The NACA® Employability Skills Assessment is an assessment tool designed to help students as they prepare for their next step after graduation – their careers. It was developed in 2016 in response to a survey published annually by the National Association for Colleges and Employers (NACE) in which employers identify the skills they are seeking from recent college graduates. NACE released a new set of career readiness competencies in 2021, and a group of NACA volunteers and staff used these as a foundation for updating the assessment.
This tool allows students to evaluate themselves on the skills employers seek, and it provides them with suggestions for mastering these skills through their involvement on campus and personal reflection. As an added option, this tool also allows you to evaluate them on these same skills so that they can compare their self-evaluation with that of their advisor. The evaluation results include national averages so students can also compare their scores with those of their peers from around the country. The evaluation takes between 15 and 20 minutes to complete for both students and advisors.
The skills that the tool assesses are as follows:
- Communication
- Critical Thinking
- Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility
- Teamwork
- Leadership
- Program & Project Management
- Information Management
- Personal Growth & Development
Advisor Access
Launch Advisor Dashboard
You must already have a user account created by your Institution's primary contact. You must also be designated as Staff, Faculty or Graduate student.
Student Access
Launch Student Dashboard
Before accessing this dashboard, you must have received an access code from your advisor.