About Career Exploration and Success
About CES
Who We Are
We are committed to assisting students make connections between their academic experience and career paths. We provide career-related resources to help individuals discover themselves, explore careers and academic pathways, develop skills, and pursue their post-graduate goals. We build relationships with external partners to optimize opportunities while creating strategic partnerships with campus departments to assist students in articulating co-curricular experiences that will make them competitive in their future pursuits.
Hours & Locations
Rutgers University-New Brunswick is a large campus. However, Career Exploration and Success strives to be accessible to all students regardless of location. Due to the coronavirus outbreak and to ensure we are following all safety guidelines set forth by the university, all our services are now available virtually and we offer limited in-person services by appointment only.
College Ave Campus - 9AM-5PM
106 Somerset Street, 4th Floor, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Busch Campus - 9AM-5PM
604 Bartholomew Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854
Contact CES
If you have questions and would like to contact us directly, use one of the avenues below:
- Technical Assistance for Online Career Tools:
- Email: careers@echo.rutgers.edu
- Phone: 848-932-0144
- Students, Faculty, and Staff:
- Email: careers@echo.rutgers.edu
- Phone: 848-932-7997 or 848-445-6127 (On-Campus Interview-Related Inquiries Only)
- Student/Alumni Help Desk: M–F: 8:30am – 5pm ET
- Connect
Requests and Inquire
We strive to provide the best service possible. To make it easy and efficient, please use the links below for media, presentation, and vendor requests.
Refer an Alumni Mentor
Have an alumnus who is interested in giving back to the university by engaging with current students? Career Exploration and Success works closely with the Rutgers University Alumni Association to provide opportunities for alumni to assist current students in their career development.
Opportunities to Engage Include:
- Road to Industry Program
- Career Exploration Nights
- Student-Alumni Career Connect System
- Intern for a Day Program
If you have an alumni mentor wishing to assist students, please refer them to our Industry and Student Connections Unit.
Refer an Employer
Periodically employers will contact you directly and while you may not have the resources and time to adequately respond to their needs, rest assured we do. Referring employers to us will help increase their visibility and give students greater access to structured employment opportunities. We are also knowledgeable of the legal, regulatory, and ethical challenges to avoid.
If you have an employer partner wishing to recruit students, please refer them to our Industry and Student Connections Unit.
Advisory Boards and Councils
Career Exploration and Success engages a number of advisory boards and councils comprised of student leaders, campus partners, and industry professionals. Together with the staff within CES and career offices across the campus form the Rutgers Career Services Ecosystem.
Office of the Executive Director
The Executive Director oversees career services for a broad array of academic programs at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. William (Wil) Jones, Jr. was named executive director of Career Exploration and Success (CES) in 2021 by Rutgers University-New Brunswick Chancellor-Provost Francine Conway. Jones previously served in a variety of roles within CES, including director of operations and strategic initiatives, senior director, and interim executive director.
Department Structure
Career Development and Experiential Education
The Career Development & Experiential Education staff work with students to successfully transition to Rutgers, discover their skills, interests, and values, develop career readiness competencies and life skills, engage with co-curricular work-related activities, and develop confidence in their ability to articulate acquired skills to future employers. The unit oversees the First-year Interest Group Seminars, Professional Development Institute, general career advising, and the Rutgers Internship & Co-op Course.
The unit is organized into three teams:
- First-year Engagement & Experiential Education
- General Career Counseling and Advising
- Professional Development, Career Readiness, and Peer Mentoring
Career Communities & Campus Partnerships
The Career Communities & Campus Partnerships unit provides tailored career coaching and programming opportunities for the 23 career communities. Working with campus partners, the staff help students explore careers through alumni engagement, manage high-impact mentoring programs such as the Road to Industry and the On-Campus Work Experience Network, and prepare students to pursue their post-graduation goals.
The unit is organized into three teams based on the clients served:
- Career Interest Communities
- Career Student Communities
- Alumni Career Development
Industry & Student Connections
The Industry & Student Connections unit strengthens, expands, and diversifies recruiting relationships to maximize not only career opportunities for Rutgers University–New Brunswick students and graduates but to also generate support for the university’s academic mission from these important partners. Staff organize recruiting events such as fairs, interviewing days, and employer information sessions. They also manage the CES Intern for a Day job shadowing program and oversee our Knights of the Round Table corporate partners program.
The unit is organized into two teams:
- General Recruiting Programs
- Industry-to-Campus Connections
Career Operations & Strategic Initiatives
The Career Operations & Strategic Initiatives unit ensures all students have access to CES resources, provide data-driven decision-making assistance to the department and campus career partners, and provide the administrative foundation for the office. This unit is responsible for administering the campus-wide post-graduation survey, a variety of online career tools, outreach campaigns to engage students, and the onboarding of CES interns.
The unit is comprised of three teams:
- Finance and Administration
- Technology and Data Management
- Strategic Outreach and Marketing
Vision and Mission Statements
Vision Statement:
All Rutgers University—New Brunswick students will make successful transitions from their academic pursuits to their first-choice post-graduation destinations based upon a clear understanding of the career development process, competitive credentials, access to a robust employer base, and mastery of contemporary strategies for identifying and securing career options that reflect their unique interests, skills, and aspirations.
Mission Statement:
Career Exploration and Success (CES) is committed to assisting students with making connections between their academic experience and career paths. We provide career-related advising, resources, and programs to help individuals discover their interests, values, and skills, explore careers and majors, develop skills through internships and experiential opportunities, and pursue their post-graduate goals. We build relationships with alumni, employers, and graduate schools to optimize internship, job, and career opportunities while also creating strategic partnerships with campus departments to assist students in developing and articulating co-curricular experiences that will help to ensure they are competitive in their future pursuits.
Core Values
Collaborative Approach to Growth: We build mutually beneficial partnerships across academic and departmental units. We value constructive internal and external feedback. We see our success as being directly correlated to a shared vision and reflective of our shared journey to benefit all students.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: We embrace all types of diversity and view career development as an opportunity to impact social justice issues. We develop services and resources that address the needs of our diverse clientele. We make a commitment to developing and empowering students from all backgrounds and experiences, and believe this to be a shared responsibility of all. Learn more about our commitment to action.
Excellence: Excellence will be imbued and reflected in all we do, from the relationships we create and nurture with our diverse clientele, to the services, programs, and information we provide, to the manner in which we interact with our colleagues internally and externally.
Innovation and Relevance: In an effort to stay relevant, we embrace innovation. We take calculated risks and view our audacity to try new approaches as a strength. We learn from our own experimentation and share it with the community as a whole, with a commitment to continuous improvement of our clientele's career development experience at Rutgers. We strive to remain nimble, relevant for today, and ready for tomorrow.
Positive Work Climate: We promote an organizational culture that reflects the importance of a workplace that is a model of professionalism. We strive to be productive, ethical, respectful, and growth-oriented. We promote a collegial environment where working hard can still be fun.
Smart Operating Practices: We embrace the importance of efficiency in this fast-paced environment. We seek a synergistic and intentional approach to our operations. We value sharing thoughtful and timely data-driven decisions.
Rutgers Career Outcomes & Data: First-Destination Survey
Career Exploration and Success collects data from the graduating students in September, December, and May. Faculty, staff, and students with valid NETID credentials may view the full reports below. Non-Rutgers affiliated visitors may access the public summary reports.
National Trends and Predictions
Established in 1956, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) is a professional association that connects over 9,800 college career services professionals; over 3,200 university relations and recruiting professionals; and 300 business solution providers that serve this community.
NACE is the leading source of information on the employment of the college educated, and forecasts hiring and trends in the job market; tracks starting salaries, recruiting and hiring practices, and student attitudes and outcomes; and identifies best practices and benchmarks.
Policies & Guidelines
Policies and procedures are an essential part of any organization and provide a roadmap for our office operations. By acting in accordance with these policies and guidelines, we are better able to serve our students, alumni, employers, and the Rutgers community at large.