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The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC or simply “SACS”), provides accreditation to colleges and universities primarily in the southern United States—including the North Central Texas College. Once accredited, member colleges and universities undergo a reaffirmation process after five years, and every ten years thereafter. Part of this reaffirmation process is the development of a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). An institution’s QEP should be designed to address an important issue related to its students’ learning or success. Progress made towards the plan’s outcomes is provided to SACSCOC four years prior to the ten-year reaffirmation in a “Fifth-Year Interim Report.”
About the Aspire to Be Hired Plan
NCTC works closely with local business and industry leaders to develop programs that produce graduates ready to meet current and future industry demands.
In the fall of 2019, NCTC commissioned a “Local Trends and Gaps Analysis” research report from the Hanover Group. This research, and subsequent meetings with stakeholders revealed that in addition to trade-specific skills, employers value candidates with “soft skills,” or employability skills. Youth.gov defines these skills as “personal qualities, not technical, that translate into good job performance.”
In response, NCTC developed the Aspire to be Hired QEP to equip students with these highly sought after non-technical skills. This plan is being implemented in Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs, and will grow to include other programs as well.
Consulting with various trade and professional organizations’ resources on these skills yields an extensive list of competencies. The Aspire to be Hired initiative focuses on embedding eight core skills that directly support NCTC’s Core Values and its Strategic Plan, including:
Professional Communication
Problem Solving
Critical Thinking
Emotional Intelligence
Ethical Decision Making
Teamwork/Collaboration
Leadership
Interpersonal Skills/Professionalism
The programmatic and student learning outcomes of this initiative stress the importance of awareness, articulation, and application of these skills. As such, these skills are to be clearly presented to students without ambiguity so they can readily identify and articulate their acquisition of them to employers.
Online Resources
Suggested Keywords
Try searching for these keywords and/or the specific skills listed above in the library catalog or databases:
Career readiness skills
Marketable Skills
Transferable skills
Soft Skills
21st century skills
Essential skills
Applied skills
Higher education
College
University
Teaching
Instruction
Embedding
Assessment
Articulation
Awareness
Databases
Suggested Databases
The section below titled, “General Literature” includes a short survey of literature on the topic of employability skills in higher education. To find literature on specific skills, try searching this list of suggested databases:
ERIC
Short for “Education Resources Information Center,” ERIC is the go-to resource for all things education research. Example resources in ERIC include academic journals, research reports, and conference papers.
Science & Technology Collection
Covers multiple science and technology disciplines including chemistry, biology, computer technology, and physics. Trade publications give insight into real world issues in these fields, while academic journals cover research and theoretical issues.
CINAHL Plus with Full Text
Provides research and insight into nursing and allied health issues through academic journals.
EBSCO (Complete listing): Click “EBSCOhost Web - All databases,” check the box labeled “Select / deselect all,” and then the yellow “Continue” button to search for your terms in all of our databases provided by this vendor.
Gale Databases (Complete listing): Scroll through the gray icon bar to find the magnifying glass icon labeled “Cross Search.” Using the resulting “Power Search” feature yields results from 42 separate Gale databases on a wide variety of subjects.
ProQuest (Complete Listing): Using the ProQuest aggregated search provides results in multiple formats, including eBooks from PQ’s impressive STEM collection, “Ebrary.”
General Literature
Bell, J., et al. “Active Learning across Disciplines: Opportunities to Develop Employability Skills and
Leadership Potential in Undergraduate Students. A Student and Staff Perspective.” New Directions in
the Teaching of Physical Sciences, vol. 14, no. 1, Jan. 2019. ERIC.Fraser, Cath Jane, et al. “Overt and Covert: Strategies for Building Employability Skills of Vocational
Education Graduates.” Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability, vol. 10, no. 1,
Jan. 2019, pp. 157–72. ERIC.Hora, Matthew T., Ross J. Benbow, and Bailey B. Smolarek. 2018. “Re-Thinking Soft Skills and Student
Employability: A New Paradigm for Undergraduate Education.” Change 50 (6): 30–37. Professional
Development Collection.Maina, Marcelo Fabián, et al. “A Micro‑credentialing Methodology for Improved Recognition of HE
Employability Skills.” International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, vol. 19, Feb.
2022, pp. 1–22. Fuente Académica Premier.Snape, Paul. “Enduring Learning: Integrating C21st Soft Skills through Technology Education.” Design and
Technology Education, vol. 22, no. 3, Jan. 2017. ERIC.Stange, Melissa. “Preparing Students for Digital Era Careers.” Inquiry, vol. 23, no. 1, Aug. 2020. ERIC.
Tejaswani, K., and G. V. Madhuri. “Designing Transferable Skills Inventory for Assessing Students Using
Group Discussion: A Case Study of First Year Electrical and Electronics Engineering Students.” Journal
of Education and Practice, vol. 6, no. 10, Jan. 2015, pp. 143–48. ERIC.Wolff, Ralph, and Melanie Booth. “Bridging the Gap: Creating a New Approach for Assuring 21st Century
Employability Skills.” Change, vol. 49, no. 6, Nov. 2017, pp. 51–54. Professional Development
Collection.
Internet Resources
National Association of Colleges and Employers
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. (n.d.). Workplace basics: The competencies employers want. Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy.
Green, S. (n.d.). Learning outcomes: Employability. Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services Scotland.
Office of Disability Employment Policy. (n.d.) Soft skills: The competitive edge. U.S. Department of Labor.
Tomasson Goodwin, J., Goh, J., Verkoeyen, S. and Lithgow, K. (2019). Can students be taught to articulate employability skills? Education + Training, 61(4), 445-460.
University of Mississippi Medical Center. (2012, Dec. 27). Professionalism Assessment Tool.
U.S. Education Department. (2021). Employability Skills Framework. Texas Education Agency.
Print Books
Each campus library has acquired materials to support four of the eight employability skills—problem solving, ethical decision making, teamwork, and communication. A sample of books chosen for these skills is listed below. To search for additional materials, search the Library catalog.
Problem Solving
Bevelin, P. (2007). Seeking wisdom: From Darwin to Munger (3rd ed.). PCA Publications. Flower Mound Campus B105 .W5 B48 2018
Conn, S. (2019). Bulletproof problem solving: The one skill that changes everything. Wiley. Flower Mound Campus BF449 .C665 2019
Kallet, M. (2014). Think smarter: critical thinking to improve problem-solving and decision-making skills. Wiley. Flower Mound Campus HD30.29 .K35 2014
Konnikova, M. (2013). Mastermind: How to think like Sherlock Holmes. Penguin Books. Flower Mound Campus BC108 .K56 2013
Watanabe, K. (2009). Problem solving 101: A simple book for smart people. Portfolio. Flower Mound Campus BF449 .W37 2009
Ethical Decision Making
Duke, A. (2020). How to decide: Simple tools for making better choices. Portfolio. Bowie Campus HD30.23 .D85 2020
Faddis, T. (2019). The ethical line: 10 leadership strategies for effective decision making. Corwin. Bowie Campus LB2806 .F34 2020
Heath, C. (2013). Decisive: How to make better choices in life and work. Currency. Bowie Campus HD30.23 .H395 2013
Kahneman, D. (2021). Noise: A flaw in human judgment. Little, Brown Spark. Bowie Campus BF447 .K34 2021
Koscinski, M. (2021). Decision making essentials you always wanted to know. Vibrant Publishers. Bowie Campus HD30.23 .K57 2021
Teamwork
Anderson, G. (2019). Mastering collaboration: Make working together less painful and more productive. O'Reilly Media. Corinth Campus HD57.7 .L4488 2016
Cross, R. L. (2021). Beyond collaboration overload: how to work smarter, get ahead, and restore your well-being. Harvard Business Review Press. Corinth Campus HF5548.85 .C76 2021
Lencioni, P. (2016). The ideal team player: How to recognize and cultivate the three essential virtues. Jossey-Bass. Corinth Campus HD57.7 .L4488 2016
Maxwell, J.C. (2013). The 17 indisputable laws of teamwork: Embrace them and empower your team. Harper Collins Leadership. Corinth Campus HD66 .M375 2001
Tamm, J.W. (2019). Radical collaboration: Five essential skills to overcome defensiveness and build successful relationships (2nd ed.). Harper Business. Corinth Campus HD66 .T36 2019
Professional Communication
Crezee, I. (2015). Introduction to healthcare for Spanish-speaking interpreters and translators. John Benjamins Publishing. Gainesville Campus R119.5 .C742 2015
Lele, C. (2018). The vocabulary builder workbook: Simple lessons and activities to teach yourself over 1,400 must-know words. Zephyros Press. Gainesville Campus PE1449 .L45 2018
Hassan, O. (2015). Don't reply al : 18 email tactics that help you write better emails and improve communication with your team. GreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. Gainesville Campus HE7551 .O85 2015