Over the past 10 years, there has been a clear shift away from housing the career center in student affairs.

Soon after Mark Peltz was hired as the associate dean and director of career development at Grinnell College, it began a process of institutional elevation and prioritization of career services.

To reimagine the way it prepares students for career success, UT Austin sought to create the strategic vision, budgeting model, design, and space for all students that focused on equity and access.

By shifting the narrative around career development at Clarion University, staff where able to elevate the status of the career center on campus.

Results from NACE’s 2022 Student Survey show that career services has a quantifiable effect on students and their entry into the world of work, impacts equity, and makes a positive contribution to the student’s overall experience.

The shift has allowed LaGuardia Community College’s career services to take the lead on internship programs and develop more relationships with industry partners.

A grant from the United Negro College Fund helped to move career services to a position of more prominence at Tougaloo College and embed career readiness in the school’s curriculum.

Class of 2020 graduates got fewer jobs than any other class since NACE first began reporting on employment trends with the Class of 2014.

Career services at MSU is a part of the newly unified division that is a merger of the areas of Student Affairs and Services and Residential and Hospitality Services.

William & Mary has recently undergone a shift that has elevated career services, alumni engagement, internships, and applied learning at the research university.

This case study illustrates issues that career centers and employers face in providing students with equitable access to services and opportunities.

Research shows a greater number of career services units are moving away from their traditional homes in student affairs divisions; this article explores the root causes behind the trend and uses the University of California, Irvine to illustrate what this shift might mean for universities exploring career services realignments on their campuses.

Solo or small-staff career services offices can take steps to sustain a satisfactory level of career services and, in some cases, grow their operations.

By intentionally blending appreciative advising and brain-based career development, career services professionals can better serve students.

Philip Wilkerson, III and Samara Reynolds, authors of “The Value of Intentional Cross-Identity Mentorship,” share their personal insights about mentorship.

There are benefits to engaging with a mentor with whom you do not share an identity.

By encouraging students to engage in real-world problems using the Challenge Method, career professionals can help students take tangible steps toward career decision-making and planning.

Using before and after assessments, career coaches at the University of Cincinnati analyze the outcomes of their course for undergraduate business students and identify future directions based on the data.

The U.S. Department of Labor allocates billions of dollars annually to support education and career development activities. Federally financed career development services is guaranteed and ongoing funding mandated by WIOA is potentially available to all college and university career centers. This article explores how Ohlone College’s career center tapped federal funds to help finance career services for its students.

This advisory opinion, developed by the NACE Principles for Ethical Professional Practice Committee, offers guidance on working with technology service providers in managing data security.

Fatim Lelenta, NYU, discusses strategies for supporting the personal and professional development of counselors-in-training.

Some universities and colleges require third-party recruiters to reveal the name of the organization they are recruiting for.

Rollins College’s R-Compass program arms faculty advisers with tools and resources that help them infuse career and life planning principles into the academic advising relationship with students.

To increase students’ understanding of the hiring process, NYU developed a Mock Hiring Committee program to help students assume the functions, responsibilities, and perspectives of those in charge of hiring decisions.

Where does the job location and development program (JLD) belong? The author makes a case for housing it in career services, where it can further employer engagement and career development.

Excerpted from Case Studies in Career Services, this describes the development and operations of Baker’s online career services office.

Five years ago, California State University, Fullerton made an intentional culture shift by creating an integrated ecosystem within its eight colleges and across its campus.

At NACE19, attendees took part in “Inclusive Excellence,” a mega-session led by Alma Clayton-Pedersen and dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Some of the materials from that session are provided here.

Women in higher ed advance into top leadership roles at rate well below that of their male counterparts. Here’s what can be done.

A career center compiles first-destination survey data; other offices on campus want access to the raw data.

An employer has a partnership arrangement with a career center and wants special access to diverse students. How does the career center balance its relationship with the employer and its responsibilities to students?

Career centers and students must be vigilant about fraudulent employers and should identify steps to take to verify the legitimacy of an employer.

A significant percentage of career centers have implemented employer partnership programs, and the trend is for more schools to add these programs.

This advisory opinion from the NACE Principles Committee addresses concerns many career centers have in working with international students who are limited by work authorization restrictions.

A senior university official requires the career center to bar a specific employer from on-campus recruiting events due to possible protests.

Your colleagues in career services share recommendations for books that can round out your summer reading list or become additions to your office’s library.

The “wandering map,” a variation on the mind map, encourages students to explore their lives on paper.

The coaching movement addresses the student as an equal partner, empowering them to close the gap between where they are and where they want to be.

What are some key considerations for launching and growing a successful peer advising program?

The rubric models the Principles Committee’s process in addressing requests for advisory opinions and can help career services and recruiting professionals address ethical dilemmas.

Five years ago, Rutgers University – New Brunswick adopted the career cluster model. How is it working? How has it evolved?

At the University of Nevada, Reno, career mentors are guided in the art of mentoring through the “studio method,” a framework built on four core principles of mentoring: appreciation, co-exploration, small loops, and walkaways.

At the University of Nevada, Reno the career center became the Career Studio, where students never need an appointment. All career advising is done by undergraduate students; the professional team focuses on all other aspects of career development.

The University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Academic & Career Development Center offers academic advising for students, and career services for students and alumni.

Richmond merged career services and alumni services to elevate career services, provide additional resources for students, and more deeply engage alumni.

Which are more effective: pre-scheduled career workshops or unplanned career sessions in the classroom?

Use the index to find case studies and advisory opinions related to specific NACE principles, and to match up NACE principles to ethics-related resources.

James Madison University’s structure of integrated academic and career advising provides strong collaboration and connection across campus.

Yeshiva University’s career center requires students to complete a series of requirements before participating in on-campus recruiting.

NACE Community members share the ways they deal with students who register for information sessions or other events with employers, but don’t show up.

Rowan University is currently undertaking a plan to infuse career counseling with academic advising, and make this arrangement as seamless as possible.

Coaching is the primary focus regarding the career development of students and the professional development among career services staff.

More than half of university career services operations are based in the student affairs division, while “career services” is the most commonly used title.

Career centers play a critical role in supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Director is the most common staff position among career services operations, according to results of NACE’s 2016-17 Career Services Benchmark Survey Report for Colleges and Universities.

Get answers to frequently asked questions about the revised NACE Principles.

NACE’s Principles provide everyone involved in the career development and employment process with an enduring ethical framework on which to base their operations and interactions.

Michigan Technological University’s corporate advisory board features a flexible spending account program to assist members with branding initiatives.

By Carnegie Classification, career services offices at R1 and R2 institutions have the greatest amount of square footage and number of interview rooms.

The overall median career services operating budget has dipped slightly to $34,650, compared to last year’s overall operating budget of $35,000.

At Princeton University, career services is reimagined along the themes of purpose and meaningful work.

In response to data about its students, Kennesaw State University’s Coles College of Business created a required three-course career development program.

Outside of vacation days, career services practitioners received an average of 12 paid holidays and nine other days off last year.

Assistant and associate directors have one foot in vision and strategy and the other in day-to-day operations. How do these professionals excel as middle managers?

“Being a Successful Mentee,” by Diane Safer, Yeshiva College, provides guidance on how to get the most out of relationships with mentors.

The Diversity and Inclusion Self-Assessment is a tool that can be used to gauge current status and progress toward diversity and inclusion goals.

Student employees are the backbone of Rutgers University Career Services as their support allows the office to maximize its resources.

To effectively handle employer relations, Wake Forest University created a two-team structure that addresses outreach and employer care.

Authentic leadership requires a willingness to listen, plus trust, grit, and flexibility. The outcome: greater productivity and job satisfaction among staff.

Virtual reality has the potential to transform the way career centers engage students in preparing for the world of work.

The Mentoring Guide for Career Services, by Gary Alan Miller, can help career services professionals onboard and mentor professionals new to the office.

Indiana University’s College of Arts and Sciences has created a new office to serve the needs of its students through a communities approach to career services.

Employers should not require a candidate’s social media account logins or passwords; it violates NACE’s ethical principles.

The guide provides faculty with information about the ethical and legal implications associated with referring students for internship and employment opportunities.

Like most career centers, the University of Florida career resource center has a system through which employers are able to contribute to support the center’s efforts. But in 2011, it started shifting its fundraising focus and efforts to establishing relationships with employer and campus partners, creating value, and strengthening these bonds.

Recruiting timelines are shifting, but students still need time to consider their options. Yale’s Jeanine Dames offers an answer that can work for students and employers alike.

Among career center professional staff, directors and associate directors have the most experience, according to results of NACE’s 2015-16 Career Services Benchmark Survey.

When it comes to measuring the physical attributes of career centers—square footage of the office, the number of rooms used for interviewing, and the number of rooms used exclusively for interviewing—it’s clear that there is nothing “typical” about these offices, according to NACE’s 2015-16 Career Services Benchmark Survey.

With ever-increasing emphasis on accountability and return on investment, career centers continue to retool and reinvent, delivering innovative services to increase credibility, reach, and efficacy. One area of emphasis that has potential for expanded contribution is parental and family involvement.

The majority of career services operations continue to be centralized, and are most frequently housed in student affairs and academic affairs, according to NACE’s 2015-16 Career Services Benchmark Survey. However, there are noticeable shifts in these structures and alignments.

The authors discuss the steps to selecting and implementing a new career development model. In this case, the new model was the Chaos Theory of Careers (CTC). This article is the companion to “Career Development Models for the 21st Century.”

A career development model helps us to better answer the question of how people come to select or acquire a career. Four models—narrative theory, career construction and life design theory, chaos theory, and planned happenstance and happenstance learning theory—are among those models that address 21st century issues.

There is no one model for the ideal career center, as the broad diversity of institutions makes it impossible to apply one that will work for all. NACE’s 21st Century Career Services Model Team identified three themes that provide a framework for the successful 21st century career center. Part 3 addresses the talent development theme.

There is no one model for the ideal career center, as the broad diversity of institutions makes it impossible to apply one that will work for all. NACE’s 21st Century Career Services Model Team identified three themes that provide a framework for the successful 21st century career center. Part 2 addresses the student engagement theme.

There is no one model for the ideal career center, as the broad diversity of institutions makes it impossible to apply one that will work for all. NACE’s 21st Century Career Services Model Team identified three themes that provide a framework for the successful 21st century career center. Part 1 addresses the strategic partnerships theme.

Among career center professional staff, directors earned the highest annual base salary, followed by associate directors, according to NACE’s 2015-16 Career Services Benchmark Survey Report for Colleges and Universities. But, how have the salaries of career center professional staff members changed over the last 10 years, particularly from the perspective of inflation?

What does it mean to transform someone’s life? How exactly are institutions of higher learning delivering on this promise? Career services offices can and must play a vital role in helping students undergo transformation by helping them to think beyond the classroom to process and own what they have learned.

The major is often viewed as the stepping-stone for a career that can repay loans instead of as the first step to a meaningful life based on leadership, purpose, and services.

Career practitioners at Stevenson built and delivered a massive open online course (MOOC) to share their career exploration and development model with colleagues in the profession, and gained valuable insight into how this platform could help them deliver career content.

How many career counseling professionals have taken the time to deeply examine their own career paths—where we are now and where we are going? How many of us have taken a potentially valuable idea or goal (“I’d like to publish an article”) and mapped out the necessary steps, including finding the time to do it?

Rutgers University Career Services staff implemented an industry-centric and tailored career interest cluster approach to service delivery on counseling, programming, academic engagement, employer development, assessment, technology.

It has been speculated that the title of a college career center’s top professional position may have an effect on its staffing size and operating budget. This article addresses this question by exploring data from NACE’s 2013-14 Career Services Benchmark Survey.

After accepting a job offer, a female student of color learns the company has a poor reputation with women and Hispanics; she reneges on her acceptance and accepts a offer from another firm. How does the career center address the ethical issues and the employer’s concerns about the student reneging?

This case study by the NACE Principles for Ethical Professional Practice Committee addresses the ethical issues involved when faculty refer and rank students for employers and offers recommendations for how career center staff can resolve the issues.

A student accepts a job offer and withdraws their candidacy from other companies; the employer rescinds the job offer a month before the job’s planned start date, leaving the student with no job and no on-campus access to other employers. What are the ethical issues involved? What can the career center, student, and employer do?

In this advisory opinion, the National Association of Colleges and Employers explains that career centers should not select students for employers to interview for jobs or internships and reviews the ethical underpinnings of that opinion.

Career centers work to attract students from diverse identify group to use their services. What are the ethical obligations and implications for career centers?

To enhance its diversity recruiting efforts, an organization that has contributed to the university asks the career center to provide a list of BIPOC students and students with disabilities so it can invite them to a special dinner where information about the organization and its job opportunities will be presented. How can the career center address the request and the ethical issues it raises?

Career center staff discuss a student via email, in derogatory and biased terms, and a student worker sees the email messages and notifies the student about what has been said. This case study from the Principles for Ethical Professional Practice Committee examines the ethical implications and how the situation can be addressed.

A student’s identifiable demographics are sent via email by career center staff and shared with others outside of the university. Besides the legal implications, such a scenario has ethical implications, which are addressed by the NACE Principles for Ethical Professional Practice.

How can career services professionals link the abstract ideas of values and mission to concrete opportunities in the economy? Building on the work of Abraham Maslow, examine the concept of career choices from the angles of motivation and needs.

Sample job descriptions for a variety of professional positions in career services.

Employer Relations Job Descriptions

Assistant Director Job Descriptions

Job Descriptions - Miscellaneous

Career Services Director Job Descriptions

Internship/Cooperative Education Job Descriptions

Associate Director Job Descriptions

As engaged professionals, we must be intentional and proactive in our efforts to best serve our stakeholders and avoid simply reacting to our environment. So, how, in the career services field, are we providing the innovations needed to keep up with and even get ahead of the changing times?

Sample Recruiting Policies - Career Services

Sample Reciprocity Resources - Career Services

Sample Letter #6: Letters of Reciprocity.

Sample Letter #5: Letters of Reciprocity.

Sample Letter #4: Letters of Reciprocity.

career-development/organizational-structure/letters-of-reciprocity-sample-letter-1Sample Letter #3: Letters of Reciprocity.

Sample Letter #2: Letters of Reciprocity.

Sample Letter #1: Letters of Reciprocity.

Policy on Reciprocity.

The mission of the Engineering Career Services (ECS) office at (redacted) is to link engineering students who seek pre- and post- graduate career opportunities with employers who wish to hire them. ECS does not provide resumes, access to student candidate information, or access to our on-line job listing service to third parties; nor are third parties permitted to attend career fairs or schedule interviews on campus.

Sample Hold Harmless Agreement, courtesy of Florida State University.

Engineering Career Services (ECS) adheres to the NACE Principles for Professional Conduct for Career Services and Employment Professionals and expects employers to do the same. These principles are available on the National Association of Colleges and Employers web site.

The [name of college] is committed to equal employment opportunity for all persons regardless of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, citizenship status (as defined under the Immigration Reform and Control Act), disability, or veteran's status. (Inclusion of other protected categories such as sexual orientation or marital status depends upon the school's policy and state law.) The [name of college] is also committed to provide all of its programs and activities to its students and alumni on a nondiscriminatory basis.

Rescinding a job offer should happen in rare instances when there are no realistic alternatives. Considering the relevant ethical issues, the NACE Principles Committee outlines recommendations for when an offer must be rescinded or deferred.

By supporting appropriate recruitment and employment practices, career services can play a key role in ensuring positive connections between employers and students. Career centers should develop policies that govern an employer’s access to their institution’s students for employment recruitment purposes.

The timing of job offers and acceptances is market-driven. NACE encourages employers to set reasonable deadlines that work for their organizations and students.

Sample Faculty Reference Letter Dear [Name of Employer]: This reference letter is provided at the written request of [name of student], who has asked me to serve as a reference on [his/her] behalf. It is my understanding that [name of student] is being considered by your organization for the position of [job title].

Appreciative inquiry is a positive, solution-focused approach to problem solving and is sometimes labeled appreciative coaching, appreciative advising, and appreciative living. These labels tend to reflect the population served: Appreciative inquiry focuses primarily on organizations, while the other terms apply more to work with individuals.