Enhancing Student Success through Faculty Collaboration and Career Coaching Integration

Table of Contents

Introduction

Higher education institutions are increasingly expected to prepare students not only for academic achievement but also for real-world career success. The growing skills gap and rising student debt underscore the urgency for innovative strategies that combine academic rigor with intentional career development.

According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE, 2024), employers report that new graduates are often under prepared in key competencies such as communication, critical thinking, and professionalism.

In response, the Student Success Team of the Willie A. Deese College of Business & Economics at North Carolina A&T State University has implemented a model that prioritizes faculty engagement in student success initiatives, including a summer retreat that integrated a 30-hour National Association of Colleges & Employers (NACE) Career Coaching Certification. This approach supports the incorporation of career readiness into teaching practices, advisement, and mentorship/coaching, thereby enhancing student preparation and post-graduation outcomes.

Model Overview: Faculty Collaboration & Career Coaching Integration

In July 2025, faculty and staff members from the Deese College participated in a student success retreat. Representation included a tenured associate professor, an associate teaching professor, full-time instructors, student success directors and academic advisors. The centerpiece of this retreat was a 30-hour NACE Career Coaching Certification. The certification program was designed to:

• Equip and prepare participants with foundational career coaching tools and certification;
• Facilitate common language and practices around student advising;
• Build capacity for integrating career development into existing curricula.

According to Shawn VanDerziel, CEO of NACE in a podcast interview on June 2024, faculty are key stakeholders, and their involvement is critical to ensuring that career readiness becomes more than an extracurricular service—it became a pedagogical imperative

The Need for Career Competency Integration

The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB, 2023) underscores the importance of outcome-driven curricula that are responsive to the needs of the labor market. Integrating NACE’s eight career readiness competencies—including teamwork, leadership, career and self-development, and equity and inclusion—into coursework allows students to practice and demonstrate these skills throughout their academic journey. Research shows that students who engage in career planning early in their college experience are more likely to:

• Graduate on time (NACE, 2024);
• Report higher job satisfaction;
• Earn higher starting salaries (Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, 2023). Embedding these competencies into classroom learning also reduces reliance on high-cost, post-graduation credentialing programs, contributing to a reduction in long-term student debt.

Recommendations

To replicate and scale career coaching into pedagogy and classroom instruction, the following recommendations are offered:

1. Institutionalize Career Coaching Certification for Faculty: Embed professional development opportunities like NACE training into faculty onboarding and annual development plans.
2. Curriculum Mapping with NACE Competencies: Departments should map existing course objectives to NACE competencies to identify gaps and opportunities.
3. Cross-Functional Teams: Form collaborative teams of faculty, career services, and student success professionals to develop integrative assignments and experiential learning opportunities.
4. Leverage Data for Continuous Improvement: Collect longitudinal data on student outcomes, career readiness perceptions, and faculty engagement to refine implementation strategies.

Conclusion

Collaborative faculty engagement in student success and career readiness initiatives is not merely beneficial—it is essential. As demonstrated within the Willie A. Deese College of Business & Economics, embedding career coaching into the academic framework strengthens institutional capacity to prepare graduates for meaningful and economically sustainable careers. By aligning classroom learning with employer expectations, institutions can simultaneously address the skills gap and contribute to long-term debt mitigation strategies.

References

Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. (2023). Standards for Business Accreditation. https://www.aacsb.edu/accreditation/standards/business

Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. (2023). The College Payoff: More Education Doesn’t Always Mean More Earnings. https://cew.georgetown.edu/

National Association of Colleges and Employers. (2024). Career Readiness Defined. https://www.naceweb.org/career-readiness/competencies/career-readiness-defined/

VanDerziel, S. (Guest). (2024, June 26). Careers embedded in higher education [Audio podcast episode]. In Inside Higher Ed (Host), The Key. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/student-success/life-after-college/2024/06/26/podcast-careers-embedded-higher-education