Students learn to articulate their career-readiness skills to employers

Members of the Curriculum to Career Faculty & Staff Learning Community at Wooster led several successful projects this year to help students communicate their value to potential employers. The initiative emphasizes the career-readiness skills students acquire throughout their Wooster education.

Elizabeth Schiltz, professor of philosophy, developed a project to better support her students, who often ask for advice on transitioning to the working world. “Wooster students are fabulous and go on to do big things, but potential employers can’t always see that just from a resume. I wanted to help them better articulate the skills and capacities they bring to the workplace,” Schiltz said.

For her project, Schiltz organized a series of four open presentations for students featuring faculty and staff from across the College. Three of the presentations focused on specific pathways philosophy students often take, including graduate school, law school, and health and wellness careers, while the fourth provided tips and resources for applying for jobs and internships.

“We were encouraged to look objectively at the skills we developed in our academic journey, including critical thinking, time management, and teamwork,” said Maddie Moran ’25, a philosophy minor and student-designed major in data science and sports analytics. “These skills were all necessary for thriving in classes but can also be successfully transferred into a workplace environment.”

Josie McAninch, assistant director of residence life, saw an opportunity to build on existing training for resident assistants to help them recognize and leverage skills they are developing in their role. “RAs go into the workplace with a vast array of career-readiness skills, but we hadn’t been explicit in explaining the transferability of those skills,” McAninch said.

She incorporated elements of the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ eight career-readiness competencies into the training she presented during winter break. She then measured the effectiveness of the session through pre- and post-surveys and found that RAs were better able to articulate how the skills they’re gaining prepare them for success in the workplace. The trainings will continue to follow this model moving forward.

“The RA training connected what we do on campus to real-world skills, including decision making, clear communication, project management, teamwork, and problem solving under time pressure,” said Aditi Jha ’26, a computer science major. “Overall, the program gave me the confidence to connect the skills I’m building as an RA to the workplace and to talk about their value when I step into future career opportunities.”

Featured image: The new trainings help RAs articulate their experience as decision makers, communicators, teammates, project managers, and more.

This story originally appeared in the fall 2025 Annual Report.

Posted in Homepage Featured, Magazine on November 14, 2025.