NACE Competency: Critical Thinking Definition

The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) defines “career readiness” through eight core compentencies.These skills are heavily utilized by employers in skills-based hiring to evaluate entry-level candidates across diverse industries.

The eight NACE career readiness competencies are:

  • Career & Self-Development: Proactively manage your career, continually develop skills, and build professional networks.
  • Communication: Clearly exchange ideas, facts, and perspectives in both written and spoken formats.
  • Critical Thinking: Identify and solve problems by logically analyzing relevant information and situational context.
  • Equity & Inclusion: Demonstrate the awareness and knowledge needed to fairly engage with people from diverse cultures and backgrounds.
  • Leadership: Recognize and leverage both your own and your team’s strengths to achieve common goals.
  • Professionalism: Understand different work environments, maintain effective work habits, and demonstrate accountability.
  • Teamwork: Build collaborative relationships and work effectively toward shared goals while valuing diverse viewpoints.
  • Technology: Select and leverage technologies ethically and efficiently to accomplish tasks.

This resource focuses on Critical Thinking. Learn how to identify and respond to needs based upon an understanding of situational context and logical analysis of relevant information.

NACE critical thinking competency

Sample Behaviors

  • Make decisions and solve problems using sound, inclusive reasoning
    and judgment.
  • Gather and analyze information from a diverse set of sources and
    individuals to fully understand a problem.
  • Proactively anticipate needs and prioritize action steps.
  • Accurately summarize and interpret data with an awareness of personal
    biases that may impact outcomes.
  • Effectively communicate actions and rationale, recognizing the diverse
    perspectives and lived experiences of stakeholders.
  • Multi-task well in a fast-paced environment.

What is NACE?

Established in 1956, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) is the leading source of information on the
employment of the college educated. In carrying out its mission — to empower the community of talent acquisition and higher education professionals focused on the development and employment of college-educated talent by advancing
equitable, evidence-based practices; creating leading content, research, and professional development opportunities; and enabling robust
professional networks, while serving as the voice for the profession — NACE connects nearly 17,000 college career services professionals,
university relations and recruiting professionals, and the business solution providers that serve this community. For more information on how NACE supports the career services and college recruiting field, visit www.naceweb.org/membership.

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