Assistant Director, Career Services

The salary of the finalist selected for this role will be set based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to departmental budgets, qualifications, experience, education, licenses, specialty, and training. The above hiring range represents the University's good faith and reasonable estimate of the range of possible compensation at the time of posting.

Position Summary

Reporting to the Associate Dean for Career Services, the Assistant Director works to implement department strategy of educating and supporting students in their efforts to find and land employment opportunities. Serves as the first and often key point of contact working with employers to solicit, track and present opportunities to students and alumni; identifies and develops new internships and fellowships, assists and directs students and alumni to departmental and external job hunting tools and resources, responsible for all aspects of management and publicity for career education and recruiting events and occasionally conceives and books events independently.

Responsibilities

Outreach and Engagement

• Serves as departmental liaison with employers and point person in department responsible for soliciting, identifying, tracking and publicizing employment opportunities for current students and recent alumni, with a focus on internship and fellowship programs. As appropriate, makes and facilitates connections between applicant pool and employers. First and often primary contact in department for employers; manages career related inquiries or forwards them to staff as appropriate, educates recruiters about J-school programs and populations and directs and supports them in the use of resources provided by the office. Recruits employers for the annual Career Expo. Proactively establishes new and manages and maintains existing relationships with recruiters and editors to generate and track programs, jobs and employment opportunities as well as develops new industry resources and contacts. Conducts site visits and attends industry events to meet employers and solicit jobs for J-schoolers and get updated information about jobs and candidate qualifications.
• Builds and constantly refreshes databases on internship and fellowship programs, employer contacts, and application procedures to ensure information is the most comprehensive available in the field and easily accessible to students and staff.
• Posts jobs in 12twenty, Career Development's digital job board. Posts or oversees all postings, reviews and gives approval for listings (from employers); collects contacts, gauges effectiveness of postings and takes steps to clarify or generate additional attention.
• Responsible for providing students and staff guidance and information on programs and application processes. Counsels and assists students with application procedures and troubleshoots with individual students and employers as needed on multiple aspects of application process.
• Tracks applications and generates application packages for employers as requested.
• Gets updated information from employers and responsible for updating collateral and posters about existing internships, fellowships, and other special employment contracts and also initiates and drafts new agreements. Works with faculty to get updated information and collaborates as requested in publicizing in -house fellowship opportunities.
• Manages inquiries from the above audiences on a multitude of subjects including but not limited to : job opportunities, available resources and employment issues and in consultation with Associate Dean, proposes appropriate actions to be taken and how action plans may be executed.

Career Guidance / Education / Publicity :

• In consultation with Associate Dean, serves as a contact and resource for students, supporting them in all aspects of their interactions with the Office of Career Development. Provides information and guidance about events, departmental offerings and procedures, about various internship and job opportunities including eligibility and application processes and as directed by associate dean, provides guidance about targets for consideration. Guides and directs students to various references and web assets and as directed by Associate Dean, gives students guidance primarily about internship and fellowship programs and content and presentation of application materials. Works with alumni, directing them to internal and external resources helpful in job search.
• Collaborates with staff to recommend and provide career education programming to students and independently conceives, arranges and books panel discussions and guest speakers. In collaboration with and as assigned by associate dean, responsible for student career education programming on several topics including jobs in social media and using digital platforms in the job search.
• Responsible for publicizing employment opportunities, programming, deadlines and special events to J-school students and alumni through a variety of platforms including posters, flyers, social media outreach, calendars, databases, emails etc.
• Represents the university while conducting employer / recruiter and student outreach. Represents the department on school-wide committees including Events Committee, Technology, special events including school wide Career Services and Alumni affairs meetings as well as external journalism events.

Event Management

• Working closely with department colleagues, responsible for the planning and execution of the annual Career Expo serving the entire graduating class. Handles electronic invitations and lists, actively recruits companies, manages company and student registrations, interview schedules, logistics, oversees budget and handles a myriad of other aspects for the event. In collaboration with Career Services staff, responsible for administration and arranging at least 100 other events annually, including booking rooms, AV support and responsible for the creating publicity materials, communications and social media outreach to students, employers, faculty and staff. Ensures that workshops and events meet the highest possible standards within given budget requirements.
• Arranges and manages on-campus visits by employers, recruiters, etc. including the scheduling and juggling interview appointment schedules.

Technology / Website / Database Management :

• Designs, generates, implements, maintains, troubleshoots, provides staff training and support for a wide variety of surveys, digital platforms, databases and systems used by the department.
• Updates the Career Services closed LinkedIn groups, which may entail generating new information and guides, generating and posting audio and visual materials as well as posting information / documents provided by others to the designated website.
• Data Collection and analysis : Supports the assoc. dean in working on various reports throughout the year, including the annual end-of-the-year employment report, country or industry-specific employment reports. Identifies areas for data collection and tracks, records, compiles, and analyzes data in various areas, including recording events and attendance, job postings and application numbers, counselor counseling sessions, etc. Oversees the student internships / employment, alumni, and media contacts databases; ensures the integrity of the data and manages online forms for workshop registrations, resume consultations, career expos, and surveys.

Performs other related duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

Education : Bachelor's degree and / or equivalent required. Master's degree preferred

Experience : Minimum of 3-5 years related experience

Other Skills : Must have solid knowledge of the journalism industry. Technology skills include strong ability in Excel, Adobe Photoshop, HTML, facility with web content management systems and more; outstanding organizational abilities and attention to detail; Ability to be self-directed; Excellent oral and written communication skills; ability to conduct extensive web research; willingness to help others and be a team member; ability to effectively interact with all levels or the organization.

Preferred Qualifications

• Previous experience preferably in editorial side of journalism, student counseling and or academic management.

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.