Associate Director of Career & Experiential Learning for Consulting Pathways

Vanderbilt University•Nashville, TN

About The Position

The Associate Director of Career & Experiential Learning for Consulting Pathways leads the development of strategy and support for students pursuing consulting careers. This role integrates advising, employer engagement, and experiential learning into a highly structured and competitive recruiting environment where students need early preparation, clear milestones, and close support. The Associate Director serves as the pathway lead for consulting and related professional services careers, helping students navigate accelerated recruiting timelines and build the technical, behavioral, and professional readiness needed for success. Career Advancement & Engagement at Vanderbilt University is building a pathway-based career ecosystem that aligns academic experience, experiential learning, and employer engagement to improve student outcomes at scale. Through advising, internships, industry partnerships, and AI-enabled tools, CAE helps students explore, prepare for, and launch into meaningful careers across a broad range of industries. This model expands access to opportunities, strengthens employer relationships, and positions Vanderbilt as a leading source of talent in a rapidly evolving workforce.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree is necessary.
6–8+ years of experience in consulting, higher education, employer relations, student development, recruiting, or related fields is necessary.
Strong understanding of consulting recruiting timelines and preparation expectations is necessary.
Demonstrated ability to coach students in highly competitive environments is necessary.
Strong communication, facilitation, and relationship-building skills are necessary.
Ability to manage multiple priorities and stakeholders in a fast-paced environment is necessary.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in business, higher education, student affairs, or a related field is preferred.
Experience in consulting, professional services recruiting, or related talent development is preferred.
Familiarity with case interviewing, structured recruiting, and professional services career paths is preferred.
Experience developing workshops or programming for competitive career pathways is preferred.
Familiarity with CRM tools, Handshake, or other career management systems is preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead the design and execution of the Consulting pathway.
Define milestone expectations aligned with consulting recruiting timelines and preparation needs.
Serve as the subject matter lead for consulting and professional services careers.
Build a clear pathway model that helps students understand expectations and options.
Provide pathway-specific advising and coaching for consulting candidates.
Support students in building resumes, case interview readiness, and professional narratives.
Guide students through highly structured recruiting timelines.
Help students translate academic, co-curricular, and experiential experiences into competitive outcomes.
Connect students to internships, projects, and leadership experiences that strengthen consulting readiness.
Support early and repeated engagement in experiential opportunities.
Help students use internships and co-curricular experiences to build consulting-relevant competencies.
Align experiential learning with milestone progression.
Collaborate with employer relations to deepen consulting employer engagement.
Coordinate with alumni, faculty, and student organizations to strengthen consulting pipelines.
Support events, networking, and employer-facing programming tied to consulting recruiting.
Help maintain consistent student preparation across the pathway.
Track student engagement, interview readiness, and placement outcomes.
Assess the effectiveness of consulting programming and student preparation efforts.
Use data to refine the pathway strategy and improve conversion outcomes.
Contribute to reporting on professional services placement results.