Want Your Students To Be Ready For The Job Market? Embed Skills-Building In The Curriculum

Yuleika George, a graduate student in the M.S. in Information Systems program at Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business, wanted to pivot into cybersecurity at the Fortune 500 company where she worked. But something was holding George back from putting out feelers: Specifically, she was intimidated by the idea of emailing a colleague on the cybersecurity team to join her for coffee. 

George managed to set aside her hesitation because her grade was riding on it. Sending the email was a required in-class assignment as part of the program’s Market-Ready To-Do List, a series of actions created by Robinson’s Graduate Career Advancement Center to accelerate participants’ careers post-graduation.

By the time she left the coaching session, George’s colleague replied to her email that she would be delighted to set up a weekly recurring conversation to tell her more about their team and give her exposure to what they do. George said she would never have thought to send that email invitation without the in-class assignment, but that courageous step has opened doors for her that she will use throughout her career.

Whether looking to move within their company or target a specific role or career elsewhere, most graduate students already have some work experience, and many do not voluntarily engage with their college’s career advancement center. They could benefit greatly by doing so. 

Although most colleges and universities have outstanding resources in their career advancement centers, students infrequently seek them out because job searches tend to take a back seat to completing the next assignment or studying for the next exam. 

To help more graduate students land a job or promotion upon graduation and get a strong ROI from their advanced degrees, Robinson wanted to increase students’ engagement with the resources of its Graduate Career Advancement Center to ensure they have the practical skills—and not just the academic knowledge—needed to achieve their dream job. Their solution to getting students ready for the job market was to package the tools better and embed them into the fabric of their degree programs, starting with its M.S. in Information Systems program. 

The Market-Ready To-Do List is an asynchronous series of actions developed for scalable delivery across an extremely diverse student population, with credit awarded for completing assignments and attending events. The Graduate Career Advancement Center team’s resources are positioned such that students are assigned to engage, and given points for doing so, rather than these overprogrammed students needing to make time for optional resources.

The Market-Ready To-Do List is broken into three phases:

• Pre-Work. During this phase, students use AI tools to receive feedback and strengthen their resume, LinkedIn profile, and elevator pitch, and they set up a profile in the campus recruitment system.
• Job Search Prep Assignments. In this phase, students learn to build social capital and why a relationship-based job search is best. Students also learn how to make a good impression in an interview by researching the employer and writing a brief on the chief executives, looking up financial performance and recent news. Finally, they learn how to target a job posting, identify five skills the employer seeks, and practice for interviews using STAR stories (Situation, Task, Action, Results) that address the skills in the job description.
• Go-To Market. With their foundation in place, students are encouraged to attend an employer engagement event, career fair, company town hall at their current employer, set up a coffee chat with a connection, and join a professional association.

While most faculty hesitate to add requirements, Robinson professors have embraced it. The Market-Ready To-Do list is embedded into Robinson’s learning management system, iCollege, making it easy for students to complete assignments. By awarding points for completing the list, faculty spend less time trying to motivate them to head to the Graduate Career Advancement Center for help. Students also see it as a benefit, not a burden, which saves them countless hours by helping them perform more savvy job searches and conduct effective interviews. 

In the 2023-2024 academic year, Robinson’s Graduate Career Advancement Center held 52 events. Including workshops and other activities, engagement soared to more than 2,400 student touchpoints and almost 150 employer touchpoints. Student participation went from an average of one career-related event or workshop per student to five touchpoints per student in the pilot program. 

Despite graduating into a tightened job market, participants have achieved higher salaries than previous graduates while decreasing the time to pay back their investment. Participants say the program has pushed them outside their comfort zone to make new connections, honed their ability to market themselves effectively, and helped create a clear narrative that showcases their skills and experience. 

What started as a pilot program in Robinson’s M.S. in Information Systems program has since expanded to its MBA, M.S.A. in Data & Analytics, and M.S. Finance programs. The program will soon launch in Robinson’s M.S. Qualitative Risk Analysis & Management, Master of Actuarial Science, Master of International Business, and M.S. Health Administration programs. 

Robinson’s Graduate Career Advancement Center is continually innovating with technologies to meet the needs of working professional students. In the future, the team plans to add the ability for graduate students to conduct mock interviews with virtual reality headsets that are supplemented with AI. It’s just one more way Robinson’s 1,600 graduate students will be able to hone their market-ready skills to land a new job or career.

Lauren McDow, Director of Graduate Career Advancement, J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University

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