Most students arrive on campus without a clear picture of where their degree can take them. The first year is the best window you have to change that, and Digital Career Counselor is built to plug directly into the moments you already have on the calendar: orientation, open houses, welcome week, first-year seminars, and early advising appointments.
This article walks through how to introduce Digital Career Counselor to incoming students, where it fits in your existing first-year programming, and how to keep momentum after move-in.
Why introduce Digital Career Counselor in year one
Career exploration is often treated as a junior or senior year activity. By then, students have already chosen a major, and changing course is expensive in both time and tuition.
Introducing Digital Career Counselor during the first year lets you:
Give undecided students a structured way to explore rather than guess
Help declared students validate their choice with real alumni outcomes
Connect coursework to career paths early, which supports retention
Answer the "what can I do with this major?" question with data instead of anecdotes
Build a habit of data-informed decision making before students need it for internships and job searches
Orientation
Orientation is the highest-leverage moment you have. Every incoming student is in the room, and they are actively looking for signals about how to succeed.
Option 1: The five-minute stage demo
Slot Digital Career Counselor into an existing academic or career services block.
Open Digital Career Counselor and search for a single major.
Show the career outcomes for that major, filtered to your institution's alumni.
Point out one surprising job title or salary range. This is the moment that earns attention.
Put the QR code on screen and ask students to log in before the session ends.
Option 2: The exploration breakout
For orientation sessions with breakout time, give students a short guided activity:
Look up your intended major, or a major you are curious about
Find one job title you had never considered
Find one skill that shows up repeatedly in those career paths
Share one finding with the person next to you
This works well in first-year seminar sections as well.
Option 3: The undecided student track
If your orientation separates undecided students, use Digital Career Counselor’s interest and personality-based exploration tools as the core of that session. Instead of asking students to name a major, let them start from what they enjoy and work backward into programs your institution actually offers.
Open houses and admitted student events
Prospective students and their families are evaluating whether your institution is worth it. Digital Career Counselor lets you answer that with your own graduates' outcomes.
Ways to use it:
Live at the table. Ask a prospective student what they are interested in, then look it up together. It turns a generic conversation into a personalized one.
On a screen. Run Digital Career Counselor on a monitor at your admissions or career services table and pull up outcomes on request.
In the academic department session. Have each department showcase career outcomes for its own majors, sourced from your alumni.
In the family session. Focus on salary ranges, employer names, and career progression. These are the questions families are already asking.
A useful framing for families: this is not a promise, it is a picture of what your graduates have actually gone on to do.
Welcome week and campus tabling
Set up a table with a simple prompt: "Curious what people with your major actually do? Scan this."
Include the QR code in welcome week printed materials, digital signage, and residence hall bulletin boards.
Train student workers and peer mentors on the basics. Peer recommendations carry more weight than staff announcements.
Residence life, student orgs, and co-curricular programming
Host a low-key evening session in residence halls
Partner with student organizations to explore outcomes tied to their field
Include Digital Career Counselor in peer mentor and RA training so it becomes part of their toolkit
Getting help
If you want support building a first-year rollout plan, training staff or student workers, or preparing materials for a specific event, contact your Partner Success Associate. The earlier in the summer you start, the more of the first-year calendar you can reach.