The purpose of this assessment is to support students in translating classroom learning into professional language suitable for resumes while enhancing their understanding of career readiness competencies. This assessment evaluates the impact of a customized resume one-sheet developed through collaboration between the Administration of Justice Studies (AJS) Program and the Career and Transfer Center (CTC).
Career Navigators within the CTC identified a gap in students' understanding of transferable skills gained in the classroom. Many students believe they lack relevant experience for careers and often do not consider classroom experiences as valid or valuable. Additionally, Career Navigators lacked program/course-specific vocabulary to help students craft tailored, industry-appropriate resumes with students who were not able to provide classroom context to example projects and assignments.
This assessment ensures that the newly developed resource meets student needs, supports career readiness goals, and lays the groundwork for expanding collaboration across other academic departments.
According to the NACE (National Association of Colleges and Employers) Job Outlook 2025 Report, which surveyed 162 employer members, 74% of employers reported using competency-based job descriptions. The report emphasizes the need for “college graduates to be prepared to both articulate and demonstrate their competency proficiency in hiring materials, interviews, and other assessments.” Additionally, NACE urges colleges to “integrate career readiness and NACE Career Competencies throughout curricular and co-curricular experiences.” In response, it is critical that both student support and academic services have the knowledge and tools to align with these expectations.
Inspired by West-MEC colleague Ivette Rodriguez, the Career and Transfer Center took the following steps to implement this new student tool:
- Faculty Collaboration: In a meeting with Jim Cerven, Program Director of the Administration of Justice Studies program, we discussed the opportunity to create a targeted resume handout for his students. Jim shared his program outcomes, critical classroom experiences and assignments (ex: inmate facility tours) and shared his industry hiring experience with staff of the Career and Transfer Center.
- Alignment with NACE Competencies: Our staff translated these program outcomes into resume bullet point templates to help students brainstorm ways to communicate these experiences professionally. We then grouped these experiences and skills with the eight NACE Career competencies.
- Student Engagement and Exposure: Instead of a traditional classroom presentation, Jim opted to bring his students to the Career and Transfer Center for a presentation inside our space. Students were exposed to CTC resources and had the opportunity to meet our Career Navigator, CTC Staff and University Transfer reps personally. During this classroom trip, CTC staff distributed the customized resume handouts at this time, ensuring each student had the opportunity to receive the handout.
Initial feedback indicates high faculty satisfaction and perceived student benefit. The resume one-sheets were received for their program-specific language and relevance. Several students commented during their trip to the CTC that this helps provide them with a starting point to crafting their transferable skills on their resume and a handful of students stopped by the CTC for walk-in appointments immediately after class.
Faculty Feedback:
“This sheet includes all the various AJS degrees and Certificates, pointers on what constitutes relevant AJS experience, and career competencies as established by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Importantly, the skills and experience section they created directly relates to the Program Learning Outcomes of the degrees in the AJS Program.
My second request was to bring my classes to the CTC for a presentation of everything the center has to offer. Subsequently, Miyah and Talia have conducted presentations to my classes in the CTC and at that time the unique resume handouts they created are given to the students. Presenting at the CTC is important because it informs the students exactly where they are located and how accessible their services are for them.
The handouts that were created and the in-house presentations at the CTC will help students tremendously in their efforts to enter the workforce. Once again, I want to thank Miyah and Talia for a job well done. “ - Jim Cerven, Program Director, Administration of Justice Studies
The Career and Transfer Center collaborated with the Administration of Justice Studies Program to develop a customized resume handout that maps course and program outcomes to the NACE Career Competencies. This tool seeks to help students communicate their classroom experience into career-ready, transferable skills. Initial feedback suggests faculty satisfaction and engagement with career services as a result of the handout, improved Career Navigator confidence to guide specific career skill conversations, and improved resume quality. This tool serves as a model on the power of cross-departmental, co-curricular career readiness initiatives and its impact on student employability.
Contributors also include: Jim Cerven and Talia Varela
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Admin of Justice_ Resume One Sheet | 7.01 MB |
Comments
This is an outstanding example of a shared Academic and Student Affairs approach driving meaningful student impact through a co-curricular lens. By aligning course and program outcomes with the NACE Career Competencies, this collaborative effort enhances resume quality and empowers students to articulate their classroom learning as career-ready skills. The increased faculty engagement and satisfaction strengthened Career Navigator's confidence and ability to speak to the effectiveness of this model. This is great evidence that demonstrates the power of cross-functional, co-curricular strategies and how they can elevate career readiness, improve student employability, and enlarge our impact by working collaboratively. Well done!