What are the responsibilities and job description for the Executive Director of Career Services position at Colorado State University?
Position Location
Fort Collins, CO
Work Location
Position qualifies for hybrid/in-office work
Research Professional Position
No
Posting Number
202400453AP
Position Type
Admin Professional/ Research Professional
Classification Title
Senior Management I
Number of Vacancies
1
Work Hours/Week
40
Proposed Annual Salary Range
$130,000 - $150,000
Employee Benefits
Colorado State University is not just a workplace; it’s a thriving community that’s transforming lives and improving the human condition through world-class teaching, research, and service. With a robust benefits package, collaborative atmosphere, commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, and focus on work-life balance, CSU is where you can thrive, grow, and make a lasting impact.
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Desired Start Date
07/01/2024
Position End Date (if temporary)
To ensure full consideration, applications must be received by 11:59pm (MT) on
04/15/2024
Description of Work Unit
Founded in 1870, Colorado State University is among the nation’s leading research universities and enrolls approximately 32,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. Located an hour north of the Denver metro area, Fort Collins is a vibrant community of approximately 157,000 residents that offers the convenience of a small town with all the amenities of a large city. Fort Collins is situated on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains with views of 14,000 foot peaks, and offers access to numerous cultural, recreational, and outdoor opportunities.
The Career Center is part of the Division of Student Affairs with strong and broad-reaching relationships and responsibilities throughout campus, including the academic colleges. Divided into three units (Career Education; Employer Relations; and Operations), the Career Center not only provides career-related-advising and -services to students, it fills many additional functions critical to the success of the university and students, including, but not limited to, campus-wide career fair coordination and job/internship postings, employer relations, institutional career outcome reporting, and student employee development leadership. The Career Center is responsible to a variety of internal and external stakeholders and leverages those relationships to help students investigate the many available professional opportunities with special consideration for finding paths that meet their skills, goals, values, and unique identities. The Career Center proudly embraces and upholds the CSU Principles of Community: inclusion, integrity, respect, service, and social justice.
The Career Center is part of the Division of Student Affairs with strong and broad-reaching relationships and responsibilities throughout campus, including the academic colleges. Divided into three units (Career Education; Employer Relations; and Operations), the Career Center not only provides career-related-advising and -services to students, it fills many additional functions critical to the success of the university and students, including, but not limited to, campus-wide career fair coordination and job/internship postings, employer relations, institutional career outcome reporting, and student employee development leadership. The Career Center is responsible to a variety of internal and external stakeholders and leverages those relationships to help students investigate the many available professional opportunities with special consideration for finding paths that meet their skills, goals, values, and unique identities. The Career Center proudly embraces and upholds the CSU Principles of Community: inclusion, integrity, respect, service, and social justice.
Position Summary
The Executive Director is a full-time leadership position in the Division of Student Affairs that holds responsibility for both the full administrative oversight of the Career Center, as well as campus-wide career services leadership and coordination with academic colleges and Alumni Association. The Executive Director reports directly to the Vice President of Student Affairs and serves as a member of the Vice President’s Council responsible for division-wide strategic planning, program development, information sharing, and policy development.
Career Center
The Career Center is divided into three units, Career Education, Employer Relations, and Operations, that serves all students at CSU, houses 42 professional employees and an average of 35 student employees year-round, with a 2.5M dollar operating budget generated through multiple funding sources. The Career Center impacts thousands of students per year and over 700 unique employers across hundreds of initiatives, events, and services. These critical initiatives, events, and services ensure that all CSU students have ready access to professional development, internship, student employment, and full-time job opportunities.
Campus-Wide Career-Services Leadership and Coordination
Leadership responsibilities of the Executive Director span beyond the Career Center across campus. This includes leading the Career Services Network, a collection of faculty and staff engaged in career-services-related work to develop community and coordinate processes, policies, and events. Additionally, the Executive Director regularly liaises with campus administrators, deans and associate deans, faculty, staff, alumni, students, student organizations, parents, and employers to ensure continuing positive relationships and collaborations critical to providing career services for CSU students. The Executive Director serves as a member of the university CORE team of Associate Deans and key campus partners for implementing and charging action teams to realize university student success priorities.
Responsibilities of the Executive Director are accomplished successfully through meaningful and collaborative relationships, visionary leadership, and the ability to effectively communicate, problem-solve, and lead a large and competent staff. The Executive Director promotes and facilitates the Career Center team and the broader career campus team to do career-services-work through a social justice lens, work to creatively integrate career services throughout campus, and promote student academic success and graduation goals while working to close equity achievement gaps.
Required Job Qualifications
- Master’s degree in higher education, student affairs, business, human resources, or related field
- Ten (10) years’ experience in career development and/or recruiting and/or talent acquisition with progressive responsibilities and authority, inclusive of at least four (4) years of full-time professional staff supervisory experience
- Demonstrated knowledge of career development, student development, career counseling, corporate relations, job search strategies, job market trends, employer relations, contemporary recruitment practices, and trends in career services
- Demonstrated leadership of and practice in equity and inclusive excellence
- Experience planning and managing a complex operating budget
Preferred Job Qualifications
- Three (3) or more years administrative experience in leadership level position in career services in higher education at a large (15k ) public institution
- Highly developed skills and experience in collaborating with others within career services and across a university campus (e.g., students, staff, faculty, administrators, etc.)
- Demonstrated experience in outreach to external constituents (e.g., employers, business partners, and community members)
- Demonstrated ability to maintain a national reputation and contacts within the profession through association memberships, conference presentations, publications, etc.
- Experience supervising a large (10 professional staff) and dynamic staff
- Demonstrated ability to effectively manage change within an organization
- Experience with career and workforce related technology needs
- Strong written and oral communication skills as evidenced by teaching, training, facilitation, professional presentations, etc.
- Demonstrated enthusiasm, creativity, innovation, and willingness to take appropriate risks
- Evidence of data analysis, report writing, and sharing assessment results.
- Demonstrated knowledge of high-impact practices to address retention and completion goals in a higher education setting
Diversity Statement
Reflecting departmental and institutional values, candidates are expected to have the ability to advance the Department’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Essential Duties
Job Duty Category
Career Center Leadership
Duty/Responsibility
- Oversee the Career Center’s three units (Career Education, Employer Relations, and Operations) in the administration of a comprehensive career services function that serves thousands of students per year and over 700 unique employers across hundreds of initiatives and events.
- Provide an effective translation and interpretation of the Center’s mission and philosophy to all members of the University community.
- Hire, supervise, and mentor three directors and a business coordinator.
- Provide leadership for the Career Center’s leadership team for decisions related to personnel management (hiring, training, supervising, and evaluating all Career Center employees).
- Consult with, advise, and lead Directors working through organizational challenges, complex student issues, and staff performance concerns, including disciplinary actions or termination.
- Ensure the Career Center stays current with trends in career services and student development; ensure utilization of technology in delivering services.
- Create and update strategic plans, develop annual reports, and lead five-year program review of Career Services.
- Lead the Career Center’s team to do career-services-work through a social justice lens, creatively integrate career services throughout campus, and promote student academic success and graduation goals while working to close equity achievement gaps.
- Build on ethic of community and a climate of support throughout the Career Center through leadership, respect, and personal interaction with staff, students, and a wide variety of constituent groups throughout the community.
Percentage Of Time
40%
Job Duty Category
Campus and Division Leadership
Duty/Responsibility
- Provide vision and leadership for comprehensive career services and student employee development on a campus of nearly 35,000 students.
- Enhance relationships and foster partnerships with a broad base of constituents within the Division of Student Affairs, academic colleges, and campus community; inform constituents of job market, career and industry trends, graduate placement information, employer/recruiting expectations, and workplace educational needs.
- Engage with alumni relations, corporate relations, and employers on behalf of the institution.
- Cultivate and engage businesses and non-profits to build an understanding of their industry and hiring needs to gain access to opportunities for students, and to help their organizations grow.
- Conduct activities and leadership within the Career Services profession to continue enhancing CSU’s reputation as a national leader in career services.
- Coordinate a large complex career services network on campus, ensuring consistency of service to all CSU students.
- Leverage relationships across campus and in the academic colleges to ensure the successful gathering of graduate career outcomes on behalf of the President’s Executive Leadership team; strategically disseminate those data throughout the institution.
- Oversee the CSU Effect initiative, a comprehensive data-informed campaign developed with data from the CSU Graduation Survey that provides destination and CSU satisfaction data from all students.
- Work to transform student employment across campus into a high-impact practice by maintaining existing and cultivating new internship and meaningful student employment opportunities.
- Liaise closely with Human Resources to understand and interpret policies and procedures as they impact student employees; participate in the dissemination of relevant communication around student employee development.
- Actively participate in and work to resolve student-employee-related issues, triage as appropriate to Human Resources, Office of Equal Opportunity, and other campus resources.
- Serve as a member of the Student Affairs Vice President’s Council responsible for division-wide strategic planning, program development, diversity initiatives, and goal attainment.
- Serve as a member of the university CORE team of Associate Deans and key campus partners for implementing and charging action teams to realize university student success priorities.
Percentage Of Time
40%
Job Duty Category
Fiscal Management
Duty/Responsibility
- Plan, develop, and manage the Career Center’s approximate $2.5 million budget and ensure ongoing financial analysis and reconciliation.
- Make decisions regarding various operational expenditures, use of existing Fund Balance, and repair/replacement expenditures as needed and appropriate.
- Actively monitor the Career Center’s multiple funding sources that includes student fees, self-generated revenue, grant revenue, partnership revenue, Foundation funds, and institutional funding sources.
- Ensure team generates a minimum of $300,000 annually from events, services, and initiatives to support Career Center operations, including ongoing funding for the Center’s Unpaid/Underpaid Internship Support Program, Interview Attire Fund, Equity Initiatives Fund, and the Ontiveros Inclusive Fellowship Program.
- Establish a strong working relationship with student leaders in the Associated Students of Colorado State University (ASCSU) and Student Fee Review Board (SFRB), a sub-group of ASCSU, for semester fiscal presentations and annual presentation/review/approval of Career Center Campus budget for student fee appropriation.
- Provide three director-level direct reports with budgeting guidance and adequate tools for fiscal decisions about the allocation of the budgets directing their unit’s operations.
Percentage Of Time
20%
Application Details
Special Instructions to Applicants
CSU is committed to full inclusion of qualified individuals. If you are needing assistance or accommodations with the search process, please reach out to the listed search contact.
To apply, please upload a cover letter that addresses the required and preferred job qualifications, a resume, and the contact information for three professional references. References will not be contacted without prior notification to candidates.
To apply, please upload a cover letter that addresses the required and preferred job qualifications, a resume, and the contact information for three professional references. References will not be contacted without prior notification to candidates.
Conditions of Employment
Pre-employment Criminal Background Check (required for new hires)
Search Contact
Asuka.Nosaka@colostate.edu
EEO Statement
Colorado State University is committed to providing an environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based on race, age, creed, color, religion, national origin or ancestry, sex, gender, disability, veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, or pregnancy in its employment, programs, services and activities, and admissions, and, in certain circumstances, marriage to a co-worker. The University will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. Colorado State University is an equal opportunity and equal access institution and affirmative action employer fully committed to achieving a diverse workforce and complies with all Federal and Colorado State laws, regulations, and executive orders regarding non-discrimination and affirmative action. The Office of Equal Opportunity is located in 101 Student Services.
The Title IX Coordinator is the Director of the Office of Title IX Programs and Gender Equity, 123 Student Services Building, Fort Collins, CO 80523-0160, (970) 491-1715, titleix@colostate.edu.
The Section 504 and ADA Coordinator is the Director of the Office of Equal Opportunity, 101 Student Services Building, Fort Collins, CO 80523-0160, (970) 491-5836, oeo@colostate.edu.
The Coordinator for any other forms of misconduct prohibited by the University’s Policy on Discrimination and Harassment is the Vice President for Equity, Equal Opportunity and Title IX, 101 Student Services Building, Fort Collins, Co. 80523-0160, (970) 491-5836, oeo@colostate.edu.
Any person may report sex discrimination under Title IX to the Office of Civil Rights, Department of Education.
The Title IX Coordinator is the Director of the Office of Title IX Programs and Gender Equity, 123 Student Services Building, Fort Collins, CO 80523-0160, (970) 491-1715, titleix@colostate.edu.
The Section 504 and ADA Coordinator is the Director of the Office of Equal Opportunity, 101 Student Services Building, Fort Collins, CO 80523-0160, (970) 491-5836, oeo@colostate.edu.
The Coordinator for any other forms of misconduct prohibited by the University’s Policy on Discrimination and Harassment is the Vice President for Equity, Equal Opportunity and Title IX, 101 Student Services Building, Fort Collins, Co. 80523-0160, (970) 491-5836, oeo@colostate.edu.
Any person may report sex discrimination under Title IX to the Office of Civil Rights, Department of Education.
Background Check Policy Statement
Colorado State University strives to provide a safe study, work, and living environment for its faculty, staff, volunteers and students. To support this environment and comply with applicable laws and regulations, CSU conducts background checks for the finalist before a final offer. The type of background check conducted varies by position and can include, but is not limited to, criminal history, sex offender registry, motor vehicle history, financial history, and/or education verification. Background checks will also be conducted when required by law or contract and when, in the discretion of the University, it is reasonable and prudent to do so.
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