The Connection Coach - Advising plays a key role in successfully onboarding new students from the point of application and promoting a positive learning experience through their first year, in an effort to meet student retention, success and completion goals of the college. The Connection Coach - Advising provides registration assistance, support, advisement and connections to college resources, aimed at motivating and engaging new students in order for them to be successful.
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
1. Bachelor’s degree
2. 2-3 years’ experience in instruction and or student service and/or related field; preference may be given to those with experience as an academic advisor/counselor/recruiter or faculty member in a higher education setting
3. Knowledge of and commitment to serving bilingual/bicultural student populations and others traditionally underrepresented in higher education
4. General Conversational English/Spanish speaking and listening as measured by scoring a performance level of 7 or higher on our standardized live telephone assessment
1. Bachelor’s degree in education, counseling, psychology or related field: preference may be given to individuals who possess a Master’s degree
2. Community College experience
3. Experience working at a Hispanic Serving Institution (college or university serving 25% or more Hispanic students)
1. Excellent communication and public speaking skills
2. Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work well with people
3. Excellent written communication skills especially in the areas of report writing and business correspondence
1. Register and Onboard cohort of students and coach them through the process of being a first-time student
2. Provide advising to students, including non-advisees, through walk-in times in office and at targeted special events such as New Student Orientation, Accepted Student Days and Welcome Week Activities
3. Assist students with identifying, planning for, and overcoming potential obstacles in the placement testing, registration, financial aid, and technology processes and procedures
4. Assist students with setting goals and defining steps in education and career planning for the first year
5. Maintain advising log or case management files to track contact hours, issues and outcomes with appropriate documentation
6. Monitor student progress toward goals and assist students and instructors to problem solve issues that arise related to progress towards academic goals, persistence, attendance, and completion
7. Explain the processes for interpreting transfer credits, prior learning assessment, satisfactory academic progress (SAP) and other credit and financial issues for students
8. Review and stay current on curriculum requirements and policies impacting students, including meta majors and guided pathways
9. Provide targeted outreach and hold meetings (including remote/online) with students flagged from the Early Alert program, with a focus on identified at-risk populations and LatinX populations
10. Create and conduct workshops and information sessions and develop / distribute materials as needed to support student success
11. Develop printed and on-line resources such as first-year guidelines and financial literacy information to help students and their families better understand
12. Participate in New Student Orientations
13. Provide and/or procure bilingual service to monolingual and limited English- speaking program participants and/or their family members as needed to achieve the grant objectives
14. Provide advising/coaching in both English and Spanish language when needed for an advisee and their family
15. Work both collectively as a team and also independently with the ability to make well informed decisions in the best interest of each advisee
16. Identify support that students need with a focus on goal setting, GPA recovery, study skills, test anxiety and stress management skills, time management, and connecting students to helpful resources
17. Conduct workshops and hands-on training how to navigate through institutional technology and campus resources. Assess workshops and training sessions
18. Meet enrollment and retention goals
19. Provide monthly report on activities and initiatives
20. Monitor student progress proactively, and conduct outreach to connect students to services
21. Coordinate student referrals to departments or services to help them overcome social and economic barriers
22. For online learners, counsel and advise students by phone, email, text and other available online technologies
23. Attend staff meetings and trainings as required.
24. Meet regularly with the Director of Advising and Retention and Task Force to inform challenges, or needed support
25. Other related duties as required
The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
https://www.racc.edu/about-racc/clery
Reading Area Community College (RACC) is an accredited, comprehensive, open-enrollment education institution that provides the following: Associate degree, Certificate and Diploma Programs; career-focused training; transitional coursework; skills training for business and industry; personal enrichment programs and public service activities. Sponsored by Berks County, the College provides affordable access to meet identified community educational needs. Students from every age, race, religion and many different countries throughout the world choose to study here. Those who are seeking degrees at the college are attracted to programs like nursing, respiratory care, criminal justice and business. Other people pursue individual courses to brush up on a skill or interest, or pursue certification in a variety of subjects. The Community Education/Workforce Development division offers programs like dental assisting, home health aide and GED preparation.
