The CSU is among the best in the nation for opening doors to educational opportunities for students from all backgrounds and helping them achieve economic independence. CSU graduates go on to have careers in virtually every industry, and they become leaders in their fields and in their communities.
To strengthen career pathways for students, each of the 23 universities has a
dedicated career center that provides students with a variety of services to assist in their personal and professional growth, helping graduates successfully transition from college to career.
These centers aim to teach students career readiness skills from the beginning of their academic journey and help them understand how their classroom studies will apply to their desired occupation.
Some of the services offered by campus career centers include:
- Career counseling, including career and major exploration.
- Workshops and panels on career planning and job search topics.
- Advertising for internships, part-time jobs and career positions.
- Job and internship fairs and employer networking events.
- Resume clinics and personal statement reviews.
- Practice interview assistance.
- On-campus interviews with employers.
- Advice on graduate and professional school pursuits.
Campus career centers work with every college to ensure students are aware of these services and encourage students to visit the centers early and often.
“Students should start the process their first day on campus,"
said Cherrie Peters, lead career coach in Cal Poly Pomona's
Career Center. “Career planning really is a process—a process of elimination, getting to know what [students] value and what is important to them. Students know themselves best, so they have to create career readiness for themselves first."
CSU career counselors assist students with career and major exploration to help them explore their skills and abilities and understand how their interests play a part in their career development.
Cal State LA and
Sacramento State, for example, offer students free access to FOCUS 2 CAREER—a career, major and education planning system. Students can use the self-guided assessment software to assess their work interests, values, skills, personality traits and leisure interests.
Students can then combine the results to find job options that match all or some of their qualities and choose which job options interest them to see which majors lead to that job. Many other CSUs use similar assessment tools.
CSU career centers also host job fairs to bring employers directly to students. Recent Cal Poly San Luis Obispo graduate
Tarnvir Dhaliwal ('23, '24) received a job offer from Penumbra, a global health care company specializing in manufacturing medical devices, after meeting with company representatives at a career fair in spring 2024. Dhaliwal started a position as a manufacturing engineer with Penumbra in May, weeks after she officially earned a master's degree in biomedical engineering in March from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
Internship Power
An important function of campus career centers is connecting students to internships, which are a great way for students to apply the knowledge learned in the classroom to their future careers. The CSU not only encourages students to seek these experiences but
builds partnerships with local employers to help students access relevant internships.
CareerReadyU partners TID Water & Power
Stanislaus State, for example, launched CareerReadyU (CRU) in 2019 to connect students with professional development and experiential learning opportunities to better prepare them for the workforce. A key source of its offerings comes through partnerships with about 30 local employers—such as the Turlock Irrigation District, AIG insurance company, Turlock Unified School District and E. & J. Gallo Winery—who participate in campus job fairs, offer internships, provide informational interviews and hire new graduates.
“Our students know that those employers who are partnering with us want to help them either get an internship or career, because they want to keep [that talent] in the Central Valley,"
said Julie Sedlemeyer Stanislaus State Associate Vice President of Student Equity and Success. “We work with employers to help them figure out how to build their presence on campus, how to connect with students and how they can help us help our students become career-ready."
To help students land internships, CareerReadyU provides a range of services including support for crafting resumes, cover letters and LinkedIn profiles; professional headshot stations; interview-appropriate clothing through the Warrior Wardrobe; and career coaching. CRU also keeps students informed of available internships and application deadlines and helps them connect with employers through on-campus career fairs.
In addition to campus-specific internship opportunities, the CSU's systemwide affinity groups and alliances connect students with internships across the state:
Over the last five years, the CSU Agricultural Research Institute (ARI), for example, has enabled about 1,200 students to participate in 250,000 hours of paid internships. And, earlier this year, the ARI received a five-year, $9.5 million grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture NextGen competitive grant program that will increase the number of students invited to engage in ARI-funded projects and internships by 30%.
Learn more about
CSU career services.