Eight ways Miami’s Center for Career Exploration and Success has strengthened its efforts to help students
See which services students use the most and how they benefit
Eight ways Miami’s Center for Career Exploration and Success has strengthened its efforts to help students
Miami University’s Center for Career Exploration and Success (CCES) began working with Enrollment Management and Student Success in 2018 to grow career development at the university.
“Since then, we’ve increased staffing to be able to have a broader reach,” said Jen Benz, assistant vice president of Career Exploration and Success.
Here are eight ways CCES has strengthened efforts to help students:
More career advisors and programming
The center increased staffing from 17½ to 30 employees and added more programming — all funded through a $100 career development fee per semester for all full-time undergraduate students on the Oxford campus as well as at the Regionals through Career Services & Professional Development. The fee was phased in over time.
“We are able to program beyond the typical ‘how to create your resume,’ ‘how to interview for a job,’” Benz said. “We’re doing more programming around the different industries that our students want to go into.”
Career and internship fairs, networking events
Miami also offers popular career and internship fairs and brings professionals to campus to network with students regarding a variety of professions.
Benz said Miami students continue to be highly sought after. Last year, 487 organizations participated in Miami Oxford career fairs.
More than $1.1 million for completing internships
Since 2021 through Fiscal Year 2024, the center has awarded more than $1.1 million to students completing internships and research to help offset expenses and provide equitable access to encourage student participation. Prior to 2021, there was very little student funding support for these experiences, Benz said.
Improved job placement rate
Today, Miami’s job placement rate for graduates of the Oxford campus employed or continuing their education within six months of graduation is 99.7%, up from 95.8% in 2018.
Benz noted that before 2016, there was a gap in placement rates for students of color and international students. “Today, there is parity after greatly enhancing targeted efforts to serve these populations,” she said.
Proactive outreach strategies led the job placement rate to rise to 99% for international students and students of color. An international career advisor works with students who want to work abroad.
Stronger student engagement
Previously, the center was not able to track the percentage of student engagement with career services, but Benz estimated it was less than 50%.
“We can track that 93% of first-year students (2023-2024) engaged with career development,” she said. “This is a result of efforts to engage students ‘early and often’ in career development so as to promote the importance of career planning early in a student's career.”
First-year students learn about career services during orientation when they can select career clusters.
“It’s embedded in first-year experiences,” she said, adding that the center works in tandem with the colleges across campus on events.
Rachel Beech, vice president of Enrollment Management and Student Success (EMSS), said the work the Center for Career Exploration and Success does on behalf of Miami students is critical to the outcomes of Miami graduates.
“By connecting with students before and in their first semester, CCES helps to demystify the steps needed to achieve career outcomes,” Beech said.
“Through partnerships within EMSS and across campus, and with the over 10,000 employers connected to Miami, the CCES team works to curate unique opportunities for career exploration that helps open doors to the opportunities that await on the other side of graduation."
Three more ways CCES has strengthened career development:
- Reduced the overall student to career advisor ratio from 3,741: 1 to 1,385:1.
- Added a dedicated career advisor for graduate students.
- Became one of the first career centers in the country to offer a professional headshot photo booth. More than 2,647 have taken headshots at the booth.
Established in 1809, Miami University is located in Oxford, Ohio, with regional campuses in Hamilton and Middletown, a learning center in West Chester, and a European study center in Luxembourg. Interested in learning more about the Career Center for Career Exploration and Success? Visit the website for more information.
