Today, we’re talking about university career centers. I want to begin this topic by saying that I have 22 years’ experience as the director of two university career centers, so I know of what I speak.
Keep in mind that what I talk about today are generalizations. There are no requirements for what career centers must offer or what their staffing levels must be, although the National Association of Colleges and Employers sets some broad standards for career centers.
It is not uncommon for career centers to have a 2,000-1 staffing ratio, meaning that there is one FTE for every 2,000 students. Because of this, the availability of one-on-one career counseling is often limited or not available at all.
I know this episode will be controversial for some, so I’d love to hear feedback, especially from those of you who either work at, or have used the services of, a university career center that is considerably better, or worse, than my descriptions. Tell me what they are doing that makes them great or not-so-great.

What Career Centers Do Well
As a general rule, here’s where I think most career centers excel:
1. Presentations to classes and organizations.
Because they are on campus and interact with faculty and staff, they are usually available to come into classes and organizations to speak on a range of career-related topics.
These presentations serve a dual purpose: They provide valuable information to the students, and they put a face with the office, so students may be less intimidated to walk into the career center and seek help.
2.      Career fairs.
Campus career fairs that bring employers to the students is another strength of most career centers. Larger universities may have multiple career fairs for various colleges, groups of majors, or career interests.

3. Career planning.
I think most career centers do a pretty good job of career planning with their students, using some combination of group teaching, one-on-one counseling, and assessments.
This career planning help students identify a major and potential career paths.
4.      Alumni connections.
Whether through the career center or the alumni office, career centers often at least facilitate connections between students and alumni.

Alumni are valuable resources for networking and for finding out about a city, industry, or employer, and they are often willing to make introductions on the student’s behalf.
5.      Career speakers.
Whether these speakers are alumni of the university or not, having people from a range of professions on campus to speak to students is a huge benefit of career centers.
I have witnessed so many students over the years have a major “aha!” moment at these types of events, as they are exposed to a career field they either didn’t know about or knew very little about.
6.      Basic-level help.
I am specifically saying basic-level help, because many career center staff aren’t trained to provide high-level coaching. In fact, many career centers are set up with peer consultants who provide the bulk of one-on-one assistance to students.
For many students, this basic-level help is all they need to get their first job post-graduation.

Career Center Limitations
Again, keep in mind that I’m painting this with broad brush strokes, but my points are based on personal experience, both in career services and as someone who works with recent college grads in my practice.
1.      Outdated resume techniques.
This is the biggest one for me. I’ve yet to see a resume that has been worked on at a university career center that I would consider useful. What I’m seeing are old-school, static “data sheets” rather than marketing documents that effectively market the student for the job they want. The focus is on job duties, rather than achievements.
When I got my first resume certification, I had been in career services for nearly 20 years – and I realized I had been teaching students the wrong way to create a resume all that time.
I was also sold the line