How to Approach Career Coaching: Plan with NACE's Eight Career Readiness Competencies and Make the Most of Your University Career Center

Many students don't visit their university's career center until the semester before graduation. In fact, career counseling is most effective when started earlier: figuring out what you want to do, what skills you lack, and what experiences you need to build. This article, based on survey data from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) and its "Career Readiness Competencies" framework, explains how to approach career planning step by step and what international students need to consider additionally.

1. Let's Look at the Data: Is Career Counseling Actually Useful?

• Less than half have an offer by graduation. The NACE 2026 Student Survey shows that among the Class of 2026 undergraduates, 43% secured at least one job offer before graduation, averaging 0.79 offers per student.
• Paid internships offer a clear advantage. In the same survey, 55% of graduates who completed a paid internship and were job hunting received at least one offer; paid interns with offers had an average starting salary of about $69,521, higher than the overall average of $61,747.
• Students who use career services get more offers. The NACE 2022 Student Survey shows that recent graduates who used at least one career center service received an average of 1.24 offers, compared to 1.0 for those who used none; each additional service used further increased the average number of offers.
• The three most effective services: help finding internships or co-ops, mock interviews, and networking preparation. Students who used the career center to find internships were 2.2 times more likely to secure a paid internship than those who secured an unpaid one or no internship at all.
• Yet, few students use them. In the same survey, only 25.6% of students used internship search assistance, and the usage rates for mock interviews and networking preparation were both around 20%.

The conclusion is simple: university career counseling resources are useful, and most students are not taking full advantage of them.

2. A Practical Framework: NACE's Eight Career Readiness Competencies

NACE has distilled the skills university graduates need to enter the workforce into eight "Career Readiness Competencies" (December 2025 edition):

The value of this framework lies in turning the vague phrase "improving employability" into specific, checkable, and buildable skills. Employer surveys confirm this: employers most want to see teamwork, problem-solving, and communication skills on resumes, backed by concrete examples.

3. Six Steps for Career Planning

Step 1: Know Yourself

What kind of work do you enjoy? What are you good at? What do you value (income, stability, growth, location)? University career centers typically offer career assessments and one-on-one counseling to help you clarify your direction.

Step 2: Explore Career Paths

List two or three career paths of interest and learn about their day-to-day work, required skills, and entry routes. The most direct approach is to talk to people in those roles; alumni are the best starting point.

Step 3: Assess Gaps Against the Eight Competencies

Rate yourself against the eight competencies above: for each one, what specific experiences can you provide as proof? Which areas are blank? This chart is your roadmap for what to build next.

Step 4: Build Experiences Strategically

Use class projects, clubs, research, volunteer work, and especially internships to fill the gaps. NACE's employer survey shows that between two equally qualified candidates, prior internship experience with the company or in the industry is the most valued factor. For how to find internships, see our guides on How to Find Undergraduate Internships and How to Find Graduate Internships.

Step 5: Translate Experiences into Application Materials

• Resume: Frame each experience as "Action + Result," mapping it to specific competencies;
• Interview Stories: Prepare five to eight experiences, structured using the "Situation-Task-Action-Result" (STAR) method, with each story highlighting one or two competencies;
• Mock Interviews: This is one of the most effective services according to NACE data, yet only about one-fifth of students use it.

Step 6: Apply and Reflect

Apply, interview, reflect, and adjust. After every interview, note down the questions asked and where your answers fell short; you will do better next time.

4. Additional Considerations for International Students

• Work permits dictate where and how long you can work. The U.S. OPT, UK Graduate Route, Canada PGWP, and Australia Subclass 485 visa vary significantly in duration and conditions, and all have application deadlines. Career planning must be integrated with visa planning; see How to Stay and Work After Graduation for details.
• Internships during your studies must comply with regulations. In the U.S., CPT requires prior school approval; the UK, Canada, and Australia have hourly work limits during the academic term. See Working Regulations for International Students for details.
• Clearly explain your status in interviews. Be prepared to accurately answer questions about whether you need work visa sponsorship and how long you are authorized to work.
• Keep the option of returning home open. Overseas internship and work experience is equally valuable when job hunting back home.

5. A Ready-to-Use Planning Template

1. Two or three career paths I am interested in: ______
2. The most valued competencies for these paths: ______
3. Among the eight competencies, those I already have experience to prove: ______
4. What I still lack: ______, and I plan to fill it through ______
5. Three things to do this semester: ______
6. Goals and timeline for my next internship: ______
7. Post-graduation work visa I plan to use and its application deadline: ______

Fill this out at the beginning of each semester and compare it with the previous one to track your progress.

Final Thoughts

Career counseling is not a last-minute cram session before graduation; it is a continuous process throughout college. The earlier you start, the better you can use your limited time to build what you lack most. University career centers, professors, and alumni are free and valuable resources—the earlier and more you use them, the better the results.

If you need one-on-one help with career planning, resume editing, or mock interviews, feel free to chat with our career counselors.

Fact-checking note: The data in this article was verified against the original text on the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) website in September 2026: the pre-graduation offer rate, paid intern offers, and starting salaries are from the NACE 2026 Student Survey (March 12 to May 15, 2026, with over 1,860 graduating seniors); the relationship between career center services and offers, as well as service usage rates, are from the NACE 2022 Student Survey (published November 2022); the definitions of the eight career readiness competencies are from the NACE website (December 2025 edition); employer screening factors and desired skills have been verified in articles 50 and 76 on this site. NACE surveys primarily target U.S. students and employers, so the conclusions may not apply to all countries and industries. The planning steps and template are our experience-based recommendations.

References:

• NACE: More Than Two Out of Five of College Class of 2026 Had a Job Offer in Hand by Graduation
• NACE: The Value of Career Services
• NACE: What is Career Readiness?
• NACE: Internship Experience Often the Deciding Factor Between Equal Candidates