We offer career counseling appointments to students and alumni from the schools listed below:

  • Columbia College
  • Columbia Engineering — Undergraduate Level
  • School of General Studies

Current students and alumni can meet with a career counselor for 30 minutes, one-on-one. Current students can also meet with a career counselor in 15-minute Quick Question sessions.

HOW TO SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT WITH A CAREER COUNSELOR

To schedule a career counseling appointment, click here to sign in and select “Center for Career Education” from your list of Advising Centers. Then click on “Schedule an Appointment” and follow the on-screen directions to sign up for an available time. Confused? Follow our step by step guide. 

We have career counselors who focus on undergraduate students and alumni to best serve your needs. As generalists, we work with students and alumni with a wide array of career interests, goals, and areas of study.

To learn more about our career counselors, visit our staff page. For more on alumni-specific services, resources, and events visit our Alumni Career Services page.

Career Counseling Appointments

During one-on-one career counseling appointments, we partner with you to design your next steps.

We will work with you to:

Explore

  • Increase your self-awareness as it relates to career exploration and decision-making
  • Identify and offer career assessments that would be most useful to you at this time
  • Learn about our resources and data on careers, industries, and majors that relate to your interests

Prepare

  • Build your skills to create or improve your internship and job application materials (resumes, cover letters, personal statements, etc.)
  • Learn about recruitment timelines and practices
  • Get ready for interviews and networking conversations
  • Find out about our Clothing Closet

Connect

  • Get ready for career fairs, industry showcases, site visits, and other employer and alumni events
  • Identify ways to grow and maintain your network with alumni and other professionals

Experience

  • Customize your use of LionSHARE, our internship and job board, to find opportunities, employers, and CCE events
  • Find out about our domestic and international internship programs, mentorship programs, and funding programs
  • Develop your plan for starting or improving an internship or job search, negotiating salaries, and accepting/declining positions professionally
  • Advance your knowledge of working in a professional environment, workplace etiquette, and navigating workplace issues

What happens in a career counseling appointment? Do I need to prepare ahead of time?

Before Your Career Counseling Appointment

Many current students come in for our 10-minute Quick Questions to cover basics like resume or cover letter reviews. This initial review makes an individual career counseling appointment more productive. It might also be helpful for you to review sections of our website or build your profile on LionSHARE.

At least two business days before your appointment, send the career counselor an overview of what you hope to discuss, as well as any materials you want to review together during the appointment. This will help us prepare for your meeting.

During Your Career Counseling Appointment

We will ask questions to learn about what brought you into CCE at this time and what you are looking to accomplish. If there are many things you would like to work on, we will help you prioritize a focus area.

Throughout your appointment, we will guide the conversation and listen, provide ideas, support, and resources, and encourage you to think critically. At the end of the appointment, we will help you to set goals and next steps.

After Your Career Counseling Appointment

You will typically have next steps or goals on which to follow up. We ask that you complete these before your next appointment. Additionally, the career counselor you met with might follow up with more resources by email.

You can schedule another appointment, as early as the following week depending on availability, or, if you’re a current student, also visit us at Quick Questions. You will receive a link to an anonymous survey about your career counseling experience that helps us to continue to improve your experience at CCE.

What doesn’t happen in a career counseling appointment?

WE WILL NOT…

  • Tell you what to do or what career paths are going to be the best fit for you—instead, we help you build awareness about yourself and career options so that you can take ownership of your choices
  • Write your job application materials or line edit, as these materials should come from and sound like you—instead, we provide guidance on best practices and where your materials meet them or need improvement
  • Provide industry specialist advice, but we can point you to resources, information, and ways to find experts in the field
  • Give out alumni or employer contact information, but we can share some of the places you can find it and the best ways to reach out
  • Provide legal advice or review legal or tax documents

For alumni, we also recognize that there are some career concerns that may require more extensive support. For this type of long-term or industry-specific support, please visit the Columbia Alumni Association’s Career Coaches Network.

What is my role in career counseling?

While a career counselor will help to guide conversations and activities during appointments based on your needs, your career development is ultimately yours! 

We ask that you…

  • Arrive on time for career counseling appointments and send requested information in advance
  • Be a proactive participant in your career process
  • Be honest and open about your career needs, questions, or concerns
  • Take notes during appointments on ideas, resources, and next steps
  • Actively use the resources referred to you during or after appointments
  • Complete next steps between career counseling appointments
  • Let your career counselor know when you have not been able to find information you need or if you need more help

Do I have an assigned career counselor?

You do not have an assigned career counselor, but there are career counselors that specialize in working with undergraduate students and alumni. You can continue to meet with the same career counselor, or have a variety of perspectives from different career counselors. You are welcome to request a career counselor by name when you make an appointment. During Quick Questions, you will meet with the career counselor covering that session.

How many career counseling appointments can I come in for? How long are career counseling appointments? 

Most students and alumni who visit us for individual career counseling appointments come between one and three times per year, but this varies depending on needs. You can schedule a maximum of one appointment per week, though current students can also come into the center for Quick Questions between or instead of longer appointments.

Career counseling appointments are 30 minutes long.

How do I schedule a career counseling appointment? What’s the cancellation policy?

To schedule a career counseling appointment, click here to sign in and select “Center for Career Education” from your list of Advising Centers. Then click on “Schedule an Appointment” and follow the on-screen directions to sign up for an available time.

We ask that you provide 24 hours’ notice for cancellations. 

 

What if I have a question that needs to be answered immediately?

Current students can visit Quick Questions, Monday–Friday from 2:00pm–4:00pm during the academic year. Alumni can log in here and schedule an appointment.

For LionSHARE or on-campus recruiting questions, you can stop by our Employer and Alumni Relations Team office at CCE or call us at 212-854-9167.

Are appointments confidential?

Career counseling appointments are private. If we are concerned about your well being, we might be required to discuss or report a situation to another adviser or office.