From Campus to Career: 25 Tips for Your First Professional Year
The 10th anniversary second edition. Practical mentorship for your first professional year - updated for hybrid work, AI, and today’s hiring reality.
This year marks a decade since Leilani first published From Campus to Cubicle: 25 Tips for Your First Professional Year— the original edition of what is now From Campus to Career. Ten years, two editions, thousands of new graduates, and hundreds of career services partners later, the book has become a quiet classic in the early-career advice space.
The wisdom holds up. The workplace has changed — hybrid work, generative AI, reshuffled hiring norms — and the second edition has been updated to meet it. But the heart of the book is the same: practical guidance, no respectability politics, and a personal mentor between two covers.
From Campus to Career: 25 Tips for Your First Professional Year is the celebrated second edition of the career advice book Leilani M. Brown originally published as From Campus to Cubicle. A quick, witty, and refreshingly practical read, the book offers interns, recent graduates, and young professionals the kind of straight-talk mentorship most people only get after they've already made the avoidable mistakes.
In 25 short, no-nonsense tips, From Campus to Career walks new professionals through the unwritten rules of work — how to learn the business, manage up, navigate office politics, build a real network, handle work parties (yes, they're still work), and protect their reputation in a world where one careless message can travel further than a résumé.
The book has been adopted by career services centers, HBCUs, small liberal arts colleges, Fortune 500 onboarding programs, and DEI and inclusion consortia as essential reading for early-career professionals. It's a 5-star rated resource career counselors, HR leaders, and learning and development executives use as both a teaching text and the graduation gift they wish someone had given them.
What Readers Are Saying
"Excellent handbook for successful transition after college."
— Amazon Reviewer ★★★★★
"A must-read for all recent college grads in today's highly competitive marketplace."
— Amazon Reviewer ★★★★★
"I purchased this must-have guide for my daughter who just graduated from college."
— Amazon Reviewer ★★★★★
"Filled with smart tips for students and early career professionals."
— Amazon Reviewer ★★★★★
From Campus to Career is a trusted resource for:
Graduating college seniors stepping into their first professional role
Interns and early-career hires navigating their first 90 days
Career services and student affairs teams at universities and colleges
Universities and colleges of all types — including liberal arts colleges, community colleges, HBCUs, and large research universities — building career-readiness curriculaCorporate Learning & Development and HR teams onboarding new graduates
DEI, ERG, and leadership development programs supporting early-career talent
Parents, mentors, and family members looking for a meaningful graduation gift
Hiring managers and team leads onboarding interns and entry-level professionals
Returning professionals who want a quick refresher on workplace fundamentals
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Leilani M. Brown is the Founder and CEO of Giant Steps, LLC, a strategic advisory firm working at the intersection of strategy, culture, governance, leadership, and education. A global keynote speaker on governance, career, and workforce, she is the author of three books: From Campus to Career: 25 Tips for Your First Professional Year (now in its 10th anniversary 2nd edition), Your Next Giant Steps: 25 Practical Tips for Job Search Success, and Your Next Giant Reset: A Career Comeback Plan. She is also the host of the Giant Steps with Leilani Brown podcast.
Her thought leadership has appeared in Newsweek, Fortune, EdTech Digest, Authority Magazine, and Scary Mommy. Before founding Giant Steps, Leilani was an award-winning Fortune 500 executive at Stride, Starr Insurance, The Economist Group, MetLife, and AIG. She serves as Vice Chair of Middlebury College and is a board member of the Charleston Literary Festival. She holds a B.A. from Middlebury College, an M.P.A. from NYU, and an NACD Directorship Certification®.