Career services leadership and advocacy

Hi ya, Reader, Last week, I wrote about the growing accountability pressures facing higher education. Federal policymakers are asking tougher questions about outcomes.States are introducing workforce initiatives and performance-based funding models. Students and families are paying closer attention to return on investment. And institutions are increasingly being compared not only on enrollment, but on what happens after students graduate. The pressure is real. The response has been real, too....

Hello, Reader — Lately I've been asking institutional leaders a simple question: Who actually owns career outcomes? The answers are fascinating. Most people say some version of "everyone." But when you look at organizational structures, budgets, strategic plans, accountability measures, and reporting relationships, a different answer often emerges. Many institutions still operate as though career outcomes belong primarily to the career center. At the exact moment those outcomes are becoming...

Hello, Reader — ‘Tis the season! Commencement season is one of the best parts of higher education. The joy is real. Families cheering wildly for names they absolutely did not hear correctly. Faculty trying to maintain dignity while wearing medieval robes in questionable temperatures. Your senior leaders jumping up and down to House of Pain’s “Jump Around.” Students balancing cords, stoles, honors medallions, and at least one suspiciously tiny bottle of Fireball tucked into a pocket somewhere....

Hello, Reader — Have you noticed? Everyone’s feeling tired. It’s not the kind of tired that disappears after a long weekend or a lighter day. It’s the kind that lingers in the background and quietly reshapes how you work. Decisions take longer. Patience runs thinner. Even routine tasks feel heavier than they should, and the pace that once felt manageable now feels like a constant push. And if you pause for a moment, you’ll likely see that this isn’t just about your team. You’re carrying it,...

Hey there, Reader — What if your office were measured by retention instead of appointments? Not how many students booked coaching. Not event attendance. Not résumé reviews. Not whether 37 students came for pizza and velcroed themselves to the wall until the food showed up. Retention. Would you run the same programs? Use staff time the same way? Promote the same services? Celebrate the same wins? You probably wouldn’t. Many career centers were built to deliver services, not necessarily to move...

Hi, Reader — Summer planning is coming, which means something subtle, but important is about to happen. The pace slows just enough to create the illusion of space, and with that space comes a surge of ideas. New initiatives feel possible. Lingering problems feel solvable. Everything starts to look like something you could finally “get to.” And almost without noticing, the list grows. Not because the ideas are bad. In fact, they’re often quite good. But because no one has made the harder...

Hi, Reader — I’ve found myself in two very different conversations recently, and I can’t shake the gap between them. At one institution, there is a deep and genuine commitment to preserving the liberal arts in its most “pure” form. Faculty are protective of the intellectual experience, cautious about anything that feels overly applied, and wary of integrating career preparation too directly into the academic environment. The concern, whether stated explicitly or not, is that doing so would...

Hey there, Reader — I’ve been thinking about the number of seniors who will graduate in just a few weeks without a clear next step. In this market, waiting or hoping things resolve on their own isn’t a strategy, and it’s a real risk for our students and for how our outcomes are perceived. And it’s something to intervene on—quickly. The good news: this doesn’t require new programs, approvals, or long planning cycles. The institutions that move now will change outcomes for students this...

Hello there, Reader — Last month my consulting business quietly passed its third anniversary. Three years is long enough to accumulate a lot of stakeholder interviews, a lot of airport coffee, and a surprising number of job titles. Consultant, strategist, facilitator… and, depending on the day, also my own IT department, marketing team, and tech support. But the real milestone isn’t the calendar. It’s perspective. When you spend three years walking onto different campuses, interviewing...