Starting a career can be daunting for any recent college graduate; the challenges can be greater for first-generation graduates and others without a connection to a professional network to share career information and open opportunities. But Houston’s first-generation and low-income college students can tap into a ready-made network, complete with advisors, internships and job opportunities, through the online platform CareerSpring.

As of the 2015-16 academic year, 56 percent of college students, nationally, had parents without a bachelor’s degree; 24 percent had parents with no postsecondary education, according to the Center for First-generation Student Success. According to the Pew Research Center, first-generation college graduates have, on average, lower incomes and less wealth than their continuing-generation peers due to factors like education debt and family wealth. They’re also more likely to face greater hurdles in finding good employment than classmates with better career guidance and connections. While in school, they are less likely to participate in activities that can help them begin to build professional networks, such as working on a research project with a faculty member or having a paid internship. A year after graduation, they are more likely to be underemployed, CFSS data show.

In 2020, Paul Posoli, longtime energy trader and former leader of Cristo Rey Jesuit College Preparatory of Houston – a college preparatory school for economically challenged families with a work-study component – launched CareerSpring specifically to help first-generation and low-income college students build the social capital they likely were missing. The platform harnesses the expertise and commitment of working professionals to inform students of career options and help place students and graduates in career-starting internships and jobs.

Posoli says his five years as Cristo Rey’s president impacted his world view, especially around education and workforce development.

“Many of our students were doing everything right, at least as far as going to college. They were going to college, they’d work their tails off to get through college, but they’d often get to the finish line and they just didn’t have a network, they didn’t know anyone, they didn’t have information, they didn’t have social capital, and often they’d go on to be underemployed,” Posoli said.

Knowing Posoli’s work in the energy and business industries, Cristo Rey alumni would reach out and ask him about job openings. Posoli would tap into his professional network to introduce his former students.

“I found that when I made an introduction, it almost always resulted in something positive – maybe not a full-time job immediately, but another introduction that led to another introduction that led to a full-time job,” he said.

Posoli reflected on his career with Calpine, JP Morgan and Bear Stearns – companies, he said, that were always looking for quality talent and often had a hard time finding diverse talent – and began to think about how to connect students like his with opportunities like theirs. He identified hundreds of organizations that help first generation and low-income students get to and through college. He found far less focused on job placement, and often targeting high-performing students. Fewer yet served the more general population of first-gen students. So, Posoli conceived of a national network of like-minded individuals along with a platform to fill the gap. In two years, CareerSpring has expanded from Houston, New York, and Chicago to include advisory boards in seven cities, 750 volunteer professional advisors, 121 partners, and more than 3,500 student advisees from over 400 colleges and universities using the platform.

CareerSpring features a library of hundreds of videos to help students learn about a full spectrum of jobs from entry level positions to senior roles – an idea inspired by the Partnership’s UpSkill Houston initiative’s “My Life As…” career exploration series. (Posoli has served on the initiative’s executive committee since 2018.) The library is available for free to high school students and to nonprofits and youth-serving organizations including their alumni.

College students and graduates can use the platform to connect with professionals who serve as advisors, or mentors, to these curious jobseekers on a voluntary basis. Students and grads can sign up for one-on-one, office-hour style sessions to ask questions and learn about a given job, company, or career.

The platform also includes a job board of entry-level positions and meaningful internships at partner companies. Employers including KinderMorgan, UTHealth and The Friedkin Group, among others, are tapping in, and they’re finding success.

Gulf States Toyota and The Friedkin Group became involved with CareerSpring as part of a corporatewide focus on workforce development and community engagement. Both companies hired interns through the organization last summer and will continue working with CareerSpring to identify candidates for future internship opportunities, said Gulf States Toyota human resources manager Jeanne Wilkes. The experience was a positive experience for the interns and the company, and the work of one supply chain intern has continued to pay dividends for the organization, she said. This summer, Gulf States Toyota is planning to bring on two new interns who will gain valuable real-world experience in the automotive industry.

Internships can be key on a college resume, and very competitive.

“When we review college resumes, we like to see if they’ve had prior internship experience,” Wilkes said. A first-generation American and first-generation university student in America, Wilkes recalls the difficulty of finding internships during her student days and working hard to get one. Internships are even more competitive now, she said. “The students in the CareerSpring network are hungry. They want it. You can see the eagerness and the drive they have,” she said.

Says Posoli, being involved with CareerSpring can be a tangible and efficient way for companies to give back to their communities or meet environmental, social, and governance initiatives; they can have dozens of employees make videos for the platform and volunteer as advisors.

Posoli hopes that in time, CareerSpring will become a recruiting firm for low-income and first-generation students.

“All of our partners are hiring entry-level talent. They’re looking for diversity in their pipeline. We love to help them find great candidates,” he said.

The Partnership’s UpSkill Houston initiative works to strengthen the talent pipeline employers need to grow their businesses and to help all Houstonians build relevant skills and connect to good careers that increase their economic opportunity and mobility. CareerSpring, The Friedkin Group, and Gulf States Toyota are among the initiative's over 200 regional partners. Learn more.