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Career Ready Guide

 

What is the Career Ready Guide?

  • It is a FREE ONLINE interactive course designed to help you understand, assess, and develop the “power skills” also known as career readiness competencies, companies seek when hiring today’s employees.
  • Each chapter takes about 20-30 minutes to complete. Chapters are self-paced and you can choose which chapter you start and in any order.

career ready guide image

how to enroll in the online career ready guide:

Effective December 15, 2022, there is a new FREE user access code. Please see the NEW code below under the create your account section!  This code is effective from December 15, 2022 to December 30, 2023.

*NOTE: If you created a Career Ready Guide account prior to December 14, 2022, that account has been deactivated and you will need to create a new account following the directions below.

How to create your account:

  1. Go to https://careerspots.digitalchalk.com/auth/login
  2. Click “Create Account”
  3. Fill in the information to register, using the ACCESS CODE Contact the Career Center for the new 2023 code.

The Career Ready Guide is being provided by Mesa College’s Career Center for the benefit of enhancing your career readiness skills, and your access to the guide will be available until December 30, 2023.

Career Ready Guide Chapter Overviews:

Are you Career Ready? Employers are looking for these skills...

  1. Career & Self-Development: Proactively develop oneself and one’s career through continual personal and professional learning, awareness of one’s strengths and weaknesses, navigation of career opportunities, and networking to build relationships within and without one’s organization.
  1. Communication: Clearly and effectively exchange information, ideas, facts, and perspectives with persons inside and outside of an organization.
  1. Critical Thinking: Identify and respond to needs based upon an understanding of situational context and logical analysis of relevant information. 
  1. Equity and Inclusion: Demonstrate the awareness, attitude, knowledge, and skills required to equitably engage and include people from different local and global cultures. Engage in anti-racist practices that actively challenge the systems, structures, and policies of racism.
  1. Leadership: Recognize and capitalize on personal and team strengths to achieve organizational goals. 
  1. Professionalism: Knowing work environments differ greatly, understand and demonstrate effective work habits, and act in the interest of the larger community and workplace.
  1. Teamwork: Build and maintain collaborative relationships to work effectively toward common goals, while appreciating diverse viewpoints and shared responsibilities.
  1. Technology: Understand and leverage technologies ethically to enhance efficiencies, complete tasks, and accomplish goals. 

How to Obtain your Career Ready Guide Certificate:

This certificate is a great item to list on your resume and LinkedIn profile!

  • When you complete the entire guide, you will automatically earn a certificate of completion from the Career Ready Guide website. You can view, download, and print the certificate from your account.
  • When you complete one or more chapters of your choice, you can obtain a certificate of completion for each chapter completed from the Mesa College Career Center and Work-Based Learning team. (See steps below)
  1. Complete one chapter or more from the online Career Ready Guide.
  2. Email both Kristina Carson at [email protected] and Raquel Sojourner at [email protected]
  3. In your email, please provide the following:
    • Name
    • Student ID
    • Email Address
    • Mailing Address
    • Chapter(s) Number and Name that you completed

    • Insert or attach a screen shot showing the completion of each Chapter and Chapter Quiz (see example below):email

  4. You will receive an electronic copy of your Career Ready Guide Certificate. You should expect to receive your electronic certificate through email within 10 business days (excluding holidays). Due to the current health crisis, we are not issuing hard copy certificates, but if you would like a hard copy, please contact us again once the campus re-opens. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Faculty:

For faculty interested in using the Career Ready Guide for assignments in your course, please review this document here. It outlines sample assignments created by Mesa College Personal Growth and Work Based Learning faculty members.

Mesa college faculty feedback on career ready guide:

faculty testimonials:

"My students have a better understanding of the career-pathway process and can identify the components necessary to meet their occupational goals."

"As a result of incorporating the Career Ready Guide into my classroom curriculum, my students shared with me that they learned more about what real world skills are needed in their future career choice and that it helped them make a more informed decision as to their career choice."

mesa college student feedback on Career Ready Guide:

student statistics:
  • 98% of Mesa students Strongly Agree or Agree they understand the importance of career readiness after using the guide.
  • 98% of Mesa students rate the guide Excellent or Very Good and believe their peers should have access to the guide.
  • 93% of Mesa students Strongly Agree or Agree that as a result of completing the Career Ready Guide, they feel better prepared to describe their experiences and skills in job interviews and/or networking events.
student testimonials:

"A significant amount of the fear I have about applying or interviewing for jobs is not understanding the expectations of the employer. This guide eases some of those nerves as it highlights the fact that it is not just skills or experience in the specific field that employers are looking for as those can be taught. Employers need individuals who can think critically, communicate effectively, work in teams, are eager to continue their learning, and who fit the company culture."

"As a result of completing the Career Ready Guide, I am motivated to take the following steps I am motivated to update my resume and make an appointment with someone in the Career Center."

"I am motivated to improve on my skills, and understand the importance of recognizing different cultures and backgrounds. I know that interaction among others is highly valued, and respect and effective communication will lead to success."

Questions:

  • For Mesa College and non-IT questions, please feel free to contact Kristina Carson at [email protected] (619) 388-2535 or Raquel Sojourner at [email protected] (619) 388-5921.
  • For Career Ready Guide IT questions, contact the help desk email at [email protected]. They are generally available weekdays 9am-4pmEST.
  • For Career Ready Guide company questions, contact Kathy Egan from CareerSpots.com at [email protected]