Director of Recruitment and Admissions--School of Information Sciences

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign•Urbana, IL

7d•Hybrid

About The Position

The School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois invites applications from qualified individuals for a 100% full-time Director of Recruitment and Admissions. The iSchool at Illinois is home to the top-ranked professional master’s program in library and information science, which offers an award-winning online enrollment option, as well as joint degrees with History, Law, African Studies, and Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies. We also offer professional master’s programs in information management and bioinformatics, a certificate of advanced study, a licensure program in school librarianship, as well as an exciting STEM-designated undergraduate degree that reimagines a liberal arts education for a global information society. The iSchool’s doctoral program, established in 1948, is the oldest of its kind. The Director of Recruitment and Admissions is responsible for the overall recruitment, admissions, and yield operations of the School of Information Sciences (iSchool) including the Informatics and Game Studies & Design Programs. Develops and implements a comprehensive recruitment strategy to attract diverse and talented prospective students. Leverages best practices in enrollment management to create a welcoming and interactive experience for prospective students.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree in Communications, Marketing, Higher Education, or related field. Degrees in other fields will be considered if accompanied by sufficient professional experience.
Five years’ experience in Admissions, Recruiting, or Enrollment Management.
Experience with data-driven decision making in customer-focused environments.
Experience in creating messaging for recruitment campaigns in a variety of modalities.
Ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of audiences.
Exceptional organizational skills.
Experience supervising staff.
Expert user knowledge of spreadsheets, databases, and other data analysis tools.
Knowledge of and ability to create recruiting reports and analyze data.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree.
Five+ experience in Recruiting Management and/or a related area.
A record of participation in professional organizations relevant to higher education admissions and recruiting.

Responsibilities

Develop and lead robust recruitment and yield campaigns for relevant degree programs, assessing and analyzing outcomes and making changes to campaign strategies as needed. This includes a broad range of tactics including email and social media, online and in-person recruitment events, and campus visits.
Develop and lead recruitment and yield strategies to enhance the student population across degree programs, assessing and analyzing outcomes, and making changes to recruitment strategies as needed.
Work closely with relevant units, including the Informatics Program, Communications and Marketing and Finance offices, to strategically develop a budget for recruiting and yield activities. Evaluate all recruitment and yield efforts to determine return on investment and modify future efforts as needed.
Work closely with the Communications and Marketing office for content creation and feedback toward effective advertisements, web-based and electronic communications, and other media to target prospective students and other stakeholders as applicable, e.g., parents and counselors of prospective undergraduate students.
Hire, lead, and manage the recruitment and admissions staff team.
Recommend qualitative and quantitative enrollment targets for relevant degree programs to the Dean, in consultation with the Director of the Informatics Program, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, and the Executive Associate Dean.
Responsibly manage the unit’s recruitment and admissions budget, ensuring alignment with recruitment and admissions strategy and return on investment of activities.
Provide regular application progress reports and planning documents to senior leadership, faculty program directors, and faculty. Develop and prepare recruitment reports, both for standard school-level reporting to external entities and for decision support within the iSchool and Informatics Programs.
Oversee the maintenance of databases and other tools for tracking recruitment activities, ensuring data accuracy and accessibility for reporting and decision-making purposes.
Conduct regular market analysis and analyze enrollment trends to inform enrollment management strategic planning with respect to campaigns and budgeting.
Provide guidance on, and create proposals for, best admission application evaluation policies and practices to the faculty and staff across relevant program committees.
Provide guidance to relevant program committees regarding effective and appropriate admission policies and practices.
Serve as liaison to campus committees related to admissions, recruitment, and enrollment management, as appropriate. Represent the units on the Committee on the Admissions of Student-Athletes (CASA).
Oversee admissions review for relevant degree programs. Advise leadership regarding application review processes, deadlines, and best practices in recruitment and yield efforts, as appropriate.
Conduct college-level review of first-year and transfer applicants assigned to the all relevant programs by the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. Monitor and analyze the effectiveness of current admissions practices and implement improvements as needed.
Oversee the application and communications process for admitted student funding, in consultation with relevant units as needed.
Work closely with the Director of Undergraduate Affairs to manage off-campus transfer requirements for undergraduate programs. Coordinate and manage the appeal process for denied applicants, as appropriate.
Other relevant duties as assigned to enhance the mission of the unit.