Cornell introduces campus-wide career development model to connect students more directly to opportunity

By Laura Gallup, Student and Campus Life

Cornell University is unveiling the Cornell Career Network, a reimagined career development model to enhance exploration and access to opportunity across campus. This new model aims to make career readiness and support more consistent, visible and integrated into the student experience.

As part of the launch, Cornell Career Services will become University Career Development, maintaining its role as the central hub, coordinating shared resources, digital tools and employer engagement with career offices embedded within Cornell’s colleges and schools. Together, these offices will form the Cornell Career Network, a university-wide career team serving all undergraduates and research graduate students.

As part of this shift, career offices across Cornell’s colleges and schools will adopt new names that include “Career Development.” Each will retain its close ties to its college community, but the shared naming structure is intended to make the system more clear to students and reinforce that all offices are part of a coordinated, university-wide career network.

The launch of the Network follows a comprehensive review that began in 2023 and included input from students, advisors, alumni, faculty and employer partners across campus. That feedback pointed to a common challenge: the career system could be difficult for students to navigate. With offices operating in different ways, it wasn’t always clear which events were open to everyone and students without strong pre-existing career networks—especially first-generation and international students—who often face a steeper learning curve in figuring out where to start.

“One of our guiding principles was ensuring that all students have access to the resources and opportunities that should come with a Cornell education,” said Erica Kryst, assistant vice president for career and professional development.

While these recommendations were developed over several years, the plan recently went through an approval process under Resilient Cornell, a university-wide initiative focused on long-term financial sustainability and rethinking how campus systems operate.

The redesign keeps dedicated career development support within the college, along with specialized expertise and close ties to students. However, offices will now also share common tools, messaging and ways of connecting, in an effort to provide a more streamlined and consistent experience for students.

Moving forward, if an event or resource carries the Cornell Career Network designation, students can feel confident it is open across colleges. Behind the scenes, shared training and advising practices are intended to ensure more consistent guidance across the university.

The changes also reflect a shift in how Cornell defines career support. Rather than a service students seek out at specific moments—like polishing a résumé or preparing for an interview—the new model frames career development as a continuous process woven throughout a student’s entire academic and student life experience.

“Part of our mission is to ensure that students have holistic access and opportunity to explore different career pathways,” Kryst said. “We want to build a relationship with students and have them see us as a consistent resource, long before they need to engage in the job search.”

Helping students identify their options earlier is a key priority. As industries evolve and new fields emerge, students benefit from exposure to a wider range of possibilities. Across campus, this focus on early exploration is shared by career leaders, who see expanded access and stronger connections as critical to helping students navigate an increasingly complex set of career tracks.

"As a student-centric leader, I am so excited about the impact the new Cornell Career Network will have on students,” said Sam Carney, director of career development in the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning. “This connectivity will help all Cornell students understand the hidden curriculum of career development, see pathways and options earlier, and that leads to clarity and confidence."

With this new structure in place, the university is also rethinking how it approaches employer partnerships. Historically, employer engagement was distributed unevenly across colleges. Under the new model, each college will designate staff responsible for strengthening employer relations, while University Career Development provides a central structure for strategy, systems and data.

“We want to create one front door for our employers to walk through at Cornell, that enables them to connect with all schools, and our talented students,” Kryst said.

That shift toward a more unified, institution-wide approach is already resonating across Cornell’s colleges and schools.

“While the College of Business has long-standing partnerships with key employers, a rising tide lifts all boats,” said Jackie Doyle, managing director of Career Development at the SC Johnson College of Business.

“This more coordinated, university-wide approach allows our employer partners to engage beyond traditional business roles and tap into the full breadth of Cornell talent.” 

For students, some of the most visible changes are already appearing through more accessible digital tools and a redesigned career website that consolidates resources previously spread across multiple college pages. Platforms like Big Interview and Exponent are now more widely available, and a centralized toolkit offers structured guidance on exploration, applications and interviews. Career fairs are also more closely coordinated, with major events now grouped into shared “career fair days” to bring more employers to campus at the same time and create broader opportunities across industries.

As the Cornell Career Network launches — with a campus kickoff event planned for early fall— Kryst said the goal is to ensure students feel supported not only in securing their first job, but in building confident, adaptable, lifelong approaches to career exploration and success.

Ultimately, the Cornell Career Network extends a familiar Cornell idea into the career space: “Any person. Any study.” — and now, any career.

Laura Gallup is a communications lead for Student and Campus Life.