Clarke University looks for individuals who, integrating mind and heart, embrace our core values of freedom, education, charity, and justice. Clarke is a learning community based on education of and care for the whole student, and we empower everyone at Clarke to do and be their best. We offer meaningful work, a safe and friendly work environment, and a comprehensive benefits package. If you are looking for a place where you can make a positive impact, we hope you will consider Clarke.
Clarke University is seeking candidates for the Director of Career Services. The Director administers the University's undergraduate internship program and provides strategic leadership for career and vocational development as Clarke more intentionally organizes the undergraduate experience around vocation, experiential learning, and service to the common good. Working across academic and student affairs and in partnership with employers, alumni, and community organizations, the Director helps create a coherent, progressively developed experience through which students connect classroom learning with vocational discernment, professional preparation, personal formation, and meaningful service. The Director also ensures that students receive practical, individualized support as they identify educational and professional goals and prepare to pursue them.
The Director of Career Services will:
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Administer and continually strengthen the University's undergraduate internship program, coordinating institutional processes for credit-bearing internships; maintaining appropriate records and documentation; and supporting students, faculty, academic programs, and internship-site supervisors throughout the experience.
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Provide leadership for a coordinated approach to career development, vocational discernment, experiential learning, and community engagement that supports student success and advances Clarke's mission.
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Collaborate with faculty and colleagues across academic and student affairs to strengthen connections among career exploration, reflective vocational discernment, community engagement, professional preparation, and students' courses of study.
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Help students understand vocation broadly as the intersection of their gifts, commitments, professional aspirations, and responsibility to the common good, while providing concrete support for the transition from college to meaningful work, graduate study, or service.
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Establish, sustain, and grow reciprocal partnerships with an expansive network of regional employers, nonprofit and community organizations, healthcare providers, civic leaders, alumni, and other partners to expand internships, practica, job shadows, service experiences, research opportunities, and other forms of meaningful experiential engagement for students.
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Work with academic programs and community partners to expand the quality, accessibility, and range of internships and other professional experiences available to students in every major and at various stages of their undergraduate education.
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Serve as a co-principal investigator for Clarke's NetVUE-supported Work and Learn initiative, collaborating with project leaders, faculty, and community partners to develop and implement paid, credit-bearing work-integrated learning opportunities; cultivate employer participation; coordinate student placements and project activities; and support assessment, reporting, and long-term sustainability.
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Provide individual and group career coaching for students, including students who are exploring or changing majors, as they clarify educational, vocational, and professional goals and develop plans for achieving them.
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Offer and coordinate practical career-readiness programming, including classroom presentations, resume and cover-letter development, interview preparation, professional networking, graduate-school preparation, and job-search strategies.
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Collaborate with faculty, staff, and external partners to connect structured reflection with students' experiential learning so that students can articulate what they have learned about themselves, their profession, the communities they serve, and their responsibility to the common good.
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In collaboration with Institutional Advancement and Alumni Relations, engage alumni as mentors, speakers, networking contacts, internship hosts, and sources of professional guidance for students and recent graduates.
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Partner with regional career-services and economic-development professionals to connect students with employment opportunities and career events, and lead career-focused programming associated with Clarke's Celebration of Scholarship and other appropriate campus events.
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In collaboration with the Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Research and Instructional Technology, develop and maintain effective processes for gathering and tracking graduate-outcomes data, including reliable information about employment, continuing education, service, and other post-graduation pathways, and provide accurate data for institutional analysis and reporting.
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In collaboration with the Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Research and Instructional Technology, develop appropriate goals and measures for Career Services and the University's career and vocational-development efforts and use assessment findings to strengthen programs and services.
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Maintain accurate records, resources, employer and community-partner information, and documentation needed to support students, partnerships, assessment, and institutional reporting.
The ideal candidate will possess:
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A commitment to assisting students as they work toward specific educational and career goals.
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A proactive approach to developing a broad range of community-based organizational resources.
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Experience in an educational or social-service setting or a related area such as counseling; specific experience in career services or workforce development is desirable.
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A graduate degree (preferred) or relevant experience in higher education; a bachelor's degree and relevant professional experience are required.
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Excellent written and oral communication skills.
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Excellent interpersonal skills.
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Demonstrated ability to develop, organize, and maintain accurate records and pertinent documentation.
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Ability to work collaboratively with colleagues from different areas of the University, including faculty, academic and student-support staff, Enrollment Management, Institutional Effectiveness and Research and Instructional Technology, and Alumni Relations.
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Familiarity with strengths-based or other appropriate career and vocational-assessment tools is desirable; willingness to obtain relevant certification may be expected.
To apply, please submit a letter of application and resume at https://clarke.applicantpool.com/jobs. Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled.
Clarke University is committed to fostering a welcoming campus community that celebrates the unique contributions of each person and promotes an inclusive learning environment. Clarke University does not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age, disability, or genetic information.
