{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Career Everywhere","title":"Why Career Services Engagement Matters More Than Your Major (feat. David Kozhuk)","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":3950,"description":"What if the single biggest predictor of a student's success after graduation isn't their major, their GPA, or even their school's brand name—but simply whether they engaged with career services?\nIn this episode, host Meredith Metsker welcomes back David Kozhuk, Founder and CEO of uConnect, for his second appearance on the show. David makes the case that career services engagement is the most important thing a student can do during college—more influential on outcomes like retention, graduation rates, and earnings than the major they choose or the classes they take.\nDavid traces this conviction back to his own experience as a finance student at UMass Amherst, where regular use of the career center helped him land multiple internships and his first full-time job.\nHe also shares the story of how he returned to campus several years after graduating to recruit top-performing students for a few open roles at his company. Despite the marketing and promotion, a great venue, catering, and the whole nine yards, only three students showed up to his presentation. That gap between what career services offers and how few students actually engage with it inspired David to start uConnect and build the first-ever Virtual Career Center platform—now trusted by hundreds of institutions across the country. \nFrom there, the conversation turns to the data. David unpacks:Why so many institutions are sitting on a goldmine of outcomes data they aren't usingHow uConnect is helping schools connect career services engagement to outcomes data and real-time labor market trendsHow AI is now making it possible to deliver personalized, trustworthy recommendations to students at scale (no matter your career team size)He also gets candid about what's at stake—for students, staff, and institutions—when career readiness stays a talking point instead of a funded priority, and offers concrete advice for both career leaders and senior higher ed leadership on how to close that gap.\nKey takeaways:Career...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/TrzA0-LSinxoJEe66KJpatUxUh4t2w3jXW0NZ0qGHUw/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzM3MjE5LzE2NzE2/NTg2NDAtYXJ0d29y/ay5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}