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The 2024 National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) survey found that 43% of “graduating seniors” did not believe that they were “very or extremely well [prepared] to enter the workforce or to pursue additional education.” In an age marked by increased public scrutiny and an expectation of strong career preparation from students and families, colleges may need to go beyond the standard practices of sharing job and internship postings, offering career counseling, and holding career fairs. In fact, many institutions are already implementing innovative practices to improve their students’ employment prospects. Here is a broad look at seven options colleges can consider in order to better prepare students for the job market.
1. Cooperative Education (Co-Op) Programs
Cooperative education programs give college students paid work experience that is relevant to their major. Dr. David Gaston, the executive director of the Georgia Tech Career Center, explains that “Students in the co-op program alternate between taking classes on-campus and working full-time. For example, students may attend classes during the fall and spring semesters of their first year. In the fall of their second year, they may work full-time and then return to campus for classes in the spring. This pattern continues, with students working in the fall and taking classes in the spring for their third and fourth years. The co-op program requires three alternating work semesters, so students are not working and taking traditional courses in the same semester. Students register for 12 hours of audit credit during the semesters they are working. They are not charged tuition fees for these credits. The audit hours help maintain their status as students and their eligibility for financial aid.” At Georgia Tech, students can connect with employers who are willing to offer co-ops through the online CareerBuzz “interview and job posting management system.”
2. Automatic Enrollment in Online Career Platforms
Many colleges simply mention the existence of the career center, while others, like UC Berkeley, take a stronger approach to student engagement. Sue Harbour, the director of Berkeley Career Engagement, explains that “All students upon entry into UCB get automatically uploaded into [Berkeley’s recruiting platform, Handshake], but a student must activate their account. We achieve a high activation rate by engaging with our students prior to the semester through orientation, workshops, and social media campaigns. Students see the value in Handshake since we are a centralized career office and HS is a comprehensive platform that students use…for event and workshop signups, [scheduling] appointments, [viewing] career development resources, [storing] their resume, [engaging] with their peers, [researching] employers as well as [applying] to internships and jobs.”
3. Specific Programs Aimed at Minority and Nontraditional Students
Black and Hispanic students with a bachelor’s degree or higher have higher unemployment rates than white students. Furthermore, other vulnerable groups of students, such as nontraditional, foreign, and first-generation students, may need additional help with the process of searching for, applying for, and securing employment. Therefore, many colleges have designed specific programs and opportunities to assist these populations. Harbour notes that at Berkeley “…we have actively partnered with our affinity offices to deliver specific programs to our first gen, transfer, veterans, undocumented community, and other affinity and [underrepresented minority] students. For example, each semester, on the day of a career fair, we partner with a few departments and invite their students to a pre-career fair brunch to engage with a handful of recruiters who will be at the fair later in the day. This provides a low-pressure, more relaxed setting for a student to build confidence speaking with a recruiter in a small setting vs. a large, overwhelming career fair.”
4. Resources for Startups and Entrepreneurs
At colleges like Stanford, where many students dream of dropping out and starting the next Snapchat, entrepreneurship is woven into the fabric of the institution. The Stanford Technology Ventures Program offers courses that teach students how to launch their own startups and leads research on “startup performance and growth, technology innovation, and entrepreneurial policy.” The STVP is just one of a wide variety of initiatives at Stanford that encourage entrepreneurial endeavors. Similarly, the Harvard Innovation Labs offer Harvard students the chance to pitch their ideas and be awarded funding.
5. Ongoing External Partnerships and Experiential Learning
Many colleges have ongoing partnerships with companies to offer students scholarships, experiential learning, and internships. NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering, for example, “maintains a close working relationship with business leaders from top-tier organizations around the world,” including Bank of America and Target. Sometimes, these partnerships can evolve into large-scale collaborative projects and spaces, such as the $75 million University of Michigan and Ford Motor Robotics Building on UM’s North Campus. Such collaborations can use academic research and experimentation to propel industries forward.
6. Hackathons
Employer or college-sponsored “hackathons” can give students practice in solving real-world problems. Recruiter Zack Davisson writes, “Hackathons are events where individuals, often students or tech aficionados, come together to brainstorm, design, and develop innovative solutions within a limited timeframe — usually 24 to 48 hours. Combining ‘hack’ (problem-solving through coding) and ‘marathon,’ the name becomes obvious when accounting for the duration and content of the contest.” One of the longest-running hackathons, Davisson notes, is LA Hacks, which takes place at UCLA and has “been sponsored by tech giants like Microsoft, Intel, and Nvidia.”
7. Certificates and Boot Camps
Often, with the loss of a job or a downturn in the economy, college graduates may be interested in changing or pivoting their careers. Boot camps and online certificates for non-degree students can pave the way for these major changes. The University of New Hampshire has a wide variety of certificate programs, and many in partnership with other institutions. Their meat processing and food safety certificate is “currently FREE due to funding by the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture, Markets, and Food with appropriations from the American Rescue Plan (ARPA) State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SFRF).” Additionally, many colleges have successful boot camps in a variety of skill sets, such as Mesa Community College, which offers a Cable Harness Wiring Bootcamp in partnership with Boeing.
Strong and forward-thinking student career preparation can keep the connections between industry and academia alive and exciting for students, faculty, and outside professionals. Forging these kinds of connections can even pave the way for new courses, projects, and certificate programs. In turn, successful alumni can help support their alma mater and new graduates.
