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.
For student organizations requesting a presentation or employer participating please submit the presentation request below.

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.






Campus Career Ecosystem:
As an organization within the Office of the Chancellor, Career Exploration and Success employs several advisory boards, committees, and councils comprised of student leaders, campus partners, and industry professionals. Together with the staff within CES and professional development personnel from across the campus, this forms the Rutgers Campus Career 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
Self-Discovery & Career Exploration
The Self-Discovery and Career Exploration (SCE) Unit, an integral part of Career Exploration and Success (CES), has a central purpose of guiding students through the early stages of their career journey at Rutgers. The unit's primary objective is to empower students by assisting them in discovering their interests, skills, and values, while facilitating the exploration of potential career pathways and academic trajectories. SCE takes pride in offering collaborative career counseling, resources, programs, and seminars that effectively bridge academic experiences with future career directions. The unit's steadfast commitment to facilitating informed decision-making equips students with the necessary tools to embark on meaningful career paths aligned with their unique aspirations. Through its unwavering support, the SCE Unit ensures that students establish a robust foundation for lifelong success, fostering achievement early in their academic endeavors. Contributions within the SCE Unit not only guide individual students but play a pivotal role in shaping the comprehensive mission of CES, ultimately cultivating a well-prepared, empowered, and successful student community.
The unit is organized into three teams:
- First-year Career Engagement Team: Aligned with SCE Unit's mission within CES, the First-year Career Engagement Team builds student-campus connections, laying a foundation for empowered discovery, exploration, and informed decision-making for meaningful career paths.
- Career Exploration & Discovery Team: Aligned with SCE Unit's mission within CES, the Self-discovery and Exploration Team guides students in uncovering interests, skills, and values, while assisting them in exploring potential career paths. Providing collaborative career guidance, resources, and programs that bridge academics with careers, the team contributes to CES's overarching mission.
- Career Pathways & Career Student Communities Team: In alignment with SCE Unit's mission within CES, the Career Pathways and Student Communities Team directs its efforts towards empowering students to leverage their individuality as a strength. This entails guiding them through their career trajectories, facilitating mentor connections, and presenting them with employers that resonate with their values, inspiring students to proactively delve into these connections.

Career Readiness & Post-graduation Success
The Career Readiness & Post-graduation Success (CRPS) Unit, an integral part of Career Exploration and Success (CES), has a central purpose of guiding students through the later stages of their career journey at Rutgers. The unit's purpose involves equipping students with tailored coaching, essential resources, and purposeful programs to bridge their academic pursuits and future careers. Through immersive experiences designed to make students more competitive, the unit cultivates practical skills, while its guidance in job searches and graduate school admissions empowers students to excel post-graduation. Collaborative partnerships with alumni, employers, and graduate schools, further established by the unit, enhance opportunities. Through partnerships with campus departments, the unit assists students in articulating co-curricular experiences, ensuring their readiness for competitive future pursuits, and ultimately achieving career success beyond graduation.
The unit is organized into three teams based on the clients served:
- Experiential Education & Career Readiness Team: Aligned with EEPS Unit's mission within CES, the Experiential Education & Career Readiness Team is dedicated to facilitating students' connection to high-impact experiences and equipping them with the tools to effectively articulate these experiences and essential skills, thus fostering competitiveness in their future pursuits.
- Career Interest Communities Team: Aligned with the mission of the EEPS Unit within CES, the Career Interest Community Team specializes in providing coaching and programs tailored for students within specific career interest communities. Additionally, the team develops and nurtures campus partnerships to enhance outreach and specialization, ensuring students excel in contemporary job searches and graduate school applications, all in line with CES's overarching mission to prepare students for competitive success post-graduation.

Industry & Student Connections
The Industry & Student Connections (ISC) Unit, an integral component within the Office of Career Exploration and Success (CES), embodies the overarching mission by strategically fostering connections between Rutgers University–New Brunswick students, graduates, and diverse industry partners. ISC aims to expand and diversify recruiting relationships, optimizing student career opportunities while also generating support for the university's academic mission. By actively collaborating with other units to support their initiatives and facilitating connections between industry partners and broader campus efforts, ISC plays a pivotal role in empowering students for success in their post-graduate journeys. Through strategic engagements, ISC facilitates students' transition from academia to industry, fostering a network that extends well beyond the university campus.
The unit is comprised of two teams:
- Recruiting Programs: In alignment with the ISC Unit's mission within CES, the Recruiting Programs Team is dedicated to creating dynamic venues that enable industry partners to effectively connect with students at large, through networking events, interview programs, and employment platforms, fostering opportunities for students' future pursuits.
- Industry-to-Campus Connections: Aligned with the ISC Unit's mission, the Industry-to-Campus Connectors Team cultivates meaningful relationships with industry partners, enabling deeper connections within the campus community through specialized recruiting opportunities.

Career Operations & Strategic Initiatives
The Career Operations & Strategic Initiatives Unit serves as the foundational cornerstone of the Career Exploration and Success (CES) office, a role intricately aligned with the office's overarching mission. This unit is dedicated to ensuring equitable access to CES resources for all students, connecting students to CES resources, offering data-driven decision-making support to the department and campus career partners, and establishing the administrative bedrock critical to the effective functioning of the entire office. This unit not only bridges the gap between students' academic journeys and future career pathways but also empowers the other units to excel in their respective roles.
The unit is comprised of two teams:
- Operations Team: Positioned at the heart of the CES office, the Operations Team within the COSI unit plays a dual role: ensuring equitable resource access and overseeing crucial financial, administrative, technological, and assessment components that underpin the provision of high-quality resources, thus both connecting students to elements of their career journey and furnishing the CES office with a solid foundation for its work.
- Strategic Outreach and Marketing: Situated within the scope of the COSI Unit, the Strategic Outreach and Marketing Team undertakes a multifaceted mission: driving awareness of CES resources, encouraging student engagement, and critically, guiding our staff in maintaining a professional presence. Through adept brand management and deliberate communication strategies, the team ensures both students' confidence in our support and enhances our department's credibility and excellence, fostering positive perceptions among students and employers alike.





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.