Senior Career Services Advisor

To be considered for this opportunity, please include a cover letter with your CV or resume.

Senior Career Advisor, Career Engagement

The University of Southern California Career Center is recruiting an experienced Senior Career Advisor to join the Career Engagement team. The primary responsibilities include leading innovative and scalable signature undergraduate and graduate career services, focusing on diverse disciplines, career interests, and career advising. This role is crucial in meeting the high student demand for graduate career advising and programming.

The incumbent will develop and manage relationships with key stakeholders and campus partners, and plan signature events and early-career programming. The individual will foster partnerships with the Graduate Student Government, Viterbi Graduate Student Association, and other student organizations, USC Graduate School, academic departments, and Student Life. Additionally, this individual will collaborate with other school-based career services offices and critical departments to maximize student outreach. The incumbent will also supervise student interns and partners with technology vendors.

The ideal candidate will have experience in benchmarking, researching, and advising undergraduate and graduate students, including doctoral candidates, graduate student event planning, developing original career content, and leading student engagement and programming for the Career Engagement team. The incumbent will demonstrate professionalism and strong written and verbal communication skills while advising students and recent graduates on the following career-related topics:

• Investigating fast-growing career paths
• Developing competitive resumes, cover letters, and LinkedIn profiles
• Preparing for interviews and networking
• Leveraging AI as a tool for job searching and upskilling
• Negotiating internship and job offers
• Maintaining a professional online presence

Job Accountabilities:

Career Advising:

• Understand challenges related to undergraduate and graduate students, including doctoral candidates, and educate students about the many career paths and exploration
• Advise undergraduate, graduate, and recent graduates, providing in-depth guidance on career-related matters and job search strategies
• Administer career assessments, including the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Strong Interest Inventory, and other career assessments
• Produce original content for presentations, professional development workshops, videos, web pages, digital handouts, social media, and other educational materials
• Write and update resume, curriculum vitae resume booklet and website content
• Create new presentations covering trending career topics for presentations to graduate students, alumni, and other key stakeholders
• Write, edit, and proofread precise, engaging, accurate, and compelling educational content and marketing copy in various styles appropriate to target audiences
• Remain current with recruiting trends and collaborate with the employer community for undergraduate career opportunities
• May provide guidance to colleagues with less experience, as required
• Coordinate marketing with the Assistant Director for Marketing, delivering content and engaging more graduate students in appointments and programming
• Utilize good emotional intelligence with the team, interpersonal communication skills, including active listening and collaboration skills
  

Program Development and Management:

Recruit, train, and supervise student interns and develop innovative graduate student programs/approaches to engage graduate students (master's and Ph.D.) in the career development process.

• Serve as the liaison to the Health Science Campus (HSC), including hosting in-person events on campus and collaborating with academic schools
• Plan and execute career events for small and large groups, including the Beyond the Ph.D.: Ph.D. and Postdoctoral Career Conference, and promote networking opportunities with alumni and employers seeking master's, doctoral, and postdoc candidates
• Representing the Career Center at graduate student events and professional associations
• Advise domestic and international undergraduate and graduate students and recent graduates through in-person, phone, and online appointments and enter advising notes into the career advising database
• Collaborate with the USC Student Life departments, Graduate Student Government, the Graduate School, professional associations, and other campus partners
• Representing the Career Center at undergraduate and graduate student events and professional associations
• May provide guidance to colleagues with less experience, as required
• Serve as a Career Center liaison to assigned school-based career centers
• Identify graduate student career resources and lead vendor relationships
• Develop and conduct student and alumni career workshops, moderate panel discussions, and create structured activities for groups and individuals
• Stay current on career and hiring trends, relevant on and off-campus resources, and related technology by actively engaging and presenting at professional workshops, seminars, and conferences
• Possess strong project management and organizational skills
• Perform other related duties as assigned or requested

Please note:

• This position requires working some evenings during the academic year.

All applications must include a cover letter and a resume.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

Education:

Master's degree in Humanities, Social Science, Education, or a related field

Experience:

• Career services counseling/advising in a not-for-profit four-year college/university setting
• Strong working knowledge of career development is the best practice for first- and second-year students
• Experience recruiting, supervising, and leading student team members
• Ability to research and quickly develop knowledge of employer recruiting strategies, job market trends, and occupational, career, and personal growth for doctoral and postdoctoral students
• Willingness to work with an inclusive community, fostering mutual respect, inclusion, and sense of belonging
• Skilled in communicating effectively and professionally using tact, diplomacy, emotional intelligence, and the ability to collaborate and lead effectively as an individual, a team member, and with various groups
• Provide excellent customer service to students and alumni populations
• Knowledge of virtual career center platforms, including Handshake, UConnect, VMock, CareerShift, Big Interview, Canva, and other platforms
• Strength in establishing and maintaining effective cross-campus collaborations, balancing competing priorities, developing, and implementing both large-and small-scale programs and events
• Ability to work as an intrapreneur to develop new and relevant career programming for a multi-generational student population
• Ability to handle confidential information following FERPA regulations

The salary range for this position is $ $76,442.59 - $87,619.33 per year. When extending an offer of employment, the University of Southern California considers factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidate's work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer equity, federal, state and local laws, contractual stipulations, grant funding, as well as external market and organizational considerations.
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