Career Everywhere

How Career Centers Can Build a Sustainable Content Ecosystem (feat. Nikki Pebbles)

What career services team wouldn't benefit from reaching more students—without adding more hours to the workday? In this episode, host Meredith Metsker sits down with Nikki Pebbles, Learning and Development Specialist for the City University of New York and a career content creator with over 400,000 followers across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Nikki shares how career advisors can position themselves as trusted micro-influencers for their students, and walks through her practical, framework-driven approach to building a sustainable content ecosystem—no marketing degree or big team required. In this conversation, you will learn: * Why career advisors are already subject matter experts—and how to leverage that as a micro-influencer * How Nikki's 3 AM Method helps career centers generate content ideas rooted in what students are actually worried about * How the Content Anchor System turns one workshop or presentation into a semester's worth of content across multiple platforms * Why consistency matters more than frequency when you're just getting started * How Nikki ran a LinkedIn Bootcamp at St. John's University that generated hundreds of student posts, drove appointment bookings, and created a replicable content blueprint * The tools Nikki recommends for beginners: Edpuzzle, Loom, Descript, CapCut, and iMovie * Why starting a podcast—even a simple audio-only one on Zoom—is her top recommendation for career centers ready to dip their toes into content creation Whether you're a one-person career center or a larger team looking to be more strategic, this episode will leave you feeling like you can actually do this. Connect with Nikki Pebbles: * LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nikkipebbles [https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkipebbles/] * Email: nikki@nikkipebbles.com [nikki@nikkipebbles.com] * Website: nikkipebbles.com [https://nikkipebbles.com/] * TikTok, Instagram, YouTube: Search "Nikki Pebbles" Resources mentioned in this episode: * Edpuzzle [https://edpuzzle.com/] * Loom [https://www.loom.com/] * Descript [https://www.descript.com/] * CapCut [https://www.capcut.com/] * iMovie [https://www.apple.com/imovie/] Continue the conversation in the Career Everywhere Community! Join 2,000 other higher ed career services leaders today: careereverywhere.com/community [https://www.gouconnect.com/career-everywhere/community/]

When Career Becomes a Presidential Priority: One Career Leader's Partnership Playbook (feat. Joe Catrino)

What does it actually look like when a university president makes career a strategic priority — and how does a career services leader make the most of it? In this episode, host Meredith Metsker [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmetsker/] sits down with Joe Catrino [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcatrino/], Executive Director of the Center for Career Design at Dartmouth College, for a candid look at what's possible when career services has a seat at the highest table on campus. Joe joined Dartmouth in early 2025, stepping into a rare situation: a president who had made career one of her core institutional pillars. In just over a year, he's nearly doubled his team, helped close a $30 million fundraising campaign [https://home.dartmouth.edu/news/2026/01/dartmouth-raises-30-million-offer-internships-all] for student internships, and built a partnership with President Sian Beilock [https://www.linkedin.com/in/sianleahbeilock/] that has become a model for executive-level collaboration in career services. In this conversation, Joe shares how that partnership actually works — from the structure of their regular meetings and the impact reports he brings, to the business plan he built to align his center's goals with institutional priorities. He also offers practical advice for career leaders who don't have direct presidential access yet and want to start building those relationships from the ground up. Key topics include: * What it looks like when a president is genuinely committed to career * How Joe structures his regular meetings with President Beilock * The business plan framework he built with Dartmouth's advancement office * How to connect career center outcomes to institutional priorities * Why Joe spent his first five months on a listening tour before building anything * Practical advice for career leaders who don't have presidential access (yet) Learn more about the Dartmouth Center for Career Design*: careerdesign.dartmouth.edu [https://careerdesign.dartmouth.edu/] *Dartmouth's virtual career center is powered by uConnect [https://www.gouconnect.com/] Continue the conversation in the Career Everywhere Community! Join 2,000 other higher ed career services leaders today: careereverywhere.com/community [https://www.gouconnect.com/career-everywhere/community/]

From Deficit to Asset: How Career Centers Can Serve Students in an Uncertain World (feat. Justin Lawhead)

What if "not knowing" wasn't a problem to fix—but exactly where students are supposed to be? In this episode, host Meredith Metsker sits down with Dr. Justin Lawhead, Assistant Vice President for Career Readiness and Postgraduate Student Success at the University of South Carolina, to talk about one of the most persistent challenges in career services: the deficit model. Justin is working to replace it with something better—an affirmation model that treats career uncertainty as normal, reframes exploration as the goal, and meets students where they actually are instead of where we think they should be. Justin shares how his team redesigned their University 101 presence, ran a user-centered design exercise that surfaced exactly who students trust for career guidance (hint: it's not the career center—yet), and introduced "exploration" ribbons at career fairs so employers can better support students who are still figuring it out. He also gets into the harder questions: how do you measure what actually matters in career services, how do you bring your staff along through a mindset shift, and how do you communicate real impact to senior leadership? If you're a career services leader thinking about how to build a culture of exploration on your campus—and make the case for it up the institutional ladder—this one's for you. Continue the conversation in the Career Everywhere Community! Join 2,000 other higher ed career services leaders today: careereverywhere.com/community [https://www.gouconnect.com/career-everywhere/community/]

How Career Services Can Support Students in a Tough Job Market (feat. John Koelliker)

The job market hasn't been this hard for students and recent grads in decades. In this episode, host Meredith Metsker sits down with John Koelliker [https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-koelliker/], co-founder and CEO of Leland [https://www.joinleland.com/]—a platform that connects students and professionals with expert coaches and partners directly with career centers to amplify their impact. John works with tens of thousands of students and the employers trying to hire them. He brings a clear-eyed, front-row view of what's actually happening out there—and what career services professionals can do right now to help students navigate it. In this episode: * Why this job market is uniquely difficult—and what's really driving it * Where the real pockets of opportunity exist for new grads (hint: it's not where most students are looking) * Why the "generalist business" path is struggling and what students should do instead * The power of being hypothesis-driven early—and how career centers can help without overwhelming students * Why in-person still wins in an era of AI-generated applications * What the best career centers are doing differently right now * Why career services engagement is one of the strongest leading indicators of student outcomes—and how to make that case to leadership About John Koelliker: John Koelliker [https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-koelliker/] is the co-founder and CEO of Leland [https://www.joinleland.com/], a platform connecting students, recent grads, and professionals with expert coaches for career navigation and skill-building. Leland also partners with career centers to extend their reach and support for students. Before founding Leland, John worked in venture capital and operations and started his career at LinkedIn. He's based in Utah. Resources from the episode: * John's LinkedIn profile [https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-koelliker/] * John's email: john@joinleland.com [john@joinleland.com]  * Leland [https://www.joinleland.com/]—platform connecting students and professionals with expert career coaches; also partners directly with career centers * Designing Your Life [https://designingyour.life/]—referenced indirectly through the "life design" and "prototyping" conversation * Sandbox [https://web.sandbox.ing/]—entrepreneurship program mentioned by John that gives college students academic credit to build companies; currently offered at a handful of universities Continue the conversation in the Career Everywhere Community! Join 2,000 other higher ed career services leaders today: careereverywhere.com/community [https://www.gouconnect.com/career-everywhere/community/]

How UConn Transforms Student Employment with Work+ (feat. Eran Peterson)

What if your on-campus student job could do more than pay the bills? What if it was actually a career development experience? In this episode, host Meredith Metsker [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmetsker/] sits down with Eran Peterson [https://www.linkedin.com/in/eranpeterson/], Associate Director of Work+ at the University of Connecticut, to talk about how UConn is reimagining student employment through the Work+ program. UConn's Work+ program [https://career.uconn.edu/channels/about-work/] — adapted from a national model pioneered by Arizona State University and the Work+ Collective — is built around a simple but powerful idea: student jobs should be more than transactional. They should be intentional learning experiences where students develop and can articulate real career competencies, and where supervisors feel equipped, supported, and valued for the role they play in student success. Eran walks through how the program works in practice, including the professional development content and tools built for student "working learners," the robust supervisor training and resource ecosystem UConn has developed, and the impressive early results from their pilot year — including a jump in students' sense of belonging from 83% to 98%. He also gets into the challenges of scaling a lean operation, the unexpected ways supervisors are finding out about Work+, and his honest advice for anyone looking to start something similar at their institution. IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL LEARN: — Why UConn focuses on supervisors first — and why that order of operations matters — How the Work+ team is building scalable, on-demand resources so the program doesn't depend on constant one-on-one support — What peer-led supervisor mini sessions look like and why they've become one of the program's biggest wins — How UConn is evolving Work+ to serve supervisors who manage large teams or service-based roles without regular workstation access — Why belonging matters for supervisors, not just students — and how Work+ is working to change campus culture around that — The surprisingly simple job posting tweak that's driving a flood of new supervisor interest ABOUT THE GUEST: Eran Peterson is the Associate Director of Work+ at the University of Connecticut, where he has worked for over 13 years. He started his career at UConn as a career coach before stepping into his current role focused full-time on transforming student employment. Eran is passionate about helping students recognize and articulate the skills they're building on the job — a perspective informed by his own varied work history before landing in career services. RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE: — Eran’s LinkedIn profile [https://www.linkedin.com/in/eranpeterson/] — Eran’s email: eran.peterson@uconn.edu [eran.peterson@uconn.edu] — UConn’s Work+ program [https://career.uconn.edu/channels/about-work/] — The Work+ Collective [https://www.workpluscollective.org/]—the national network of institutions building Work+ programs; Eran's top recommendation for anyone looking to get started — Center for Career Readiness and Life Skills [https://career.uconn.edu/]—UConn’s virtual career center housing all career development content, resources, tools, and more (powered by UConnect [https://www.gouconnect.com/]) — Articulate 360/Rise [https://www.articulate.com/360/rise/]—the e-learning tool UConn uses to build professional development modules for working learners — Suitable [https://www.suitable.co/]—the platform UConn uses to collect evidence of student competency development CONNECT WITH US: New episodes every other Tuesday. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and visit gouconnect.com/career-everywhere/podcast for full show notes, transcripts, and more. Continue the conversation in the Career Everywhere Community! Join 2,000 other higher ed career services leaders today: careereverywhere.com/community [https://www.gouconnect.com/career-everywhere/community/]