Career Readiness Specialist

University of Memphis • Memphis, TN

2d

About The Position

The Career Readiness Specialist advances the University of Memphis’s commitment to equip students with the knowledge, skills, competencies, and confidence necessary for career success in a changing workforce. The role supports implementation of career readiness outcomes across academic and co-curricular programs, develops strategies to embed career learning in the student experience, and fosters faculty and campus engagement. Through career education, advising, coaching, experiential learning, employer partnerships, and workforce insights, the Specialist collaborates with university stakeholders, alumni, employers, and community partners to help students pursue meaningful careers and navigate their professional journeys.

Requirements

• Master’s degree in higher education, student affairs, counseling, education, communications, or a related field.
• Minimum of three years of professional experience in university career services, academic affairs, student success, experiential learning, workforce development, or a related area.
• Must be authorized to work in the United States; the employer is unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa.
• Strong communication, organization, project management, facilitation, and relationship-building skills.
• Ability to translate broad institutional priorities into actionable plans, resources, and implementation steps.
• Proficiency with common productivity, presentation, collaboration, and reporting technologies.
• Demonstrated commitment to student development and success, accessible practices, and expanding opportunities for career learning.

Nice To Haves

• Familiarity with career readiness frameworks, including National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) Career Readiness Competencies, labor-market information, career management platforms, digital portfolios, and student success technologies.
• Experience developing collaborative relationships across academic and administrative units.
• Experience integrating career readiness into curriculum, academic assessment, experiential learning, or co-curricular programming.
• Experience engaging alumni, employers, nonprofit organizations, and community partners in educational initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Support implementation of the university’s career readiness framework across academic colleges and relevant administrative and student-facing units, including college-level plans, learning outcomes, and measurable milestones.
• Serve as a career services liaison to assigned academic colleges and student-facing professionals, collaborating with faculty and campus partners to embed career competencies, transferable skills, professional identity development, and experiential learning into academic and co-curricular activities.
• Collaborate with campus partners to develop and maintain practical career readiness implementation plans aligned with university-wide outcomes, college or department priorities and requirements, and student needs.
• Help campus partners connect students to appropriate career resources, experiential learning opportunities, alumni networks, employer engagement, and specialized services.
• Support colleges in developing strategies to engage alumni, employers, and community partners in discipline-specific career learning.
• Provide career advising and coaching to help students discover and prepare for career pathways, articulate career-ready and transferable skills, and build a community that propels their career aspirations.
• Assist students with career management skills, including résumé and curriculum vitae development, interviewing, networking, professional communication, and job and internship search strategies.
• Collaboratively cultivate stakeholder relationships to develop industry- and employment-specific events and workshops that facilitate student learning, skills and career competencies development, and networking opportunities.
• Refer students to specialized career services, experiential learning programs, academic support, alumni networks, and other campus resources as appropriate.
• Guide students in identifying and articulating career-relevant skills developed through academic projects, research, employment, leadership, service, and experiential learning.
• Develop, foster, and maintain relationships with external constituents, including employers, alumni, and community organizations, and conduct employer engagement and recruitment activities with targeted organizations and industries to maximize student professional development and career opportunities.
• Track and prepare progress summaries and reports on implementation milestones, faculty and campus partner participation, integration of career learning activities, and achievement of established deliverables.
• Stay informed about emerging practices in career-connected learning, higher education, career development, competency-based education, and workforce preparation.
• Identify opportunities to improve career readiness implementation through technology, innovative pedagogy, cross-campus collaboration, and community engagement.
• Contribute to department and university initiatives related to career-connected learning, student success, academic innovation, experiential learning, and graduate outcomes.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level