Director, Career Readiness & Alumni Connections

Position Title:

Director, Career Readiness & Alumni Connections

Work Type:

Full time

Location:

Swarthmore College

Approved Location Type:

On Campus

Department:

Work Shift:

Day Shift (United States of America)

The Opportunity:

Swarthmore College Career Services seeks a Director of Career Readiness & Alumni Connections to lead the vision, strategy and implementation of a comprehensive and scalable career development program that elevates the visibility, engagement and impact of Career Services among students and alumni. This exciting new role will focus on integrating career development throughout the student experience with an emphasis on early engagement, to encourage exploration through meaningful campus and alumni connections while strengthening student preparedness for life after Swarthmore.

Essential Responsibilities:

The Director will set and implement strategies to infuse occupational wellness into the first year experience through leadership of the Career Education team to develop more robust campus partnerships, and design programs that strengthen student and alumni career readiness. The Director is responsible for reexamining how alumni engage with programs to ensure the network serves as a central pillar for student and alumni career exploration, mentorship, and professional development. As part of these efforts, the Director will partner with the Office of Alumni Engagement & Development to develop more robust and streamlined channels for alumni engagement with career programming and co-manage the Swarthmore mentoring platform, SwatLink. The person in this role will also collaborate closely with the Director of Employer Connections & Assessments to monitor student outcomes and career competencies.

Management & Supervision

• Manage & supervise team of career exploration & readiness advisors, including setting and measuring annual performance goals.
• Contribute as an active member of the Career Services leadership team, providing guidance and support for all major Career Services initiatives, representing the Center/Office at appropriate campus and off-campus functions, and standing in for the Executive Director/AVP during absences.
• In collaboration with the Executive Director & AVP, develop a vision and implementation plan for a comprehensive, innovative, and inclusive career and professional development service delivery that is in alignment with the broader Career Services strategic plan and the College’s strategic goals.
• Provide leadership on cross-campus efforts to define, improve awareness of, and assess the career and professional readiness of Swarthmore students and alumni.
• In collaboration with the Director of Employer Connections & Assessment, develop programs, systems and initiatives that prepare students to successfully engage with alumni, recruiters and other employer professionals.
• Oversee the content and layout for the alumni sections of the Career Services website, and strategy for featuring of alumni profiles on industry & affinity communities.

Campus Partnership Development & Outreach

• Establish and implement goal-oriented and data-driven strategies to enhance and expand innovative and inclusive career development initiatives, programming and resources that foster career readiness skills and occupational wellness with an emphasis on early engagement. This will include oversight and evolution of the “dedicated first year career advisor” pre-orientation virtual advising sessions.
• Develop and strengthen campus partnerships to infuse career exploration and development into the student ecosystem at Swarthmore. Cultivate collaborative relationships with faculty, academic departments, Intercultural Centers, student organizations and the broader student affairs division. This may entail serving on affiliated campus committees, including the committee on the first year experience, the Wellness Coalition, the Teaching Learning Commons (TLC) Inquiry groups & potentially a career services oriented faculty advising committee.
• Expand and enhance partnerships with the Center for Innovation & Leadership, On-Campus Employment, Lang Center, and the Office of Academic Success to bolster experiential learning opportunities and career preparedness, including co-developing tailored programming and initiatives.
• Stay abreast of industry trends and represent Swarthmore College Career Center through active involvement in regional and national associations.
• As part of the Career Services Leadership team, lead and oversee dynamic career development content and resource generation on the Career Center website with specific emphasis on promoting a sense of belonging at the intersection of identities and career interests.

Alumni Engagement & Program Development

• In consultation with the Executive Director & AVP, develop and manage a comprehensive strategy with specific goals to increase alumni engagement with Career Services as mentors, panelists and program participants.
• Ideate and manage meaningful and substantive career development volunteer opportunities and for alumni, including cultivating streamlined processes for volunteer recruitment and referrals.
• Strengthen and expand formalized avenues for alumni to offer mentorship to current student and young alumni.
• Serve as primary point of collaboration for career-related alumni engagement requests from Advancement and academic departments.
• Collaborate with Alumni Relations/Advancement to develop and execute alumni-facing events, virtual workshops and programs for alumni that support career advancement.
• In collaboration with the Director of Employer Connections, determine best practices for encouraging alumni-featured employer engagement and opportunity sharing.
• Create, execute and manage utilization strategy for Swarthmore mentoring and networking platform, SwatLink (powered by PeopleGrove), including serving on Swatlink steering committee.

Advising

• Provide one-on-one career advising to current students and alumni on career development strategies including feedback on resumes, interview preparation, and offer negotiation.

Assessment & Outcomes

• Oversee and manage accurate tracking of alumni engagement touchpoints for Career Services, including through Swatworks micro-internship program and student interactions with alumni on SwatLink, as well as the growth of student-to-alumni groups on Swatlink.
• Utilize quantitative and qualitative data to showcase impactful stories of engagement to college stakeholder groups.
• Collaborate with Assistant Director, Communications and Engagement to develop materials that showcase the diverse range of possibilities for Swarthmore students, including major and industry-specific reports with an emphasis on utilizing data to showcase impactful stories and methods for engagement.

What you bring:

Required Qualifications

Apply through the Swarthmore College careers site.

How to apply

https://swarthmore.wd108.myworkdayjobs.com/External/job/Swarthmore-College/Director--Career-Readiness---Alumni-Connections_JR-00386

Swarthmore College website

Posted 2026-10-27, open through 2027-01-25. Posted by the organization on ExecSearches.