The Unpulled Lever

Rod Danan
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Careers

Conversations with the higher ed leaders actually acting on career outcomes. Presidents, chancellors, and the people rebuilding how schools get students hired, on what's working, what's stuck, and why. Hosted by Rod Danan. New episodes weekly.

Episodes

  1. 35m ago

    E5 | Scalable Co-Ops, Career Curricula & College as a Gym | Kemi Jona, Vice Provost of UVA

    Why do universities map every academic requirement while leaving students to improvise the path from campus to work? In Episode 5 of The Unpulled Lever, Rod Danan talks with Kemi Jona, Vice Provost of Online Education and Digital Innovation at the University of Virginia, about building career-connected learning that works for students with real constraints. They discuss why online is not the same as flexible, the hidden operating system behind Northeastern's co-op model, UVA's effort to build a career journey instead of a petting zoo of disconnected platforms, and Kemi's plan to "flood the zone" with employer-connected experiences in classes, capstones, breaks, clubs, and asynchronous programs. The conversation also covers the data plumbing universities need to see who is being left behind, how AI changes the compact between students and colleges, and why Kemi compares college to a gym membership. Connect with Kemi and explore the work: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kemijona/ UVA OEDI: https://oedi.provost.virginia.edu/ AI4VA: https://ai4va.org/ UVA Career Academies: https://oedi.provost.virginia.edu/uva-career-academies Riipen: https://www.riipen.com/ Burning Glass Institute: https://www.burningglassinstitute.org/ The Unpulled Lever is a weekly interview series from Rod Danan, founder of Prentus, on why schools don't act on career outcomes. prentus.com

  2. Aug 25

    E4 | Internships Beat Majors | Brandon Busteed, CEO, Edconic

    An internship matters more than a major for a graduate's odds of landing a good job. Brandon Busteed has the data to back that up. Brandon is the CEO of Edconic and the former leader of Gallup's education and workforce practice. He helped build the Gallup-Purdue Index, a study of more than 100,000 college graduates that asked a question rankings still dodge: which college experiences actually lead to a good job and a good life? In this episode, Brandon joins Rod Danan to explain the six experiences that double the odds of workplace engagement and wellbeing, why fewer than 3 percent of graduates report having all six, and why a university does not need an elite brand or a giant endowment to compete. They also get into LinkedIn's hidden university ranking, the shortage of internships, why paid work is not automatically work-integrated learning, and the uncomfortable truth about Ivy League graduates ending up in business development without ever being taught sales. Chapters 00:00 The Gallup-Purdue question 03:30 Why one university cannot grade itself 11:46 The six experiences that change outcomes 20:18 What a good college outcome actually is 27:04 Why not all work counts as learning 32:05 Career cannot live in an isolated office 35:07 LinkedIn's hidden university ranking 40:33 The job Ivy League graduates end up doing 42:22 The internship supply problem 48:36 Why internships beat majors 50:20 College's local value proposition 54:18 Quick fire and High Point University Getting students hired is the cheapest retention lever a school has, and almost nobody pulls it. The Unpulled Lever talks to the leaders who can help us learn why and how to fix it. Subscribe for a new conversation every week.

  3. Aug 18

    E3 | College Closures, Skills-Based Hiring & Elements of Suck | Michael Horn, Co-Host, Future U

    Michael Horn predicted in 2013 that a quarter of colleges would close. Fifteen percent already have. Now he says a fifth of private colleges will close or merge within ten years, and the schools left standing will win on one thing: whether they actually get their students hired. In this episode, Michael Horn (co-host of Future U with Jeff Selingo, co-founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute, author of Job Moves and Choosing College) joins host Rod Danan to break down why skills-based hiring keeps failing, why 50 to 85 percent of jobs come through networks and not applications, and what new federal accountability rules mean for colleges that can't prove a return on investment. With Michael Horn of @michaelbhorn. Getting students hired is the cheapest retention lever a school has, and almost nobody pulls it. The Unpulled Lever talks to the leaders who can help us learn why, and how to fix it. Subscribe for a new conversation every week.

  4. Aug 11

    E2 | Why "Career Services Must Die" | Andy Chan, VP of Wake Forest

    Andy Chan, VP for Innovation and Career Development at Wake Forest University, joins Rod Danan to explain why more than 200 colleges have sent staff to study his office. They get into his 2013 TED talk "Career Services Must Die", why the boss matters more than the org chart, the ten-minute LinkedIn search that changed a writing class, curiosity conversations instead of networking, and what he'd fund first if he had to rebuild a career office from zero. The Unpulled Lever is an interview series on why schools don't act on career outcomes. New episodes every Tuesday.

    E2 | Why "Career Services Must Die" | Andy Chan, VP of Wake Forest

  5. Aug 4

    E1 | Get Students Hired or Close | Jason Altmire, CEO of CECU

    Jason Altmire, President and CEO of CECU and a former U.S. Congressman, joins Rod Danan to explain why career schools have been graded on job placement for years while most of higher ed never had to answer the same question. They dig into the new federal accountability law, the stigma that still follows for-profit schools, and what actually keeps a student enrolled through graduation. The Unpulled Lever is an interview series on why schools don't act on career outcomes. New episodes every two weeks.

    E1 | Get Students Hired or Close | Jason Altmire, CEO of CECU
  • 5 Episodes

Ratings & Reviews

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About

Conversations with the higher ed leaders actually acting on career outcomes. Presidents, chancellors, and the people rebuilding how schools get students hired, on what's working, what's stuck, and why. Hosted by Rod Danan. New episodes weekly.

Information

  • Creator
    Rod Danan
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    5
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Rod Danan
  • Show Website
    The Unpulled Lever