UT-Austin creates initiative to help students find careers
- sarahremelius
- Nov 28, 2018
- 3 min read
By: Sarah Remelius

AUSTIN, Texas — As Jacob Ali neared the end of his college career at the University of Texas at Austin, he felt lost. He spent four years working hard to gain the knowledge and skills he knew he needed to succeed, but when it came time to graduate, the task of finding a job seemed daunting and impossible. Instead, he is now a graduate student at the University of Denver.
“One of the reasons I even came to graduate school was due to the difficulty of finding a job,” Ali said. “I didn’t even really know where to start.”
University of Texas alumni are significantly more likely than graduates from other universities across the nation to be employed full-time, according to a post-graduation success report done by UT’s Institutional Reporting, Research and Information Systems.
Yet many students across campus, like Ali, still struggle to find jobs upon graduation. UT is hoping to help these students through the College to Career Initiative, introduced by UT President Gregory Fenves during his State of the University Address last year.
The College to Career Initiative started with a task force of 40 faculty members which completed an assessment of UT’s career programs and services provided. The task force, which was finalized in October 2017, recommended creating a governing committee to overlook the initiative.
Norma Gaier was hired as executive director of this governing committee Nov. 1 after a nine-month search.
“I am so excited to be at UT,” said Gaier. “It’s a dream come true. For us, this is an extension of the work the University has already done with the career services each individual college has at UT. We want to make sure everyone has the skills to be successful, so they can go out and change the world.”
The research completed by the College to Career Initiative Task Force found that there are groups of students who are not aware of the career services and resources on campus. Carolyn Connerat, associate vice provost for enrollment management, said this initiative will help to make sure all students are served by expanding marketing while also improving career services by building onto what they already do to help students.
“I think you are going to continue to see strong performance and growth from the centers that are already in existence in the different colleges,” said Connerat. “That includes improvement in everything from helping students with resumes and interviews to connecting students with employers.”

Another goal of the College to Career Initiative is to allow students to explore possible career paths which may be outside of their major by providing them with resources and information from other colleges they are not necessarily a part of. This is something that Jorge Zamora, a 2017 graduate with a degree in biology, wishes he would have had access to while he was a student at UT.
“Not having access to the things created for business students such as their online job postings and job fairs was probably my biggest pain point when I was going through the job recruiting process,” Zamora said. “This left me feeling quite dejected at times since I know that not having those resources could be what’s keeping me from my dream job.”
The governing committee for this initiative is just beginning, but they urge students to continue visiting the career service offices located in the individual colleges while they work to improve them. The career counselors at these offices provide support for students looking for jobs and prepare them to be competitive for the job market, said Robert Vega, Liberal Arts career services director.
“Liberal Arts Career Services offers comprehensive career services for all of our students, whether they intend to pursue a career, go to grad or law school or participate in a gap year,” Vega said.

Although Ali wishes career services did more to help him when he was still a student, he said this initiative is a step in the right direction.
“Although I struggled to find a job when I graduated, I believe the College to Career Initiative will definitely help students who are in the same situation I was in,” Ali said. “I’m happy to see UT improve the way they help their students because it will ultimately positively affect them and their future careers.”
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