Assistant Director of Graduate Recruitment - Graduate School - UTK

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.

Recruitment Strategy and Enrollment Pipeline Development:

• 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 

Slate CRM Management, Communication Workflow, and Engagement Systems:

• 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

Ambassador Program and Student Engagement:

• 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.

Data Analysis and Reporting:

• 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 <