CalMU is seeking an experienced, hands-on Career Services Manager to lead career readiness, employer engagement, and placement support for our students.
This is an individual-contributor management role responsible for building and operating the University’s Career Services function. The Career Services Manager will coach students, develop employer relationships, create internship and employment opportunities, track outcomes, and establish consistent career-services processes.
The ideal candidate has successfully supported students or job seekers, developed employer partnerships, and delivered measurable internship or employment outcomes. An existing employer network in the San Diego region is strongly preferred.
Key Responsibilities
Student Coaching and Career Readiness
- Provide individualized career coaching to students and graduates.
- Assist students with resumes, cover letters, LinkedIn profiles, job-search strategies, interview preparation, networking, and salary-negotiation fundamentals.
- Develop and deliver career-readiness workshops covering professionalism, workplace communication, networking, job searching, and role-specific preparation.
- Create standardized career-readiness resources, templates, and guides.
- Assess student career goals, readiness, and employment barriers and develop appropriate action plans.
- Maintain consistent communication and follow-up with students participating in Career Services.
- Support both in-person and remote students, including occasional evening workshops or appointments based on student schedules.
Employer Partnerships and Placement
- Partner with the Strategic Partnerships Manager to build and maintain relationships with employers, with an initial focus on the San Diego region.
- Conduct consistent outreach to employers to identify internships, employment opportunities, projects, informational interviews, and networking opportunities.
- Develop and maintain an active employer pipeline.
- Match qualified students and graduates with appropriate employment and internship opportunities.
- Coordinate referrals, employer introductions, interviews, and follow-up activities.
- Organize employer presentations, recruiting events, career fairs, and networking opportunities.
- Maintain professional relationships with employers and gather feedback regarding candidate readiness and skill gaps.
- Work toward measurable internship and job-placement outcomes.
Program Development and Operations
- Build and maintain a practical Career Services operating system appropriate for a small university.
- Develop repeatable procedures, workflows, templates, outreach schedules, and student follow-up mechanisms.
- Establish a regular calendar of workshops, coaching sessions, employer events, and student communications.
- Create career-services programming that supports students in different academic programs and stages of career readiness.
- Identify opportunities to improve services through technology, automation, and appropriate AI tools.
- Maintain organized and accurate records of student engagement, employer outreach, interviews, internships, and placements.
Data, Reporting, and Accountability
- Track key activities and outcomes.
- Maintain a clear weekly dashboard showing progress, activity, and outcomes.
- Analyze trends and use data to improve student outreach, career programming, and employer-engagement strategies.
- Prepare periodic reports for University leadership.
- Maintain documentation supporting institutional, accreditation, and student-outcome reporting requirements.
Collaboration and Compliance
- Partner with Academic Affairs, Student Services, Marketing, Admissions, and other departments to align career preparation with student needs and academic programs.
- Identify recurring student skill gaps and communicate them to appropriate academic and operational leaders.
- Support institutional initiatives related to retention, student engagement, graduation, and employment outcomes.
- Maintain student records and communications in accordance with FERPA and University policies.
- Handle student and employer information professionally and confidentially.
- Participate in University meetings, training, and continuous-improvement initiatives.
- Operate in alignment with CalMU’s Leadership Principles, including Excellence in Execution, Focus on Students, Rapid Continuous Improvements, and Collect, Monitor, and Act on Data.
Required Qualifications
Education
- Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution in business, human resources, education, communications, counseling, workforce development, or a related field.
Experience
- At least five years of relevant experience in career services, workforce development, university placement, talent acquisition, recruiting, employer relations, or a related field.
- Direct experience coaching students, graduates, job seekers, or candidates.
- Demonstrated success developing employer relationships or employment opportunities.
- Experience tracking activities, outcomes, and performance metrics.
- Experience managing multiple priorities independently and consistently following through on commitments.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience working in higher education or with adult learners.
- Existing relationships with employers in San Diego or Southern California.
- Demonstrated internship or job-placement outcomes.
- Experience building or improving a career-services, recruiting, or workforce-development program.
- Master’s degree in higher education, career development, counseling, human resources, business, or a related field.
- Experience supporting international, military-affiliated, or nontraditional students.
- Familiarity with student information systems, CRM platforms, LinkedIn, spreadsheets, and reporting dashboards.
Skills and Capabilities
- Strong resume, cover-letter, and LinkedIn editing skills.
- Knowledge of behavioral, situational, and role-specific interview-preparation methods.
- Strong career-coaching and student-engagement skills.
- Professional and persistent employer-outreach capabilities.
- Ability to build trusted relationships with students, employers, and internal partners.
- Strong written, verbal, presentation, and facilitation skills.
- Ability to use spreadsheets, dashboards, and data to manage performance.
- Strong organization, documentation, and project-management skills.
- Ability to establish structure and processes in a developing function.
- Comfort using AI and technology to improve service delivery and operational efficiency.
Personal Attributes
- Student-focused, supportive, and accountable.
- Proactive and comfortable initiating employer outreach.
- Highly organized and dependable.
- Results-oriented without losing sight of the student experience.
- Professional and credible when representing the University to employers.
- Comfortable working independently in a small-university environment.
- Persistent in following up with students, employers, and internal stakeholders.
- Data-driven and committed to continuous improvement.
First Six-Month Priorities
Within the first six months, the Career Services Manager will be expected to:
- Establish a complete Career Services operating structure, including documented workflows, templates, student communications, and tracking mechanisms.
- Launch a consistent calendar of workshops, coaching appointments, and employer-engagement activities.
- Establish baseline career-readiness data for active students.
- Implement a process for updating student resumes, LinkedIn profiles, and career plans.
- Develop an active San Diego-focused employer pipeline.
- Build relationships with at least 25 employers offering relevant internships, projects, interviews, or employment opportunities.
- Establish a weekly dashboard tracking student engagement, employer outreach, interviews, internships, and placements.
- Begin delivering documented internship and employment outcomes.
- Identify common student skill gaps and provide actionable feedback to Academic Affairs and University leadership.
Physical and Scheduling Requirements
- Ability to work onsite at the San Diego campus.
- Ability to provide occasional evening programming or appointments based on student schedules.
- Ability to attend employer meetings, networking events, career fairs, and community events in the San Diego region.
- Ability to perform standard office duties, including extended computer use and participation in virtual and in-person meetings.
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: $65,000.00 - $78,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Vision insurance
Application Question(s):
- How many years of direct experience do you have in Career Services?
- Do you have direct, hands-on experience coaching students or job seekers on resumes, LinkedIn optimization, and interview preparation?
- Have you personally supported measurable job or internship placements for students or clients?
- Have you built or significantly expanded an employer partnership network in a previous role?
- Are you comfortable tracking metrics and publishing regular reports (dashboards, spreadsheets, KPIs) on career services outcomes?
- What is your target annual compensation range?
- Are you available to work full-time, on site?
- This schedule is 10:00am-6:30pm. Are you able to meet this requirement?
Ability to Commute:
- San Diego, CA 92108 (Required)
Work Location: In person
