What is Career Readiness?
At its core, career readiness is about building essential skills that carry with you wherever your path leads. It means gaining hands-on experience and learning how to clearly communicate what you bring to the table. Rather than being tied to one major or job title, career readiness gives you a flexible foundation that helps you adapt, grow, and stay confident as the world of work continues to evolve.
This readiness is not instantaneous, but rather a progressive process. It takes shape over time through the classes you take, the opportunities you explore, and the ways you connect what you are learning in the classroom to real-world experiences.
What It Looks Like in Practice
Career readiness may look different for everyone, depending on your interests, goals, and the opportunities you choose to pursue. But what matters most is how you use your time in college to begin shaping your direction.
Take, for example, recent St. John’s graduates Brianna Garrison ’25TCB and Matthew de Prado ’25CCPS. While their academic paths and career interests looked very different, both students showcase how your time spent in college can become a launchpad for real-world growth. By following their interests and saying yes to opportunities that challenged them, they built skills and confidence that continue to shape their paths beyond graduation.
Brianna Garrison ’25TCB’s Story
As a finance major with a minor in computer science, Ms. Garrison took full advantage of St. John’s global learning opportunities, studying abroad in Europe multiple times and building confidence working across cultures. Along the way, she balanced leadership roles, service involvement, and a highly competitive internship at Bloomberg as an Equity Research and Data Analyst.
Each experience helped Ms. Garrison connect classroom concepts to real-world application, strengthening her analytical skills, professionalism, and ability to adapt in fast-paced environments.
Matthew de Prado ’25CCPS’s Story
Mr. de Prado, an advertising communications and public relation major, built career readiness by leaning into creativity, campus involvement, and mentorship. Through leadership roles in cultural and service organizations, he developed strong communication, collaboration, and project-management skills while expanding his professional network.
By gaining experience in social media and content creation—both on and off campus—Mr. de Prado was able to connect his academic interests to his long-term goal of launching his own clothing brand. College became a space for him to test ideas, refine his voice, and build confidence.
Building Career Readiness in College: Where to Begin
If you are not sure where to begin, you are not behind. Many students arrive at college without a clear idea of what they want to do, and career readiness is not about having a plan on day one.
It all starts with curiosity and awareness.
College gives you space to notice what captures your interest, what feels challenging in a productive way, and which environments help you feel motivated. Instead of asking yourself to choose a career right away, you can begin by paying attention to your experiences and how they shape your confidence and skills.
Begin by asking yourself a few honest questions:
- Which classes make you want to participate or keep learning beyond the assignment?
- When have you felt challenged in a way that helped you grow rather than discouraged you?
- What feedback have professors, classmates, or supervisors given you that has stuck with you?
- Do you enjoy working independently, collaborating with others, or a mix of both?
- What is one new opportunity you are curious about exploring next semester, and why?
Career readiness builds through action and reflection working together. Trying a part-time job, joining a student organization, attending a campus event, or taking on a new responsibility can all be meaningful first steps. Over time, those moments add up, shifting your mindset from feeling stuck or uncertain to feeling capable of taking your next step with intention.
Final Thoughts
Career readiness is not a finish line you cross before graduation; it is a mindset you build over time. It grows each time you take on something new, reflect on what you learned, and begin to understand how your skills and interests fit into the world beyond college.
Wherever you are in your journey, you are already building toward your future, and that momentum will carry with you long after graduation.