What is CareerWell?
The idea of preparing the workforce for the future of work is more urgent than ever as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic downturn.
In response to these circumstances, governments, business associations, and educational institutions across the United States are looking to answer a key question: How will we retrain and future-proof our workers so they can withstand the shocks and stresses of future events?
Many leaders across the nation are calling for robust re-skilling and up-skilling of current and emerging workers on a national level to respond to this question. Such responses must include new holistic approaches to help students—especially graduate students— develop strategic skills that will future-proof their careers in the current and post-pandemic labor market.
Carolina is uniquely positioned to bolster North Carolina communities and the state economy in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic—and beyond—by empowering students and professionals to enhance their job and career prospects.
The Graduate School founded CareerWell in June 2020 as a competency-based program for adult learners in North Carolina to help emerging and current workers re-skill and up-skill through development of digital, data, and business skills.
CareerWell Vision
Our vision is to empower current and emerging professionals across North Carolina to prepare for the future of work and to future-proof their careers.
CareerWell Mission
Our mission is to prepare North Carolina students and professionals to demonstrate valuable business, digital, data, and other skills needed to heighten their job security and career advancement.
Through collaborations with companies, nonprofits, and government units, CareerWell invests in Carolina’s robust resources to enhance access to learning and to foster career prosperity of our students and the citizens of North Carolina.
CareerWell Program Features
Current and developing CareerWell features include:
- Flexible courses, including online and in-person courses offered during afternoon and evening sessions.
- Interdisciplinary team internships developed jointly with corporate and government partners.
- Workshop and seminar series to support development of workplace skills in areas such as emotional intelligence, mindfulness, and inclusiveness.
- Networking and site visits to help participants build professional connections and support their awareness of employer cultures.
- Certificates and digital badges in the competency areas listed below.
- Recruitment support, a talent exchange portal, and other services, which CareerWell staff will deploy to communicate job and internship openings and recruit students and program participants—on behalf of partnering companies—to apply for job and internship openings.
CareerWell features are designed in response to non-academic employer needs and led by professionals working in companies, nonprofits, and government agencies. We are leveraging our collaborations to establish interdisciplinary team internships, networking events, site visits, seminars, and workshops.
CareerWell will also include career counseling support and a talent exchange portal through the website, in which participants can post biographical sketches and resumes to be considered by talent recruiters from our partners. We will also work with our corporate and government partners to recruit CareerWell participants for internships and job openings at those organizations.
CareerWell Competency Areas
- Leadership and communication
- Data and digital literacy
- Mindfulness and inclusiveness
- Finance and projet management
- Creativity and innovation
- Interdisciplinary teamwork
- Research commercialization
- Technology savviness
- Entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship
- Market and technology evaluation
Beyond the strategic skills traditionally sought by employers (e.g., leadership, communication, project management, emotional intelligence), many of the skills people need to secure and retain employment include the following:
- Applying technology to collect, analyze, and make decisions in response to data
- Coding, web development, and digital marketing
- Understanding concepts of transformative technologies (eg, artificial intelligence [AI], internet of things [IoT], big data, virtual/augmented reality [VR/AR]) for use in decision-making
Through collaborations with for-profit, nonprofit, and government partners, CareerWell offers activities centered around training current and emerging workers to develop skills in key competency areas, which represent the building blocks for workers to secure employment and advance their careers in a dynamic and digitized labor market.
| Competency Area | Description |
| Adaptability, Flexibility, and Collaboration | Flexibly managing unusual circumstances for which no explicit instructions exist through collaborative efforts |
| Technology Savviness | Understanding basic concepts of transformative technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence [AI] and machine learning [ML], internet of things [IoT], virtual reality) |
| Creativity and Innovation | Conceiving and implementing novel solutions for new and existing market needs |
| Entrepreneurship | Establishing and positioning new business ventures within an existing organization or leading to a new corporate entity. |
| Data Literacy | Analyzing data and making decisions in response to it |
| Digital and Coding Literacy | Applying skills in coding, web development, and digital marketing |
| Interdisciplinary Team Leadership and Communication | Communicating and collaborating with others who offer varying expertise and perspectives during team projects in which different team members take the lead at different moments |
| Emotional Intelligence, Mindfulness, and Inclusiveness | Understanding and managing one’s emotions to relieve stress, communicate effectively, offer empathy, overcome challenges, defuse conflict, and otherwise engage others who may be excluded or marginalized |
| Project Management | Applying principles and techniques to plan for individual and team projects and manage risk, stakeholder interests, team efforts, and time and cost considerations |
| Financial Accounting | Applying concepts and instruments used in financial accounting, including basic financial statements (eg, balance sheets, income and cash flow statements), forecasting, and budgeting |
| Professional Communication | Effectively communicating through written messaging (eg, emails, executive summaries, strategy documents) and presentations in the workplace |
| Product/Technology Commercialization | Understanding methods of production, distribution, marketing, sales, customer support, and other key functions essential to achieve commercial success of new products, technologies, or services |