Career Services for Students and Alumni

Climb higher, get hired! At Kean, we believe in equipping students and alumni alike with the skills they need to be successful in their career journey while empowering them to find an internship or job to launch their careers. While we don’t provide direct job or internship placements, our Career Services team is here to support you in identifying your career goals, developing career plans and securing opportunities that fulfill you.

In working closely with students and alumni, we can help explore career options and pathways, develop career readiness skills for the 21st century, create connections with employers, and provide high quality internships and rigorous professional employment opportunities. 

Whether you may need help with Career Exploration, Career Planning and Development, Career Readiness or Career Success, our Career Services team can help you take the next step in your #CougarCareerJourney. Schedule an appointment with your Career Advisor today, attend our weekly drop-in hours across campus, visit us in CAS 201 or GATE 313, or email us at career@kean.edu to learn more.

                                                               Ways We Help Guide You Along Your #CougarCareerJourney

Career Exploration 

Undecided about a major, career, or job? Need help charting a new career path based upon your transferrable skills? Members of our Career Services team can assist you in exploring your personal interests, values and skills and comparing them to the vast array of career options that exist today. By using a combination one-on-one advising and other resources to help inform our conversation, our team can help you identify the best path for you. Get started by using our Focus 2 Career assessment tool now or accessing Forage job simulations on your Navigate 360 app. 

Focus 2 Career guides users through a reliable, intuitive career and education decision making model to help them choose a college, select a major, explore occupations, make informed career decisions and take action in their career development. Forage provides users with access to day-in-the-life virtual job simulations from leading companies and creates an inclusive path to successful early careers. Various additional programming like True Colors, which guides students on a path of discovery and self-understanding, is also offered. 

Career Planning and Development 

Once you've decided on your dream career, year-by-year our dedicated team can help you map a pathway towards achieving all of your career goals. By offering innovative, theme-based programming like our Career Toolbox Series, which is designed to address the various career development needs of all students no matter their class year or major, as well as often hosting a variety of direct engagement events with employers and alumni like Information Sessions, Networking Events, Panel Discussions, Field Trips and Career Fairs, our Office provides students with various opportunities to take the next step in their #CougarCareerJourney. That's why it's important to stay in touch with your Career Advisor and regularly check CougarLink for our latest events. Opportunities like the Learn, Earn and Persist (LEAP) Internship Program as well as the New York Red Bulls Mentorship Program and the Work-Earn-Live-Learn Summer program are available and also run by our office.

Career Readiness 

Once you've decided on your dream career and have your career pathway plan mapped, our dedicated team is able to help you develop and refine your core career competencies to make sure you stay #CougarCareerReady and can take advantage of the opportunities that await you.

This includes honing your technology proficiencies as well as your communication, critical thinking and teamwork skills, just to name a few. Today's ever-changing job market also requires you to have an impressive, well-written resume as well as a strong LinkedIn profile and adept job search and interviewing skills. Our dedicated team can help you achieve that. We also have a collection of career readiness resources available for you, including the Kean Career Resource Guide, as well as career and industry insights you can review at your leisure.

***Coming soon in 2025 for Kean students is VMock, an on-demand virtual career assistant that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and predictive analytics to provide you with instant resume feedback, tailored improvements and dynamic mock interview preparation.

Career Success 

Now let's put it all together; ready, set, apply! Available to all Kean Cougars now is Handshake, today's #1 way to explore career options, find jobs and internships, and connect with employers. Students can also use College Central Network (CCN) to register their internships for credit. In addition to these powerful tools, our Office also continuously offers special events in which employers talk with students and alumni about employment including Information Sessions, Networking Events, Panel Discussions, Experiential Learning Trips and on-campus recruitment events like fall and spring Career Fairs. Each event offers Cougars a unique opportunity to take the next step in their #CougarCareerJourney.

To learn more, please schedule an appointment with your Career Advisor, attend our weekly drop-in hours across campus, visit us in CAS 201 or GATE 313, or email us at career@kean.edu. For alumni, please click here.