Student Assessment
Learning the skills to lead
Many of the skills employers most prize are the “soft skills” of business. How do you lead a team? Can you communicate well? Are you able to prioritize? Those skills are key to getting hired, and the College of Business works hard to ensure that our students master them.
In fact, Valpo is recognized internationally as a leader in student assessment, the process of measuring students’ soft skills. We work with Collegiate Assessment Partners to provide two assessment center experiences for each business student — early in your freshman year, with a follow-up late in your senior year.
The Assessment Center experience is built into the first and last classes that business students take: BUS 100: The Business Experience and the capstone course MGT 475: Business Policy and Strategy.
Through several hours of simulated business situations, you and your classmates demonstrate the skills you’ll need to succeed as business professionals. Trained evaluators review the video of your work and compile an individualized report to highlight your strengths and areas to improve.
Each student is rated on the following soft skills of business management:
- Decision-making
- Teamwork
- Written and oral communication
- Leadership initiative
- Planning and organizing
- Attention to detail
- Prioritization
For each skill, the report also shows how you stack up against 10,000 of your peers. If you score in the 90th percentile for leadership initiative, you’ll want to include that data on your resume. The Assessment Coordinator can also coach you on ways to include your strengths in your cover letter and how to talk about them in your interviews.
These assessments ensure that you leave Valpo with the skills needed for a lifetime of business leadership.
“ My coursework has definitely allowed me to look at and assess the world in a different way than ever before. While my change in perspective is not exclusive to the College of Business, I have especially experienced a shift in my thinking there. My professors have taught me what it takes to run various aspects of a business and have prepared me to go out and do it on my own. I know I have what it takes to get the competitive jobs I am applying for because of the coursework I have taken.”
— Sarah Bortz ’21
Business Analytics, Spanish Double Major, Christ College Scholar