Giving Compass' Take:

• Career services are starting to change as new models emerge that bridge the gap for students and young professionals to provide access to specific careers. 

• How can donors help higher education institutions connect with employers to help construct these bridges?

• Learn about how colleges are developing a better future for work-study programs. 

These days, more and more young students and professionals are troubled as a result of mistaking a pier for a bridge. The bridge they’re seeking is a bridge to a good first job—hopefully, in a sector they’re passionate about. If they don’t get a good first job, they’re much less likely to get a good second, third, fourth, and fifth job. And with rising tuition and student loan debt, college doesn’t make sense for most students unless college completes this bridge.

There are several reasons why the bridge might be a pier. First and foremost, students may not complete their studies. Only about half of all students who enroll in four-year colleges in the United States complete a degree within six years. While some do take longer, the overall completion rate isn’t higher than 55 percent, meaning 45 percent of students still hit the water. Many colleges and nonprofit organizations are rightly focused on providing the requisite additional support and services to meaningfully increase completion.

Career services are often divorced from academic programs and curriculum. But a new model is emerging, one that bridges youth and young professionals to careers while clearly demonstrating the relevance of specific coursework.

There’s no reason every college and university shouldn’t be reaching out to students with mini-bridges that highlight their distinctive programs of study. They must show students that their passions connect directly to coursework and then to good first jobs. Mini-bridges have the potential to be powerful marketing and enrollment engines. And if the connections are unclear, take advantage of the mini-bridge building exercise to better align top programs with the interests of students and employers.

Read the full article about building bridges to careers by Ryan Craig at EdSurge.