PROSPECTUS
Director of Career Communities
Lazarus Center for Career Development
Smith College
ABOUT SMITH
Located in Northampton, Massachusetts, Smith College is one of the largest women’s colleges in the country and is dedicated to excellence in teaching and research across the liberal arts. Our 2,100+ students explore more than 50 areas of study using our open curriculum.
Smith is a member of the Five College Consortium with Amherst, Hampshire and Mount Holyoke Colleges, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Students cross-enroll and faculty cross-teach across the Five Colleges.
POSITION OVERVIEW
The Director of Career Communities is the strategic lead to build a new team, scale and amplify cross-campus partnerships, and position Smith College as a leader in industry-connected and inclusive career education. The Director is a member of the Lazarus Center for Career Development leadership team, partnering closely with team directors on a range of strategic and operational decisions. The Director will recruit, hire, train, and manage a team of up to five assistant directors, each holding an industry-specific caseload and a blend of employer engagement, programming, and advising roles. The Director drives evidence-based assessment and ensures that equity and inclusion practices are integrated in the design and delivery of the Center’s core services. The Director develops communication channels with and serves as a liaison to various student resource organizations and the Office for Equity and Inclusion to foster engaged student leadership. The Director serves as a project manager on various collaborative initiatives, including a racial justice planning process and collaborative workspace design for a new career center building.
Responsibilities
Program Development – 40%
Develop goals, work plans and assessment strategies that deepen student access, equitable opportunity and inclusive support in the Lazarus Center. Allocate work and supervise implementation across the career communities team. Develops a sustainable strategy and infrastructure for connecting alums to students in meaningful ways along both career interests and affinity-based lines to enhance career readiness. Partner with the team directors to ensure strong student engagement with a broad range of employer partners. Coordinate program and advising flows to ensure that new team members are additive and not duplicative of advising services already occurring within the Lazarus Center. Join with the Praxis team to support experiential learning application processes, pre-departure programming, and post-experience learning reflection. Direct annual program planning and implementation of key career development initiatives delivered by the career communities team, including the alum mentor program, career exploration treks, job shadow programs, skills training, and other scaled group efforts. Exercise authority on strategy, judgment, and policy related to the Lazarus Center's organizational vision; represent and communicate the direction, goals and decisions set by the Dean and the Lazarus Center leadership team.
Cross-Campus Partnerships and College Initiatives – 30%
Partner with staff in employer engagement, alum relations, fellowships, and community engagement to foster a culture of engaged career readiness across campus. Serve as a point of contact for the Dean of the College, faculty members interested in classroom outreach, student organizations, and other units. Support the Dean in relationship management with the advisory committee; contribute expertise to committee discussions as needed. Oversees relevant communications across the College, frequently serving as a representative for the Lazarus Center pertaining to student and alum engagement and industry-based career development topics. Represent Smith and the Lazarus Center in local and national professional associations and conferences in order to stay current with industry standards, revise programs to reflect trends, and increase the Center’s visibility among professionals in the field. Participate in Smith committees as requested, providing representation of the Lazarus Center on cross-campus issues.
Team Supervision – 20%
Collaborate with the Lazarus Center leadership team to ensure all students have access to and engage in exploration, experiential learning, skill building, and career action planning. Develop necessary strategy and structure for the team, implementing a common philosophy and approach to advising, programming, partnerships, and cross-campus collaboration. Ensure that inclusive excellence remains a top priority for every member of the team, providing ongoing training, creative outreach across all student populations, and systems for monitoring engagement levels and satisfaction. Supervise, coach and develop a collaborative team of assistant directors across multiple industry areas. Provide direction, guidance, and supervision of team members, encouraging and providing opportunities for staff development and growth.
Data and Team Support – 10%
Promote a culture of evidence-based assessment for all aspects of the Lazarus Center’s engagement, including utilization, satisfaction, equity analysis, developmental learning outcomes, first destination outcomes, and career mobility outcomes over five years. Driven by analysis of equity and access gaps, support the career communities team as needed by filling in advising and/or programming gaps. This may include but is not limited to increased programming for global career searching and targeted advising for international job seekers.
All employees are expected to participate in the College's efforts to create a respectful, inclusive, and welcoming work environment.
Minimum Qualifications
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Bachelor’s degree plus a minimum five years of related experience in a higher education setting.
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Minimum three years of supervision experience with demonstrated success as a team manager.
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Exceptional leadership, coaching and team development skills.
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Broad knowledge of career development theory, approaches and strategies.
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Excellent interpersonal, and written and verbal communication skills.
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Proven project management skills.
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Demonstrated competency working within a culturally diverse environment and with students representing a range of intersectional identities.
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Leadership in diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
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Ability to navigate ambiguity, lead a team through change, and adapt to a rapidly changing environment.
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Excellent career advising, presentation and training skills.
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Self-directed, outcome-oriented and detail-oriented.
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Success working both independently and collaboratively.
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Occasional travel and evening/weekend work as requested to meet program objectives
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Ability to maintain confidentiality, exercise sound judgment, and act with discretion; makes independent decisions about implementation of program policy and procedures.
Preferred Qualifications
Master’s degree in a relevant field.
Skills
Familiar with Google Workspace. Intermediate knowledge of Excel and basic data analysis. General knowledge of CRM platform management, with a preference for knowledge of career ed tools such as Handshake, Vault and/or PeopleGrove. Understanding of equity and inclusion issues in higher education and knowledge of best practices in higher education research.
Additional Information
For the care and safety of our community, Smith College requires that all employees be vaccinated as a condition of employment and as such, the incumbent will be required to be immunized against COVID-19 on or before their first day of employment. Proof of vaccination status will be required. Individuals may seek medical or religious exemption with HR, but must do so prior to their arrival.
ABOUT THE LAZARUS CENTER FOR CAREER DEVELOPMENT
The Lazarus Center for Career Development is committed to inclusive excellence in career education–integrating liberal arts learning with work-learning experiences and skills development from day one through graduation and beyond. As a top strategic priority at Smith College, our career development vision has three focus areas: networks, career planning, and experiential learning. Through all areas, we seek to:
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Democratize opportunities to top careers
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Support students with developmental pathways and targeted career planning
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Offer a broader range of skill-building opportunities
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Prepare students to compete and succeed in the global workforce
Our dynamic and innovative team is committed to a student-centered and equity-minded approach to career development, grounded in data and researched best practices. Our team is invested in a year-long anti-racism training and strategic planning process as part of the College’s Toward Racial Justice initiative.
The Lazarus Center received a $10M gift to support endowed career programming in 2021. Incoming gifts will support further expanded programming and the building of a new home for the Lazarus Center, co-located with the Wurtele Center for Leadership.
The Lazarus Center also works in close partnership with three other learning centers on campus to foster community-engaged and entrepreneurial approaches to engaged work: the Jill Ker Conway Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center, the Jandon Center for Community Engagement, and the Design Thinking Initiative. We offer all students access to unpaid internships through Smith’s Praxis program.
Beginning July 1, 2023, the Lazarus Center via the Dean of the College will report to the incoming president of Smith College, Sarah Willie-LeBreton. Learn more about our 12th president.
Equity & Inclusion at Smith
Diversity and a culture of inclusion are crucial to the mission and values of Smith College. We have a sustained commitment to be a diverse, equitable and inclusive campus, and aspire for every member of our community -- students, staff, faculty and administration -- to uphold these principles.
Smith College fosters access to knowledge, discovery and communication through research and education, and the creation and sustenance of a community of scholars, students and staff. We can realize these goals only in an atmosphere of trust and respect.
Learn more about our standards and practices on our Office for Equity & Inclusion website.
Leadership Bios:
Faith McClellan
Dean of Career Development
Faith McClellan holds over 20 years of experience in nonprofit management and higher education, including 10 years in career and workforce development. She holds a Master’s in Public Administration from the NYU Wagner School and a B.A. in Gender Studies and Education from Brown University. Faith co-founded a workforce development program in Brooklyn, NY, and managed a social change research project for the Ford Foundation.
She has served in a variety of teaching and leadership roles in experiential education and career services, including her current role as Dean of Career Development at Smith College and her prior role as Associate Dean of Career Development and Field Work Term at Bennington College. At Smith, Faith is leading a new strategic planning process to reimagine career education as an inclusive, developmental and cross-campus process. Faith has presented at NACE, the Career Leadership Collective, and the Alumni Career Services Network, and participated in a Lumina Foundation research grant on equity and access in Work-Integrated Learning.
Alexandra Keller
Dean of the College and VP for Campus Life
Alexandra (Alex) Keller was appointed interim Dean of the College and Vice President for Campus Life in July 2022. Her areas of responsibility include the Class Deans office; the Ada Comstock Scholars program; the Dean of Students office, which includes Student Affairs, Student Engagement and Residential Life; Athletics; Disability services; Health and Counseling services; the Lazarus Center for Career Development; and the Jandon Center for Community Engagement. Alex is an experienced academic administrator who has been a professor and Chair of Film and Media Studies, Director of the Kahn Liberal Arts Institute, Chair of the Five College Film Council, and Chair of Faculty Council. She has also served on the American Studies Executive Committee, the Committee on the Study of Women and Gender Committee, and leadership committees for Academic Priorities, Tenure and Promotion, Mission and Priorities.
Alex holds a B.A. from Harvard University and a Ph.D. from New York University. She specializes in the American Western; cinema and the postmodern, avant-garde and experimental film; and the relationship between cinema and other forms of artistic and cultural production, and she has published work on all of these topics.
APPLICATIONS & TIMELINE
This position offers a competitive salary and benefits. Persons interested in this position should apply online. For more information, visit this link.
Review of applications will begin January 13, 2023.
Questions about the search can be directed to Sarah Resnick, data analyst at the Lazarus Center for Career Development, by emailing sresnick@smith.edu.
This job description and prospectus has been designed to indicate the general nature, working conditions and level of work performed by employees within this job. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, working conditions and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job.
