The NACE Competency Assessment Tool

Turn career readiness into measurable, actionable outcomes

You already know the NACE Career Readiness Competencies are essential for closing the skills gap—but shared language alone doesn’t drive results. With NACE’s Competency Assessment Tool, you can move from theory to practice by assessing real proficiency and turning insights into personalized, actionable development plans for students, candidates, interns, and new hires.

With the NACE Competency Assessment Tool, you can:

  • Leverage a rigorously field-tested tool—validated, reliable, and user-friendly
  • Engage in common language and shared understanding of competencies
  • Activate a data-driven approach to closing the skills gap
  • Contribute to the establishment of first-ever national benchmarks to inform equitable candidate prep, recruiting processes, and practices

Fee: FREE (member); $750 nonmember. PDF format. (See what's included.)

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Get the toolSee who can use the tool

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Choose the competencies that work for you—now you can download the competency rubrics individually OR all 8 at once.

The evolution of the NACE Career Readiness Competencies

Who can use this career readiness assessment tool?

Two people during a brainstorm.

Higher ed professionals

  • Enhance your students’ understanding of their career development
  • Help students identify their proficiency level in eight key competencies
  • Demonstrate your institution’s impact on workforce development

Two people evaluate a candidate.

Early Talent Recruiters

  • Assess intern and entry-level candidates on eight key competencies
  • Demonstrate the value of your internship program in developing high-quality candidates
  • Show how your new-hire onboarding program impacts employee development

A student

Students

  • Identify areas for improvement and professional development
  • Provide employers with evidence of skills and proficiency
What's included with the NACE Competency Assessment Tool

What's included?

The NACE Competency Assessment Tool includes 3 PDF files:

  • One assessment tool (one rubric for each of the eight NACE Career Readiness Competencies in student and observer versions as well as one rubric with all eight competencies).
  • One user manual for higher ed professionals, including real use cases by higher ed leadership, faculty, and career services.
  • One user manual for employment professionals, including use cases for college student workers, interns and co-ops, and recent graduates.

How to assess career readiness using this tool:

  1. Job seekers review competencies and rate their proficiency.
  2. Faculty, career services, and talent acquisition professionals review competencies and rate the individual based on their observations.
  3. Parties discuss results, set goals, and identify action steps.  

How to access this tool after purchase:

Complete your transaction, then go to MyNACE > Purchase History > NACE Competency Assessment Tool > I’d Like To > Access This Product.

Questions?

Looking ahead...

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National benchmarks

An annual National Career Readiness Benchmarks report, featuring national benchmarks for competency proficiency across various demographics, including class year, major, gender, race, and ethnicity.

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Special reports + training

Special reports and trainings that delve into specific competencies and proficiencies, based on gender, race, first-generation status, and more.

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New content

Presentations and articles that provide updates and insights into competency development.

Technology integration with exclusive partners

NACE is partnering with Career Launch and Suitable to deliver the new NACE Competency Assessment Tool.

These exclusive partners have integrated the tool into their technology so their customers can use it in concert with the other functionalities provided through these student engagement and success platforms.

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Suitable

Use Guidelines

The NACE Competency Assessment Tool is copyrighted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers and is for noncommercial use only. NACE members can use any or all of the tool’s assessments in their operations, but may not alter the assessments’ language as that may void their validity and reliability. Other use is a violation of copyright and punishable by law.

The tool includes eight assessments—one for each of the NACE Career Readiness Competencies.

  • Users can elect to use one or more of the assessments but are not required to use all.
  • Users may not alter the language contained in the assessments: Doing so voids the assessments’ validity and reliability.

How was the NACE Competency Assessment Tool validated?

Download our info sheet to review our methodology and evidence for this tool's content validity, usability, reliability, and discriminant validity.

Download now
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Not a NACE member? Join now and get the Tool for free!

Join a community of 17,000+ career services and early talent recruiters and get the NACE Competency Assessment Tool for free!

As the leading authority in career readiness, the National Association of Colleges and Employers has provided early talent recruiters like you with the resources, data, news, professional development, and connections to be successful in your day-to-day work for almost 70 years.

Plus, as the only professional association with members comprised of both early talent recruiters AND career services professionals, you have the advantage of getting to learn from and alongside direct sources of college-educated talent.

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