4 reasons to visit your college career center before you graduate
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I was a graduate assistant at a small, liberal arts college career center. There was no ChatGPT. LinkedIn was still a new thing, and Mark Zuckerberg had just become the world’s youngest billionaire. Gmail had only been accessible to the general public for two years, no longer requiring an invitation from an existing user.
Yes, dear readers, I am… an elder millennial.
And I didn’t want to mislead you by writing this blog post as if it was still 2009, because college career centers have changed a lot in the last 15+ years—however, I’m still about to big-sibster the hell out of you and tell you things I wish someone had told me.
Reason 1: You’re a First Gen Student
Research from the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) indicates that first-generation college students are less likely to use their college’s career center than other students. This may be because students whose parents went to college, especially the same college, are more familiar with the resources available to them on campus.
Let’s close this gap, please!
According to FirstGen Forward, a NASPA initiative to focus on the success of first-generation students, 54% of all undergraduate students in the United States are first-generation students, but only 24% graduate compared to 59% of their continuing-gen peers.
Not only is there a graduation disparity, but a financial one too.
The median income of continuing-generation students’ parents grew from $90K in 2016 to $103K in 2020—while first-gen students’ parents stayed at $41,000.
First-generation graduates are more likely to take a job instead of enrolling in additional education due to financial reasons (36% compared to 26% of continuing-gen students).
Four years after graduation, first-gen graduates earned a median income of $50,000, compared to continuing-gen graduates’ median income of $52,000.
So once a first-gen student has done the hard work of getting into college, let alone graduating, they are less able to pursue Master’s or Doctoral degrees, they make less money, and their parents haven’t gained any socioeconomic traction either. Consider that a higher percentage of first-gen grads are over 24 when they graduate, and you’ve got the makings of a lifelong pay gap.
Visiting your career center won’t wave a magic wand to make these disparities disappear, but they can help you leverage your education and experience to get a better job out of college and negotiate your job offers’ salary and benefits.
Reason 2: You Haven’t Had Career-Related Coursework
One of the best ways to learn job skills is to experience them first-hand, and many bachelor’s degree programs include a capstone project, internship, or other first-hand career development within their course of study.
NACE reports that more than half of freshmen expect to take courses that address career planning, but only 24% of graduating seniors report taking a specific career class. About 43% of seniors report taking part in a capstone or similar course. Career-related course experiences might include case studies, researching potential employers or career interests, or shadowing/interviewing professionals in students’ desired fields.
Overall, less than half of all students take intentional career-related coursework during their time at college, which means that over half of students are leaving school without this hands-on knowledge.
This is where your career center comes in. If your degree program doesn’t include experiential learning or courses specifically designed to help you prepare for your career, turning to the career services department at your college can help close this gap.
The career center can help you find or put together an internship or fellowship experience, while your academic advisor may be able to suggest more hands-on coursework that will give you the job experience you need to build up your resume before graduation.
Reason 3: Easier Job Searching—Especially for Women in STEM
Getting support from your campus career center often correlates with more strategic applications and interviews. The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) reports that 81.1% of students who received job offers before graduation received support from their career center.
By regularly engaging with your campus career center, you set yourself up to make decisions through a career-oriented lens. What activities will help build your resume? What work-study jobs could introduce you to people in your desired industry? Who is an alumni from your degree program who would give you an informational interview?
How early you start this paradigm shift is up to you. Visit your career center early and often for the most impact.
A special note on the gender pay gap: Women with STEM degrees get more job offers than their male peers when they use career services.
Career center budgets are growing to support more programming and resources to students. NACE reported in 2020 that 44% of career centers have an employer relations team to build strategic partnerships with potential employers, meaning you have warm job prospects waiting for you!
Reason 4: They’ll Help You Translate Skills to Your Resume
You do yourself a huge disservice by limiting your resume only to your paid work experience. Utilizing your career center means giving yourself a head start on understanding how to translate skills from seemingly-unrelated experiences to a cohesive, compelling resume.
Participation in campus clubs and organizations, performing arts, and volunteer projects can all be translated to your resume to showcase soft skills like communication, problem solving, teamwork, leadership, and other competencies.
There’s no reason your extracurricular experiences can’t double as resume material!
Want Support?
We’re launching a special cohort of our Claim Your Career program in March 2026—just for upcoming and new grads.