Description

The Center for Career & Professional Development, reporting to the Division of Student Success, is the university’s centralized career planning and employment assistance service for USF students and alumni. The programs in the Center are designed to help students and graduates assess, explore, develop, and implement their career goals, gain employability skills and career-related experiences, prepare for a successful transition into graduate/professional school or the labor market, and connect with employers to obtain part-time jobs, internships, cooperative education, and professional employment. 

The ideal candidate will report directly to the Assistant Vice President, this role works closely with the Center for Career & Professional Development team and across the University, and strategic employer and alumni partners. In addition, they manage a team of Assistant Directors and coordinators to:

• Serves on the Center for Career & Professional Development leadership team to align office goals to university initiatives and employment trends.
• Works collaboratively with the entire team to maximize employer activities and engage students.
• Supervise and coach the Industry to Campus Connections team to align activities with the strategic goals and mission of the Center.
• Leads the Industry to Campus Connections team to create a strategic engagement plan for industry partners to connect with students and increase the hiring of graduates.  
• Create recruitment policies and procedures to serve as best practices for campus and community.
  Identify, advertise, and secure sponsorship opportunities for industry connections to brand themselves on campus and create partnerships.
• Work across unit teams to proactively research, identify, plan, and implement existing immersive programs and talent recruitment events. The person in this role must also possess the creativity and drive to innovate new models.
• Oversee student employment and JLD functions of the office.
• Collaborate with the Center's leadership team to facilitate external engagement across the University as needed to ensure strategic partnerships, signature programs, key employer relationships, new initiatives, and externally sponsored activities foster new and expand existing relationships across the university and beyond.
• Work closely with the Assistant Directors of Industry to Campus Connections and Internship Development, Director of Strategic Initiatives, and the Operations and Marketing team to support talent requests from strategic partners.
• Host career fairs and participate in the Center's events and represent our unit with the Chamber of Commerce and university committees relating to employer development at local, state, regional, and national meetings.
• Facilitate an Employer Summit each summer to provide professional development to community recruiters and foster connections to USF.
• Promote and utilize Handshake to track contacts and promote employment opportunities and events.

Responsibilities:

• Engage with employers to support efforts to connect to USF students and alumni.
• Serve in the Chamber of Commerce and other industry-connected groups to connect with Tampa employers.
• Supervise the Assistant Directors and Student Employment/JLD Coordinator to accomplish goals outlined by the department's strategic plan.
• Create policies, goals, and sponsorship opportunities for employer engagement at USF.
• Identify ways to assess engagement and impact of industry connections and report findings to leadership and university Deans.
• Maintain accurate data on student engagement with employers.
• Collaborate with leadership to facilitate engagement across the University and externally to foster new and expand existing relationships.

Requirements

Minimum Qualifications: 

• Requires a Bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution.
• Minimum of 7 years of related exempt-level experience, including 5 years of managerial experience.
• Experience leading a team, project, program, or function.

Preferred Candidate Experiences:  

• A dynamic leader with excellent organizational and relationship skills who fosters a culture of collaboration and trust around external relationship building and management and functions with a high degree of professionalism and integrity.
• Possesses a strategic mindset related to achieving goals, able to communicate vision and translate ideas into operational goals effectively.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, process-driven environment while maintaining exceptional attention to detail and accuracy with lean staff support.
• Outstanding written, verbal, and presentation skills and the proven ability to communicate effectively with stakeholders at all levels.
• Demonstrated ability to manage time-sensitive problems in a constructive, positive manner.