Confidence in higher education is being closely scrutinized, with a recent Gallup-Lumina survey showing that more Americans think college just isn’t worth it. At the same time, the employment landscape is shifting rapidly as generative AI takes on many of the foundational tasks that once introduced students to fields like marketing, finance, operations and even computer sciences.
The convergence of these factors puts career services at a critical crossroads—and while this key function holds the power to prove the value of a degree, it remains underutilized and underresourced.
To change this narrative, institutions must move beyond the transactional “resume office” and create a truly connected campus experience. By leveraging technology to build a centralized, transparent digital pathway from enrollment to employment, universities can help every student connect their academic journey to career outcomes.
This unified yet personalized approach provides equitable access to opportunities and ensures graduates have confidence in both their skills and their career prospects in a rapidly evolving world.
Placing career services in the center
Institutions may still define career services narrowly as resume/portfolio workshops or internship listings–and students view it the same. In fact, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, just 25.6% of students use career services for internships and only 20.8% participate in mock interviews.
Students often find opportunities through side channels such as faculty Discord groups, in-person referrals or alumni contacts, while official systems lag behind. The result is fragmentation that discourages engagement and disadvantages students without built-in networks.
Well-connected students may land jobs through family ties and personal networks, while first-generation or underrepresented students are left to compete in a crowded, opaque market.
As higher education places more emphasis on ROI-building initiatives, career services must deliver more visible digital pathways from enrollment to employment.
5 career services priorities for institutional leaders
1. Make career readiness a requirement
A two-credit course in the junior year can cover resume writing, digital presence, job search strategies and LinkedIn optimization. Technology can make this scalable.
Online modules and AI-enabled tools can help students practice interviews or receive automated feedback on resumes before they ever meet with an advisor. North Central College already mandates these courses and students consistently describe it as highly practical.
2. Build in early interventions
Registration holds or nudges can ensure students engage with career services before senior year. Digital platforms can automate these checkpoints, flagging students who have not booked an advising session or joined a workshop, and directing them to resources that fit their major or interests.
3. Improve visibility across disciplines
Internships, research assistantships and alumni opportunities are often scattered across faculty emails, departmental pages and job boards.
Integrated platforms serve as a single front door, aggregating opportunities and ensuring that students outside of business or engineering pipelines see the same options. This transparency helps level the playing field.
4. Teach students to tell their story
Technology can support storytelling by guiding students to tag and reflect on the skills they’ve built in jobs, projects and activities. AI tools can recommend ways to frame a retail or service job in terms of transferable competencies. Advisors can then focus on coaching rather than reformatting resumes.
5. Rebuild human skills as differentiators
Employers consistently cite emotional intelligence, adaptability and communication as gaps among new graduates. Career services can use digital platforms to connect students with alumni mentors, provide virtual networking practice and facilitate peer-to-peer role-playing.
By surfacing these opportunities to all students, technology acts as an equalizer, ensuring human skill development is not limited to the most connected.
A moment of opportunity
Career services is entering a moment of profound opportunity. This is the time to transform it from a transactional office into a strategic driver of institutional success and student value.
By embedding career readiness across the curriculum, using data-driven interventions and leveraging technology as a unifying force, institutions can give every student what they need most—a clear, accessible pathway that connects enrollment to meaningful employment.
Ultimately, this strategic transformation is about building confidence. By demonstrating clear, tangible pathways from education to employment, institutions don’t just prepare students for a first job—they prove the enduring value of a degree, giving every student and the public a renewed faith in higher education.
