COMPASS: Preparing Students for the Workplace
COMPASS (Cultivating Opportunities to Maximize Professionalism and Advance Student Success) is an annual, team-based, gamified program that challenges students and their peers to gain professional leadership, networking, and digital skills under the mentorship of student leaders and faculty.
Giving Day 2023 UpdateIn 2024, the Patty Arvielo School of Business and Management presented the 3rd annual COMPASS Leadership Summit and 1st annual COMPASS Professional Summit. These career preparation events focused on building a successful career in the initial years after graduation. In addition to the summit, students participated in healthy competition with their teams (or "crews") to earn points by participating in:
- Monthly speaker series
- Leadership training
- Networking events
- Resume reviews
- Leadership book club
- Digital skills training
- Professional societies
Why should donors support this fund?
The Patty Arvielo School of Business and Management is dedicated to a holistic approach to equipping students as exceptional business professionals. This includes relevant curriculum, mentor relationships within the learning environment, internships, alumni engagement, and requisite skills development supporting successful career placement. But in the highly competitive and saturated marketplace into which Vanguard graduates enter, students must be prepared beyond the classroom to compete effectively.
As we prepare students academically, we acknowledge that employers desire evidence of skills tangential to the academic discipline. They seek professional polish, confidence, social skills, self-awareness, and the ability to connect classroom content with the broader global and culturally diverse markets. These skills are not only employer-preferred and effective for career success, but they can also help support success in personal endeavors.
We are seeing academically qualified students lose career opportunities for lack in these competences. Many of our students are first generation students and do not have the background or familial support to learn these skills. The division is responding to this defined need for enhanced focus on the practical, personal, and professional development skills necessary to compete effectively. When Business and Communication students graduate from Vanguard, the goal is that they already have a reputation of being both academically and professionally qualified to start their career.
Giving Day 2024 funds will be used to continue our program of business-specific events, workshops, and mentorships to meet the growing need for polished social and soft-skill training.
Student Impact
"COMPASS did an incredible job of teaching students about the real world and what happens in your careers. I'm graduating ... and I was nervous about finding a job and jump starting my career and COMPASS ... it really prepared me for that and made me a lot more comfortable going into interviews and searching for jobs I wanted. It helped me realize the benefits of working in business." Jonathan Scruggs
"I would recommend COMPASS to other students here. It is a good opportunity to gain the tools and encouragement needed to go into any field coming out of college." Bailey Ball
"[COMPASS] was a great opportunity to learn how to take different career skills into your professional journey." Kaitlyn Williams
How will funds be used?
Giving Day 2024 funds will be used to continue our program of business-specific events, workshops, and mentorships to meet the growing need for polished social and soft-skill training.
This will include: