How Pathstream’s Career Services Help Students Get Hired in Tech

Looking for a job right out of college is a different experience from the job hunt when starting a second career. Many adult learners and job seekers who reskilled later in life through bootcamps and short programs often have previous work experience, but not necessarily in the fields that they want to work in. 

According to The Atlantic, students often consult with family and friends when making career decisions. Before asking for help elsewhere, they rely on their networks when considering jobs and employment opportunities. However, even when they have acquired the hard skills required in their newly chosen field, adult job seekers often struggle to find the professional and personal networks that can help them find relevant jobs.

This is where Pathstream, a digital platform that partners with tech companies to build skills training programs, comes in. 

Unlike traditional college career services that focus on recent graduates finding their first jobs by showing off their educational experience, Pathstream has a Career Services Team that works closely with students to help them highlight their past work experiences and connect them directly to employer partners, including personal introductions to hiring managers. 

Pathstream serves as the network that offers job seekers the opportunity to meet with employers while giving them the tools to make the most of this opportunity. Career services are included in every certificate program and are integral to students achieving successful outcomes and accomplishing their career goals. 

Pathstream: Offering Career Support from Day 1

Pathstream’s mission is to create the most accessible and effective career pathways to jobs in the modern economy through online certificate programs. Part of fulfilling this mission is to ensure that learners are supported from beginning to end. 

Through its career services, Pathstream learners are given all the help they need to achieve placement and student success, including extensive support during the job search.

“Students come into our programs with a variety of goals. Some are looking for a new job or a career transition. Some people are looking to uplevel in a current role, while others are looking for freelance and side projects as they explore whether a career change is right for them,” said Amy Ahearn, VP of Career Strategy. 

Pathstream schedules initial career counseling calls with potential students to help them decide which career pathway programs and courses would be right for them. After these initial calls, the students receive a weekly jobs newsletter that curates different job opportunities in the field they are interested in, exposing them to job titles, positions, and opportunities available in high-demand career areas.

“Some people have been exposed to these career paths prior to starting the Pathstream program. For example, if they sit next to a colleague who uses Salesforce or Tableau, they might show interest in it because they’ve seen it on the job. We encourage people to lean into any area they are interested in and have been exposed to. We also ask them to think about their previous experience and what they’ve done in a previous job that lights them up and excites them,” Amy said. 

“If they’ve been passionate about the quantitative side of things like data analysis, spreadsheets, or dashboards, a data analytics program or a Salesforce program might be a good fit. Other people have told us stories about how they’ve always been attracted to advertising and analyzing ads. They want a place where they can apply their creativity through writing or graphic design skills. So, that’s a great fit for our digital marketing program,” Amy continued.

Pathstream takes the time to learn where potential students’ interests lie and what aspects they enjoyed in past roles to align with new in-demand career paths. 

What to Expect from Pathstream’s Career Services

Pathstream offers various types of career assistance to its students, particularly when they officially start their job search. In the final course of the program, students can opt into intensive individualized career coaching. 

One aspect that sets Pathstream’s career services apart from other programs is the individualized attention and meaningful feedback that students receive from career coaches—often experts in the technical field the student is studying.

“The career coach works with them on their resume and updating their LinkedIn profile. They make sure that all their relevant skills are highlighted, including real-world projects they’ve completed in the program. They also ensure that the resume is aligned with this new career field,” said Amy.

“In every step of the job search process, we’re there to offer guidance and support. We want to help [boost] people’s confidence as they go into interviews. We’re very responsive, so even if you get a last-minute interview request, we’ll help connect you to the right career coach to do a practice interview,” continued Amy.

Aside from this, Pathstream’s job Career Services Team works closely with the student to prepare them for other aspects of looking for a job. 

“We also do calls to prepare them to speak to a hiring manager, recruiter, and employer. We facilitate connections directly to staffing agencies, job boards, and employers looking to hire for these in-demand roles. That means that typically within two weeks of completion of the program, people have at least one interview lined up and are already starting to speak to recruiters directly,” Amy shared.

Pathstream understands what it takes to make a student hireable, and this is evident in how its Career Services Team works with the students to prepare them for the job hunt. 

“Our candidates who get hired the most quickly are able to concretely demonstrate that they have mastered the technical and digital skills they gained in the program, such as SQL or Tableau. They demonstrate those skills by citing examples of projects that they’ve done in the past during interviews and successfully complete trial tasks.”

“Above and beyond that, we work with students to help them demonstrate their tenacity, resilience, and other soft skills. We want to help them show employers that they’ve done their homework and research and that they care not just about getting any job but a job in that specific company.”

“It’s the people that can connect the dots between the technical skills and the specific opportunities that often have the most success,” Amy explained.

Pathstream’s wide array of career services helps students fully prepare for the possible ups and downs of their job search. With Pathstream’s support, students can overcome any challenges that come their way until they land the job that will lead them to meaningful careers. 

Pathstream students have found positions at major tech companies like Alibaba and Yelp, along with smaller startups like Abound and New Breed.

Pathstream’s Career Outcomes

Pathstream’s student outcomes are a clear indication of the positive effects of the Career Services program. Some notable highlights include 94 percent of Pathstream’s students getting a job interview within two weeks of program completion and students receiving a $17,000 average salary increase in their new jobs. Pathstream students who participate in career services also report receiving an average salary of $73,000 after finishing their programs. 

It’s important to remember that Pathstream’s career services alone cannot guarantee successful outcomes for students. The learner has to put in the time and effort needed to achieve their desired outcomes. 

Amy had this to share with job hunters: “Don’t expect immediate results. This might sound counterintuitive, but some students come from roles where you see an ‘Apply Now’ sign at the window. You go in, get a job interview, and you can get hired the next day.”

“However, when you’re trying to break into a technical field, it’s a longer job search process, and you have to be prepared at every step of the interview process.”

“You have to go through technical interviews, take-home assignments, and other application requirements. However, the ultimate pay-off once you do all that can be a stable, fast-growing career. So, it would be best if you have the realistic expectation that finding a job is going to take several applications, time, persistence, and hard work.” 

“Also, you need to know that the job search is built this way, and it’s not personal to you. When you understand all of that, you can get really great individual outcomes. It’s just a matter of being patient,” Amy said. 

Expect End-to-End Career Support at Pathstream

Pathstream stands by the relevance of its career services in a student’s training experience, playing a role from the first day of their program until they start their new chosen career. It gives them all the support they need to achieve professional success in their chosen digital skills careers.

Learn more about Pathstream’s programs and available career services here, and start planning for your new career today.