Career Connections

Strategy  •  Background  •  Career Pathways  •  Available Resources

 

strategy

Bonner Alumni from seven institutions shared their insights with students, faculty, and administrators at the 2024 Summer Leadership Institute, Oberlin College

In today’s competitive economy, undergraduate students and their families face uncertainty, with many questioning the value of a college degree. As a result, most institutions are increasing their emphasis on career readiness and employment connections. Eager to support students to best prepare for successful post‑graduate opportunities, including employment and graduate school, administrators and faculty are inventing new programming to help demonstrate the value of their students’ educational experiences compared to more affordable, less time consuming pathways.

For centers of civic and community engagement, creating visible pathways tied to career preparation and readiness is of strategic importance. Increasingly, these centers collaborate with offices such as Career Services, Academic Advising, and Internship Programs to make post-graduate preparation concrete and tied with real world experience and employment. For example, some campuses have launched career communities that connect students’ community‑engaged work with mentoring, networking events, and sector‑specific resources (such as law and public policy, health, education, or social impact careers). Others have developed cohort‑based programs and community‑engaged capstone projects that intentionally link students’ long‑term service with résumé‑building experiences, references, and portfolios they can use for jobs and graduate school applications.

Such pathways often leverage both co‑curricular and curricular experiences, including semester‑long community‑engaged courses, multi‑year site placements, and internships or micro‑internships with community partners. On some campuses, these experiences are scaffolded so that first‑year students begin with exploration and basic skills, then move into issue‑based leadership roles, and ultimately complete a community‑engaged capstone or signature work project that they can present as a professional portfolio or writing sample for post‑graduate opportunities.

Intended for students, staff, faculty, and other career services professionals, we have compiled resources around eight intersectional career pathways, tied to the NACE Competencies already used by Career Service professionals. These pathways highlight how students’ sustained community engagement translates into valued experiences in areas like education, public health, law and public policy, business and social enterprise, arts and culture, public service and government, environment and sustainability, and STEM and research. The resources include sector‑specific guides, campus examples, and alumni stories that help students articulate their skills, identify relevant job and graduate school options, and build networks with professionals and Bonner alumni working in these fields.

background

Research involving graduates' success in the workplace has further punctuated the connection with experiential learning and community engagement. For instance, one of the largest studies of graduates in the U.S. conducted in 2014 by Gallup Inc. and Purdue University found six factors most correlated to graduates’ success. As the Great Jobs, Great Lives report states:

“If employed graduates feel their college prepared them well for life outside of it, the odds that they are engaged at work rise nearly three times. Experiences in college that contribute to feeling prepared for life after college, such as internships or jobs where students are able to apply what they are learning in the classroom, active involvement in extracurricular activities and organizations, and working on a project that took a semester or more to complete are part of this preparation.”

Unfortunately, most college students are not having these experiences at the level that research suggests they should. The report finds that only a tiny percentage of graduates, only three percent, strongly agree that they had consistent mentoring, substantive opportunities to apply their learning in real‑world settings, and long‑term projects that integrated their academic work and engagement.

Cohort‑based community engagement programs like the Bonner Scholars and Leaders model, and campus‑wide community‑engaged learning initiatives, are designed to provide exactly these elements: long‑term community partnerships; hands-on mentors, and capstone‑level projects that integrate academic learning and real‑world problem solving. By scaling such models, institutions can help more graduates secure “great jobs” and “great lives” while making the value of community engagement visible to students, families, and employers.

Another key partner in the effort to expand and deepen integrative pathways are higher education associations. For Career Pathways, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) is a key contributor in this space. Many institutions’ Career Services offices (including at institutions that are part of the Bonner Network) have adopted NACE competencies, which overlap with the Bonner Student Learning Outcomes.

Some campuses have gone further by explicitly mapping NACE competencies to students’ community‑engaged roles, integrating them into reflection prompts, advising conversations, and e‑portfolios so that students can describe how their Bonner and community work demonstrates career‑ready skills. Essentially, institutions are using a combination of communication strategies (such as videos and webpages that feature student and alumni stories), technology (such as e‑portfolios that document community‑engaged projects and competencies), and intentional advising and mentoring to make career preparation pathways more visible.

SUPPORTING RESEARCH

The Career‑Ready Graduate: What Employers Say About the Difference College Makes

This report from the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) summarizes what more than 1,000 employers say they value in new graduates and how well higher education is meeting those expectations. Employers consistently emphasize:

  • Broad, transferable skills such as communication, critical and creative thinking, teamwork, and the ability to work with diverse others.

  • Dispositions like work ethic, initiative, resilience, and curiosity.

  • High‑impact learning experiences such as internships, work‑study, leadership roles, community‑based projects, and undergraduate research.

The report also highlights significant “preparation gaps.” On average, only about half of employers believe graduates are very prepared in key skills like oral communication, adaptability, and critical thinking, even though they rate these skills as essential. At the same time, employers strongly support:

  • Degrees that integrate hands‑on, real‑world problem solving and community‑based experiences.

  • Micro‑credentials that document specific competencies, alongside a college degree.

  • Learning environments that expose students to diverse viewpoints and allow open discussion.

These findings reinforce the importance of community engagement, civic learning, and cohort‑based programs like Bonner as powerful vehicles for career readiness. When students complete long‑term community‑engaged projects, hold leadership roles, and receive strong mentoring, their odds of both being engaged at work and thriving in their post‑graduate lives increase dramatically.

Great Jobs, Great Lives

Research on graduates’ long‑term outcomes further underscores how community and civic engagement function as High‑Impact Practices (HIPs) that build the very skills and habits employers seek. The Gallup‑Purdue Index also found that those who:

  • Experienced strong emotional support in college (professors who cared about them as people, made learning exciting, and mentors who encouraged their goals), and

  • Participated in experiential and deep learning (meaningful internships or jobs, substantial projects lasting a semester or more, and active involvement in organizations),

were significantly more likely to be engaged at work and to be thriving in multiple dimensions of well‑being (purpose, social, financial, community, physical).

Importantly, these benefits held regardless of institutional type or selectivity—it is how students go to college, not where, that matters most. Yet only a small percentage of graduates report experiencing all of these supports and experiences, even though this group is much more likely to be engaged at work and thriving across all five dimensions of well‑being.

These findings support Bonner’s model and similar programs that:

  • Provide multi‑year, cohort‑based community engagement.

  • Build in structured reflection and capstones.

  • Ensure sustained mentoring and advising that help students connect their service, academics, and emerging career interests.

By scaling these practices beyond a small subset of students, institutions can help more graduates secure “great jobs” and “great lives”—and visibly demonstrate the value of community‑engaged learning to skeptical students and families.

Additional NACE Resources for Career Development and Pathways

According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), career readiness is the foundation from which graduates demonstrate core competencies that broadly prepare them for success in the workplace and for lifelong career management. For new college graduates, career readiness is key to ensuring successful entrance into the workforce. For higher education, it provides a shared framework for aligning the career‑related goals and outcomes of curricular and co‑curricular activities, regardless of major. For employers, career readiness offers a common language for identifying and developing talent across functions and sectors.

NACE’s eight career readiness competencies—such as communication, critical thinking, teamwork, leadership, professionalism, equity and inclusion, technology use, and career & self‑development—map closely onto the outcomes developed through community‑engaged learning, Bonner programming, and other cohort‑based pathways. Campuses in the Bonner Network and beyond are increasingly:

  • Mapping NACE competencies to students’ roles in community organizations, capstone projects, and leadership positions.

  • Embedding these competencies into reflection prompts, advising, and e‑portfolios so students can clearly articulate how their community work demonstrates career‑ready skills.

  • Using the competencies to design professional development workshops, career courses, and campus‑wide initiatives that center community engagement as a pathway to career success.

NACE offers additional resources that are useful to share with colleagues, including administrators, faculty, and students. One practical campus strategy is to map existing curricular and co‑curricular offerings against the NACE competencies, identifying where community‑engaged learning already builds these skills and where there are gaps. Teams can then:

  • Add or scale community‑engaged projects in courses.

  • Develop fellowship and internship opportunities with nonprofit and public‑sector partners.

  • Strengthen mentoring and advising systems that explicitly connect students’ community experience to their evolving career pathways.

NACE competencies may be useful to share with students and faculty, Moreover, this report on the Development and Validation of the NACE Career Readiness Competencies may be of interest to to deans, assessment leaders, and institutional research staff interested in using these competencies as part of broader student success and career pathways work. Additionally, this booklet Career Connections: A Best Practice Guide for Strengthening Career Development and Community Engagement may help teams within institutions explore and develop innovative approaches to address the career readiness challenges facing higher education. Examples of effective models, which can be found here on the Bonner Wiki, include career communities organized around sectors like law or public health, nonprofit and public‑sector career fairs that highlight community‑focused roles, alumni mentoring networks, and cohort‑based programs that link multi‑year community engagement with internships, capstones, and graduate school preparation.

career pathways

The Bonner Foundation has sought to leverage our thirty-five years of experience and network by engaging alumni as peer advisors for current students. Adopting the NACE Competencies into our intentional student learning outcomes, we have organized resources and secured the involvement of more than 50 National Bonner Alumni Advisors. Below, find an introduction to the sectors, with links to the profiles and contact information for these alumni.

Arts, Entertainment, and Creative Professions

Careers in the arts and entertainment industry encompass various creative fields such as music, film, visual arts, and performing arts. Professionals in this field can be musicians, journalists, filmmakers, graphic designers, or museum curators.

Learn more

Healthcare

Careers in healthcare involve providing medical care, promoting wellness, and improving the overall health of individuals and communities. Professionals in this field may work as nurses, therapist, midwife, counselor, health researcher, epidemiologist, or health organizations.

Learn more

Non-profit, Social Impact, and Human Services

This category includes careers that focus on helping and supporting individuals and communities in areas such as counseling, social work, and advocacy. Professionals in this field can be counselors, social workers, community organizers, or nonprofit directors.

Learn more

Business, Finance, and economics

This category includes careers related to managing organizations, financial planning, investment, and other aspects of the business world. Jobs in this field can range from financial analysts and accountants to marketing managers and business consultants.

Learn more

K-12 and Higher Education

Education careers involve teaching, training, and guiding individuals in acquiring knowledge and skills. This includes roles such as teachers, professors, instructional designers, education administrators, student affairs professionals, and community engagement professionals.

Learn more

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

This category includes careers that involve conducting experiments, analyzing data, designing, building, and maintaining structures, systems, and technologies, and advancing knowledge in various scientific fields. Professionals in this field may work as biologists, civil engineers, chemists, research scientists, data analysts, and IT project managers.

Learn more

Environment and Sustainability

This category includes careers related to promoting conservation, protecting natural resources, and addressing environmental issues. This can include roles such as environmental scientists, conservationists, sustainability coordinators, or renewable energy engineers.

Learn more

Law, Public Policy, and International Affairs

This category encompasses careers related to the legal system, public policy, human rights, international affairs, and social justice. This includes roles such as lawyer, policy analyst, refugee aid worker, field consultant, politician, and civil service.

Learn more

ADDItIONAL resources

Bonner curriculum

The following career-focused guides train participants strategies for developing key professional skills to bolster their service experiences in conjunction with their career objectives.