CAREER ADVISING & NAVIGATION
Building clear pathways to in-demand careers and economic mobility
The Attainment Network’s Career Advising & Navigation Initiative is a two-year, statewide effort to strengthen how career advising supports learners and earners across Colorado.
Our goal is simple: ensure learners can clearly understand and navigate education and training pathways that lead to in-demand careers and economic mobility.
Grounded in learner and earner experience, the initiative brings together educators, advisors, workforce partners, and community organizations to explore how advising can better support people as they discover career options, prepare for opportunities, and move through education and workforce systems.
By building on what works through broad engagement and real-world testing, The Attainment Network will develop and pilot a framework and toolkit to strengthen advising practices and better align advising across Colorado’s K–12, postsecondary, and workforce systems.
SHARE YOUR EXPERTISE
We invite educators, advisors, workforce partners, and community leaders to share their insights on career advising practices. Your input will help shape a framework that strengthens advising statewide and helps learners navigate pathways to in-demand careers and economic mobility.
WHY CAREER ADVISING MATTERS
Many learners and earners do not fully understand the pathways that connect education and training to in-demand careers — including opportunities created by the state’s investments in the Big Three: work-based learning, industry-recognized credentials, and college credit.
Strong career advising helps learners:
- Explore their options
- Connect education to career goals
- Navigate transitions across K-12, postsecondary, and workforce systems
- Build purpose, belonging, and social capital
The Challenge: Advising is Fragmented
Impactful advising is happening in high schools, colleges, workforce centers, and community organizations. But these services do not consistently align.
- Services operate in silos
- Advisors manage large caseloads
- Data systems are not fully integrated
- Training and best practices vary
As a result, learners experience disconnected systems rather than seamless pathways.
Designing an Advising Framework
Through an inclusive, listening-and-learning approach, The Attainment Network will engage stakeholders across sectors and create feedback loops between local implementation and state leadership.
This process will lead to the design of a practical advising framework — a toolkit for advisors across systems that builds on what is already working, and lifts up and aligns best practices.
RESOURCES
Learn with Peers Across Colorado
The Attainment Network’s Professional Learning Series includes dedicated sessions on Career Advising & Navigation, bringing together practitioners to share strategies, tools, and insights that strengthen advising systems statewide.