The Career Development Office’s Rewards Program, through which students earn points toward rewards by participating in career development events and resources, received the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ 2025 Technology Excellence Award last month.
Kenyon was one of six colleges in the country — and the only one in Ohio — to bring home an award from the nation’s largest professional association concerning career services.
The distinction reflects just how successful the College has been in harnessing technology to help students prepare for the world of work, according to President Julie Kornfeld.
“Kenyon has long been known for the innovation and creativity it brings to the classroom, and now those same qualities are being recognized as hallmarks of its work in career development,” Kornfeld said. “This honor confirms our place as a leader in using the most cutting-edge tools available to help students find success as they pursue meaningful careers and aim to make a difference in the world.”
Launched in August, the program awards students points for everything from running their resume past a CDO advisor to attending a networking event. These points qualify students for regular raffles for prizes and extra career development opportunities that include, for top participants, the ability to select their own alumni mentor.
The goal of the program, according to Dean for Career Development Lee Schott, is to offer students a structured progression through CDO’s vast resources and incentivize those that are deemed particularly valuable.
“We want every student to leave Kenyon with a job they're excited about or graduate school that they're excited about,” Schott said. “This is the first step in making sure that we can shepherd all students through a sequence of developmental exercises that get them prepared for this. And the pilot year was a massive success,”
In the first year of CDO Rewards, there was a measurable increase in each of the 26 metrics tracked by the CDO, including a 17 percent increase in student appointments with the office and close to double the number of average attendees at events. Underutilized tools including mock interviews and personality assessments rose significantly.
The data collected by the program, Schott said, allows the College to view students holistically and identify gaps in their career development journey — and then work to fill them.
“Now we have an ability to guide students through this process and make sure they're hitting marks that are going to help them be prepared for job search interviews, networking and more,” he said.
Other schools — including those from the Ivy League and Big 10 — already have reached out, hoping to duplicate elements of the program, Schott said.