Career Center Faculty Update
May 2025

Dear Colleagues,

As another academic year draws to a close, we are -- as always -- grateful for your partnership. Simply put, our work of empowering students to pursue careers and lives of meaning and purpose is far more effective because of our many collaborations with you.  

We hope the theme of this newsletter will serve as another way to strengthen our collaboration in supporting students throughout their Boston College experience. As you know, students learn and grow in so many ways—both in and out of the classroom. When they recognize how skills developed through academics, campus involvement, athletics, and work experiences all connect, it can deepen their learning and self-awareness.

We also recognize that much of what you already do in the classroom prepares students for life beyond BC, even if those connections aren’t always immediately obvious to them. By encouraging students to reflect on the relevance of their coursework and experiences, we can help them see how every class contributes to their development—both academically and personally.

In that spirit, we are excited to share our ideas for furthering our partnership. You will find information on how you can connect course material to the skills students will need in their lives beyond the Heights, as well as resources you can use in the classroom to enhance assignments, class discussions, and more. You will also find general updates and announcements, including details on how to help the university have the strongest possible data on the post-graduation plans for the Class of 2025.

If ever you have questions about how to support your students or ideas for how the Career Center can better support you, please reach out to us! We always welcome your thoughts, concerns, and suggestions on how we can better serve students and our colleagues.

Wishing you a restorative and fun-filled summer!

Best regards

Rachel A. Greenberg, Director, Career Center, r.greenberg@bc.edu

Joe Du Pont, J.D., Associate Vice President, Career Services & Integrated Learning, dupontjo@bc.edu 

4 Ways to Add Career Readiness to Your Summer and Fall Courses 

1 . To enhance student engagement with the course material, connect course learning outcomes and assignments to the skills they need to develop for their future: Help students see how the skills they gain in your class will be relevant to their lives and careers going forward, will help them get internships and jobs, and can help them reflect on what skills they enjoy using. Doing so will motivate students as they will more clearly see the direct relevance between your course and their lives. The Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) website provides sample syllabus statements to link course content to skill building. Your course is already providing these skills; including this information on your syllabus and within assignments will help students see these important connections.

2. Use the Career Center’s virtual resources in your class to enhance an existing or new assignment or project. The Career Center has many resources available for the BC community’s use and with functionality that can make your life easier and enhance a class assignment. Examples include: 

• Eagle Exchange: Eagle Exchange is an excellent tool to use in class assignments when you want your students to connect with a content expert. For example, for a Public Relations class, students can connect with practitioners in the field to learn more about PR in practice. Or for a class about real estate and urban action, students can find and connect BC alumni working in affordable housing or similar fields. 
• Big Interview: Rita Owens, Senior Lecturer has incorporated Big Interview into the Business Communications Class: “I've been interested in being able to give my business students some concrete feedback on their presentations, especially those done remotely… Big Interview is a tool primarily designed to practice job interview sessions, but it will take any recorded material and provide valuable suggestions for improvement. Students in our course record their talks on the platform and receive artificial intelligence feedback on various topics, including pacing, filler word usage, eye contact, vocabulary, tone, and much more….  Our students report that using Big Interview gives them so much confidence because they know exactly what to improve upon.” 

3. Invite a Career Center staff member, employer, or BC alum to speak to your class.  The Career Center presented to over 55 classes this academic year. If you are interested in having a member of our staff present to your class this summer or fall, please request a Career Center class visit. If you would like assistance in identifying an employer or BC alum to speak to your class, please reach out to a member of our team.

4. Are you interested in working with a Career Center staff member this summer to incorporate any of the ideas above (or your own ideas!) into a course or your department more broadly? We would be excited to work with you. Please indicate your interest via this form.

Where are Class of 2025 Grads Going Next? Help us find out!

Every year, students ask us, “What can I do with my major?”—and our post-graduation survey results are one of the best ways to answer that question.The Career Center and the Office of Institutional Research & Planning have launched this year’s post-graduation plans survey. We are seeking your help in encouraging your seniors to complete this survey, which will help us strengthen support for future Eagles and help you understand where your students land after graduation.

To make this as easy as possible for you, here is an email draft you can personalize and send. If your department already sends an email of congratulations to seniors, feel free to incorporate this survey there. 

Curious about where recent grads in your major have landed? Explore our interactive dashboard of post-graduation outcomes to see the diverse paths BC students take after Commencement.  The Class of 2024 post graduate outcomes will be available soon.

Thank you for helping us tell the story of what BC graduates can achieve!

Tracking the Impact of Executive Actions on the Job Market

Over the last few months, job market changes, economic uncertainty, and evolving job market conditions have impacted the job prospects of students and alumni. To proactively support you in guiding these students, the Career Center has developed a document outlining job market trends, relevant tools, and advising strategies. Our aim is to provide factual information and to stay informed of this evolving situation. This is intended to be an internal document for Boston College faculty and staff.

Additionally, if you know of students who have recently had job start dates pushed back, offers rescinded, or who are feeling discouraged in their job search, please encourage them to connect with us and let us know what you are hearing to help us strategize the best ways to provide ongoing support. 

Learn how AI is Changing the Workplace and What New Skills Our Students Need Because of It

Join us at the BC Talks AI conference on May 14 at 1:30 pm. According to this Forbes article, AI skills have become among the fastest growing skills needed for today’s workforce. Representatives from local organizations across multiple industries will discuss the essential technical and non-technical skills and knowledge that employers are prioritizing in new college graduates as they pertain to AI. Attendees will gain insights into how we can all help prepare students and new graduates for the ever-changing job market.

Update Links to Career Center Website 

The Career Center launched a refreshed version of our website in early October, which  involved restructuring the page architecture for easier navigation of the site. As a result, many of our page links were broken. While we currently have redirects in place, those will expire on August 15.

What does this mean for you?

If you currently link to any Career Center pages from your department website, please update those links prior to the August 15 deadline. If you would like to consult with us on which pages would be most appropriate to include on your website, please reach out to a member of our team.

Some Good Summer Reads

• If you are interested in helping students and families understand the career potential of a humanities degree without changing the core of what you teach: How to Rescue Your Slumping Humanities Program  (Chronicle of Higher Education)

• If you are looking for ways to support your graduate students: 5 Good Alternatives to a Faculty Career: What to tell your Ph.D. students about their nonacademic options (Chronicle of Higher Education)

• If you’re thinking about how to better connect a liberal arts curriculum with students’ goals and aspirations post-college: College of Arts and Sciences at IUB Constructs Pillars Experience to Equip Students for Career Success (National Association of College and Employers)

We’re Here All Summer For Students and Faculty:

The Career Center is open all summer and our staff is eager to connect with students and faculty. Students and recent graduates can schedule in-person or virtual career coaching appointments with our staff via Handshake. Faculty who are interested in discussing how to integrate career readiness into their classes or have other questions about how to partner with the Career Center can email a member of our staff anytime this summer to schedule time to connect. 

• 3,408 one-on-one career coaching appointments occurred between September 2024 and March 2025 with the most common appointment topic being ‘Job & Internship Search’. Of students surveyed after a career coaching session, 98% are likely or highly likely to recommend the Career Center to other BC students or recent alumni.

• 7,494 student attendees at Career Center-led programs between September 2024 and March 2025.

• Career Center staff delivered 55+ Classroom Presentations this academic year.

• 2,144 students connected with 201 employers at 6 career fairs and networking events. Of students surveyed after these events, the vast majority were satisfied or highly satisfied with the networking event (96%) or career fair (94%).

• 2,268 connections were made on Eagle Exchange made between current students (undergraduate and graduate) and BC alums between September 2024 and March 2025.

2025-2026 Save these Dates 

These are the dates we are planning for the next academic year, but they are subject to change. Please keep these in mind as you plan your own departmental events and programs. If you have questions or concerns about a date, please reach out to career.center@bc.edu.

• Connect with the Career Center Week | September 2-5
• MentorMatch sign up opens | early September
• Business & Technology Career Fair | Friday, September 12 
• Social Change, Policy, & Nonprofit Networking Event | Thursday, October 23
• Endeavor | January 7-9
• Wall Street Networking Event | Friday, January 30
• Eagle Intern Fellowship First Deadline | Monday, February 23
• Healthcare, Nursing, & Life Sciences Career Fair | Friday, February 13
• Eagle Intern Fellowship Second Deadline | Monday, March 30
• Communication, Arts, & Marketing Networking Event | Thursday, March 19
• Consulting Series | April TBD
• Green Careers Networking Event | April TBD
• Eagle Intern Fellowship Final Deadline | Monday, April 27