Building a successful career starts with understanding your strengths, interests, and goals. Mason Core gives you opportunities to explore different fields, discover new interests, and develop the skills employers value most.
By taking courses across a variety of disciplines, you gain exposure to new ideas, perspectives, and ways of solving problems. Along the way, you’ll learn more about the types of work and learning environments where you thrive. Do you enjoy independent projects like coding or research? Do you prefer collaborating with others through labs, discussions, or group work? Are you energized by fast-paced deadlines or longer-term projects? These experiences can help you make more informed decisions about your major, internships, career path, and future educational goals.
Mason Core courses also help you build transferable skills that are valuable across industries and professions, even fields that don’t yet exist! Skills such as communication, critical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork, information literacy, and adaptability are essential in today’s workforce and remain valuable as careers and technologies continue to evolve. Learning to recognize and communicate these skills is an important part of preparing for internships, jobs, graduate school, and lifelong career success.
What Employers Want
According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), employers seek candidates who can demonstrate experience in eight key competencies before applying for jobs—all of which you practice in Mason Core courses!
Career + Self-Development
Grow personally and professionally by learning new skills, understanding your strengths, exploring career paths, and networking with others.
Examples in coursework:
- Identify how course concepts relate to real-world professions
- Seek feedback on a draft assignment and revise based on peer or instructor suggestions
- Attend office hours gain a deeper understanding of coursework
Communication
Share information, ideas, and perspectives clearly with classmates, colleagues, and others.
Examples in coursework:
- Deliver clear, engaging presentations or papers that are tailored to a specific audience
- Actively participate in discussions by listening and responding thoughtfully to other’s ideas
- Effectively use visual aids or media to support your argument
Critical Thinking
Use information and reasoning to understand situations and respond effectively.
Examples in coursework:
- Use data to support a claim in a paper or presentation
- Defend a position on an issue after weighing multiple perspectives and outcomes
- Break down a problem or case study into key components to evaluate possible solutions
Equity + Inclusion
Engage respectfully with diverse groups and take action to promote a fair and welcoming environment.
Examples in coursework:
- Reflect on personal identity through class readings or discussions
- Collaborate with classmates from diverse backgrounds and build inclusive group norms
- Listen respectfully and respond to peers with different cultural, social, or political perspectives
Leadership
Recognize your strengths and help teams succeed by building on each member’s skills.
Examples in coursework:
- Volunteer to lead a group project or discussion
- Delegate tasks strategically to ensure shared workload during group projects
- Reflect on your role within a team and identify areas for improvement
Professionalism
Adapt to different work environments, practice professional behavior, and support the success of others.
Examples in coursework:
- Consistently meet deadlines and submit high-quality work that follows instructions
- Balance multiple assignments and responsibilities with time management strategies
- Engage respectfully with your classmates and instructors, both in-person and online
Teamwork
Collaborate with others, value different perspectives, and share responsibility for team success.
Examples in coursework:
- Collaborate with peers to complete group presentations or assignments
- Offer constructive feedback to group members and integrate other’s suggestions
- Resolve disagreements respectfully on shared tasks
Technology
Apply technology effectively and ethically to improve your work and reach your goals.
Examples in coursework:
- Create digital media to present academic ideas creatively
- Conduct research using academic databases and cite sources properly
- Leverage AI as a tool to support your learning and productivity while maintaining accuracy, integrity, and ethical decision-making as appropriate
Keep Track of Career-Ready Skills
Take time each semester to track what career-ready skills you’re learning throughout your college experience—in major courses, Mason Core courses, and even in your campus activities—and keep a record of specific examples that illustrate these skills. Your assignments, projects, and other experiences can apply to any job application or interview, and you can use those tracked examples on your resume and during interviews.
Use this three-step process to track your demonstrated examples of the eight competencies.
1. Identify the experience
Jot down what you did that you enjoyed or did well on. This could be a project (group or individual), a presentation, a paper, an internship, etc.
2. Connect it to a skill
Write down at least one of the competencies that you practiced in the experience. Give a specific example of how you demonstrated that skill in the experience.
3. Capture the details
Reflect on how the experience went. What was your role? What was challenging or rewarding? What did you learn?
Use Examples in Resumes and Interviews
Once you’re ready to submit applications for internships, jobs, or even graduate school applications, you’ll want to transfer the examples you’ve tracked into strong resume bullets and potential interview answers. For specific guidance on resume development, interview preparation, and other free resources available to George Mason students, reach out to University Career Services.
Build Strong Resume Points
Use active language to highlight your contributions (what you did) and impact (the outcome). Look for which skills and competencies the employer is seeking in the job description and make sure your bullet points speak to those.
Prepare for Interview Questions
When answering interview questions, use specific examples from your experiences. Employers often ask behavioral interview questions, such as “Tell me about a time when…” because past experiences can demonstrate how you are likely to perform in future situations. As you review a job description, identify the skills the employer is seeking and think about relevant examples from your Mason Core coursework. Did you collaborate with a team to complete a project? Analyze complex information to solve a problem? Communicate your ideas through a presentation or written assignment?
The stronger your example, the stronger your answer. Be specific about the situation, what you did, and the impact of your actions.
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