Overview

The Associate Director, Graduate Student Career Development position focuses on advising, guidance, and programming on all aspects of career planning and development of graduate students for careers inside and outside academe. Reporting to the Senior Associate Director for Graduate Student Career Development, the Associate Director serves as a key relationship builder with major stakeholders across campus. The person in this role has direct responsibility for creating and implementing engagement and outreach initiatives by collaborating with campus partners to capture and respond to evolving graduate student career interests and needs. This position also involves collaborating broadly within the Career Development team. The Associate Director advises graduate students according to our student-centered career advising philosophy that aligns with our office’s model focused on self-exploration and lifelong career management. This holistic model involves both one-on-one career advising and an educational/curricular framework. In addition to providing one-on-one advising for graduate students, the person in this role designs and facilitates career education and skill-building programs for graduate students and contributes to the development and maintenance of our office career resources for graduate students.

 

This role will be in-person in the Center for Career Development offices.

 

Responsibilities

Graduate Student Career Advising & Programming (60%)

• Provide personalized career advising for graduate students via one-on-one in-person and virtual (phone/Zoom) advising appointments on career-related concerns inside and outside academe.
• Meet individually or in groups with graduate students to provide coaching and advising to help graduate students clarify values, interests, skills, and strengths.
• Educate graduate students on significant employment trends within and beyond academe.
• Assist graduate students with developing action plans and follow-up strategies based on a series of progressive meetings.
• Collaborate with the Employer Engagement team to develop and implement programs and resources that connect grad students with employers, such as the Undercover Bosses program and the Bring a Ph.D. to Work series.
• Collaborate with the Alumni Engagement and Experiential Learning team to create programs and resources that connect graduate alumni with graduate students, such as the From Ph.D. to Workplace panel series.
• Create and implement a wide range of engaging, informative, and actionable programs on topics ranging from exploring careers to preparing for the academic job search to interviewing and negotiating job offers for graduate students.
• Actively collaborate with graduate academic departments and student organizations to identify changing career needs of graduate students and design and implement career education and skill-building programs tailored to specific graduate student groups or a requested department.

 

 

Campus Outreach & Collaborative Relationship Building (30%)

• Serve as a primary liaison to graduate academic departments and student organizations at Princeton University for graduate student career development.
• Develop, maintain, and enhance relationships with graduate faculty and departmental staff, primarily directors of graduate studies, job placement officers, graduate program administrators, and student department representatives.
• Build and cultivate relationships across campus with
• graduate student groups and centers on campus serving graduate students.
• Connect with underserved graduate student populations across campus through outreach initiatives.
• Help develop a prioritized list of campus outreach targets and implement outreach strategies to ensure that all Princeton graduate students have access to meaningful career exploration and opportunities.

 

Data and Assessment (10%)

• Oversee and maintain campus engagement data in the office's Salesforce instance.
• Use data to assess outreach/program impact and areas for continuous improvement.
• Participate in assessment projects to conduct a broader survey or focus-group interviews to understand Princeton graduate students’ career development experiences.

Qualifications

Qualifications

• Master’s Degree required; Ph.D. strongly preferred
• Minimum of three years of professional experience in career counseling/advising and program development in a higher education setting required; two or more years of experience in graduate student advising strongly preferred
• Ability to implement a developmental, goal-oriented, and student-centered approach to advising graduate students
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills to deliver effective career presentations, and build internal and external relationships
• Experience in working with and supporting underrepresented populations, and deep commitment to advancing diversity and inclusion goals
• Proven track record and experience in cultivating connections, program planning and execution, and group facilitation and engagement with a strategic mindset to create value and impact
• Demonstrated passion or/and experience in creating innovative programming reflecting the changing needs of graduate students and the world of work inside and outside academe
• Experience gathering and analyzing data to inform decisions
• Ability to solve problems and make decisions in a timely and effective manner
• Broader familiarity with career assessments (MBTI and CliftonStrengths) preferred

 

Cover letter is required with your application materials. 

 

 

 

Princeton University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. KNOW YOUR RIGHTS

Standard Weekly Hours36.25Eligible for OvertimeNoBenefits EligibleYesProbationary Period180 daysEssential Services Personnel (see policy for detail)NoPhysical Capacity Exam RequiredNoValid Driver’s License RequiredNo Experience LevelMid-Senior Level#LI-JE1