As a Career Services professional, you’re not just juggling student meetings—you’re managing events, keeping track of outcomes, and constantly finding new ways to help students thrive. To ease your workload and provide the best possible support for your students, you need the right tools. Below, we’ve broken down the top tools to streamline your operations and empower your students in their career journeys.
Tools to Help You as a Career Services Professional
1. Airtable
What it is: An intuitive project management platform perfect for organizing events, tracking student engagement, and collaborating with your team. Think of it as a dynamic, customizable spreadsheet on steroids.
How to use it: Organize your career fairs, workshops, employer contacts, and more in one place. With features like calendars and automations, Airtable can save you time and improve team collaboration.
Hack: Set up automations to send email or SMS reminders to students about events and deadlines without lifting a finger.
2. Hustle
What it is: A mass-texting platform that allows you to send personalized reminders directly to students’ phones. Your students’ email inboxes are already full, skip the potentially unread emails when you need to engage them—this is a more direct approach.
How to use it: Send text reminders for career events, job opportunities, or important deadlines. It’s great for those last-minute “don’t forget!” messages that need to reach students fast.
Hack: Use personalized texts to address students by name, which boosts engagement and response rates.
3. Canva
What it is: A user-friendly design platform that enables even non-designers to create professional-looking graphics, from flyers to social media content.
How to use it: Use Canva to quickly design eye-catching flyers for career fairs, student workshops, or employer networking events. It’s also perfect for creating polished newsletters and social media graphics to keep students engaged and informed.
Hack: Create reusable templates for common tasks like event promotions or newsletters to save time and ensure a consistent, on-brand look for your materials.
4. uConnect
What it is: A virtual career center platform that centralizes your services in an easy-to-navigate online hub. Think of it as your career center’s one-stop shop for events, job postings, and career resources.
How to use it: Create a seamlessly integrated digital experience for all of the resources your students need without having to put in hours of development work. With an easy to use plug and play CMS, your students are getting highly curated content with the push of a button.
Hack: Activate partner integrations like WeSolv, Handshake, Forage and more to further expand your content library.
5. 12Twenty
What it is: A data-powered platform that connects universities with employers and helps career centers track student outcomes, manage job postings, and analyze employment trends. With exclusive access to over 140 MBA programs, 12Twenty offers students top job opportunities and compensation insights, while employers benefit from advanced DE&I filters and real-time hiring data.
How to use it: Streamline career center reporting, track alumni engagement, and offer students a robust job search experience.
Hack: Use 12Twenty’s outcome reporting to spotlight industries hiring the most graduates, improving event targeting.
6. Internbridge
What it is: A research and consulting firm specializing in experiential education. Internbridge helps universities optimize internship programs by providing data-driven insights.
How to use it: Tap into their data to enhance the quality of internships your students are securing and ensure they meet educational and experiential benchmarks.
Hack: Use Internbridge’s research to create internship workshops that show students how to maximize their experiences.
7. Articulate 360
What it is: A powerful e-learning platform that simplifies the creation of interactive courses and training modules. Perfect for building career development modules that help students sharpen their skills.
How to use it: Create interactive training modules on resume building, job search techniques, or interview prep for your students to access anytime.
Hack: Use pre-made templates to speed up content creation and deliver polished e-learning experiences.
Tools to Recommend to Your Students
8. Review Your Job Offer: State-by-State Guides
What it is: A state-specific resource to help students evaluate job offers, ensuring they receive fair salaries and benefits based on local standards.
How to use it: Share these guides with students to empower them with the knowledge they need to negotiate better job offers. It’s especially useful for those unfamiliar with salary expectations or state labor laws.
Hack: Integrate these guides into job offer workshops to give students even more support during the negotiation process.
9. The Job Insiders Careerbot 3000
What it is: Powered by ChatGPT, this AI-based tool provides students with personalized career advice, answers to common job search questions, and instant feedback on resumes and interview prep.
How to use it: Recommend Careerbot 3000 as a go-to resource for students needing quick guidance, especially after hours. Whether they need tips on following up after an interview or how to tailor their resumes, the bot has them covered.
Hack: Customize the chatbot prompts to reflect the most common career questions you get from students, tailoring the experience to your institution.
10. WeSolv
What it is: A platform that offers students the chance to tackle real-world business challenges from leading companies like Salesforce and Pinterest. WeSolv enables students to gain hands-on experience while showcasing their skills to potential employers.
How to use it: Share WeSolv with students as a way to build their portfolios, network with professionals, and land interviews with top companies.
Hack: Encourage students to feature their completed WeSolv challenges on their resumes and LinkedIn profiles, showcasing their problem-solving skills.
11. Interstride
What it is: A career platform designed to support international students, helping them navigate visa processes, cultural differences, and job search strategies in a foreign country.
How to use it: Recommend Interstride to international students as a comprehensive resource for understanding the job market and securing work visas. Interstride provides access to employers’ historical record of H-1B sponsorship and 160+ country guides for students exploring opportunities globally.
Hack: Encourage students to use Interstride’s alumni network feature to connect with fellow international professionals who have successfully navigated the process.
12. Zintervu
What it is: A platform that helps students practice interview skills by simulating real-world interview questions and scenarios. It’s an ideal tool for students who want to gain confidence before their big day.
How to use it: Offer Zintervu to students for practicing interviews in a low-pressure environment, particularly for industries like tech, finance, or consulting.
Hack: Use Zintervu to set up mock interviews tailored to specific industries, so students can prepare for different interview styles.
With these tools in your toolkit, you’ll not only streamline your operations but also give your students access to resources that can fast-track their career success. Whether you’re managing events, organizing student data, or recommending personalized resources, there’s something here to make your life—and theirs—a little easier.