NACE's Competency Symposium
Registration is Open!

NACE’s 2024 Competency Symposium

Thursday, November 14, 2024 • 9:45 a.m. – 5 p.m. ET • Virtual

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Program Themes

Hear how others are assessing career readiness competencies in innovative and impactful ways in the curriculum, in co-curricular engagements and activities, and in the workplace. You’ll also hear from those who have begun pilots using the NACE Competency Assessment Tool.

Hear how employers are using the NACE Competencies to connect to college talent, align with higher education partners, and upskill their early career employees.

These sessions will highlight employers, faculty members, and/or career services professionals who have an outstanding program, assignment, or initiative that develops one particular NACE competency in an innovative and effective way across areas, divisions, or organizations.

Hear from faculty, or faculty and career services pairs, who have developed innovative curricular integrations of NACE competency development and related career thinking into the classroom.

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Who should attend?

NACE’s Competency Symposium is for those who support a more successful and inclusive workforce through competency implementation and integration.

Employer Track

Higher ed leaders, staff, and faculty will learn how to...

Integrate career readiness competencies campus-wide.
Work with faculty to help students articulate the classroom to career connection.
Partner with internship employers to help students develop competencies through real-world experience.




Peer Networking

Talent acquisition and recruitment professionals will learn how to...

Work with college and universities to build a career ready, diverse, and inclusive workforce.
Utilize tested strategies for competency/skills-based assessment and hiring
Connect competencies/skills-based hiring with the development of a diverse and inclusive workforce.
Help interns develop critical skills necessary for a successful career.

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Schedule (subject to change)

9:45 – 10 a.m. Morning Brew 
10 - 10:45 a.m. Keynote: Creating the NACE Competency Assessment Tool
10:45 - 11 a.m. Break
11 a.m. – Noon Learning Session 1 (multiple options)
Noon – 12:15 p.m. Break (Grab your lunch and join us at 12:15!)
12:15 – 1:15 p.m. Lunch & Learn with Career Launch & Suitable
1:15 – 1:45 p.m. Product Showcase 1
1:45 - 2:45 p.m. Learning Session 2 (multiple options)
2:45 - 3 p.m. Break
3 - 4 p.m. Learning Session 3 (multiple options)
4 – 4:30 p.m. Product Showcase 2
4:30 – 5:30 p.m. Closing Session: AAC&U and NACE Leaders Share a Collaborative Approach to Assessment
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Session Details

Keynote: Creating the NACE Competency Assessment Tool

Join us to kick off the event by hearing directly from NACE’s research team about the 18-month process of developing, testing, and launching the NACE Competency Assessment Tool. Dr. Mary Gatta, Director of Research and Public Policy, Dr. Niesha Taylor, Director of Career Readiness, and Dr. Josh Kahn, Associate Director of Research and Public Policy will share highlights of the process that will help you understand the strength of this first-ever valid and reliable career competency assessment tool and how you can use it to strengthen and champion career competency integration at your institution. 

Lunch & Learn

Check out two Technical Implementation Options for the NACE Competency Assessment Tool: Choose from 1 of our 2 exclusive partners for the NACE Competency Assessment Tool - Career Launch or Suitable to experience first-hand how they will deliver the NACE Competency Assessment Tool to your organization.   

Closing Session: AAC&U and NACE Leaders Share a Collaborative Approach to Assessment

The Launch of the NACE Competency Assessment Tool is a great opportunity to assess, understand, and advocate for centering career learning and success in higher education. In this session, we will hear from Dr. Ashley Finley, the Vice President for Research and Senior Advisor to the President at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) and Matthew Brink, Chief Content & Programs Officer at NACE about an approach to introducing the NACE Competency Assessment Tool that is integrative and collaborative with other assessment processes underway. Join this session to see a crosswalk from the AAC&U Learning Outcomes to the NACE Career Competencies.  

Concurrent Session details coming soon!

NACE Competency Assessment Tool

There is often a disconnect between how students view their proficiency and how employers rate their skill level. NACE is delighted to announce the release of the NACE Competency Assessment Tool. This Tool was designed to help measure each competency by proficiency level and has undergone rigorous testing to ensure it is a reliable and valid instrument. The Tool is currently available through Suitable or Career Launch, as well as available free for members in pdf format through our website.

Save the Date!

NACE Competency Assessment Tool Workshop Series: Tuesday, October 29, 2024.

Are you looking to implement the new NACE Competency Assessment Tool and don’t know where to start? Join NACE staff for a practical use workshop series where we walk you through the Tool and the user manual step-by-step!

There will be two FREE offerings – one for higher education professionals, and one for employers- to help explain the Tool itself, to share several models for using it with higher ed stakeholders or for selecting intern candidates, and to explore methods for integrating it with other assessments or career readiness initiatives in your organization.

Registration and additional details are coming soon!

NACE Competency Assessment Tool