Required Qualifications

• BA/BS
• At least 10 years of experience (or Master’s degree with 8+ years of experience) with progressively increasing responsibilities,
• Prefer experience supervising and positions requiring in-depth understanding of college student career development
• Demonstrated experience supervising a diverse team and leading in a strategic manner that demonstrates operational excellence
• Demonstrated effectiveness supporting principles of equal opportunity, diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice, including experience supporting students and staff with varying identities and backgrounds

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong belief in the value of liberal arts and demonstrated effectiveness in supporting the career development of liberal arts students
• Demonstrated responsiveness to changes in the regional, state, national, and international world of work
• Experience leading a career services team in a dynamic and changing environment
• Experience helping employers understand the value that liberal arts students bring to the workplace
• Advanced degree in counseling, student affairs, higher education, or a related field

Budget management experience

• Demonstrated understanding of current issues, best practices, and emerging trends in higher education career services
• Data-minded individual with experience assessing outcomes and ensuring that resources are being used to create positive outcomes for students, a positive work environment for staff, and in support of collegiate priorities

The College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota has embarked on an ambitious goal to make career readiness an integral part of the undergraduate student experience. The College of Liberal Arts (CLA) Career Services office is central to this college-wide effort and is a national leader in evolving their approach to serving liberal arts students in a changing talent landscape.

CLA Career Services (CLACS) strives to offer a continuum of increasingly inclusive, high-impact career management development that advances readiness for all CLA students. This is done in alignment with our land-grant mission and with an increasing focus on meeting the needs of students who experience the greatest barriers to their career management development, while also deepening and strengthening career development support for the entire undergraduate student population. Career management and career services are intentionally embedded across the full undergraduate experience at CLA.

CLA Career Services is a part of CLA’s Office of Undergraduate Education, which provides exceptional, inclusive undergraduate experiences to students through innovation, research, and personalized educational partnerships. The Office of Undergraduate Education (UGE) provides resources, opportunities, and systems from recruitment through graduation that promote student success, career readiness, and personal well-being so students can leverage the advantages of their liberal arts education to the benefit of society. Serving approximately 13,000 undergraduates in 65+ majors, CLA Undergraduate Education's work spans academic advising, student support services, career services, curriculum management, diversity/equity/inclusion programs, and scholarship awarding.

CLA is strongly committed to career readiness for its students by focusing on their development of ten Core Career Competencies. Nine of these competencies reflect the very essence of liberal arts education and the competitive advantage it represents in today’s uncertain and dynamic economy. Career Management, the tenth competency and the key focus of the career services team, gives students the necessary tools to seek and obtain careers. Career Readiness is the ability of students to articulate how a liberal arts education prepares them for future careers. It is their liberal arts advantage.

Position Overview:

CLA is seeking a strategic, collaborative, and innovative leader as the next director of its Career Services unit who is eager to lead the continued evolution of both career services and support the career readiness effort in the college. The CLA Career Services team is building and expanding an innovative curricular approach to career preparation and career management, and the director will be responsible for leading the implementation and scaling of this field-leading model among liberal arts colleges. The Career Services team is responsible for supporting the undergraduate students and recent alumni of CLA through career coaching and student engagement, career management curriculum, experiential learning, internships, and alumni and employer engagement initiatives that are integrated into the overall CLA Undergraduate Education unit.

The director reports to the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education, and is a member of the associate dean’s leadership team. The director leads a career services team with 16 full-time staff, and is a key partner in the college’s Career Readiness Initiative, coordinating with the Director of Career Readiness on all strategic priorities of the college, and with system partners.

The next director of CLA Career Services will bring demonstrated excellence in team leadership, as well as expertise in student development specific to career management and post-college preparation for students. The director will be responsible for aligning the team’s work with principles of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, to ensure that all students are served well as they plan and prepare to positively impact our interconnected world following graduation.

CLA Career Services has a strong commitment to support the University’s goal of creating a positive and inclusive campus climate for all. We are seeking a diverse pool of candidates with varying identities and backgrounds.

Full information about CLA Career Services can be found at www.clacareer.umn.edu and the CLA Career Readiness Initiative can be found at www.cla.umn.edu/career-readiness.

Job Responsibilities:

CLA Career Services (CLACS) Strategic Leadership and Oversight - 20%

• Provide strategic leadership to operationalize the strategic plan of CLA Career Services, the largest and most complex of the undergraduate career centers in the UMN system with a particular focus on ensuring that students from underrepresented and underserved backgrounds have equitable access to career development and post-college opportunities.
• Build and maintain strong integration with CLA’s college-wide Career Readiness Initiative (CRI). Ensure that Career Services resources, including staff, are aligned with the CRI and contribute to the success of the initiative.

- Build and maintain the budgeting, staffing, and curricular support infrastructure necessary to scale the curricular approach to career management support to students in CLACS - For example, scaling up teaching capacity in Career Kickstarter course from approximately 800 (22-23 school year) to 2,300 students per year (23-24 school year).

• Oversee the implementation of employer and alumni relations in Career Services, related to both traditional career recruitment and the strategic initiatives developing around corporate engagement with the University.
• Oversee CLA’s post-graduation survey administration process, lead and leverage the reporting to do strategic planning in outreach to employers, adjusting curriculum and services to address equity gaps, and help support the dissemination of metrics to CLA’s departments.
• Create and maintain continuous improvement of CLACS through monitoring, assessment, and evaluation of the operational delivery model and key student metrics (e.g. experiential learning participation, graduation rates, post-graduation survey results).
• Advocate for diverse staffing, resources, and technology to best support the office's goals.

CLACS Operational Strategy and Team Development - 40%

• Supervise, support, develop, and coach 5 direct reports. The full CLACS team also includes 11 indirect reports and 1 “dotted line” professional team members, instructional staff and a large group of student peer employees.
• Direct the daily operations of the CLACS team to efficiently and effectively carry out existing and new initiatives, balancing several goals at once with substantial discretion.
• Pursue and create, as needed, professional development opportunities for CLACS team members including intentional engagement with topics of diversity, equity, inclusion,and social justice topics, leading to the provision of culturally-responsive pedagogy, coaching support, and alumni and employer engagement opportunities for a diverse undergraduate population.
• Lead team in developing and carrying out project management and project-based work, a hybrid (in-person and remote) service delivery model, and complex daily operational needs.
• Support Assistant Directors in their supervision and management of the personnel in each of the work streams of CLACS.
• Integrate UMN, CLA, and CLA UGE data, technology, and communication systems to meet the evolving needs of the CLACS team and CLA students; fitting the data systems effectively and efficiently into the various work streams that require and benefit from active data use.

CLA and UMN Leadership and Representation - 20%

• Serve on and lead area, college, and University committees related to position, and represent CLACS for UMN admission recruitment (e.g. UGE Director’s Group, Operational Management, UGE Corporate Engagement and Strategy Workgroup).
• Collaborate with CLA Institutional Advancement staff to build relationships with alumni, prospective donors, current donors, and corporate and community partners. Articulate for partners the needs in the career services office and the impact of gifts that are given.
• Collaborate with other campus administrators whose work is also related to career development, including career services offices in other colleges at the U of M, the Office for Student Affairs, the Learning Abroad Center, the University of Minnesota Alumni Association, or others.
• Identify and pursue new innovative and collaborative opportunities for CLACS across CLA and UMN units, often setting precedents for the institution’s approach to career services for undergraduate students.
• Position CLA as a key partner regarding career preparation philosophy on campus and system-wide committees related to career services, and contribute to system-wide career metrics (e.g. system-wide Career Directors meetings, UMN strategic plan contributions, UMN-Twin Cities Corporate Relations work group).

Regional and National Influence - 10%

• Actively participate in campus, state, and national professional associations and groups to network with colleagues and to enhance the visibility of CLA and the University of Minnesota. Present at conferences, and serve in organizational leadership roles such as the Big 10 Career Directors peer group.
• Build the profile of CLA students and CLACS model locally and nationally to support the engagement of corporate partners and graduate school programs.
• Contribute to the strategic positioning of the college, in collaboration with CLA leaders of marketing, communication, and career readiness.
• Represent CLA Career Services to the media and with other institutions as needed, promoting CLACS breakthrough and innovative best practices.

Professional development, administrative time, service to the college - 10%

• Seek and participate in ongoing professional development as part of the annual performance review process.
• Serve on ad-hoc and continuing committees, task forces, and work groups as determined by the director and Associate Dean.
• Contribute to administrative projects that advance CLACS and CLA UGE needs and priorities (e.g.: Market refinement study work for central HR).