Most universities agree that career outcomes matter. The harder question is how to give every student meaningful work experience before graduation.

In Episode 7 of The Unpulled Lever, Rod Danan talks with Chris Parrish, co-founder and president of Podium Education, about building experiential learning into the degree instead of leaving students to compete for a limited supply of internships.

Chris explains what experiential learning is, how employer projects can run for academic credit, and how schools can layer career discovery, rotations, and deeper project work from the first year through graduation. They discuss the difference between “roads” careers, where the major points toward the first job, and “rivers” careers, where students need more exposure to discover a direction.

The conversation also covers how universities align career and academic leadership, create a front porch for employers, evaluate pilots and vendors, and use high-impact practices as part of a retention strategy. Chris previews an Arizona State University study of about 6,000 undergraduates in which students who completed the Podium experience were between six and ten percentage points more likely to be retained the following year.

Connect with Chris and explore the work:

Podium Education: https://podiumeducation.com/

Chris Parrish on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-j-parrish

Podium Education on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/podiumeducation

Podium Education retention research: https://www.podiumeducation.com/research-news

University Business coverage: https://universitybusiness.com/here-is-new-proof-that-experiential-learning-works/

The Unpulled Lever is a weekly interview series about why schools do not act on career outcomes, and how leaders can pull the lever.