<p>What I would expect/want a college career center to do is make opportunity available to students, but I wouldn’t necessary look for guarantees. What I mean by that is, 1) sponsor job fairs, 2) connect with alumni to foster strong alumni network, 3) help students with resumes, interview preps, identify right kind of jobs to apply to, 4) provide facility for students to do phone/video interviews, 5) start career/job seminars as early as freshman year. </p>
<p>When D1 was looking at schools, I asked some of those questions at some very top tier schools. The reaction I received was close to “We don’t know what you are talking about.” We crossed those schools off. </p>
<p>I am contacted by my alma mater to see if I would be interested in taking few interns. Few years ago, when the job market was very bad, Cornell contacted me to see if we would be interested in taking few graduates as interns. We hired few because the career center was very proactive. They did that with many alums/parents on their contact list. Cornell also sponsors many open houses at various companies to introduce their students. I was just at an event at Cornell over the weekend. I met many alumni/parents at the event. They all said they are big supporters of students from the school, and they are often contacted by the school’s career center. This is especially the case for the Hotel school.</p>
<p>I think many alumni would be happy to help out and hire their alma mater’s graduates, but it is most effective if the career center could organize it. I think that’s where they could be most helpful, providing a forum for potential employers to meet their students.</p>