<p>This is an exciting time to join Career Services at Colgate University. Colgate's Third Century Plan, the university's strategic plan for short- and long-term transformation, was adopted during Colgate's bicentennial year in 2019. In tandem with the Third Century Plan, Career Services launched a four-year career development plan to ensure students' early and frequent engagement with Colgate's excellent career preparation resources. The approach to students' career development serves as a foundational structure to strengthen students' career outcomes. Now, more than 80% of students annually are engaged in intentional, developmental, and personalized journeys of self-discovery and experiential education. This results in more than 97% of Colgate respondents securing a job, graduate or professional school admission, a competitive fellowship, or military commission within six-to-nine months of their graduation.</p> <p>The successful associate director candidate will serve as a critical member of this department's senior leadership team and report directly to the Milone Family AVP for career initiatives. This role offers an experienced colleague the opportunity to leverage a strong team of career services professionals and build upon the team's demonstrated success. This colleague's work will continue to strengthen Colgate's career development program and deepen the team's capacity to guide students through the contemporary challenges and opportunities inherent in competing for competitive internship, job, and graduate school outcomes. The associate director will be accountable to ensure Colgate's four-year career development plan continues to meet students', departmental, and university needs. They will do so by leveraging a strong understanding of assessment practices and a solid commitment to making data-informed decisions.</p> <p>The successful candidate must demonstrate strong competency in team leadership and supervision, career advising and coaching, program development, assessment, and operational management. They will strive to meet their direct reports' needs by intentionally and individually guiding their supervisees' professional development. The associate director will possess a clear strengths-based approach in their work and a demonstrated record of leveraging practices that positively meet a diverse undergraduate student population that possesses a variety of backgrounds and career aspirations.</p> <p>Accountabilities</p> <p>The successful candidate must demonstrate strong competency in team leadership and supervision, career advising and coaching, program development, assessment, and operational management. They will strive to meet their direct reports' needs by intentionally and individually guiding their supervisees' professional development. The associate director will possess a clear strengths-based approach in their work and a demonstrated record of leveraging practices that positively meet a diverse undergraduate student population that possesses a variety of backgrounds and career aspirations.</p> <p>The successful candidate will be accountable for providing the primary vision and leadership to ensure Colgate's four-year career development plan leads to strong student outcomes and is widely considered to be among the best career development programs in the nation.</p> <p>Specific duties include the following:</p> <p>Leadership and Strategy</p> <ul> <li>Train and lead the career development team to guide students through a developmental process of exploration, discernment, action planning, and the successful pursuit of internships and post-graduate opportunities. </li><li>Responsible for the career services team's delivery of effective career advising, skill-development workshops, industry exploration and preparation programming, and print and digital resources. </li><li>In collaboration with departmental colleagues, the associate director will leverage alumni and parent volunteers to showcase the breadth of paths in which a liberal arts education can lead to meaningful professional contributions and successes. </li><li>Responsible for assisting colleagues in developing student-facing initiatives with developmentally appropriate learning outcomes, high levels of interactivity, and assessment strategies to measure intended impact. </li><li>Accountable to train advisers to advise and coach high-capacity students to build self-awareness, explore career interests, gain industry-based content knowledge and understanding of hiring practices and timelines, and pursue employment and graduate school searches. </li></ul> <p>Managing a Data-Informed Practice</p> <ul> <li>Provide team leadership that supports the continuation of Career Services data-informed practices. </li><li>Maintain and improve on how the Career Services team identifies, tracks, and assesses overall student engagement with the four-year career development plan. </li><li>Deploy quantitative and qualitative analyses that inform and deepen students' interactions with programming and advising. Independently prepare analyses and reports. </li></ul> <p>Supervision</p> <ul> <li>Responsible for the effective hiring, supervision, and performance management of all direct and indirect reports - including professional staff and student interns. </li><li>Provide timely performance evaluations, hold colleagues accountable for stated goals, and create individualized plans for staff development and professional growth. </li><li>Responsible for ensuring fair and equitable decisions regarding employment (e.g., hiring, promotion, termination). </li></ul> <p>Relationship Management</p> <ul> <li>Work closely with the team's communications professional to shape the departmental strategy to increase students' awareness of and engagement with Career Services' resources and initiatives. </li><li>Establish connections with faculty, staff, and student leaders to facilitate collaborations and build networks of support for students. </li><li>Cultivate strong, ongoing relationships with students whom you career advise. </li></ul>