CERTIFICATE CHECKMARK

Report: Community college students on what’s needed to succeed in their job hunt

CompTIA research shows most believe their degree plus an industry-recognized certification leads to career advancement
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A majority of community college students (66%) feel generally optimistic about the post-graduation job market, but 44% indicate some anxiety about the economy as they prepare to look for employment, according to a new CompTIA research brief Community College Student Trends.

Students believe that industry-recognized certifications provide value as a means to being better prepared for the workforce.

  • 83% of community college students (net) indicate certifications validate that skills are relevant and current
  • 81% believe certifications are a pathway to career advancement
  • 78% believe the certifications open doors to employers who are hiring
  • 96% report advancing at least one step ahead in their career readiness progression – with 46% report advancing several steps ahead
  • 82% rate digital fluency skills as important (net) to just about any occupation field across careers. The surveyed students’ fields of study include health care, business, STEM, creative arts, IT and the tech industry – among others.
  • 88% rate leadership and team skills as important
  • 70% (net) of students are preparing to improve their AI career readiness

The research brief’s findings are the result of a survey of 462 U.S. two-year/community college students conducted between December of last year and mid-January of this year.

You can find the full Community College Student Trends here.

Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.