Ready Day 1 Connect – Executive Summary
Georgia Southern University’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), Ready Day 1 Connect (RD1C), helps students identify and demonstrate their existing professional skills in job-seeking scenarios by directly connecting their experiences to explicit career competencies throughout their academic journey. Although students develop competencies through their disciplinary coursework, internal and external surveys indicate a disconnect between this skill development and graduates’ ability to articulate these competencies in professional contexts. RD1C addresses this disconnect, particularly in critical thinking, communication, and professionalism, through three primary goals: (1) increase students’ ability to recognize career competencies they develop through academic experiences; (2) enhance students’ confidence in articulating these competencies in professional contexts; and (3) improve employers’ perception of graduates’ ability to demonstrate career readiness.
Four strategic modules deployed via our learning management system directly connect students to career competencies through their academic journey. Module 1, career development content integrates seamlessly into the existing first-year curriculum, where students use career assessment tools to align their interests with potential majors and career paths. Module 2 embeds career competency exploration within the existing second-year curriculum, introducing students to essential career competencies sought by employers and encouraging reflection on their current abilities and future development opportunities. Module 3, positioned midway within a degree program after key major courses, enables students to connect specific competencies developed in their curriculum and articulate these abilities through a cover letter. Module 4 culminates in students demonstrating mastery of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) eight competencies through interview preparation, drawing from their entire university experience. This modular approach is built on successful alpha and beta testing (2022-2024), which demonstrated a significant increase in student confidence and engaged faculty support for the module implementation.
The program will reach approximately 5,500 students annually through the first two modules in first-year and second-year courses. Initial implementation of the complete four-module sequence focuses on the College of Arts and Humanities (CAH) and the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences (CBSS), whose programs, while rich in transferable skills, often lack direct career paths. Approximately 23% of undergraduate students will initially experience all four modules, with expansion planned to additional colleges. This implementation aligns with Georgia Southern’s strategic priority of enhancing student success through career readiness and professional development.
Success will be measured through a comprehensive three-level assessment framework. Level 1 consists of module-level pre/post surveys measuring immediate growth in students’ ability to recognize and articulate career competencies. Level 2 encompasses programmatic assessments tracking longitudinal confidence and outcomes, including First Destination Survey outcomes beginning with the first full cohort, internship evaluations, and employer feedback from career events. Level 3 involves comprehensive evaluations examining stakeholder perspectives and graduate career trajectories to assess long-term program impact. By collecting data at multiple points from both students and employers, RD1C will measure both immediate and long-term effectiveness in closing identified competency gaps, ensuring program improvements and graduate career preparedness.
