Ohio State career center aims to match students with jobs today and tomorrow

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Ohio State career center aims to match students with jobs today and tomorrow

Career Center of Excellence opened in January

Earlier this year, The Ohio State University opened the Career Center of Excellence, a university-wide initiative to enhance and coordinate career services infrastructure to better prepare undergraduate students for post-graduate success.

Senior Director Tricia Zelaya-Leon was a natural choice to lead the new center. Her professional experience began in 2005, when she served as a residence hall director for the university.

"My goal then was to make it so I knew the students in my complex by name," she said. "This is a big place, and I didn't want them to feel like a number."

She carries that goal with her today.

"Every student has a hope for their career journey, and we want them to feel like they're getting a customized experience."

There are 17 career services offices across campus, which students can visit in person, as well as Career Studios offered by the Office of Student Life.

The Career Center of Excellence opened not as a replacement for these offices, Zelaya-Leon said, but as a way to support the work being done in each one.

"There is nuance to be found within each of those career centers," she said. "They are the experts for business students or engineering students. We want to develop standards that Ohio State has for all students related to career development and industry connection."

It's a challenging time for students to enter the job market, Zelaya-Leon said. The rise of AI use and global instability has students nervous.

"We have an obligation to be responsive to that," she said. "Career services folks have always been helping to prepare students for jobs that don't exist yet."

One way to find those jobs is to work directly with industry partners. Learning what trends are developing, what roles need to be filled and what fields hold promise are all key, Zelaya-Leon said.

"We want to be responsive to their right-now needs," she said. "What are those majors or those skills? What about three to five years from now? What are the jobs that may no longer exist because they were replaced with a new skill set?"

These answers will then, in turn, inform standards university-wide, both in career centers and academic curricula.

"We will make it clear to our students, and to our industry partners, that regardless of who the student is, regardless of their background, regardless of their major, they can graduate with confidence."

While the center is not student-facing, many of its resources are designed with students in mind. Handshake, a career services platform, is the go-to for connecting students and employers.

"There's a wealth of information in Handshake and sometimes, students forget it exists," she said. "We let students know from the beginning that they have access to that tool and other resources as well. But we also have people in career service units to support them. The career development journey doesn't happen in a vacuum."

In fact, Zelaya-Leon wants to emphasize that students can find career guidance all around campus, and at home.

"You need parents to give guidance," she said. "We talk about parents as partners in this. Peer coaches that we train. And faculty, faculty are where students say they get the most career guidance."

The largest network by far, and the most eager to help, is alumni, Zelaya-Leon said.

"We have more than 630,000 living alumni," she said. "And they're the best. We're excited to leverage them in new ways. We hear from them all the time: 'Use me. I want to be in front of students.' How do we do that in a way that's a good use of their time and the students'?"

Alumni success stories aren't the only thing they have to offer, she said.

"The stories are powerful," she said. "Some of the pitfalls that alumni have experienced - to be able to share what didn't work out for them, what to avoid. Or, to share why a failed experience was a good one to have. That it's OK to feel like you failed and here's how you pivot now."

The Career Center of Excellence is part of the evolution of a school like Ohio State, Zelaya-Leon said.

"We're ready to usher in a new era as it relates to connection, coordination and opportunity for our students, our industry partners and our community. We want our students to have access to industry partners and career development so they can realize their hopes and dreams.

"This is what the Buckeye experience will be for all students," she said. "It's thoughtful of career but it's also thoughtful of each student and their unique needs. It's not one-size-fits-all."

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