Nicki Joiner

✓ Eligible for Workforce & Career Readiness Grant Funding

In this engaging and highly practical keynote, Nicki Joiner equips students with the clarity, confidence, and strategies to make meaningful career decisions. Drawing from her experience in both corporate hiring and higher education, Nicki breaks down the career journey into actionable steps—from exploring interests to standing out in today’s job market. Her relatable approach helps students connect the dots between their skills, values, and future opportunities.

Whether students are unsure of their next step or are already career-focused, Future Ready provides the tools and encouragement they need to move forward with purpose.

Learning Outcomes:

• Empowering Career Choices: Learn how to make informed decisions about career paths, aligning personal interests and strengths with professional opportunities.
• Building Confidence for Success: Discover techniques to cultivate self-confidence, enabling students to approach their career decisions with clarity and conviction.
• Navigating Career Challenges: Explore practical strategies for overcoming common obstacles in the career development process, ensuring sustained growth and success.
• Thriving in the Professional World: Develop actionable plans to excel in the workplace, leveraging skills and insights to achieve long-term career goals.
• Embracing Lifelong Learning: Understand the importance of continuous learning and adaptation in a dynamic job market, equipping students for ongoing success.

Prepare to unlock your potential and step confidently into the future with a clear roadmap for career success and personal growth.

✓ Eligible for Workforce & Career Readiness Grant Funding

Help your students stand out in a crowded job market.

This workshop teaches practical, insider strategies to craft a standout résumé, navigate the job search with purpose, and build confidence at every step of their early career journey. With a high-energy, hands-on format, students leave with tools they can apply immediately.

Learning Outcomes: 

• Write a Standout Résumé: Learn how to showcase strengths, achievements, and leadership experience in a way that grabs attention.

• Use Job Search Hacks That Work: Discover creative, proven tactics to identify job opportunities and get noticed by employers.

• Build Interview Confidence: Practice key techniques to present yourself with clarity, poise, and professionalism.

• Network Like a Pro: Understand how to build meaningful professional connections—even before graduation.

• Stay Competitive: Learn how to monitor trends and tailor applications for today’s fast-changing hiring landscape.

✓ Eligible for Workforce & Career Readiness Grant Funding

The way students get hired is changing faster than most of the advice they’re hearing, and the adults who support them are often the first people they turn to for guidance.

AI is now part of how companies screen and select candidates; employers are recruiting students earlier and expecting experience sooner, and the entry-level jobs that used to be the starting point for a career are being redesigned or disappearing altogether.

In this session, former JPMorgan Chase recruiter and current CodePath recruiter Nicki Joiner breaks down three trends shaping how students get hired, drawing on her experience reviewing more than 50,000 resumes. Educators, advisors, and student support professionals will leave with a clearer picture of what employers are actually looking for right now and practical ways to help students prepare for their next step.

Learning Outcomes: participants will be able to:

• Explain how AI is being used in the hiring process so they can help students present their experience in a way that gets seen by both the technology and the people reviewing applications.
• Identify why employers are recruiting students earlier and recommend at least two ways students can start building relevant experience sooner in their academic journey.
• Describe how entry-level work is changing and use that understanding to adjust the advice, programming, and resources they offer students.

✓ Eligible for Workforce & Career Readiness Grant Funding

Unlock the key strategies educators need to effectively support students in their journey toward career success.

This practical workshop equips educators with actionable tools for guiding students through every essential phase of career readiness—from job search techniques to résumé development, interviewing skills, and negotiating job offers. Designed with real-world application in mind, this session empowers staff to confidently mentor students into meaningful, successful careers.

Learning Outcomes:

• Mastering Résumé Development: Learn how to help students create résumés that highlight their skills and make them stand out to employers.

• Navigating Job Searches: Discover how to guide students in identifying opportunities, leveraging online tools, and networking effectively.

• Excelling in Interviews: Equip students with strategies to confidently handle interviews, from prep to performance.

• Negotiating Offers: Gain tools to help students understand and navigate offer negotiations with clarity and professionalism.

• Building Career Confidence: Learn how to develop students’ confidence throughout the job search and career planning journey.