<![CDATA[The Unpulled Lever]]>Conversations with the higher ed leaders actually acting on career outcomes. Presidents, chancellors, and the people rebuilding how schools get students hired, on what's working, what's stuck, and why. Hosted by Rod Danan. New episodes weekly.

]]>https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/the-unpulled-lever-7480618870790307840Riverside.fm (https://riverside.com)Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:50:19 GMTMon, 03 Aug 2026 21:08:32 GMT60Rod Danan<p>Conversations with the higher ed leaders actually acting on career outcomes. Presidents, chancellors, and the people rebuilding how schools get students hired, on what's working, what's stuck, and why. Hosted by Rod Danan. New episodes weekly.</p>episodicRod Dananrod.danan@prentus.comno<![CDATA[E4 | Internships Beat Majors | Brandon Busteed, CEO, Edconic]]>An internship matters more than a major for a graduate's odds of landing a good job. Brandon Busteed has the data to back that up.

Brandon is the CEO of Edconic and the former leader of Gallup's education and workforce practice. He helped build the Gallup-Purdue Index, a study of more than 100,000 college graduates that asked a question rankings still dodge: which college experiences actually lead to a good job and a good life?

In this episode, Brandon joins Rod Danan to explain the six experiences that double the odds of workplace engagement and wellbeing, why fewer than 3 percent of graduates report having all six, and why a university does not need an elite brand or a giant endowment to compete.

They also get into LinkedIn's hidden university ranking, the shortage of internships, why paid work is not automatically work-integrated learning, and the uncomfortable truth about Ivy League graduates ending up in business development without ever being taught sales.

Chapters

00:00 The Gallup-Purdue question

03:30 Why one university cannot grade itself

11:46 The six experiences that change outcomes

20:18 What a good college outcome actually is

27:04 Why not all work counts as learning

32:05 Career cannot live in an isolated office

35:07 LinkedIn's hidden university ranking

40:33 The job Ivy League graduates end up doing

42:22 The internship supply problem

48:36 Why internships beat majors

50:20 College's local value proposition

54:18 Quick fire and High Point University

Getting students hired is the cheapest retention lever a school has, and almost nobody pulls it. The Unpulled Lever talks to the leaders who can help us learn why and how to fix it.

Subscribe for a new conversation every week.

]]>d4096780-c7e3-410e-8b9a-fc280c285ea5Tue, 25 Aug 2026 12:15:00 GMT<p>An internship matters more than a major for a graduate's odds of landing a good job. Brandon Busteed has the data to back that up.</p><p>Brandon is the CEO of Edconic and the former leader of Gallup's education and workforce practice. He helped build the Gallup-Purdue Index, a study of more than 100,000 college graduates that asked a question rankings still dodge: which college experiences actually lead to a good job and a good life?</p><p>In this episode, Brandon joins Rod Danan to explain the six experiences that double the odds of workplace engagement and wellbeing, why fewer than 3 percent of graduates report having all six, and why a university does not need an elite brand or a giant endowment to compete.</p><p>They also get into LinkedIn's hidden university ranking, the shortage of internships, why paid work is not automatically work-integrated learning, and the uncomfortable truth about Ivy League graduates ending up in business development without ever being taught sales.</p><p>Chapters</p><p>00:00 The Gallup-Purdue question</p><p>03:30 Why one university cannot grade itself</p><p>11:46 The six experiences that change outcomes</p><p>20:18 What a good college outcome actually is</p><p>27:04 Why not all work counts as learning</p><p>32:05 Career cannot live in an isolated office</p><p>35:07 LinkedIn's hidden university ranking</p><p>40:33 The job Ivy League graduates end up doing</p><p>42:22 The internship supply problem</p><p>48:36 Why internships beat majors</p><p>50:20 College's local value proposition</p><p>54:18 Quick fire and High Point University</p><p>Getting students hired is the cheapest retention lever a school has, and almost nobody pulls it. The Unpulled Lever talks to the leaders who can help us learn why and how to fix it.</p><p>Subscribe for a new conversation every week.</p>no00:56:294E4 | Internships Beat Majors | Brandon Busteed, CEO, Edconicfull<![CDATA[E3 | College Closures, Skills-Based Hiring & Elements of Suck | Michael Horn, Co-Host, Future U]]>Michael Horn predicted in 2013 that a quarter of colleges would close. Fifteen percent already have. Now he says a fifth of private colleges will close or merge within ten years, and the schools left standing will win on one thing: whether they actually get their students hired.

In this episode, Michael Horn (co-host of Future U with Jeff Selingo, co-founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute, author of Job Moves and Choosing College) joins host Rod Danan to break down why skills-based hiring keeps failing, why 50 to 85 percent of jobs come through networks and not applications, and what new federal accountability rules mean for colleges that can't prove a return on investment.

With Michael Horn of @michaelbhorn.

Getting students hired is the cheapest retention lever a school has, and almost nobody pulls it. The Unpulled Lever talks to the leaders who can help us learn why, and how to fix it.

Subscribe for a new conversation every week.

]]>4d8c218e-1d02-4849-9b7d-806b16829fc9Tue, 18 Aug 2026 12:15:00 GMT<p>Michael Horn predicted in 2013 that a quarter of colleges would close. Fifteen percent already have. Now he says a fifth of private colleges will close or merge within ten years, and the schools left standing will win on one thing: whether they actually get their students hired.</p><p></p><p>In this episode, Michael Horn (co-host of Future U with Jeff Selingo, co-founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute, author of Job Moves and Choosing College) joins host Rod Danan to break down why skills-based hiring keeps failing, why 50 to 85 percent of jobs come through networks and not applications, and what new federal accountability rules mean for colleges that can't prove a return on investment.</p><p></p><p>With Michael Horn of @michaelbhorn.</p><p></p><p>Getting students hired is the cheapest retention lever a school has, and almost nobody pulls it. The Unpulled Lever talks to the leaders who can help us learn why, and how to fix it.</p><p></p><p>Subscribe for a new conversation every week.</p>no00:55:29E3 | College Closures, Skills-Based Hiring & Elements of Suck | Michael Horn, Co-Host, Future Ufull<![CDATA[E2 | Why "Career Services Must Die" | Andy Chan, VP of Wake Forest]]>Andy Chan, VP for Innovation and Career Development at Wake Forest University, joins Rod Danan to explain why more than 200 colleges have sent staff to study his office. They get into his 2013 TED talk "Career Services Must Die", why the boss matters more than the org chart, the ten-minute LinkedIn search that changed a writing class, curiosity conversations instead of networking, and what he'd fund first if he had to rebuild a career office from zero. The Unpulled Lever is an interview series on why schools don't act on career outcomes. New episodes every Tuesday.

]]>ee68d4f0-7789-4c7d-a91f-8d757dc1ea00Tue, 11 Aug 2026 12:15:00 GMT<p>Andy Chan, VP for Innovation and Career Development at Wake Forest University, joins Rod Danan to explain why more than 200 colleges have sent staff to study his office. They get into his 2013 TED talk "Career Services Must Die", why the boss matters more than the org chart, the ten-minute LinkedIn search that changed a writing class, curiosity conversations instead of networking, and what he'd fund first if he had to rebuild a career office from zero. The Unpulled Lever is an interview series on why schools don't act on career outcomes. New episodes every Tuesday.</p>no00:49:212E2 | Why "Career Services Must Die" | Andy Chan, VP of Wake Forestfull<![CDATA[E1 | Get Students Hired or Close | Jason Altmire, CEO of CECU]]>Jason Altmire, President and CEO of CECU and a former U.S. Congressman, joins Rod Danan to explain why career schools have been graded on job placement for years while most of higher ed never had to answer the same question. They dig into the new federal accountability law, the stigma that still follows for-profit schools, and what actually keeps a student enrolled through graduation. The Unpulled Lever is an interview series on why schools don't act on career outcomes. New episodes every two weeks.

]]>248d678b-51ef-4c65-a6cf-fc07a9dbe84aTue, 04 Aug 2026 02:38:37 GMT<p>Jason Altmire, President and CEO of CECU and a former U.S. Congressman, joins Rod Danan to explain why career schools have been graded on job placement for years while most of higher ed never had to answer the same question. They dig into the new federal accountability law, the stigma that still follows for-profit schools, and what actually keeps a student enrolled through graduation. The Unpulled Lever is an interview series on why schools don't act on career outcomes. New episodes every two weeks.</p>no00:57:301E1 | Get Students Hired or Close | Jason Altmire, CEO of CECUfull