PROSPECTUS
Associate Director of Career Development
APPLICATION DEADLINE: Friday, August 15, 2025
POSITION OVERVIEW
Colgate University seeks an Associate Director of Career Development to join their department’s senior leadership team, reporting to the Milone Family AVP for career initiatives. This role offers an experienced colleague the opportunity to leverage a strong team of career services professionals and build upon the team's demonstrated success. This colleague's work will continue to strengthen Colgate's career development program and deepen the team's capacity to guide students through the contemporary challenges and opportunities inherent in competing for competitive internships, jobs, and graduate school outcomes. The associate director will be accountable for ensuring Colgate's four-year career development plan continues to meet students', departmental, and university needs. They will do so by leveraging a strong understanding of assessment practices and a solid commitment to making data-informed decisions.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
The successful candidate must demonstrate strong competency in team leadership and supervision, career advising and coaching, program development, assessment, and operational management. They will strive to meet their direct reports' needs by intentionally and individually guiding their supervisees' professional development. The associate director will possess a clear strengths-based approach in their work and a demonstrated record of leveraging practices that positively meet a diverse undergraduate student population that possesses a variety of backgrounds and career aspirations.
The successful candidate will be accountable for providing the primary vision and leadership to ensure Colgate's four-year career development plan leads to strong student outcomes and is widely considered to be among the best career development programs in the nation.
Specific duties include the following:
Leadership and Strategy
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Train and lead the career development team to guide students through a developmental process of exploration, discernment, action planning, and the successful pursuit of internships and post-graduate opportunities.
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Responsible for the career services team's delivery of effective career advising, skill-development workshops, industry exploration and preparation programming, and print and digital resources.
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In collaboration with departmental colleagues, the associate director will leverage alumni and parent volunteers to showcase the breadth of paths in which a liberal arts education can lead to meaningful professional contributions and successes.
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Responsible for assisting colleagues in developing student-facing initiatives with developmentally appropriate learning outcomes, high levels of interactivity, and assessment strategies to measure intended impact.
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Accountable to train advisers to advise and coach high-capacity students to build self-awareness, explore career interests, gain industry-based content knowledge and understanding of hiring practices and timelines, and pursue employment and graduate school searches.
Managing a Data-Informed Practice
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Provide team leadership that supports the continuation of Career Services data-informed practices.
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Maintain and improve on how the Career Services team identifies, tracks, and assesses overall student engagement with the four-year career development plan.
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Deploy quantitative and qualitative analyses that inform and deepen students' interactions with programming and advising. Independently prepare analyses and reports.
Supervision
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Responsible for the effective hiring, supervision, and performance management of all direct and indirect reports - including professional staff and student interns.
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Provide timely performance evaluations, hold colleagues accountable for stated goals, and create individualized plans for staff development and professional growth.
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Responsible for ensuring fair and equitable decisions regarding employment (e.g., hiring, promotion, termination).
Relationship Management
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Work closely with the team's communications professional to shape the departmental strategy to increase students' awareness of and engagement with Career Services' resources and initiatives.
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Establish connections with faculty, staff, and student leaders to facilitate collaborations and build networks of support for students.
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Cultivate strong, ongoing relationships with students whom you career advise.
QUALIFICATIONS
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Bachelor's degree.
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A minimum of 3 years leading career development or student affairs teams or comprehensive career or professional development initiatives.
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Prior experience with directly supervising a team to produce high-quality work.
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At least 5 years of prior advising, coaching, or counseling experience.
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Assessment experience and a demonstrated ability to synthesize and analyze quantitative and qualitative data.
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Proficiency in Excel is required.
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Success with independently managing multiple projects.
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Excellent written and oral communication skills, strong organizational and analytical skills, and the ability to set priorities and take initiative.
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A demonstrated ability to build relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
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Demonstrated success in working collegially with a diverse group of parents, alumni, employers, faculty, staff, and students within a university setting.
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Demonstrated awareness of the impact contemporary challenges and nuances may have on new graduates navigating career searches in today's economy.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
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Master's degree in a related field.
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Prior counseling or advising experience with a traditional college-aged, liberal arts student population.
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Experience leading group advising sessions.
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Experience with Handshake and various third-party career development preparation resources.
Colgate is a distinctive, leading liberal arts university in Hamilton, NY, known for its intellectual rigor, world-class professors, campus of stunning beauty, and alumni famously loyal to their alma mater. Supported by a 9:1 student-to-faculty ratio and an array of student affairs professionals who are leaders in their fields, our 3,274 students are engaged in a highly personalized and rigorous residential undergraduate experience that prepares them to become global citizens who will thrive in life and in work. The Third-Century Plan, introduced by President Brian Casey in 2019, represents the largest and most important transformation in the history of Colgate. It will both complete the physical campus and fully realize Colgate's potential to become one of the most important undergraduate colleges in the country. This bold ambition is supported by the institution's $1B campaign, anchored in the Colgate Commitment, the University's relentless pursuit to make Colgate accessible to talented, high-achieving students, regardless of socioeconomic background. Additionally, strong priorities of integrating arts and creativity into all aspects of the university, revitalizing residential spaces and reshaping social life, recruiting and supporting faculty, and building world-class facilities for Colgate's Division I athletics program round out the campaign's focus.
ABOUT CAREER SERVICES
This is an exciting time to join Career Services at Colgate University. Colgate’s Third Century Plan, the university's strategic plan for short- and long-term transformation, was adopted during Colgate's bicentennial year in 2019. In tandem with the Third Century Plan, Career Services launched a four-year career development plan to ensure students' early and frequent engagement with Colgate's excellent career preparation resources. The approach to students' career development serves as a foundational structure to strengthen students' career outcomes. Now, more than 80% of students annually are engaged in intentional, developmental, and personalized journeys of self-discovery and experiential education. This results in more than 97% of Colgate respondents securing a job, graduate or professional school admission, a competitive fellowship, or a military commission within six to nine months of their graduation.
LEADERSHIP
Teresa Olsen
Milone Family Assistant Vice President for Career Initiatives
Teresa oversees Career Services to deliver a personalized, high-impact experience to students, alumni, employers, and families that differentiates Colgate as a national leader in higher education. Alongside an exceptionally talented team, Teresa develops and executes a deep array of strategic initiatives aligned with Colgate's Third Century Plan that supports best-in-class preparation and career outcomes for Colgate graduates. A passionate advocate for the liberal arts, Teresa presents regularly, consults as an external reviewer, and has held multiple leadership positions within liberal arts consortia and at Colgate. Additionally, she has served two terms on Colby College’s Alumni Board of Visitors.
Her work on Colgate’s SophoMORE Connections program was recognized with the NACE Excellence Award. In her time at Colgate, Teresa has earned the prestigious Maroon Citation, awarded for a significant record of service to the institution; the John LeFevre ‘41 Appreciation Award and Jack Mitchell Loyalty Award for her dedicated support of Colgate Division I Athletics; and the Senior Class Award.
Teresa holds a BA from Colby College and an MS in higher education administration from Indiana University. Teresa, her husband, and their two children are avid outdoor enthusiasts.
Paul J. McLoughlin, II
Vice President and Dean of the College
Dr. Paul J. McLoughlin II is the chief student affairs officer and a member of Colgate’s senior leadership who participates in all aspects of institution-wide planning and policy development. Reporting to McLoughlin is a team responsible for career services, residential life, campus safety, campus life (including multicultural affairs, fraternities/sororities, university chaplains, international student services, and community service), administrative advising and conduct, and health, wellness, and counseling. The National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Region II awarded McLoughlin the Outstanding Contribution in Higher Education in 2021.
Prior to his arrival at Colgate in 2017, McLoughlin served as the dean of students at Lafayette College for five years. In 2017, Lafayette awarded him the Fleck Administrator-of-the-Year Prize for his outstanding contributions to the campus community. The nomination for this prize came directly from students.
McLoughlin also served in a series of positions at Harvard University for over a decade: assistant director for health and medical careers counseling; assistant dean of student life; and as associate dean of Harvard college and senior adviser to the dean of Harvard college.
In 2010, the Center for the First Year Experience and Students in Transition at the University of South Carolina awarded McLoughlin the Paul P. Fidler grant for his research on the experiences of high-achieving, low-income students in the Ivy League. That original research was also awarded a NASPA Foundation grant and later published in the peer-reviewed Journal of the First Year Experience and Students in Transition. McLoughlin is also a contributing author to Expanding the Circle: Creating An Inclusive Environment in Higher Education for LGBTQ Students (SUNY Press, 2015) and Studies and Small and Mighty: Student Affairs at Small Colleges and Universities (NASPA, 2023).
McLoughlin earned his bachelor’s degree at Miami University, majoring in zoology with a minor in neuroscience. He received a master’s degree in higher education and student affairs administration from the University of Vermont and his Ph.D. in higher education administration from Boston College.
McLoughlin was appointed to NASPA’s James E. Scott Academy Board in 2022. He is an active member in NASPA, having served on the planning committee for the 2018 Institute for Small Colleges and Universities, as a faculty member for the 2019 Institute for Aspiring Vice Presidents for Student Affairs, the 2024 Institute for New Vice Presidents for Student Affairs, and a regular senior student officer presenter for the association.
APPLICATIONS & DEADLINES
Interested applicants should submit a cover letter, current resume, and three references saved as one document, either Word or a PDF. The file name should start with your first and last names, such as “John Doe - Colgate University Application.” This should be emailed to search@careerleadershipcollective.com with the subject “Application for Associate Director of Career Development.”
To be considered, interested applicants should submit the requested materials no later than Friday, August 15, 2025, 11:59 EDT.
