Career fairs have a role in a student's career journey, but instead of being a focus, they are best used as part of a broader, more innovative ecosystem that prioritizes skills and relationships.

Overall, employers say new college graduates are reasonably well prepared for the jobs they will enter after graduation—and more than 20% say they are very well prepared, according to NACE’s Job Outlook 2026 Spring Update.

AI is increasingly becoming an expectation for early career talent, shaping both the job market and entry-level work, according to NACE’s Job Outlook 2026 Spring Update.

When reviewing the resumes of Class of 2026 candidates for entry-level positions, employers are seeking graduates who provide evidence of polished teamwork, problem-solving, and communication skills, according to results of NACE’s Job Outlook 2026 Spring Update survey.

Students hoping to demonstrate their skills during a skills-based hiring process should share examples and situations when they used their skills to solve problems, according to employers responding to NACE’s Job Outlook 2026 survey.

Employers regard having an internship with their organization or within their industry to be the most influential factors when choosing between two otherwise equally qualified candidates.

Despite all the information on hiring, it can be difficult to determine why some of our students are hired quickly and others are not. When interacting with students across majors and with different industry interests, career educators and recruiters often sum up behaviors expected on the job as professionalism, a tricky umbrella term that ignores the way that behavioral expectations may change from industry to industry—and can impact hiring decisions and new employee retention.

The goal for employers should be to keep autistic employees from “hire to retire,” which is the ability to sustain these employees by providing them with the support they need to build their career in an organization.

When recruiting and hiring students with autism, it’s important for employers to train hiring managers so they understand how the hiring process might look different and adjust their criteria on how they evaluate candidates.

There is a clear and persistent disconnect between how students and employers perceive students’ development of the competencies they need to be career ready as they enter the workforce.

College students from the Class of 2025 looking to enter the job market should highlight on their resumes the attributes and skills they developed in their classwork and through their various experiential assignments. But which attributes and skills are most important to employers?

As a job candidate, students should pursue openings where their skills match the company’s needs, and by dissecting a job description and ensuring those key words find their way into their resume, students can stand out during the screening process.

Landmark College, an institution exclusively for students who learn differently including those on the autism spectrum, champions a strengths-based model and gives students the skills and strategies they need to achieve their goals.

Because Liberty Mutual Insurance hires hundreds of interns a year, it equips interns with a wide range of skills and has the skill profile of an intern closely align with its early career roles to prepare interns for potential future full-time roles.

Although new college graduates looking to enter the workforce and employers hiring these graduates agree on which competencies are most important for job candidates to hone, their perception of student proficiency in them differs.

After witnessing the impact that the pandemic had on early undergraduate students from underrepresented groups in the tech industry, IBM scaled up its early talent ID program.

This case study by the NACE Principles for Ethical Professional Practice Committee addresses the ethical issues involved when faculty refer and rank students for employers and offers recommendations for how career center staff can resolve the issues.

The key for reference providers is to know what information should and can be disclosed, and what legal ramifications arise as a result of improper disclosures.

Many career services professionals are asked to prescreen candidates for employers—to identify their “best” students. So, too, are faculty members. Beyond a host of ethical issues involved in such a request, there are legal implications.

When choosing between two otherwise equally qualified candidates, employers deem having internship experience—with the organization or within its industry—to be the most influential factors.

In this advisory opinion, the National Association of Colleges and Employers explains that career centers should not select students for employers to interview for jobs or internships and reviews the ethical underpinnings of that opinion.

New graduates and their potential employers can agree on which skills are most important for job candidates, but differ on how proficient new graduates are in those abilities.