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Career Services & Job Placement

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This Career Services resources page provides guidance and information for the enhancement of career services and improved post-completion employment outcomes districtwide. Resoruces are tied to the Districtwide Career Services Committee and informed by local college-wide Career Services initiatives.

  • Career Services is a basic need for all students and spans instructional and extra-curricular activities and services. 
  • Work-Based Learning is the backbone of career services, providing employer connected experiences throughout the student journey to support post-completion employment outcomes. 

Career Services includes the many different activities, events, and services provided to students to give students the competitive edge needed when entering the workforce, no matter if the student’s employment goals are immediate or long term. Career Services offer students the opportunities to explore career options, understand and experience workplace expectations, hone soft skills, and find employment opportunities via career assessments and explorations, work-based learning, or job referral programs.

According to the 2018 Strada-Gallup report, the majority of students cite jobs and career outcomes as the number one reason for going to college.  

An analysis of the National Association of Colleges and Employer’s Class of 2022 Student Survey found that students using career services were:

  • More likely to obtain a paid internship
  • 2.4 times more likely to say their degree is related to the job they obtained, if the student participated in a paid internship
  • 3.3 times more likely to say their institution prepared them well for their career

 

This District Resource Page provides insight into:

Districtwide Career Services Committee

The districtwide Career Services Committee was establish Spring 2023.

Focus: Student Career Success

Goal(s): Support coordination and communication across San Diego City, Mesa, Miramar and Continuing Education for career services initiatives, including employer engagement, work-based learning, job placement, career center activities, and handshake.

  • Equitably Improve student wage outcomes and career success
  • Increase collaboration across college career service initiatives
  • Increase consistency of the student experience and access to career services districtwide

Guiding Principle: Career services are

  1. A basic need for all students
  2. A cross functional responsibility (student services and instructional services)
  3. Key to retaining students and supporting completion
  4. A component of recruitment and enrollment management

Reporting Structure: reports to VPSSs and VPIs and Vice Chancellor of Instruction; updates may be shared with Chancellors Cabinet when approved by VPs. Membership: based on function/roles; assigned by VPSS and VPIs

Membership: based on function/roles; assigned by VPSS and VPIs

College Lead Representatives:

2025-26:

    • City: Roger Sanchez, Bernice Lorenze, and Jesse Lopez
    • Mesa: Olivia Picolla/Celine Ahearn and Alex Berry
    • Miramar: Jennifer Pena and Claudia Estrada Howell
    • SDCCE: Roberta Krauss and Andrei Lucas

District participation includes: District DSPS and District Career Education & Workforce Development

Expectations of Lead representatives:

  • Provide updates and insights into college-specific efforts - Bring local efforts, challenges, opportunities, and practices to the workgroup (share with workgroup)
  • Serve as a resource for your college on the workgroup efforts, career services opportunities, etc. – Bring back and connect information to local efforts, local committees, college leadership, etc.

Additional representation from the following roles is encouraged:

  • Work-Based Learning lead(s) and Coordinators
  • Job Placement/Job Developer Leads
  • Handshake leads
  • Employer Relations Liaisons
  • Career Counselor lead(s)
  • Additional Career Education leads– Lead CTE Deans

Workgroup Priorities:

  1. Increase districtwide awareness of existing local and districtwide initiatives and infrastructure for career services and job placement.
    1. Increase awareness within the workgroup and support workgroup participant learning.
      • Dedicate time for workgroup members to get to know each other and learn about each college’s infrastructure and current efforts.
      • Dedicate time for colleges to share promising practices and infrastructure models – examples: position descriptions, funding models, staffing/reporting models, communication models, strategic plans.
      • Dedicate time for work group members to learn from each other and explore opportunities to sync up for increased efficiency (where appropriate) and problem solve together.
    2. Increase awareness outside of the workgroup.
      • Identify opportunities and mechanisms to increase transparency and visibility of career services locally and districtwide (cabinet updates, etc.).
      • Identify and communicate on ramps for key partners (DSPS, faculty, etc.
      • Support increased understanding and clarity of not just what each role within and across Career Services initiatives does but also the overall added value the work and the roles provide to students and the institution overall.
  2. Advance districtwide understanding of the importance of prioritizing integration of career services throughout an institution’s student and instructional initiatives.
    1. Support integration of Career Services into local and districtwide guided pathway initiatives.
  3. Identify common needs across initiatives, roles, and functions related to career services
    1. Advocate needs for both technical and adaptive changes.
  4. Increase cross-college communication and collaboration on subject-specific or occupation focused events and activities as well as districtwide events, activities, and tools (examples: Handshake implementation and districtwide career fair).
  5. Provide support and coordination for Pathway Navigation RFA submissions and participation.
  6. Establish districtwide commitment to NACE standards for Career Services.
  7. Begin to explore existing reports, available data, and known equity gaps within and across career services (set a foundation for establishing data engagement needs).

Committee Meeting Materials 

2025-26

  • September 2025 - Fall Kickoff
  • October 2025 - Special Topic: Districtwide Career Services (faculty focused workshop)
  • November 2025 - Work-Based Learning Coordinator Training 
  • December 2025 - Special Topic: Foster Youth Career Success
  • February 2026 - Spring kick-off 
  • March 2026 - Special Topic: Undocumented Student Career Success
  • April 2026 - TBD
  • May 2026 - TBD

2024-25

2023-24

Spring 2023: The districtwide Career Services & Job Placement Workgroup was establish Spring 2023. No meetings held May and June.

Work-Based Learning (WBL) - the backbone of Career Services

Ensuring equitable access to work-based learning (WBL) experiences for all SDCCD students is a priority for support students achievement of their career goals and meeting workforce development needs of the San Diego region.

The District Work-Based Learning Resource Page provides insight into districtwide WBL coding requirements and initiatives, including SG21 reporting framework and districtwide reporting plan. 

  • WBL/SG21 reporting processes, resources, and deadlines are addressed during the monthly Districtwide Career Services Workgroup Meeting

Employer Engagement

Employer engagement is key to ensuring curricular alignment with industry needs and labor market information and for providing meaningful student work-based learning opportunities, internships,and employment.

  • Handshake - Employers are able to sign up for free on the districtwide job board - post jobs and connect with students from all four colleges. Learn more here.
  • Employer Relations Liaisons - each college has been assigned an embedded Employer Relations Liaison (ERL) from the Regional Consortium. These roles provide their assigned college support for connecting with employers to inform programing, provided students with internship and job placements, and for helping college meet employer needs.
  • Industry Advisory Committees - all CTE programs are required to have an industry advisory committee and connect with committee members no less than once per year. The districtwide handbook provides general guidance on maintaining these committees. Learn more here.
  • Job Placement Coordinators and Developments - each college receives regional SWP funding to support job placement coordinator and/or developer roles to increase student job placements in their field of study
  • Corporate Council - The SDCCD Chancellor's Corporate Council meets four times per year. Learn more about the Corporate Council.

 

Employer Relations Liaisons

  • City College: Karen Overklift
  • Mesa College: Erica Olmos
  • Miramar College: Lance Grob
  • SDCCE: Job Placement Developers: Rita Shamoon, Jennifer Kennedy, Sandy Hamel'

 

Handshake Implementation Workgroup 

See resource page here.

Career Events Planning & Collaboration Workgroup

See resource page here.

  • Career Events - See calendar of career events here.
  • Career Fest - See calendar of annual Career Fest activities here.
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