Career Test Drives
The GCC’s Career Test Drive program gets students out of the classroom and into the real world, where they experience firsthand what it’s actually like to work in cybersecurity alongside industry professionals.
“The Career Test Drives cohort we had visit our team was really interested in our roles and how our company protected our customers and our employees. It was a great experience hosting them and we’re looking forward to building on how we engage with the next cohort in the fall”
- Joey Smith
Chief Information Security Officer, Schnuck Markets
Mock interviews give students a safe, supportive space to practice telling their story, build confidence under pressure, and learn what employers are really looking for—turning career curiosity into real-world readiness.
The NICE Framework for Work Role Categories helps students understand mapping responsibilities to roles
The NIST Cybersecurity Framework provides a roadmap to business and organizational resiliency.
“The future of our region depends on the talent that we haven’t discovered yet. When we build pathways into new communities and nurture passion wherever it lives, we unlock innovation that benefits everyone.”
- Josh Jaffe
Chief Information Security Officer, Scout Motors
Field trips to real workplaces help students connect the dots between school and future careers by showing them what professional environments actually look and feel like. Walking through offices, meeting employees, and seeing roles in action makes career paths more tangible, builds confidence, and helps students recognize that exciting opportunities exist right in their own communities.
“The GCC staff provided our team with a full outline of topics to cover, with some great examples of how to translate what we do, to language the students really connect with. It took almost no prep work for our team to host a meaningful visit and we’re excited to see the presentations they put together to demonstrate what they learned with us.”
- James Robinson
Chief Information Security Officer, Netskope
