FloridaACE 2026

At New College of Florida, “Careers in Weeks” is a three-day micro-series that builds career readiness through immersive industry exposure and transferable skill development. Each short-format series focuses on a career field such as pre-health, finance and technology, education, or the arts, while pairing practical skill-building activities with reflective exercises that connect students’ academic pathways to professional opportunities. Developed collaboratively by career services staff, faculty, alumni, and local employers, these modules foster career confidence, expand access for underrepresented and international students, and reinforce the relevance of liberal arts education. By embedding career programming into existing campus rhythms, “Careers in Weeks” encourages participation from students who may not self-select into traditional career events. Attendees of this session will learn how to design and implement similar high-impact, equity-minded micro-series at their own institutions, leveraging limited resources while advancing student engagement, retention, and recruitment.

Career services professionals are using AI; however, impact depends on strategic, efficient, and responsible application. This session offers practical, human-centered approaches to integrating intelligent tools across student support and operations. We’ll demonstrate how AI can help students clarify skills, explore pathways, and take confident next steps through intentional prompting and structured workflows. We’ll also show how AI streamlines program planning, synthesizes advising notes to support staff reflection, and aligns services with institutional and state priorities, translating data into actionable decisions. Attendees will engage in facilitated small group work to co-create adaptable prompts and microworkflows, contributing examples to a shared resource hub for continued collaboration.  Highlights: include real use cases (e.g., Copilot, Quinncia, labor market tools) and peer-tested prompts. 

What if your most powerful career center resource is not more staff but stronger partnerships? Career centers are often expected to deliver high-impact programming with small teams. This session explores how collaboration with campus and community partners helps small teams expand capacity and create engaging student experiences. Using examples from collaborative events, presenters will share how campus and community partners help bring programming to life through interactive tables and activities that support career exploration, transfer planning, job readiness, and career-ready competencies. By sharing expertise and working together, small teams can create dynamic experiences that would be difficult to deliver alone. Interactive formats such as games and themed tables create a welcoming environment where students naturally connect with partners and conversations happen organically. This approach encourages participation, reduces the pressure often associated with networking, and helps students engage more comfortably with career development topics. Participants will engage in collaborative brainstorming activities to generate ideas for partnership-driven programming and interactive engagement and leave with practical strategies for building partnerships and designing engaging career programming that can be adapted at their own institutions.

Career services teams and early talent recruiters are sitting on a goldmine of data, from student engagement and event attendance to application funnels and hiring outcomes. However, often these insights don’t translate into action, nor are they leveraged to achieve influence for securing resources, demonstrating impact, or building stronger partnerships. During this fast-paced, highly interactive workshop, participants will learn how to transform data reports and charts into clear, persuasive stories that influence decisions, strengthen campus–employer partnerships, and improve outcomes for students and hiring teams alike. Rather than focusing on complex analytics, this session zeroes in on what matters most: clarity, relevance, and impact. As part of the session, participants will learn a creative approach and practice turning messy or simple metrics into a focused narrative that answers the key question every stakeholder is asking: “So what?" and "What should we do next?”

This interactive roundtable will explore how intentional connections not just contact creates ripple effects across campus and industry. When partnerships are built with strategy, shared purpose, and sustained engagement, they shape student readiness, employer trust, and institutional growth in ways that endure. Participants will engage in facilitated discussion around practical strategies focused on shifting from one-time interactions to integrated partnership models. Aligning employer engagement with academic priorities and workforce trends while creating multi-touch engagement pathways that build brand presence and hiring pipelines. These changes will then focus on impact beyond placement numbers. Designed for employer liaisons, partnership professionals, and career services leaders, this session will provide space to exchange ideas, share challenges, and leave with actionable approaches to strengthen and sustain employer relationships.

This engaging roundtable discussion invites participants into a high-impact conversation on how partnerships with businesses, organizations, and nonprofits are transforming student mentoring beyond traditional advising models. Together, we will explore how employer-led and student-focused mentoring creates powerful hands-on learning experiences, expands professional networks, builds student confidence, and accelerates career readiness. Attendees will actively exchange ideas, challenges, and proven strategies for designing, sustaining, and scaling mentoring partnerships that meaningfully connect students to real-world opportunities. This session is ideal for professionals seeking innovative, practical approaches to employer engagement that guide students from the classroom to the community. Expect actionable insights, shared successes, and collaborative problem-solving in an idea-rich discussion designed to spark new connections and amplify student success.

MyCareerCloset in partnership with USF present: Professional attire is more than appearance. It affects confidence, access, and employer perception. This roundtable will explore how institutions can move beyond traditional donation closets to build scalable, sustainable, and equitable professional attire strategies. Participants will discuss implementation models, funding pathways, employer partnerships, and ways to position attire access as a core part of career readiness. Attendees will leave with practical ideas for piloting or strengthening a campus approach that supports students while improving recruiting outcomes and institutional visibility. 

Career services professionals are often pulled in every direction while working with limited resources and limited support. Whether navigating internal silos that keep departments from working together, struggling to build employer relationships that go deeper than a resume drop, or trying to decode what hiring managers actually want, they are constantly being asked to do more with less and do it better. This roundtable brings together career services leaders for an honest, solutions-focused conversation about what it takes to build a truly connected career services model. Because every career services department is unique, we recognize that challenges vary. Together, we will explore strategies for breaking down internal silos, cultivating employer partnerships that go beyond the annual career fair, and aligning outreach to workforce trends that matter most to the students we serve, including adult learners, career changers, and military-connected populations.

Employers consistently emphasize that while resumes may open doors, it is human skills that secure opportunities and sustain success. Yet many students struggle to clearly demonstrate these skills in meaningful, authentic ways. This session equips educators, advisors, and career development professionals with practical strategies to intentionally develop and articulate essential workplace skills such as communication, adaptability, teamwork, and leadership. Participants will explore how to move beyond surface-level resume building and instead embed skill development into everyday student interactions, programming, and advising. Through real-world examples and actionable tools, attendees will learn how to help students recognize their strengths, translate experiences into marketable skills, and confidently communicate their value to employers. Participants will leave with immediately applicable strategies to better prepare students for successful transitions into the workforce.