How to Bridge Undergraduate Research and Professional Readiness
Assistant Vice President Brooke Buffington (left) and Associate Professor CJ Fleming
When Associate Professor CJ Fleming would ask her students to frame their research in job-interview terms, she heard the same refrain.
“They’d say, ‘I read articles, I ran a study,’ but they weren’t connecting that to the real skills they were developing—like critical thinking or project management,” said Fleming, a faculty member in the Department of Psychology and associate director of Elon University’s Undergraduate Research Program.
At the same time, Brooke Buffington noticed a similar pattern in her role as assistant vice president for the Student Professional Development Center, Elon University’s comprehensive campus resource for students and alumni interested in understanding their career-related interests, individual preferences, strengths, and values.
“Students were so focused on the academic side of research, they weren’t highlighting the very competencies—analytical skills, collaboration, communication—that employers and graduate schools look for,” Buffington said.
Fleming and Buffington soon teamed up to help students translate their scholarly work into professional language. Over the past year, the duo organized several workshops that taught students and faculty mentors alike how small adjustments—like brief reflection discussions or aligning research tasks with professional competencies—can make research more visibly career-focused.
“We walked participants through the National Association of Colleges and Employers competencies and showed how undergraduate research experiences map onto skills like critical thinking or problem-solving,” Fleming said. “It was exciting to see them realize that research and career readiness don’t have to be separate conversations.”
Making Career Connections for Undergraduate Researchers
A Coach Whose Mentoring Does More Than Guide Research
Known by many simply as “Coach Talbert,” George Talbert insists that undergraduate research should do more than hone academic prowess – it should shape students into career-ready professionals.
The assistant professor of marketing and international business believes mentorship often begins in a student’s first year and continues long after graduation. Integrating hands-on research into every stage of the academic journey, he encourages his students to explore practical questions while mastering key steps of inquiry: study design, data gathering, findings interpretation, and results presentation.
Talbert integrates competencies from both the National Association of Colleges and Employers and the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business into his mentoring. This approach fosters critical thinking, communication, teamwork, and ethical decision-making. It also transforms research into practical professional development experiences, preparing students for success beyond the classroom.
In addition, Talbert connects students with the Student Professional Development Center for resume feedback, interview coaching, and LinkedIn refinement, turning research outcomes into compelling career narratives.
Advising Pi Sigma Epsilon, he supports team-based projects that test leadership and collaboration skills. And by staying in touch after graduation, Talbert ensures each research experience remains a launchpad for lifelong learning and professional success.
“I’ve seen my mentees earn substantial raises in their first year, join the President’s Club at their companies, and even lead new-hire training,” Talbert said. “I feel I’m paying forward what was given to me, and it’s incredible seeing them leverage the research and professional skills they’ve developed, then turn around to mentor others.”
Want to Build Trust? Refer Students to Campus Resources
Associate Professor Scott Morrison views undergraduate research as more than an academic exercise—he sees it as a transformative process that builds professional skills and confidence.
Morrison has mentored over 35 students from more than a dozen majors since joining Elon University’s Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education. Along the way, he guides each mentee through key steps of inquiry: reading academic literature, gathering and analyzing data, and communicating results.
Though many of his students first explore research through Elon University’s various Fellows programs, Morrison educates every mentee about the way their scholarly endeavors can strengthen graduate school applications and, for those planning to begin their careers immediately after graduation, enhance job readiness.
That starts with directing his students to visit the Student Professional Development Center for résumé support, interview practice and career resources. Encouraging students to connect with campus resources they hadn’t previously considered often builds trust, he notes.
And as Morrison has also observed, trust leads to alumni reaching out for advice as they pursue teaching roles, public policy work or advanced degrees.
“When students see how planning, writing and presenting research translates to what they’ll do in their careers,” Morrison says, “it stops being just a class project—and it becomes a lifelong skill set.”
Fleming and Buffington also introduced pre- and post-research surveys that prompted faculty and students to identify and evaluate specific skills, like leadership, critical thinking, and communication, throughout a project. A centerpiece of this approach is Elon University’s FIRE Toolkit.
An acronym for “Facilitating Integration and Reflection of the Elon Experiences,” the toolkit created by Elon University’s Center for Engaged Learning nudges students to think about the “why” behind their tasks and to consider how their learning experiences are related. For example: “What have you learned about yourself and what skills have you developed as a result of undertaking a research project?”
Meanwhile, when using the NACE competencies to map specific skills, students might note how to identify career-ready skills.
It was exciting to see them realize that research and career readiness don’t have to be separate conversations.
– Associate Professor CJ Fleming
The results? By weaving career conversations into research from the start with faculty, students learn to see themselves not just as undergraduates fulfilling course requirements, but as young professionals gaining marketable skills.
“We’re simply making the skills visible,” Fleming said. “Once students recognize how their research equips them for whatever comes next—grad school, a startup, a nonprofit—they speak about it with a whole new level of confidence.”