Spotlight for Career Services Professionals, February 29, 2012 

Career centers at institutions with enrollments of 10,000+ have cut back on many of the services they provide students, according to results of NACE’s 2011-12 Career Services Benchmark Survey. 

The survey shows service drop-offs in the most popular offerings—career counseling by appointment, career fairs, workshops, assistance with internships, career resource library, and career assessment. Although few career centers have dropped services completely since the 2010-11 survey, the number of students served has fallen in many cases. 

Overall, the median number of students taking part in career counseling by appointment fell from 729 in last year’s survey to 720 in the current survey. Similarly, the median number of workshops offered fell from 32 to 30, and the median number of students taking part in workshops has dropped from 533 to 455. Accounting for those decreases are larger institutions; at smaller institutions, the number of students served through various offerings has held relatively steady, or, in some cases, increased.  

Driving the service cutbacks at larger institutions: smaller operating budgets. On average, 31 percent of schools with enrollments of 10,000 – 19,999 and 23 percent of those with enrollments of 20,000 and above reported a decreased budget. 

The 2011-12 Career Services Benchmark Survey was conducted September 21, 2011, to December 9, 2011; 870 career centers participated. The survey report will be available in March. Participants will receive a complimentary copy.