Assistant Director of Graduate Recruitment - Graduate School - UTK

University of Tennessee•Knoxville, TN

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Assistant Director of Graduate Recruitment provides strategic leadership for university-wide graduate recruitment and prospective student engagement. This role is responsible for developing, implementing, and continuously refining comprehensive recruitment strategies that span all stages of the enrollment funnel, from prospect generation through matriculation. The Director works across colleges, departments, admissions, and university communications to align recruitment efforts, messaging, and outreach strategies with institutional enrollment goals. This position serves as the Graduate School’s lead strategist for recruitment, leveraging data, market insights, and Slate and Salesforce CRM tools to optimize outreach, improve yield, and expand the graduate student pipeline. The Assistant Director of Graduate Recruitment plays a central role in coordinating recruitment efforts across decentralized academic units, ensuring a consistent, high-quality prospective student experience and strengthening the university’s competitive position in graduate education. The position establishes institutional recruitment priorities, guides implementation across decentralized units, and ensures alignment between recruitment strategy and enrollment outcomes.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution.
Three years of professional experience in higher education admissions, recruitment, enrollment management, student services, marketing, or a related field.
Experience coordinating outreach campaigns, recruitment initiatives, or student engagement programs.
Experience using a CRM or student information system to manage communications, track engagement, or support recruitment processes.
Demonstrated ability to plan and coordinate events, presentations, or recruitment programming.
Strong organizational, communication, and project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple initiatives simultaneously.
Ability to analyze data and generate reports to inform recruitment and outreach strategies.
Excellent communication skills (written and verbal)
Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis without need now or in the future for sponsorship for employment-based visa status.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in higher education administration, communication, marketing, public administration, or a related field.
Experience working in graduate admissions or graduate recruitment.
Experience using Slate CRM, particularly for communication workflows, event management, dashboards, or reporting.
Experience developing or managing student ambassador or peer recruitment programs.
Experience developing strategic recruitment or outreach campaigns that support enrollment goals.
Experience presenting to prospective students, campus partners, or external audiences.

Responsibilities

Lead the development and execution of university-wide graduate recruitment strategy, aligning outreach efforts with institutional enrollment goals and program priorities
Design and manage a comprehensive recruitment funnel strategy, including prospect generation, inquiry conversion, application engagement, and yield initiatives
Analyze market trends, enrollment data, and competitive positioning to identify opportunities for growth and recommend strategic adjustments
Establish recruitment priorities and campaign strategies across academic programs in coordination with admissions leadership and college partners
Direct the development of targeted, multi-channel outreach campaigns (email, phone, digital, and events) to increase engagement and conversion at each stage of the funnel
Lead the planning and execution of high-impact recruitment initiatives, including virtual programming, on-campus events, and prospective student engagement experiences
Lead the coordination and implementation of institution-wide graduate recruitment efforts, ensuring alignment across colleges, departments, admissions, and central communications
Provide strategic guidance to academic units on recruitment practices, outreach strategies, and prospective student engagement
Develop and deliver presentations representing the Graduate School to internal and external audiences
Oversee the use of Slate for recruitment event management, including registration, tracking, and reporting, ensuring alignment with recruitment strategy
Establish recruitment priorities, timelines, and performance expectations for university-wide recruitment initiatives
Monitor execution of recruitment activities and ensure alignment with established strategy
Lead the strategic use of Slate CRM to support recruitment, communication, and enrollment pipeline management
Design and optimize communication strategies and workflows that improve prospect engagement, application completion, and yield
Develop dashboards and reporting tools to monitor recruitment performance and inform strategic decision making
Establish standards and best practices for CRM use across recruitment and admissions functions
Develop and manage a Graduate Student Ambassador program to support recruitment and engagement initiatives.
Recruit, train, and coordinate ambassadors to participate in recruitment events, outreach efforts, and prospective student engagement activities.
Facilitate ambassador participation in virtual events, presentations, and recruitment programming.
Analyze recruitment and enrollment data to evaluate effectiveness of strategies across the enrollment funnel
Develop and present regular reports to enrollment leadership with actionable recommendations
Use data insights to refine outreach strategies, event programming, and communication campaigns
Other duties as assigned.