Director of Career Connections

Bottom Line is bridging the divide of educational inequity by providing a trusted advisor and the social capital necessary for our students to earn their bachelor’s degree, build financial stability, and successfully launch thriving careers. We primarily focus on students of color who will be in the first generation of their family to earn a college degree, are from low-income backgrounds, and are academically prepared for college.

As one of the first college support organizations to focus on college completion, Bottom Line now produces best-in-class college graduation rates that reduce the significant gap between first-generation students from low-income backgrounds and their wealthier peers. We operate regional programs in Massachusetts, New York City, Ohio and Chicago that collectively serve over 7,000 students.

In 2020, Bottom Line’s New York region launched a three-person team dedicated to ensuring that the 2,000+ students served are building the skills necessary to land a successful “first destination” (either full-time employment or enrollment in graduate school). This position, Director of Career Connections, will lead the team and serve as a key member of the regional leadership team in NY.

Bottom Line’s hope is that our students are graduating career-ready and set up to land a stable first destination within six months of graduation, in the sector of their choice and earning an average starting salary. The organization believes the pathway to this outcome is awareness of and skill building in the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ (NACE) key competencies for career readiness as well as connection to as many work-related experiences as possible during the undergraduate experience.

As such, the Career Connections team has four primary responsibilities: 1) build opportunities for students to explore career pathways (i.e. professional-led workshops, informational interviews, and externships); 2) build relationships, partnerships, and systems to ensure that all Bottom Line students have at least 1 career relevant opportunity before graduation; 3) build and manage a framework and system for engaging professional volunteers to support student networking and mentorship goals; and 4) collaborate with the Success team to ensure all team members have what is needed to support their students in achieving at least 3 new employability milestones each year.

The ideal candidate is an advocate for the first-generation college graduate. They understand the inherent challenges a first-generation college graduate might encounter in the undergraduate experience as well as in seeking to launch their careers post-graduation. They are a compelling communicator, confident in their ability to represent the needs of our students as they build external partnerships. This candidate should be excited by the idea of cross-team collaboration, and be skilled at creating alignment across departments. They desire variability in how they spend their time – in exploratory conversations, in reflection on strategy development or crafting a corporate partnership program proposal, coaching team members and sometimes even coaching students. They understand that this team is in formation, are incredibly agile and want to approach the work with an entrepreneurial spirit. The ideal candidate is self-aware about the intersection of their personal identity, power, and privilege. And while they might not have worked in an anti-racist organization, they are committed to joining Bottom Line in its infancy stage of this journey.

Reporting to the Managing Director of Programs, the Director of Career Connections will work closely with the regional leadership team, NY development team, regional program staff and program leadership from both the National team and other regions. This person will also work with the development team and interact frequently with members of the various leadership bodies (i.e. Regional Advisory Board, Leadership Council, and Associate Board).  

Responsibilities

This role has five key areas of focus:

Develop and Deepen Partnerships with Corporations & Complementary Non-Profits – 40% 

• Build approach/strategy to ensure students have access to professionals in a diverse range of sectors with focus on scale (serving as many of Bottom Lines’ students as possible) and variability of experiences – volunteer events, mentorship, externships, internships, and hiring partnerships.  
• Meet with relevant employers to understand existing opportunities and recruiting systems, and to develop new ones that target and support our students 
• Shepard the volunteer experience and ensure that all volunteers have a consistent, positive, and engaging experience with the organization  
• In collaboration with the Director of Institutional Giving, determine areas of need and work to build new partnerships that lead to jobs and internships for our students 
• Serve as an ambassador for Career Connections activities and connect Bottom Line with corporate partners – in pursuit of talent and hiring partnerships, volunteer opportunities, sponsorships and other engagement opportunities 
• Support board discussions around Career Connections and build/maintain board level dashboard to show progress towards our goals. 
• Staff the Career Committee of the Associate Board, present at Leadership Council and Advisory board meetings regularly 
• Actively seek ways to leverage the talents and networks of leadership members in support of student experiences  
• Build knowledge base of career-ready non-profits in New York City and seek to establish strategic partnerships to achieve shared goals 
• Serve as a spokesperson for Bottom Line with external stakeholders, donors, and partners, in both one-on-one and public speaking formats 

Ensure High-Quality, Student-Centered Program Delivery– 35% 

• Support the team in building ambitious, yet achievable goals for meeting student needs related to career exploration and job search tools. This includes building a robust offering of workshops led by sector professionals as well as internal staff. The goal is to ensure students receive extra support to explore diverse sectors and job functions.  
• Establish the approach to ensuring that, over time, nearly all Bottom Line students graduate with at least one career relevant opportunity and at least one annual professional connection.  
• Establish a way for students to conduct self-assessment on the National Association of Colleges and Employers key skill framework and ensure ongoing coaching and developmental support so they can demonstrate concrete growth during their undergraduate career. 
• Ensure effective utilization of the Bottom Line Connect platform and career events; create an engaging volunteer experience with multiple touchpoints throughout the year 
• With support from the data and program teams, create a dashboard for increased awareness of annual graduates by semester, ensure outreach strategy for post-graduate first destination survey that aims to achieve 100% response rate 
• Establish a post-graduate strategy to include Bottom Line alum in all aspects of the career connections programming. 
• Ensure Recognition Night is an impactful, mission-driven event – reaching as many graduates as possible. 
• Ensure all events are communicated effectively and in a timely fashion to advisors and students and collaborate with program leadership to hold ourselves accountable to event objectives 

Coach & Support Career Connections Team in Achieving Goals – 15% 

• Support the Career Connections team members in meeting their annual team and individual goals.  
• Build a program team culture around data accountability that is grounded in anti-racist principles and inclusive of both qualitative and quantitative measures  
• Use Bottom Line’s tools and processes to model effective performance management with intentional, data-driven goal-setting; strong and consistent developmental feedback and coaching; and timely and fair evaluations/reviews  
• Ensure meaningful student perspective/input in all aspects of program delivery  
• Model agility; specifically, the ability to adapt to new information or changing context while remaining laser-focused on program and organizational outcomes 
• Ensure the team receives a thoughtful and frequent schedule of training and professional development to enhance and deepen technical skills, Bottom Line competencies, and self and social awareness around intersectionality and in alignment with the organization’s foundations 
• In collaboration with all regional leaders ensure performance is calibrated annually for equity across title bands 
• Collaborate with program directors to provide training support related to Career Connections initiatives or general skill enhancements across teams. 

Collaborate across the Organization for Ongoing Program Evolution – 5% 

• As much as possible, ensure staff and student voices are included in key program decision making  
• Serve as a program leader across the organization, including by consistently contributing to the Career Connections community across the organization; ensure collaboration and alignment accross all regions and National to foster a One Bottom Line approach to career work 
• Participate in organizational leadership convenings, retreats, and working committees as determined in discussion with the Managing Director of Programs 

Build Strong Culture across NY Region – 5% 

• Act as a key member of the regional leadership team, help to shape critical organizational decisions, and work to support organization-wide communications and investment in decisions 
• Actively contribute to building/maintaining an organizational culture in line with our foundations, specifically our Core Values and Commitments to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion  
• Model and actively support the building of a strong inclusive culture that ensures all team members feel a sense of belonging 
• Champion and firmly establish a culture of philanthropy across all program staff 
• Serve as an organizational role model in delivering and receiving direct and actionable feedback 

Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without advanced notice. 

Qualifications

Education, Experience & Qualifications: 

Required: 

• Bachelor’s degree and work authorization 
• Demonstrated commitment to Bottom Line’s mission, vision, and core values 
• Unwavering commitment to the students Bottom Line serves 
• 3-5 years of experience leading diverse teams to achieve organizational outcomes 
• 4-6 years of experience in workforce development, corporate human resources, or career services 
• Knowledge of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) Career Readiness Competencies and/or ability to quickly build fluency in them to support staff and student training and development  
• Proven ability to use metrics to drive decisions and achieve strategic objectives 
• Participated in anti-racist training/workshops (i.e. People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond) and/or conducted meaningful self-study and is comfortable engaging in conversations around the intersections of power, privilege and identity 
• Skilled at providing adult learning experiences 
• Experience in building continuous improvement feedback loops  
• At ease with ambiguity, viewing it as an opportunity to learn and seek new solutions 

Preferred: 

• Master’s degree in a relevant field  
• Sees themself as a Managing Director of Program or Development within the next 3-5 years