In recent years, career integration has been an emerging topic and practice, especially for campuses where career centers and academics have been traditionally siloed. This strategic shift recognizes that for students to successfully navigate the job market, career readiness must be woven (or integrated) into their academic experience. By partnering closely with faculty and offering a variety of entry-points to incorporating career development into the curriculum, career centers are transforming the classroom into a primary site for professional exploration and growth.
This article spotlights how SuccessWorks at the College of Letters & Science (L&S) has incorporated career integration in a multitude of ways, increasing faculty buy-in and student career preparedness.
The Evolution of Career Integration at SuccessWorks 🎓
At SuccessWorks, we’ve been building the systems, resources, and faculty buy-in necessary to move career support from an “optional engagement” to an “unavoidable experience“ for L&S students since 2022. This initiative scales lessons from our Inter-LS courses and department partnerships to address critical gaps in student career readiness.
Bridging the proficiency gap 📈
Our work is grounded in data from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), which reveals a significant “proficiency gap” between new graduates and employers in key competencies like communication and critical thinking. Additionally, NACE and SuccessWorks data show:
- Faculty as vital partners: Over 90% of faculty report that students ask them for career advice.
- Student trust: Students report being more comfortable discussing career goals with faculty than with career centers.
- Faculty Input: A Spring 2025 survey helped us see the amount of career integration already happening within L&S. It led to the creation of an informal 12-member Career Integration Advisory Group that helps us craft messaging and create resources that resonate with their faculty peers.
Consistent communications and a dedicated webpage 📣
To keep career integration top-of-mind, we launched two dedicated newsletters in 2025, which we send out four times per academic year:
- The Career Minute: Sent to all department partners, this newsletter highlights existing partnerships and showcases “wins.”
- Career Integration Newsletter: Sent to all L&S faculty and instructional staff, this newsletter shares faculty and student testimonials related to the benefits of career integration, and reminds instructors of upcoming partnership opportunities.
We also created a faculty and staff resources page where many of our materials can be viewed and requested through automated forms.
Plug-and-play resources for every course 🛠️
We offer a range of career integration materials designed to meet faculty where they are, focusing on the transferable skills students gain in any L&S major. These include:
- Canvas modules & assignments: Thematic online content for use in courses and ready-to-use reflection questions and skills-based assignments
- Module topics include:
- Jobs, Internships & How to Get Them
- Graduate School & Gap Year
- Resumes & Cover Letters
- Interviewing Tips & Tools
- Career Conversations (Alumni Networking)
- Assignment topics include:
- Career Exploration
- Personal Brand
- Job Analysis
- Interview Practice
- Transferrable Skills
- Module topics include:
- Class presentations: Live presentations or recorded versions with facilitation guides
- Common topics include:
- Resumes
- Interviewing
- Jobs/Internship Search
- Transferrable Skills
- Introduction to SuccessWorks
- Common topics include:
- Syllabus language: Standardized descriptions of SuccessWorks resources
- Alumni course speakers: A new resource that streamlines the process of bringing alumni into the classroom to show how their degree and skills translate to real-world success
“My major takeaway from my conversations with students… is that they want more space to talk with other majors… When I gave them the time in class to listen to each other, they shared info like networking strategies, gave some cheerleading to each other and shared specific businesses and government agencies to try.” — Kathy Cramer, Department of Political Science
Tailored Consultations & Feedback 🤝
For instructors who want a deeper dive, we provide individual consultations to:
- Identify and name the skills already present in existing assignments.
- Create bespoke materials for specific majors or course needs.
- Gather student and instructor feedback to continuously improve our toolkit.
“I teach a course that I’m confident has transferrable skills built into it but I did not know how to identify them or communicate them with the students in the class. I met with SuccessWorks and they helped me specifically identify parts of homework assignments that were transferrable and generalizable beyond the class. SuccessWorks also helped me with modifying the assignments so these skills were directly identified as part of the learning experience. I believe this greatly improved my homework assignments and the students directly benefitted from this.” — Eric Raimey, Department of English
“I’ve been impressed with SuccessWorks staff responsiveness and eagerness to identify materials related to individual courses. It’s been a privilege to collaborate with a team so committed to student success and explore ideas that are rooted in real-world relevance.” — Morton Ann Gernsbacher, Department of Psychology
Top 3 Takeaways for Career Staff 📌
If you are looking to engage faculty in similar career integration work, here are our primary lessons learned:
- Building awareness is an ongoing project: Even long-term partners may not know the full range of your support. Continually remind them of what is available.
- Respect their time: Faculty schedules are demanding. Design resources as seamless additions rather than course overhauls.
- Build on existing work: Focus on naming the skills faculty are already teaching. Small changes in language can lead to large impacts in student confidence and understanding.
Recent Impact: In spring 2026, over 20 faculty partners engaged 1,200+ L&S students, strengthening their understanding of how their classroom knowledge and skills support post-graduation success.
Want to learn more about the career integration work occurring at SuccessWorks? This initiative draws upon the skills and expertise of folks across SuccessWorks. To connect, email us at partners@successworks.wisc.edu.
Resources to Explore Career Integration Best Practices💡
As career centers continue to expand the reach of career integration on our campus, we invite our career services community to explore the frameworks and data-driven strategies provided by leading professional associations, as well as our very own peers here at UW-Madison. Fun fact: the School of Human Ecology received a 2026 Career Innovation Award from the Career Leadership Collective for their three-course career readiness curriculum.
The organizations below offer a wealth of information on integrating career development and learning into multiple facets of students’ higher education journey. We have institutional-level memberships for both NACE and the Career Leadership Collective, which allows access to many free (or reduced cost) articles, resources, and training. Details on accessing member-only benefits for these two organizations can be found on OACS’ Professional Organizations webpage.
- National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE): Explore the eight career readiness competencies that serve as the foundation for integrating professional skills into academic coursework.
- The Career Leadership Collective (CLC): Learn about the career ecosystem model and related podcast which highlights how career learning can be embedded into academics and student life.
- AAC&U: High-Impact Practices: Learn about the American Association of Colleges and Universities’ research on how experiential learning and collaborative projects within the curriculum drive student success.
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Staff at SuccessWorks wrote and contributed to this Spotlight story.