Career services teams do incredible work: Providing mentorship, facilitating employer connections, guiding students through career exploration, and offering a growing library of tools and resources.
But here’s the problem: Most students don’t know any of that.
Not because the strategy is off. Not because the team isn’t working hard. But because there’s a gap between the great work happening behind the scenes and the visibility it gets in front of students.
In other words, career services doesn’t need more stuff. What it needs is a CMO mindset.
Adopting a CMO mindset means thinking beyond service delivery. It’s about visibility, engagement, strategic impact, and meeting students where they are.
In this article, we’ll walk through 10 strategies career services teams in higher education can use to think like a chief marketing officer.
10 ways career services teams can think like a CMO
Again, many career services teams are already doing a lot of great work to spread the word about their services and resources. But here are a few more ideas, based on my experience as a marketing leader, to help you build your brand and engage more students and other stakeholders:
1. Audience segmentation
You can’t market the same message to a first-year undergrad, a master’s student, and an adult learner and expect it to land the same way. A CMO would encourage targeted messaging that reflects where each audience is in their journey—and what they care about most. That means segmenting communication by major, class year, student type, or career interest whenever possible.
2. Content as a service
Instead of simply saying, “We’re here when you need us,” the modern career center needs to show up for students proactively. This means offering resources on demand, like curated content libraries, short-form videos, and bite-sized industry insights that are accessible 24/7. Think of your content as a service in and of itself, one that builds trust and engagement even before a student steps into your office.
3. Lifecycle engagement
Career development isn’t a one-time appointment. It’s a journey. A marketer’s mindset means thinking holistically about the student lifecycle and building an engagement plan that spans from the first campus visit to the first job offer (and beyond). How are you supporting students at every phase—from exploration to decision-making to job searching?
4. Marketing-channel mindset
Every touchpoint with students is a channel. From your virtual career center and email campaigns to newsletters, in-class presentations, and yes, even campus tour guides. Are these channels telling a consistent story? Are they working together, or operating in silos? A coordinated strategy ensures that your message isn’t just heard—it’s remembered.
5. Create brand evangelists
You don’t have to do it alone. The most effective marketing teams empower others to share their message, and career services can do the same. Faculty, academic advisors, student leaders, staff, and employers can all serve as career champions. But they need tools, training, and messaging to promote your resources with confidence and consistency.
Check out this article for a few ideas on how to engage faculty (and others) with career services.
6. Tie your work to top-line goals
Institutions today are more focused than ever on enrollment, retention, and career outcomes. Career services teams that tie their work directly to these strategic priorities—by showcasing how career support drives ROI, improves student satisfaction, and contributes to institutional rankings—are earning a bigger seat at the table.
For example, in a recent episode of the Career Everywhere Podcast, Bowling Green State University President Rodney Rogers advised career leaders to align their initiative proposals to the university’s strategic plan.
“That becomes more difficult then to say, ‘Oh, we can’t do that,’ because you can see that alignment,” Rogers said.
7. Use data to refine the message
Marketers live and breathe by analytics. And career services can too. Track what content students are engaging with. Are they opening your emails? Watching your videos? Clicking through your resource hub? This kind of data can guide future outreach and help you double down on what’s working.
For some inspiration and best practices on using data to improve student engagement, check out this article—featuring insights from Julia Vollrath and her team at the University of Florida.
8. Act as the conductor: Drive cross-functional alignment
Just like a CMO coordinates between sales, product, customer success, and executive leadership, career services should play the role of conductor—orchestrating efforts across campus departments to ensure consistent messaging and a unified student experience. This means over-communicating your strategy, aligning on shared outcomes, and ensuring everyone —from faculty to admissions—is pulling in the same direction when it comes to student career readiness.
9. Create campaigns, not just events
Marketers don’t think in isolated touchpoints—they build campaigns that drive awareness and engagement over time. Similarly, instead of promoting career events one by one, career services can create campaigns that tell a bigger story and guide students through a series of connected resources and actions.
10. Build and protect the brand
A CMO is responsible for shaping and stewarding the organization’s brand—and your office has a brand too. It’s how students perceive your relevance, approachability, and value. Every visual, message, and interaction contributes to that brand. Career services should define what they want that brand to be and ensure it shows up consistently across every touchpoint.
And this doesn’t just include external audiences (like students). Your brand should also be consistent and prevalent across internal audiences, including faculty, staff, and senior leadership. Make sure you’re also telling your career center’s story (and sharing your incredible results!) with those folks, too.
The future of career services isn’t just about expanding your offerings—it’s about amplifying them. By adopting a CMO mindset, career leaders can ensure their efforts don’t go unnoticed and instead become a core part of the student experience, the institutional brand, and the value proposition for prospective students.
The best part? Many career centers are already moving in this direction—thinking like marketers, building integrated campaigns, and turning their offices into engines of visibility and engagement.
So as any great CMO would, now is the time to take what you’ve learned, iterate, and optimize for growth.
