San Diego Rady’s Career Center Is Setting A New Standard

Career centers have never been a more crucial resource than they are today for students.

At UC San Diego’s Rady School of Management, the Career Management Center has become a model for what that support should look like. Leading that effort is CMC’s executive director, Toni Rhorer.

“Students are navigating a job market that feels increasingly difficult to predict, and they are thinking carefully about how their education will help them build meaningful careers,” Rhorer says. “They want more than access to job postings. They want a career team that understands what they are navigating, knows their individual goals and can provide informed, personalized guidance throughout their career development.”

That focus has shaped nearly every decision the center makes. Because students have no requirement to engage with career services, Rhorer says the team has to earn their trust every step of the way.

“We like to say credibility is our currency with students,” she says. “Engagement with our center is optional, so every interaction has to be relevant, personalized and useful. We want students to know that their coach understands who they are, where they want to go and what support they need next.”

Because every interaction is optional, the center’s success depends entirely on the value it delivers. Students choose to engage because the center has a reputation for delivering guidance that makes a real difference.

“Students are navigating a job market that feels increasingly difficult to predict, and they are thinking carefully about how their education will help them build meaningful careers,” Rhorer says. “They want more than access to job postings. They want a career team that understands what they are navigating, knows their individual goals and can provide informed, personalized guidance throughout their career development.”

That focus has shaped nearly every decision the center makes. Because students have no requirements to engage with career services, Rhorer says the team has to earn their trust every step of the way.

“We like to say credibility is our currency with students,” she says. Engagement with our center is optional, so every interaction has to be relevant, personalized and useful. We want students to know that their coach understands who they are, where they want to go and what support they need next.”

AWARD-WINNING INNOVATIONS

Winning an award once is impressive in the academic world, but winning back-to-back awards for two separate innovations is truly something to be proud of.

In 2025 and 2026, Rady’s CMC earned the Career Services & Employer Alliance Innovation Award, an honor recognizing innovation among graduate business career centers, for two entirely different initiatives.

The first award recognized its sophisticated career engagement reporting system, which gives career coaches, faculty and school leaders unprecedented visibility into how students engage with career development throughout their graduate programs.

The most recent award was given for the CMC’s AI career resource hub, designed to help students use generative AI responsibly.

“We built the hub to give students practical, on-demand guidance for using generative AI thoughtfully in career exploration, résumé development, networking and interview preparation,” Rhorer explains. “That allows our coaches to devote more time to the deeply personal work technology cannot replace — helping students tell authentic stories, build confidence and make difficult career decisions.”

The CMC’s work has attracted considerable attention globally. Rhorer has accepted numerous invitations to present their initiatives at career services conferences in Ireland and Amsterdam, where professionals from around the world learned about Rady’s approach.

“What was especially meaningful abroad was having those from other career centers globally say to me, ‘We’ve been paying attention to what you’re doing, and we’ve incorporated some of what you’re doing into what we do at our school,'” Rhorer shares.

INNOVATION WITH A GLOBAL REACH

Thousands of miles away in Dublin, Ireland, Ruth O’Leary has seen firsthand how Rady’s innovations are reshaping conversations about career services.

O’Leary leads a team of nine supporting about 900 postgraduate business students.

“I’ve known Toni for many years,” O’Leary says. “She is globally recognized in our profession as somebody who’s very innovative, and she’s always willing to share her ideas with others.”

The two first connected when Rhorer spoke at a CSEA conference in Dublin that O’Leary helped organize. Since then, they’ve enjoyed spending time together and sharing ideas at conferences in Atlanta, Amsterdam and Denver.

Despite Trinity’s centuries-old history and Rady’s relative youth, O’Leary sees many of the same challenges facing both institutions. “Even though Trinity is centuries old and Rady is much younger, we’re dealing with similar challenges,” she says, “and that makes it incredibly valuable to exchange ideas.”

O’Leary credits Rady with helping shape conversations around best practices in career services. “They’re not just attending these conferences,” she says. “They’re presenting, they’re contributing, they’re pushing the field forward.”

At one presentation, in particular, O’Leary says, “she wowed us with her metrics. They’re not just tracking who is using their career center, but who doesn’t, and why.”

Inspired by Rady’s approach, Trinity has since developed its own student engagement reporting system.

“Students are using AI, employers know they’re using AI, and that’s fine,” O’Leary shares. “But helping students understand how to use it responsibly? That’s where Rady is ahead. AI can help with productivity, but students still need someone to help them tell their story, build confidence and navigate difficult decisions.”

THE STUDENT PERSPECTIVE

Zooming back in on the student experience, recent MBA graduate Claire Shaha has nothing but great things to say about the CMC.

Before enrolling at Rady, Shaha spent two years working as a recruiter but knew she wanted to make what she describes as a difficult pivot into product management.

“The two fields really have no connection,” Shaha explains.

Instead of navigating that transition alone, she went right to the Career Management Center for guidance.

“Day one of meeting with my career coach was amazing. He was so supportive,” says Shaha. “He explained that what I wanted to achieve was entirely possible.”

Together, they mapped out her next few years in the program and developed a plan.

“He gave me a lot of confidence in myself to make the pivot,” she adds.

As Shaha set out to look for an internship during an incredibly competitive time, her coach continued checking in. He sent her job postings tailored to her interests and helped her stay motivated during inevitable setbacks.

“Applying for internships during my first year was mentally draining,” she says. “My career coach would regularly send me relevant postings if he saw any that were related to what I was interested in. He was great at remembering me and what I wanted.”

Shaha says students can be incredibly honest at the CMC. It’s a space where they can be vulnerable, ask difficult questions and receive support from people who truly care about their success. “They are super supportive of anything you’re going through.”

Through another Career Management Center connection, Shaha is thrilled to announce that she landed a full-time role as an associate product manager at Xifin.

To others considering checking out CMC, she encourages: “Don’t be afraid to be open about everything you want to achieve with those in the career center. They are incredibly knowledgeable and have tons of creative ideas.”

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