As your personal career coaches, we help make your environmental career goals a reality—empowering you with skills, resources, and connections to land your ideal job and excel throughout your career.

As your career team, we're fully dedicated to your professional success at Bren and beyond.

At Bren, prioritizing your career development isn’t just an available perk—it’s a way of life steeped into our ethos as a professional program and community of change-makers serious about solving environmental problems.

From day one of orientation, to graduation and beyond, we prepare you to enter or re-enter the workforce and thrive in a competitive, ever-changing job market. We’re here to guide you every step of the way with personalized advising, workshops, online resources, job/internships opportunities, alumni connections, and more.

You’re our hope for a sustainable future, and we’ve got your back.

The Bren Career Edge

Rather than using cookie-cutter techniques, applying to hundreds of postings online, or relying on existing channels to find jobs, we focus on teaching career development techniques that will help you strategically define, pursue, and refine your unique career goals not only as a student but also as an alum.

Our teaching begins with Bren-specific workshops and online resources, and we build on this foundation through personalized 1-on-1 advising to coach you through your specific goals. Our approach includes a strong emphasis on creating individual connections within Bren’s tightknit alumni network and beyond (which we’ll teach you how to do), helping you build relationships to draw on and give back to throughout your career. 

Learn more about the career development benefits of Bren’s program:

Personalized 1-on-1 guidance for your unique career journey

We get to know you, your interests, and your dreams, and we support you every step of the way. With an open-door advising policy, we pride ourselves on providing a high level of customer service.

Practical training for lifelong career development skills    

Through career workshops, career talks and panels, and an annual mingling practicum—along with weekly career guidance emails, 1-on-1 advising, and 24/7 online resources—we prepare you to network, land jobs (and a summer internship if you’re in the MESM program), and grow throughout your career.

A foundation in viewing, thinking, and doing things differently

Behind everything we teach is a goal to help you develop the right mindsets—such as writing your resume for the jobs you want, not those you’ve done; building a network that transforms you from an outsider to an insider; finding ways to stand out in the interview process; and confidently negotiating offers in a more natural and comfortable way. You’ll not only get results, but you’ll also be nimble, marketable, and strategic during future job hunts, life transitions, and industry changes.

^{New Bren students are all smiles during the team-building activities led by the career team at orientation each year.}

Strong alumni and employer connections 

Thanks to Bren’s highly engaged alumni and industry connections, we have a strong network of people who can support your career. This network helps Bren students land rewarding initial post-Bren jobs and summer internships (for MESM students in between their 2 years), facilitates alumni transitions between roles, and provides connections willing to share insights and expertise not only while you’re a student but into your alumni years.

A team with a robust blend of professional insights

With our combined expertise, we translate our insights from recruiting, corporate training, and career advising into innovative “Bren approaches”—such as our 3-tiered job search strategy for success in any economy and our attention-grabbing cover letter format that’s easy to tailor to different positions.

Support after Bren

It doesn’t stop after you leave! The Bren career team directly supports our grads during the months after graduation as you start the next chapter of your career. And, as an alum, you retain 24/7 access to our Bren-specific online career resources and networking tools, including 100+ articles, a robust alumni database, job announcements, and more via BrenConnect.

BrenConnect

BrenConnect links you to hundreds of alumni and jobs.

Your go-to resource for career development and networking, BrenConnect is a one-stop platform for current students and alumni to stay connected and access career resources. More than 80% of Bren’s 1,900+ alumni are BrenConnect users, meaning you can find and connect with fellow Bren change-makers working on environmental solutions in all industries, from global NGOs and Fortune 500 companies to government agencies and alumni-owned businesses. 

BrenConnect was also recognized as a finalist for a Salesforce Higher Education Overall Excellence in Innovation Award and as a case study in alumni networking platforms. Ultimately, BrenConnect enhances career advising and networking opportunities for students and alumni, helping strengthen the connections within and impact of the Bren community.

BrenConnect offers:

Environmental job and internship listings shared by alumni, staff, students, and employers (3-10+ commonly posted each weekday, especially during peak search seasons). Wondering how to get your foot in the door? Alumni often include inside info and/or offers to speak with anyone interested.

Powerful alumni finder and search tool to query Bren grads by location, sector, specific employer, or name. Looking for a job with a certain public agency in a certain city? Find a Bren alum who can open that door.

Bren-specific career resources available 24/7, including how-to guides and examples covering our tried-and-true steps for networking, searching for jobs and internships, applying, interviewing, negotiating salary, and more.

Your personal BrenConnect profile, which you can update throughout your career to make your job and contact information available to fellow classmates and alumni looking to connect, collaborate, or catch up.