Join/Renew
“Data?” That’s the question I kept hearing in my interviews across several colleges and universities.
My fiancé and I had just agreed — over cappuccinos and genuine excitement — to leave Boston, and I was ready for a new challenge after three years in my previous role, totaling nearly a decade in career services. I could point to plenty of concrete examples: surveys I’d designed for student appointments, assessments of job ready workshops, and more. Yet each time I was asked about my experience with “data,” I paused. In career services, the term is used so broadly that context often gets lost, and there is surprisingly little consensus about what counts as relevant data.
This raises a bigger question for those of us in the field: How do we define “data” in a way that actually informs our work? My hope with this piece is to foster meaningful dialogue among both new and seasoned career services professionals about this important, yet often under-discussed, topic in the context of job-ready workshops. Which resources or infrastructure currently exist to collect and manage information? Which types of data should we prioritize and from whom? How should it be collected, organized, and ultimately leveraged? Who holds responsibility for it, and how do we ensure it drives intentional, meaningful action? By tackling these questions together, we can move away from buzzwords to consensus and clarity, building shared understanding and more effective practices that truly support students.
Data in Context Instead of as Context
To move from observation to action, we need to consider how data can be collected and interpreted to reflect student engagement. My “Job and Internship Search” and “LinkedIn” workshops typically had around 30 students register. On the surface, it seemed the communication channels through email blasts, digital newsletters, and flyers on communal bulletin boards were working. Yet actual attendance often fell below 15 students, and surprisingly, low participation in career-ready workshops is a persistent national issue. As a colleague rightfully noted, registering for a workshop is often synonymous with clicking “like” on social media for this generation: it signals interest but not always commitment.
Even if all 30 students had attended, producing a 100% attendance record doesn’t tell the complete story. What if those students were completely disengaged and were scrolling on their phones or even asleep? Without context, data can look impressive on paper but fail to fully capture the reality of student engagement.
Equally important, how do we define student engagement? Is the career office solely focused on attendance under the banner of “students served”, or should we pivot towards learning outcomes—what students actually take away from career-ready workshops and apply afterward? How can offices measure and track this effectively, and use the information to guide action?
Measure the meaningful
Tracking attendance at job-ready workshops is only one layer of data, if that is the primary priority of a career services office. For those who prefer to place greater emphasis on learning outcomes across different types of job-ready sessions, below are a few preliminary suggestions. There are, of course, many other learning areas worth exploring, and the NACE Career Readiness Competencies offer a substantial resource for anyone looking to expand this work.
Three Learning Outcomes to Consider:
- Enhanced Job Search Skills: Students can identify and utilize effective strategies for job searching, networking, and leveraging resources.
- Improved Professional Communication: Students can craft resumes, cover letters, and elevator pitches that effectively communicate their skills and experiences.
- Increased Confidence and Preparedness: Students feel more confident in interviews and professional settings and can articulate their strengths clearly.
Five Questions to Ask Students:
Quantitative (scale-based, e.g., 1–5 or 1–10)
- On a scale of 1–5, how confident do you feel in applying for jobs after attending this workshop?
- On a scale of 1–5, how useful was the workshop in improving your resume or cover letter skills?
- On a scale of 1–5, how likely are you to apply the networking strategies you learned?
Qualitative (open-ended)
- What was the most valuable skill or insight you gained from this workshop?
- What could we improve to make the workshop more helpful for your career preparation?
Moving Forward
As career services professionals, collecting data is only the beginning; the more important question is what we are asking for, from whom, and what we ultimately do with the information once it is gathered. If attendance figures, survey responses, learning outcomes, and engagement trends are collected without a clear purpose, they risk becoming static numbers rather than tools that inform strategy.
When interpreted thoughtfully, however, data can strengthen how career services offices communicate their value across campus and beyond. It can help articulate the impact of programming to senior leadership, support annual reporting, and contribute to broader institutional conversations with donors, admissions, and prospective students and their families. It also provides material for storytelling through social media, office websites, and other public-facing platforms where the work of career services is often evaluated through visible outcomes.
This matters because higher education can no longer rely solely on institutional reputation or past success to explain its role during a time of heightened scrutiny from both the federal government and families facing rising tuition costs without sufficient financial resources. Questions surrounding value, return on investment, and the overall worth of tuition are increasingly central for today’s students and their families. In this context, career services offices operate within a politically sensitive environment while also being uniquely positioned to demonstrate how programming contributes to student development, career readiness, and post-graduation outcomes.
Moving forward, the challenge is not simply to collect more data but to collect the right data, interpret it in context, and use it intentionally. When done well, data becomes more than a reporting requirement; it becomes part of a broader value proposition that helps explain why this work matters and how it supports students in ways that are measurable, meaningful, and increasingly necessary for a thriving career ecosystem.
