Career Readiness Specialist

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. This role supports the implementation of career readiness outcomes across academic and co-curricular programs, develops strategies to embed career learning into 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 ensure students are prepared to pursue meaningful careers and navigate their professional journeys.

Responsibilities

• Support the 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 specific 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 their career-ready and transferable skills, and build a community that propels their career aspirations. Assist students with developing career management skills, including résumé and curriculum vitae development, interviewing, networking, professional communication, and job and internship search strategies.

• Collaboratively cultivate relationships with key stakeholders to develop industry and employment specific events and workshops that facilitate student learning, skills/career competencies development, and networking opportunities for students.
• 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 (employers, alumni and community organizations) and conduct employer engagement and recruitment activities with targeted organizations and industries to maximize professional development and career opportunities for students.
• Track and prepare progress summaries and reports on implementation milestones, faculty and campus partners 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.

Qualifications

Master’s degree in higher education, student affairs, counseling, education, communications or a related field. and a minimum of three (3) years of professional experience in university career services, academic affairs, student success, experiential learning, workforce development, or a related area.

Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa at this time.

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with career readiness frameworks, including the 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.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• 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.

Working Conditions

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, use hands to handle or feel, and talk or hear.
• The employee frequently is required to walk.
• The employee is occasionally required to stand, reach with hands and arms, and stoop, kneel, or crouch.
• The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 10 pounds.
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision.

The University of Memphis is a leading, student-centered, urban public R1 research institution. Located in Memphis, Tennessee, on 1,160 acres. The University serves a population of nearly 20,000 students and 2,500 employees, including more than 1,000 full-time faculty members. The University offers bachelor’s degrees in more than 230 areas of study, master’s degrees in more than 50 subjects and doctoral degrees in 26 disciplines; supported an institutional record of more than $100 million in research awards for FY24; and has an operating budget of close to $500 million.