How These Students Are Getting Ready for a Global Workforce

Today’s students will be the changemakers of tomorrow. As the workplace increasingly becomes global, young people will need to confront and adapt to complex local and global challenges, such as climate change, population growth, economic shifts, and global poverty. As we think about how to prepare students to be productive members of not only the workforce, but society at large, it’s important to ensure that students understand the importance of, and invest in, their global skills.

Digital Promise offers online modules to support students. These short, self-paced modules are designed for teachers to assign to students to complement coursework or for interested students to complete on their own. These modules help students get a primer on the concept of global competence, explore global connections in their work, reflect on their own global career-readiness, and make a plan to develop their global competence goals.

A handful of students who have completed these modules shared their reflections on how this content has shaped their outlook on future careers and piqued their interest around global topics and perspectives.

After learning about global competence, students complete the first module, in which professionals from different fields reflect on how global skills intersect with their work. Then, students are invited to reflect on what they heard and how it may connect to their own careers. “I enjoyed listening to the speakers share about where they see global competence in their work environment,” one student reflected after completing this exercise. “They all go through similar things, but at the same time it’s different.”

Students then explore the international aspects of their prospective fields and reflect on their own global competence.

“I believe that it’s important to learn about different kinds of cultures when you’re going to run a business, because there will be people who want to invest in your company and many shareholders are from different countries,” another student shared.

At the end of the modules, students are encouraged to create their own global competence goals and gain confidence in communicating these skills to employers in interviews and other professional settings.

“I already knew about SMART goals, but it was nice to have the extra practice with constructing a goal using that system,” a student who completed the modules shared. “Learning about the STAR method to answer professional questions will serve me well in the future.”

Want to learn more about Digital Promise’s free resources and tools for career and technical education (CTE) students?

• View the FREE, four-part student module series to familiarize students with the concept of global competence and help them to identify connections with their future fields.
• Check out the Global Readiness Examples and Topics (GREAT) Tool to gain examples of what global readiness practices might look like across sectors.