Articulating the Skills Employers Want
Career-readiness workshop series helps faculty highlight transferrable skills
Doug Wiemer | Senior Career Counselor, Career Center Jun 28, 2026
Students often describe meaningful academic work in simple terms. “It was just a project.” “We worked in a group.” The disconnect is not about effort, it is about translation. In the second session of CU Denver’s Career Readiness Integration Workshop series, faculty leaned into a practical question: how do we help students say what they’ve actually done in class in ways that matter to employers?
Session 2 centered on a familiar but often underutilized tool, the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to help students articulate their accomplishments. While many students encounter STAR when preparing for interviews, the workshop flipped the script. Instead of treating it as a last-minute career prep strategy, faculty explored how to embed it directly into course assignments so students build articulation skills as they learn.
Faculty revisited assignments they already use and experimented with small, intentional shifts. The goal is not to change what students are learning, but to make the skills within that learning more visible. A key theme emerged: students don’t struggle to do the work; they often struggle to name the skills they’re using while doing it.
Participants explored ways to close that gap by prompting students to reflect more specifically on their role in a project, the decisions they made, and the outcomes they achieved. Even brief additions like asking for a couple of resume-ready bullet points or incorporating a short reflection can reshape how students understand their own work.
Civil Engineering Lecturer, Nicholas Coppola, shared his take on this approach:
“I learned how the STAR method can support me when designing or refining assignments across courses. I also foresee embedding the STAR method directly into course assignments. I envision the STAR method complementing my emphasis on the SMART goal framework in my Project Management course. While SMART goals help students clearly define their objectives, the STAR method provides a structured way for them to articulate the actions they took and the outcomes they achieved.”
Another key focus was helping students move from passive descriptions to more intentional language. Encouraging the use of “I” statements and clear action verbs helps students take ownership of their contributions, something that becomes critical when they begin interviewing or building professional materials.
By the end of the session, faculty left with adaptable strategies that can be layered into existing courses. The emphasis remained on keeping things flexible, realistic, and immediately usable.
Some faculty in the current workshops have already begun using these approaches in their classrooms. The long-term goal is simple but impactful: ensure students not only gain valuable skills but can articulate those skills to employers when it matters most.
The Career Center will be offering these workshops again during fall 2026. If you are interested, keep an eye on the TIPS funding page for application details.