Clemson Center for Career and Professional Development

Competency Symposium 2019
3rd Annual Competencies Symposium:
Strategies for Institutional-wide Competency Development


Competency Symposium 2019
at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Oh.

The 3rd Annual Career Competencies Symposium (3.0), building on two previous sold out events in 2017 and 2018, will engage attendees in approaches to implementing substantive, institutional-wide strategies for both beginners as well as those with competency initiatives already in place. This year, Symposium content and program design is based on four essential components:


  • Conceptualizing and Planning – Establish a Plan
  • Coalition Building – Stakeholder Engagement
  • Resources – People, Money, Technology
  • Assessment – Measuring Impact, Making Improvements

For beginners, thorough introduction to the NACE Career Readiness Competencies, foundational competency implementation strategies, and a focus on campus specific considerations will provide attendees the opportunity to develop strategic action plans for their campus. For the intermediate/advanced, crowd-sourcing for new ideas, learning from the best practices of others, and strategies designed to enhance institutional effectiveness will provide opportunities to advance existing and on-going competency initiatives.


Sessions will facilitate meaningful sharing and collaboration among all attendees, accompanied by tailored discussions and activities to maximize sharing, learning, and strategic takeaways. Institutions sending teams (career services, administrators, faculty, advisors, etc.), which is highly encouraged, will participate in team collaboration sessions to develop/refine their campus implementation strategy. Institutions sending an individual will meet up with other individual attendees to collaborate on strategy development and approaches to implementation. *See information on registration page for discounted rates for groups.


New for Competency Symposium 3.0:

  • Customized tracks tailored for beginners and intermediate/advanced attendees
  • Affinity Group Meet Ups – time to connect, share, and ideate with professionals in a similar role (career services, campus partners, faculty, vendors, and employers)

Features Back by Popular Demand:

  • Blueprints – method to share ideas and spark discussions – see examples in “Engaging Campus Partners” section below
  • Competency Framework Pillars to guide discussions
  • Workbook to capture ideas, strategies, plans, and action items
  • Team time to connect and strategize
  • Strategy-share Meet Ups (for institutions registering one attendee)

The symposium is designed to bring faculty, career services staff, administrators, student affairs staff, and employers together to discuss strategic campus wide approaches. In 2018, over 210 attendees from over 94 institutions from 33 state, the District of Columbia and Canada attended the day and a half Symposium.

Mark your calendars today and make plans to attend the third annual Competency Symposium at The Ohio State University from May 20-21, 2019.

2019 Competency Symposium Website at The Ohio State University

2018 Symposium Summary and Survey Results [pdf]




Highlights of the 2018 Symposium



Success Stories Shared



Engaging Campus Stakeholders



Putting it All Togather