The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) 2026 Conference’s opening keynote in Denver put a phrase in my head that I keep returning to. The goal of career services is to “Connect Talent with Opportunity,” and in that framing sits the full weight of what these teams carry every day at institutions that chronically under-resource them.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law on July 4, 2025, puts Direct Loan eligibility at risk for programs whose graduates don’t meet earnings benchmarks. That makes career services in higher education one of the most consequential functions on campus, and many institutions are not treating it that way. At community colleges, departments of two or three people routinely serve campuses of 10,000 students or more. Budgets are thin, and for many career offices, a seat at the executive table still isn’t guaranteed.
I went to the NACE conference to understand the career services space better. Across institution types, the challenges were consistent. Faculty still see career outcomes as someone else’s job, and students rarely engage until they are facing an empty resume at graduation.
What I did not hear, in any of those conversations, was complaint. Schools have started replacing large career fairs with targeted, program-specific events. At community colleges, some have moved to small employer tables in the student union, briefing employers on what to expect from students managing full class loads and work schedules. One college shifted from generalist advising to industry-specific career communities, building deeper employer relationships in the process. One institution pays faculty a stipend to spend 40 hours with an employer and bring what they learn back to the curriculum. Another embedded career readiness into a mandatory first-year course. The conversations were relentlessly practical and hopeful.
In the exhibit hall, large platform vendors were mostly absent, replaced by purpose-built solutions aimed specifically at career teams, employers, and students. But a gap runs through nearly every product I looked at. These solutions don’t connect to the rest of the institution. Employer relationship data sits separate from enrollment management. Alumni outcomes don’t inform the career office. Most platforms lack the reporting that would help a career director walk into a provost’s or CFO’s office and make the case for more resources. Most institutions have no dedicated analyst in career services to build that case independently.
The technology in this space needs to stop treating resume review, mock interviews, and job search as the finish line. Institutions hold detailed records on every student: their academic history, what they chose to explore beyond the required curriculum, and the faculty, advisors, and alumni relationships they have built along the way. The tools should be using all of it to ask a harder question than which job listings a student qualifies for. When the tools use that data to identify the right role at an employer the institution has a real relationship with, outcomes change for students and the families depending on them. That is also what gives career directors something worth taking to a provost’s office. Career services is not a secondary function. It is where everything the institution spent years building in a student meets the world that needs it.
Originally posted by Novita Rogers on LinkedIn. Be sure to follow her there to catch all her great industry insights.
Share Article:
© Copyright 2026, The Tambellini Group. All Rights Reserved.
Get exclusive access to higher education analysts, rich research, premium publications, and advisory services.
Weekly email featuring higher education blog articles, infographics or podcasts.
