Career Advisor

Position Title: Career Advisor, Single Parent Empowerment Program (Grant-Funded)

Reports to: Senior Program & Grants Manager, SPEP

Department: Programs & Innovation

Grant Duration: 18-20 months

Grant End Date: December 31, 2027

Location: Washington, DC (Hybrid — minimum 1 day/week onsite)

Salary: $62,500

Position Description:

The Career Advisor for the Single Parent Empowerment Program (SPEP) provides high-touch advising, mentoring coordination, career skill development, and student support for single parent participants across three partner institutions. This role is designed to strengthen student persistence, career readiness, professional identity development, and engagement in the program’s core components, including mentoring, peer networking, job shadowing, micro-internships, and the Washington, DC skill-building retreat.

The Career Advisor works closely with the Senior Program & Grants Manager to ensure the delivery of program activities and student-facing services, supporting grant outcomes, data collection, and the student experience. This position requires strong interpersonal skills, comfort working with nontraditional learners, and experience in workforce readiness, student support, or career coaching.

The Washington Center is a hybrid organization with the majority of employees working on average one day per week at TWC’s Residential and Academic Facility. The individual in this role is expected to reside in the greater Washington, DC metropolitan area. Given our organizational mission focus on skills, workforce development and collaboration, there are times where cross-collaboration among teams and departments will require more than one day per week in the office. This role will include travel to partner institutions and program work on some evenings and weekends.

JOB FUNCTION

Career Coaching & Student Support

• Provide individualized and small-group career coaching for 70–75 single parent students focused on:
• Career goal-setting and pathway planning
• Skill assessment and competency development
• Resume, cover letter, and LinkedIn branding
• Interview preparation and mock interviews
• Navigating education-to-employment transitions
• Conduct regular check-ins to monitor student progress, barriers, and persistence.
• Collaborate with institutional partners to triage student needs and refer students to appropriate campus or community resources.

Mentoring & Peer Network Coordination

• Oversee the single parent mentoring program (opt-in), including:
• Mentor recruitment support
• Matching participants with mentors
• Providing toolkits, expectations, and engagement prompts
• Tracking mentor–mentee engagement and outcomes
• Lead campus-based and virtual peer networking activities to strengthen community, belonging, and emotional support.

Job Shadowing & Micro-Internship Support

• Coordinate with Employer Relations to identify and communicate job shadowing opportunities aligned with student career goals.
• Assist with scheduling, preparation, onboarding, and feedback collection for job shadow experiences.
• Helping students navigate expectations
• Conducting check-ins
• Documenting skill development and challenges
• Capture outcomes, reflections, and participation data for evaluation and reporting

Program Delivery & Event Support

• Support the planning and execution of the Washington, DC Skill-Building Weekend Retreat, including:
• Facilitating networking sessions
• Supporting workshops, site visits, and speaker engagement
• Assisting in on-site troubleshooting and participant support
• Partner with internal teams (Programs, Admissions, Marketing, Communications) to support recruitment, storytelling, and participant communications.
• Maintain accurate student records and support required grant reporting.

Position Qualifications and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree in Higher Education, Counseling, Social Work, Workforce Development, or related field preferred.
• At least 2 years of experience providing career advising, coaching, mentoring, student support, or case management.
• Experience working with non-traditional learners, low-income students, adult learners, or student parents strongly preferred.
• Knowledge of career readiness frameworks (NACE competencies, work-based learning models, etc.).
• Experience coordinating mentoring or peer support programs is a plus.
• Strong interpersonal communication skills, cultural humility, and ability to build trusting relationships.
• Comfort facilitating workshops, group coaching, and virtual engagement.

Employee Competencies required to perform the job successfully

• Communication & Interpersonal Skills
• Equity & Inclusion Mindset
• Teamwork & Collaboration
• Initiative & Problem-Solving
• Self-Awareness & Adaptability

Supervisory Responsibility

None.

The Washington Center’s Values guide our mission work in every regard–internally and externally.

• Equity & Inclusion
• Learning
• Connection & Collaboration
• Integrity
• Impact

Equipment Used to Perform the Job which may be representative but not all inclusive of those commonly associated with this position:

• Cloud-based technologies
• Standard office equipment including a computer, job-related software

Physical Abilities commonly associated with the performance of the functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation can be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform described essential functions of this job. These physical demands are representative of the physical requirements necessary for an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

The Washington Center (TWC) is an Equal Opportunity Employer. TWC provides equal employment opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, genetic information or any other protected characteristic under applicable law. Provisions in applicable laws providing for bona fide occupational qualifications, business necessity or age limitations will be adhered to by the organization where appropriate.