Development can help you in the search for an internship, which, like the job search, often takes three to six months for the search. Alternatively, faculty mentors and success coaches help you find or develop a meaningful on-campus experience that fosters your interests and prepares you for what comes after college.

A form students fill out at North Central College for their career readiness requirement.

Step III: Complete the learning agreement

You will fill out a learning agreement and get it approved before your start date at your professional experience.

North Central College students filling out registration forms.

Step IV: Register for the experiential class

Register for your career readiness experiential course that completes your requirement with help from your success coach.

Timeline for completing the requirement

While everyone's journey looks different and can depend on many factors like other requirements of your major or being a transfer student, here is the Center for Career and Professional Development's recommended course of action:

First Year: 

Meet with your student success coach to make a four-year academic plan for your undergraduate studies. Create a Handshake account and explore internship postings.

Sophomore Year:

Take your Career Preparation course. Sophomore year is also a great time to check out career fairs to get a feel for what networking events look like. 

Junior Year:

Junior year is the most common one for internships. Take advantage of our career fairs to make a good in-person impression. You'll also want to schedule your Career Experiential course during or right after your field experience so you can accurately reflect on it. Be sure to get your field experience approved by the Center for Career and Professional Development and the registrar before you start.

Senior Year — Be job-market ready:

With this intentional, multi-year structure, NC students will be job-market ready by the fall of their senior year, when they should start looking for full-time positions. By embedding career readiness across a student’s education, North Central lives out its vision that professional development is ongoing. In fact, one of our major aims is to empower students to know their strengths and interests, which are ever-evolving and growing, and find professions that use and elevate them. Moreover, we believe in the power of mentors, and, in our curriculum, each student will encounter mentors who will set them up for success: their professor in the Career Preparation course, their supervisor in their internship or practicum, and the staff and peer mentors at our Center for Career and Professional Development.