Career Readiness in Action
At Northwest University, we desire for all undergraduate students to leave Northwest University equipped and able to communicate to future employers that Northwest University prepared them well; not just with courses and degrees, but with identifiable work skills and certificates. Northwest University conducted a rigorous process in creating this initiative through many meetings to acquire input, insight, and feedback from local business owners, C-level executives, and recruiters from Microsoft and Amazon Web Services.
Along with this feedback from business leaders, Northwest University created a faculty committee to adapt the core curriculum to incorporate these core competencies in its academic requirements. One of the most beautiful aspects of this initiative is the collaboration that took place amongst faculty members and business leaders in its creation. The wholehearted support that both parties have in believing in its effectiveness affirms career readiness as an essential element for a liberal arts education.
This Career Readiness Initiative that Northwest University is incorporating will allow students to market their liberal arts degree in a quantifiable manner that employers understand and value. This initiative evolves the core curriculum at Northwest University to encapsulate the entirety of core competencies and workplace skills that employers are hoping for graduates of a university to possess. With an intent focus on incorporating internships and hands-on experience in the undergraduate curriculum, Northwest University maintains with certainty that its students can graduate with confidence knowing that their marketability in the workplace is strong. Likewise, employers can hire with confidence with the knowledge that Northwest University graduates are ready to work on day one.
Nate Furtado is one such alumnus who graduated ready to work on day one. He is currently an audio engineer and producer, and he has worked for an impressive variety of clients on albums, movie scores, and more. On top of using his degree to do amazing things, Nate is investing his time and talent in the next generation of graduates from NU. Matt Arrera, a junior in the contemporary music industry program, is interning with Nate this school year as a part of the Career Readiness Initiative.
"In my classes, I’m getting a really good, 30,000-foot view of recording concepts,” Matt explained. “But working with Nate, I’ve been able to see somebody’s actual process and how he applies these things in different ways: film scores, pop music, and working with different people. It’s been really helpful to just see how he does what he does. To work at the level that Nate does, you really have to have a complex understanding of how every piece of the song works together. So learning his specific process and how everything fits together will help me be prepared for what I want to do.
If you are interested in partnering with Northwest University for the Career Readiness Initiative, contact Peter Carlson at peter.carlson@northwestu.edu.