Career Everywhere

uConnect
  • 4.9 (19)
  • EDUCATION
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

For too long, career services has been an afterthought. Now it's time for career services to be in the driver's seat, leading institutional strategy around career readiness. Join us every other Tuesday for in-depth interviews with today’s most innovative career leaders about how they’re building a campus culture of career readiness… or what we call Career Everywhere.

  1. APR 28

    When Career Becomes a Presidential Priority: One Career Leader's Partnership Playbook (feat. Joe Catrino)

    What does it actually look like when a university president makes career a strategic priority — and how does a career services leader make the most of it? In this episode, host Meredith Metsker sits down with Joe Catrino, Executive Director of the Center for Career Design at Dartmouth College, for a candid look at what's possible when career services has a seat at the highest table on campus. Joe joined Dartmouth in early 2025, stepping into a rare situation: a president who had made career one of her core institutional pillars. In just over a year, he's nearly doubled his team, helped close a $30 million fundraising campaign for student internships, and built a partnership with President Sian Beilock that has become a model for executive-level collaboration in career services. In this conversation, Joe shares how that partnership actually works — from the structure of their regular meetings and the impact reports he brings, to the business plan he built to align his center's goals with institutional priorities. He also offers practical advice for career leaders who don't have direct presidential access yet and want to start building those relationships from the ground up. Key topics include: What it looks like when a president is genuinely committed to careerHow Joe structures his regular meetings with President BeilockThe business plan framework he built with Dartmouth's advancement officeHow to connect career center outcomes to institutional prioritiesWhy Joe spent his first five months on a listening tour before building anythingPractical advice for career leaders who don't have presidential access (yet)Learn more about the Dartmouth Center for Career Design*: careerdesign.dartmouth.edu *Dartmouth's virtual career center is powered by uConnect Continue the conversation in the Career Everywhere Community! Join 2,000 other higher ed career services leaders today: careereverywhere.com/community

    51 min

  2. APR 14

    From Deficit to Asset: How Career Centers Can Serve Students in an Uncertain World (feat. Justin Lawhead)

    What if "not knowing" wasn't a problem to fix—but exactly where students are supposed to be? In this episode, host Meredith Metsker sits down with Dr. Justin Lawhead, Assistant Vice President for Career Readiness and Postgraduate Student Success at the University of South Carolina, to talk about one of the most persistent challenges in career services: the deficit model. Justin is working to replace it with something better—an affirmation model that treats career uncertainty as normal, reframes exploration as the goal, and meets students where they actually are instead of where we think they should be. Justin shares how his team redesigned their University 101 presence, ran a user-centered design exercise that surfaced exactly who students trust for career guidance (hint: it's not the career center—yet), and introduced "exploration" ribbons at career fairs so employers can better support students who are still figuring it out. He also gets into the harder questions: how do you measure what actually matters in career services, how do you bring your staff along through a mindset shift, and how do you communicate real impact to senior leadership? If you're a career services leader thinking about how to build a culture of exploration on your campus—and make the case for it up the institutional ladder—this one's for you. Continue the conversation in the Career Everywhere Community! Join 2,000 other higher ed career services leaders today: careereverywhere.com/community

    46 min

  3. MAR 31

    How Career Services Can Support Students in a Tough Job Market (feat. John Koelliker)

    The job market hasn't been this hard for students and recent grads in decades. In this episode, host Meredith Metsker sits down with John Koelliker, co-founder and CEO of Leland—a platform that connects students and professionals with expert coaches and partners directly with career centers to amplify their impact. John works with tens of thousands of students and the employers trying to hire them. He brings a clear-eyed, front-row view of what's actually happening out there—and what career services professionals can do right now to help students navigate it. In this episode: Why this job market is uniquely difficult—and what's really driving itWhere the real pockets of opportunity exist for new grads (hint: it's not where most students are looking)Why the "generalist business" path is struggling and what students should do insteadThe power of being hypothesis-driven early—and how career centers can help without overwhelming studentsWhy in-person still wins in an era of AI-generated applicationsWhat the best career centers are doing differently right nowWhy career services engagement is one of the strongest leading indicators of student outcomes—and how to make that case to leadershipAbout John Koelliker: John Koelliker is the co-founder and CEO of Leland, a platform connecting students, recent grads, and professionals with expert coaches for career navigation and skill-building. Leland also partners with career centers to extend their reach and support for students. Before founding Leland, John worked in venture capital and operations and started his career at LinkedIn. He's based in Utah.Resources from the episode: John's LinkedIn profileJohn's email: john@joinleland.com Leland—platform connecting students and professionals with expert career coaches; also partners directly with career centersDesigning Your Life—referenced indirectly through the "life design" and "prototyping" conversationSandbox—entrepreneurship program mentioned by John that gives college students academic credit to build companies; currently offered at a handful of universities Continue the conversation in the Career Everywhere Community! Join 2,000 other higher ed career services leaders today: careereverywhere.com/community

    46 min

  4. MAR 17

    How UConn Transforms Student Employment with Work+ (feat. Eran Peterson)

    What if your on-campus student job could do more than pay the bills? What if it was actually a career development experience? In this episode, host Meredith Metsker sits down with Eran Peterson, Associate Director of Work+ at the University of Connecticut, to talk about how UConn is reimagining student employment through the Work+ program. UConn's Work+ program — adapted from a national model pioneered by Arizona State University and the Work+ Collective — is built around a simple but powerful idea: student jobs should be more than transactional. They should be intentional learning experiences where students develop and can articulate real career competencies, and where supervisors feel equipped, supported, and valued for the role they play in student success. Eran walks through how the program works in practice, including the professional development content and tools built for student "working learners," the robust supervisor training and resource ecosystem UConn has developed, and the impressive early results from their pilot year — including a jump in students' sense of belonging from 83% to 98%. He also gets into the challenges of scaling a lean operation, the unexpected ways supervisors are finding out about Work+, and his honest advice for anyone looking to start something similar at their institution. IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL LEARN: — Why UConn focuses on supervisors first — and why that order of operations matters— How the Work+ team is building scalable, on-demand resources so the program doesn't depend on constant one-on-one support— What peer-led supervisor mini sessions look like and why they've become one of the program's biggest wins— How UConn is evolving Work+ to serve supervisors who manage large teams or service-based roles without regular workstation access— Why belonging matters for supervisors, not just students — and how Work+ is working to change campus culture around that— The surprisingly simple job posting tweak that's driving a flood of new supervisor interest ABOUT THE GUEST: Eran Peterson is the Associate Director of Work+ at the University of Connecticut, where he has worked for over 13 years. He started his career at UConn as a career coach before stepping into his current role focused full-time on transforming student employment. Eran is passionate about helping students recognize and articulate the skills they're building on the job — a perspective informed by his own varied work history before landing in career services. RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE:— Eran’s LinkedIn profile— Eran’s email: eran.peterson@uconn.edu — UConn’s Work+ program— The Work+ Collective—the national network of institutions building Work+ programs; Eran's top recommendation for anyone looking to get started— Center for Career Readiness and Life Skills—UConn’s virtual career center housing all career development content, resources, tools, and more (powered by UConnect)— Articulate 360/Rise—the e-learning tool UConn uses to build professional development modules for working learners— Suitable—the platform UConn uses to collect evidence of student competency development CONNECT WITH US: New episodes every other Tuesday. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and visit gouconnect.com/career-everywhere/podcast for full show notes, transcripts, and more. Continue the conversation in the Career Everywhere Community! Join 2,000 other higher ed career services leaders today: careereverywhere.com/community

    49 min

  5. MAR 3

    3 Ways University of Central Missouri Embeds Career Into Academics (feat. Amber Goreham, Jess Johnson, and Derrick Gill)

    What does it look like when a small career services team thinks big—and builds the systems to back it up? In this episode, host Meredith Metsker sits down with Amber Goreham, Jess Johnson, and Derrick Gill from the University of Central Missouri's Career and Life Design Center to talk about how their six-person team is scaling career education across a campus of nearly 9,000 students. UCM has spent years building a strategic framework rooted in three pillars—exploration, career readiness, and connection—and those pillars now power three concrete initiatives designed to embed career into the academic experience: a milestone-based student roadmap, a plug-and-play faculty resource hub, and a Career Champions program that's turning faculty into career advocates across campus. Amber, Jess, and Derrick walk through each initiative in detail, share early results, and offer practical advice for other career services leaders who want to take a more integrated, academic-facing approach. KEY TAKEAWAYS How UCM's three-pillar framework (exploration, career readiness, and connection) became the foundation for all three initiativesWhat UCM's milestone roadmap looks like across all four academic years — and how faculty can adapt it to their own programsHow the faculty resource hub makes it easy for instructors to embed career content into their courses with minimal liftWhat the Career Champions program entails and how UCM got immediate buy-in from department chairsWhy scalability and equity are at the heart of UCM's approach to Career EverywhereAdvice for career services leaders who want to start embedding career into academics at their own institutionsABOUT THE GUESTS Amber Goreham is the Director of the Career and Life Design Center at the University of Central Missouri. She has spent 18 of her 22 years in higher education in career services and leads the team's strategic vision for making career education accessible to all UCM students. Jess Johnson is the Assistant Director of Career and Life Design Education at UCM and a first-generation college student herself. She oversees curriculum and student-facing programming and was the primary architect of UCM's milestone framework and faculty resource hub. Derrick Gill is the Assistant Director of Faculty and Employer Partnerships at UCM. He brings a background in business internship coordination and media to his role and has been instrumental in building UCM's visibility with academic leadership and developing the Career Champions program. RESOURCES FROM THE EPISODE Amber’s LinkedIn profileJess' LinkedIn profileDerrick’s LinkedIn profileUniversity of Central Missouri Career and Life Design Center (powered by uConnect)uConnect—Virtual Career Center platformDesigning Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans (referenced as the foundation of UCM's life design approach)The Career Ecosystem Era in Higher Education by Jeremy Podany (mentioned by Derrick as a team reading the career center used to gather faculty input) Continue the conversation in the Career Everywhere Community! Join 2,000 other higher ed career services leaders today: careereverywhere.com/community

    48 min

  6. FEB 17

    Why Career Services Leaders Need to Think Like CMOs (feat. Ashley Safranski)

    What if career services leaders thought more like Chief Marketing Officers? In this episode of the Career Everywhere Podcast, host Meredith Metsker sits down with Ashley Safranski, Chief Marketing Officer at uConnect, to explore why adopting a CMO mindset can help career services leaders elevate their impact across campus. Ashley shares the striking parallels between marketing teams and career centers—from being perceived as cost centers to sitting at the center of institutional strategy. She also outlines five practical marketing strategies career leaders can use to increase student engagement, build campus champions, drive cross-functional alignment, and tie their work directly to top-line goals like enrollment, retention, and outcomes. If you’re ready to strengthen your seat at the table and position career services as a strategic driver on campus, this episode is for you. Continue the conversation in the Career Everywhere Community! Join 2,000 other higher ed career services leaders today: careereverywhere.com/community

    55 min

  7. FEB 3

    Proving the Value of a Liberal Arts Education in the Age of AI (feat. Sharon Belden Castonguay)

    In an era of constant technological change, a liberal arts education builds the adaptability, critical thinking, and career agility students need to stay employable—even as jobs evolve or disappear. In this episode, host Meredith Metsker is joined by Sharon Belden Castonguay, Executive Director of the Gordon Career Center at Wesleyan University, to explore why a liberal arts education may be more valuable than ever in an AI-driven world. Sharon shares why employability matters more than first-job outcomes, how liberal arts graduates are uniquely prepared to navigate uncertainty, and why “major ≠ career” is actually a strength—not a weakness. She also explains how institutions can use data and storytelling to prove ROI, how AI fits into career preparation without fear mongering, and what students really need to thrive in an unpredictable future of work. This episode is a must-listen for career services leaders, higher ed professionals, students, and families navigating the changing landscape of education and work.Resources from the episode: Sharon’s LinkedIn profileSharon’s TEDx Talk (recently hit 1M views!)Sharon’s 2023 Career Everywhere Podcast episodeWesleyan’s virtual career center (powered by uConnect) Continue the conversation in the Career Everywhere Community! Join 2,000 other higher ed career services leaders today: careereverywhere.com/community

    50 min

  8. JAN 20

    Crafting Employer Engagement Strategies that Align with Your Institution’s Mission (feat. Gerald Tang)

    In this repurposed live session from the Career Everywhere Community, Meredith Metsker sits down with Gerald Tang, Executive Director of Career Services and Internships at Bridgewater State University, to explore how institutions can rethink and strengthen their employer engagement strategies. Gerald shares how his team moved beyond counting career fairs and job postings to develop a tiered, data-informed employer engagement model that aligns with institutional mission, regional workforce needs, and equity goals. From leveraging alumni and labor market data to launching BSU’s Hire Locally campaign, this episode offers practical insights for career services leaders looking to build more meaningful, sustainable employer partnerships. You’ll learn: Why event attendance alone doesn’t equal strong employer relationshipsHow to define and assess employer engagement tiersWhat data sources can inform smarter employer strategyHow regional focus and mission alignment can guide employer outreachResources from the episode: Gerald’s LinkedIn profileGerald’s slide deck (including spreadsheet examples)BSU Elevate campaign and webpageBSU virtual career center (powered by uConnect)BSU Hire Locally pageBSU’s labor market insights module (powered by uConnect)Career Everywhere Community (free and open to any higher ed career services professional) Continue the conversation in the Career Everywhere Community! Join 2,000 other higher ed career services leaders today: careereverywhere.com/community

    51 min
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4.9
out of 5
19 Ratings

About

For too long, career services has been an afterthought. Now it's time for career services to be in the driver's seat, leading institutional strategy around career readiness. Join us every other Tuesday for in-depth interviews with today’s most innovative career leaders about how they’re building a campus culture of career readiness… or what we call Career Everywhere.

Information

  • Creator
    uConnect
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    91
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 uConnect
  • Show Website
    Career Everywhere

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