NACE Journal, November 2021
Research on the value and impact of participating in undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative inquiry (URSCI) consistently demonstrates significant benefits that transform future prospects for our students. These benefits span traditional measures of student success, such as increasing retention, persistence, and graduation rates; advancements in dispositions and social psychological constructs, such as confidence, ability to work independently and overcome obstacles, and increases in self-efficacy; and learning outcomes, such as growth in written and oral communication skills, critical thinking, and technical skills.1
Importantly, URSCI experiences benefit all students, with disproportionately positive gains for underserved student populations.2 Undergraduate research experiences3 (UREs) transcend disciplines and take place at sites within and beyond institutions of higher education. The models employed are equally varied, including student-mentor dyads, multilayered teams, course-embedded experiences, and community-based and action-oriented projects. Across these experiences, the valuable skills, knowledge, and dispositions gained often appear as employer priorities in making hiring decisions.
In the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) 2019 white paper, Undergraduate Research: A Road Map for Meeting Future National Needs and Competing in a World of Change,4 the authors position UREs as a robust tool for achieving workforce needs. Advancing this claim, the 2021 American Association of Colleges and Universities’ (AAC&U) How College Contributes to Workforce Success report5 stated that, of the employers surveyed, 85% were “somewhat” or “much more” likely to consider hiring a candidate with experience in undergraduate research. The report also offers several recommendations for those working in higher education to fill opportunity gaps in meeting workforce demands. Two of these recommendations are instructive as we think about communicating the power and impact of undergraduate research experiences—“mak[ing] mindsets and aptitudes an explicit part of learning, inside and outside the classroom,” and “equip[ing] students to name and reflect upon the skills that matter.” Using the 2021 NACE career readiness competencies as a framework, career services professionals are uniquely positioned to act on the AAC&U recommendations and advance the dialogue set forth in the CUR white paper by mapping UREs to career readiness competencies for the benefit of students, faculty, and employer partners.
Below, I name the eight NACE career readiness competencies and illustrate how UREs build career-ready skills, knowledge, and dispositions using the NACE sample behaviors.6 For competencies where the connections to UREs are more opaque, I offer suggestions for career services professionals to probe aspects of the URE with faculty and students to bring to the forefront the competencies developed.