Title: Interim Assistant Director of Internships & Partnerships
Department: College Scholars
Reporting To: Director - Curriculum and Career Readiness
FLSA: Exempt
Term: August 5, 2024 – February 7, 2025 (Maternity Leave Coverage)
Compensation: $77,600 - $88,700
Location: Hybrid – 2 days/week in office; some evening virtual events required.
Required Programming Dates:
- Fall Internship Event: September 5, 2024
- Winter Institute: January 6 – January 10, 2025
All candidates must be within commutable distance of SEO’s offices at 55 Exchange Place, New York, NY 10005, upon hire.
ABOUT SEO
For more than 60 years, SEO has created a more equitable society by closing the educational and career opportunity gap for ambitious Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and Native American young people. All are welcome to apply to our programs
ABOUT COLLEGE SCHOLARS
SEO Scholars is a free eight-year academic program that gets low-income public high school students to and through college. In college, we continue to support students through each of their four years, providing one-on-one academic, personal and career exploration support. Our team supports more than 1,100 College Scholars attending ~190 colleges across ~30 states, with a 90% college graduation rate. (Learn more here: SEO Scholars)
Position Overview & Responsibilities
The Interim Assistant Director of Internships & Partnerships is the primary contact and owner of the strategic day-to-day relationships with College Scholars Career-Readiness partners and supervises the Internships & Partnerships (IP) Coordinator. They are responsible for building partnerships with organizations – including non-profits, educational institutions, government offices, and corporations – to source paid internships, jobs, fellowships, and other meaningful professional opportunities for College Scholars, as well as creating reports and presentations to maintain these relationships. They are also tasked with expanding career-readiness resources, materials, and workshops to serve the growing population of College Scholars.
Position Overview & Responsibilities
Partnership Management: 50%
- Maintain partnerships pipeline and recruitment strategy to create a list of top desired company internships College Scholars are interested in, identify target industries, and design program components requirements; Grow existing partnerships with organizations, companies, and government offices to expose Scholars to a variety of career paths and provide them with ongoing college internships and entry-level job opportunities following college graduation
- Act as key client contact for SEO College Scholars career readiness partnerships
- Follow processes and guidelines for career-related requests, resources, and partner referrals; develop plan for continued expansion of partnerships and career support for Scholars
- Collaborate with SEO pre-professional programs to promote their opportunities to Scholars and track Scholar application statuses
- Develop and create promotional materials to support and highlight partner opportunities
- Coordinate with partners and College Scholars Operations team to host information sessions, job shadowing, career exploration, and networking events
- Ensure College Persistence Advisors (CPAs), Partner contacts, and Scholars are kept up to date on application status, interview feedback, and internship secured placements through Salesforce and individualized updates
- Review Scholars applications to partner organizations and provide referrals; collect feedback on application and internship experiences from students and partners to improve relationships
Project Management: 25%
- Oversee the creation and publishing of monthly Internships & Jobs Galore
- Collect and track data on Scholars’ summer placements, internships and jobs, and career requests year-round using qualitative and quantitative surveys; introduce career readiness program changes and make recommendations based on data
- Provide guidance and advice to College Persistence Advisors on meeting students’ career-readiness needs and work collaboratively to help support students’ professional growth
- Ensure consistent data analysis of enrichment records and quality assurance checks to maintain accurate data
- In conjunction with the Operations Team, plan and execute career-related events including career fairs, networking events, and informational sessions
- In conjunction with Curriculum Director, develop career-readiness curriculum presentations and workshops and create development of career-related resources, including internship preparation, interview prep worksheets, industry application calendar, on-campus resources list, and career advising tools
- Provide periodic reports on career-related data to inform board and donor reports
- Maintain confidentiality of information exposed to during data management
- Utilize Salesforce systems, as necessary, to aid in the delivery and reporting of career support services
- Support various departments within SEO by attending events, networking with guests and supporters, as well as providing event logistics help as needed
- Occasional evening and weekend work are required, dependent on program needs
- Performs other duties as assigned.
Team Management: 25%
- Supervise the Internships & Partnerships Coordinator to ensure the success of College Scholars summer opportunity placement
- Deliver constructive feedback on the efficacy and performance of the IP Coordinator and provide recommendation for continuous improvement of both processes and individual performance.
- Review and pull reports for enrichment data, partnership applications, and Scholar nominations; Delegate data management tasks to Internships & Partnerships Coordinator
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree required.
- 6+ years of relevant professional work experience. A background in employer partnerships, career readiness, career development, or education strongly preferred.
- 2+ years of progressive people management experience. Must be skilled at leading teams to higher performance and managing across difference empathetically.
- Must have experience in business development with a proven track record of building and managing internal and external partnerships. Direct experience in nonprofit, in-kind, or employer partnerships strongly preferred.
- Experience working with college students and/or working knowledge of student safeguarding practices is a plus.
- Working knowledge of vendor and contract management with experience reviewing, negotiating, and executing partnership agreements, and managing partner relationships.
- Must be data driven, familiarity with Salesforce or a similar CRM a plus.
- Highly detail-oriented and organized approach to tasks while able to meet competing deadlines
- Exceptional communication skills: verbal, written, interpersonal (phone and in-person)
- Proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Google Drive, and other standard workplace applications.
Core Competencies and Skills
- Exceptional attention to detail while operating in a fast-paced environment.
- Highly resourceful with a solution-focused style of work presenting clear and strategic ideas for program improvement.
- Comfortable working independently as well as collaboratively in larger department and cross-departmentally
- Able to manage numerous large and small-scale projects with competing deadlines.
- Excellent interpersonal skills, strong work ethic, and strong communication skills
- Strong professional writing and editing skills.
COMPENSATION & BENEFITS
SEO offers a competitive compensation package and comprehensive benefits plan including low-cost health, vision, and dental options, a generous holiday schedule and PTO policies, disability coverage, fully paid time off for new parents, and employer contributions to health reimbursement and retirement accounts. We are constantly working to improve our benefits each year based on the needs of our employees. We value wellness and strive to consistently use a DEIB lens to put people first and foremost.
The compensation listed in this posting reflects what SEO believes it will pay for this position at the time of this posting. Consistent with applicable law, compensation will be determined based on the skills, qualifications, and experience of the applicant along with the requirements of the position, and SEO reserves the right to modify this pay range at any time.
EEOC Policy
At SEO we are committed to cultivating a team that embodies the backgrounds and experiences of the constituencies we serve and the communities we live in, and a workplace that reflects the impact we make in the world. Candidates from all communities – including people of color, women, members of the LGBTQIA+ Community, veterans, and people with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.
Equal Employment Opportunity is not just the law, it is our commitment.
Sponsors for Educational Opportunity is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer – M/F/D/V. We will consider all qualified applicants for employment regardless of race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, marital status, veteran status, pregnancy, parental status, genetic information or characteristics, or any other legally protected status.
If you need accommodation while applying for a role with SEO, due to a disability, please email SEO Talent.
