Patrick Jones' Bio
Patrick Jones is an educator, advisor, and longtime industry leader whose work sits at the intersection of higher education, careers, and work-based learning. Patrick has spent more than 30 years in industry and has also served as a faculty member and career advisor, helping students navigate internships, co-ops, and early career decisions.
He’s currently a Trustee with one of the nation’s largest public pension funds and is also the founder of Vocatio, a platform focused on helping young people discover their strengths, prepare for the world of work, and find environments where they truly fit. Patrick is also writing a book that reframes career readiness through a simple but powerful lens—Discover, Ready, Find—and challenges institutions to rethink how they support students on the path from education to opportunity.
Patrick argues that the “internship shortage” is really a systems problem rooted in how higher education and K-12 interface with employers, not a lack of student interest or talent. He explains the friction employers face—especially smaller organizations—when trying to work with colleges, and calls for more employer-friendly structures, incentives, and even intermediaries that can broker relationships at scale.
Patrick emphasizes that today’s students often arrive at college with less work experience and limited exposure to the full range of roles in industries they care about. He shares examples of helping students see beyond the obvious job titles (like “athlete”) to the many supporting careers in areas such as sports marketing, finance, operations, and analytics, and stresses the importance of discovery experiences that broaden their sense of what’s possible.
He also makes a compelling case that any internship is better than no internship, because the biggest barrier is access, not perfection. Even imperfect or loosely structured internships can teach punctuality, communication, hierarchy, feedback, and “managing up,” especially when paired with reflection and guidance from an advisor or faculty member.
Patrick introduces his Discover–Ready–Find framework, the focus of his forthcoming book. Discover helps students understand how the labor market really works and why relying only on degrees and GPAs is risky. Ready reframes college as a platform for building emotional maturity, durable skills, and early work experience, starting as early as the first year. Find helps students develop a career “taste palette,” so they can intentionally seek environments and roles that fit who they are, rather than taking the first offer by default.
Throughout the conversation, Patrick returns to one central theme: students don’t just need more programs—they need caring adults and well-designed systems of support that prepare them for the realities of work. His message to educators is clear: build real relationships, create more on-ramps to authentic work experiences, and help young people connect their education to opportunity with purpose.
To learn more about supporting and scaling internships in your school or district, schedule a meeting with one of our subject matter experts.
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