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

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 profile
• Sharon’s TEDx Talk (recently hit 1M views!)
• Sharon’s 2023 Career Everywhere Podcast episode
• Wesleyan’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

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 relationships
• How to define and assess employer engagement tiers
• What data sources can inform smarter employer strategy
• How regional focus and mission alignment can guide employer outreach

Resources from the episode:

• Gerald’s LinkedIn profile
• Gerald’s slide deck (including spreadsheet examples)
• BSU Elevate campaign and webpage
• BSU virtual career center (powered by uConnect)
• BSU Hire Locally page
• BSU’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

What does it really take to scale career services when you’re a team of one—or leading a very small team? In this episode, host Meredith Metsker is joined by Anita DeCianni Brown (SUNY Empire State University), Nick Edwards (Hardin-Simmons University), and Tyler Orr (Southern Virginia University) for a candid conversation about doing more with less.

The panel shares practical strategies for expanding reach, leveraging technology, building faculty and campus partnerships, and advocating for resources—all while staying focused on meaningful student impact. Whether you’re building career services from the ground up or rethinking how to scale sustainably, this episode offers real-world insights, lessons learned, and encouragement for career services professionals at any institution size.

Resources from the episode:

• SUNY Empire’s Virtual Career Center (powered by uConnect)
• HSU’s Virtual Career Center (powered by uConnect)
• SVU’s Virtual Career Center (powered by uConnect)
• uConnect (Virtual career center platform)
• Labor Market Insights module by uConnect 
• Handshake
• CareerShift 
• FOCUS 2 
• Big Interview
• SkillsFirst
• YouScience
• LinkedIn Learning
• Forage
• 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

In this episode, Dr. Matt Cowley of Virginia Tech shares how his team united career services, financial aid, procurement, legal, payroll, advancement, and employers to build a creative, compliant solution for funding unpaid and underpaid internships. Matt discusses how simple leadership moves—framing the problem around student impact, asking the right people to the table, and staying open to iteration—turned a complex challenge into a scalable system that gets real dollars into students’ hands.

Key Takeaways:

• Solving unpaid internships required cross-campus collaboration, not just career services leadership.
• Matt brought together typically siloed teams by clearly articulating the student problem and inviting partners to co-create the solution.
• The final model routes support funds through employers, allowing students to be paid while staying aligned with institutional and financial aid policies.
• Data helped define the scope of the issue, but student stories drove urgency and buy-in.
• Early success shows that building the system matters as much as securing the funding—and that iteration is part of the process.

Resources:

• Matt’s LinkedIn profile
• Matt’s email: [email protected]
• Virginia Tech’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

How do you launch a university-wide Experiential Learning Center—in just one year—across three campuses, during budget cuts, staffing challenges, and constant organizational change?

In this episode of the Career Everywhere Podcast, host Meredith Metsker sits down with Dr. Josh Domitrovich, Rhonda Gifford, and Meaghan Clister of PennWest to unpack the strategy, persistence, and cross-campus collaboration behind their brand-new Experiential Learning Center (ELC).

You’ll hear how the idea evolved from a one-person internship center into a robust, centralized hub designed to promote, track, and assess experiential learning for all PennWest students (across three physical campuses and online). The team shares how they gained buy-in from senior leadership; aligned their work with institutional priorities like enrollment, retention and outcomes; and built a campus-wide culture around experiential learning.

They also open up about early wins, lessons learned, and the signals they watched closely to guide their timing and approach—insights that any career services leader can apply on their own campus.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why experiential learning became a strategic priority at PennWest
• How the team navigated shifting leadership, limited resources, and campus integration
• The proposal strategies that finally earned a “yes” from senior leadership
• How the ELC is breaking down silos and centralizing data across programs
• What early results show, and where the team is headed next

Whether you’re exploring experiential learning initiatives or looking to make career services indispensable at your institution, this conversation is packed with inspiration and practical takeaways.

Continue the conversation in the Career Everywhere Community! Join 2,000 other higher ed career services leaders today: careereverywhere.com/community

In this episode of Career Everywhere, host Meredith Metsker talks with Jeremy Schifeling, Founder of The Job Insiders, AI and ChatGPT expert, keynote speaker, author, and former higher ed career services leader.

Jeremy breaks down how AI is actually changing the job market right now, who’s being most affected (including Gen Z and tech talent), and why he believes we’re moving from the “revenge of the nerds” era to the “revenge of the liberal arts.” He explains which skills will matter most in an AI-powered world—like communication, empathy, and relationship-building—and how AI can complement, not replace, the human work of career coaching.

Jeremy also shares a practical three-step plan for career services teams to start using AI today, how to help students “AI-proof” their careers, and creative ways to integrate AI into existing programs for career exploration and interview prep. Throughout, he emphasizes the importance of an internal locus of control: we can’t control AI or the economy, but we can control how we respond.

If you’re wondering how to prepare students for a rapidly changing world of work—and how to use AI without losing the human heart of your work—this episode is for you.

About Jeremy Schifeling:

Jeremy Schifeling is the Founder of The Job Insiders, an AI, LinkedIn, and career strategy company dedicated to helping job seekers navigate a rapidly changing world of work. He’s an AI and ChatGPT expert, keynote speaker, top-ranking author, and former higher ed career services leader. Jeremy has worked in K-12, nonprofits, higher education, and big tech (including LinkedIn), giving him a uniquely holistic view of how people build meaningful careers. He’s currently writing a book on AI-proofing for the future, coming in 2026.

You can connect with Jeremy on LinkedIn, where he regularly shares insights on AI, career strategy, and the future of work.

Resources from the episode:

• Jeremy’s LinkedIn profile
• The Job Insiders website
• Jeremy’s first book: Career Coach GPT: The Complete Guide to ChatGPT Resume, Cover Letter, Interview, and Job Search Success

Continue the conversation in the Career Everywhere Community! Join 2,000 other higher ed career services leaders today: careereverywhere.com/community

In this episode, University of Washington Executive Director of the Career and Internship Center Briana Randall shares her team’s four-year journey to expand their budget and find new funding sources for career services.

She walks through what worked (and what didn’t) when it came to pursuing new revenue streams—from donor campaigns that fell flat, to creative partnerships across campus, to the major success that changed everything: securing funding through a Student Tech Fee grant.

Briana breaks down exactly how she made her case to the student committee that manages the fund, what data and endorsements helped seal the deal, and how those grants now sustain core tools like uConnect, LinkedIn Learning, Interstride, Jobscan, and Yoodli.

She also reflects on the realities of working within limited budgets, why some fundraising attempts with alumni and corporations didn’t pan out, and how she’s learned to think strategically (and bravely) about asking for support.

Key topics:

• How the University of Washington Career and Internship Center used the Student Tech Fee grant to fund key technology and tools that directly serve students
• The exact process Briana used to apply for and win multiple rounds of funding—including tips for presenting to student committees
• What funding approaches didn’t work (like alumni donation drives and corporate sponsorships) and why
• How Briana built partnerships across campus to share costs and resources
• Advice for other career center leaders seeking sustainable, creative funding models

About Briana Randall:

Briana Randall is the Executive Director of the Career and Internship Center at the University of Washington in Seattle. She’s been with the center since 2004 and has served as director for the past five years. A longtime Career Everywhere Champion, Briana is known for her innovative approach to expanding access to career resources—even in the face of tight budgets.

Resources from the episode:

• Briana’s LinkedIn profile
• Briana’s email: [email protected] 
• UW’s Virtual Career Center (powered by uConnect)
• Find a copy of Briana’s successful Student Tech Fee grant application for uConnect in this article
• 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

How do you scale career support for thousands of nontraditional, online students—many of whom are balancing work, school, and family life?

In this episode, host Meredith Metsker chats with Anita DeCianni Brown, who has led career services at SUNY Empire State University for over a decade. Anita shares how she built SUNY Empire’s career services function from the ground up, including how she transformed the career center’s digital presence from a single webpage to a full virtual career center that offers 24/7 resources and support to more than 17,000 students across New York and beyond.

They discuss how Anita’s team personalizes support for learners at every stage—whether they’re career starters, career transitioners, or career advancers—and how tools like uConnect, Handshake, and Big Interview help her small team of four scale their impact.

Anita also shares creative programming ideas (like her Ask5 alumni interview series), the importance of explaining the “how” and “why” behind every resource, and how she fosters collaboration with other departments through a new career liaison program.

Key topics:

• How Anita built and scaled SUNY Empire’s career services function as a team of one for 10+ years
• How she recently grew her team from one to four
• Strategies for supporting nontraditional, online, and adult learners
• Why technology and accessibility are critical for equitable career support
• What Anita’s tech stack looks like
• How to structure (and schedule) programming for students working full-time
• The power of collaboration across departments through career liaisons
• Why explaining the “how” and “why” of career tools boosts engagement
• And more

About Anita DeCianni Brown:
Anita DeCianni Brown is the Director of Career and Experiential Learning Services at SUNY Empire State University, where she has led career services since 2014. Over her 35-year career in career services, Anita has built programs from the ground up, developed innovative ways to support adult and online learners, and created strong partnerships across departments to make career education accessible to everyone.

A proud SUNY Empire alumna herself, Anita is passionate about helping nontraditional students find meaningful career paths and build confidence at every stage of their professional journeys.

Resources from the episode:

• Anita’s LinkedIn profile
• Anita’s email: [email protected] 
• SUNY Empire State’s Career Hub (powered by uConnect)
• Career Everywhere Community
• SUNY Empire State’s Career Kits (coming soon!)

Continue the conversation in the Career Everywhere Community! Join 2,000 other higher ed career services leaders today: careereverywhere.com/community

How can career education become part of every student’s academic journey—not just an optional add-on?

In this episode of Career Everywhere, host Meredith Metsker chats with Brenna Gomez, Director of Career Integration at Oregon State University, about how OSU successfully embedded career development into its new general education curriculum (called Core Education).

Brenna shares how the Beyond OSU initiative ensures that every student, in every major, has built-in opportunities to explore career paths, develop professional skills, and reflect on their goals. She also breaks down OSU’s four-pillar strategy for career education and offers advice for other institutions looking to weave career learning throughout the academic experience.

Key topics:

• How Oregon State embedded career development into its new general education curriculum (called Core Education)
• What the Beyond OSU program is and how it works
• How OSU’s career services team collaborated with faculty from the start
• The role of OSU’s faculty “community of practice” concept in sustaining career-integrated learning
• OSU’s four-pillar strategy for comprehensive career education (integrating career into Core Education, tailored career support in each college, alumni and employer networks, embedded co-curriculars)
• Practical tips for other career leaders who want to start small and build buy-in

About Brenna Gomez:

Brenna Gomez serves as the Director of Career Integration at Oregon State University. With a background in creative writing and teaching, Brenna leads OSU’s efforts to embed career development across the curriculum and throughout the student experience. She also oversees the university’s highly-successful Career Champions program and works closely with faculty and staff to make career learning accessible to all students.

Memorable quote:

“All disciplines are career disciplines. Every major leads to a career.” – Brenna Gomez

Continue the conversation in the Career Everywhere Community! Join 2,000 other higher ed career services leaders today: careereverywhere.com/community