Career Counselor, Career Connections

The Career Counselor will provide comprehensive services and information resources that enable students to take active responsibility for their career development and decision-making. This position will equip students to make career plans by facilitating awareness of their work-related strengths, interests, values, and understanding of the world of work. The Career Counselor will prepare students for finding suitable employment by enhancing their job search skills and express the relevance of their strengths to employers. This position will foster relationships with members of the University community including students, faculty, and staff to facilitate the development of professional skills, the integration of learning with work, and the identification of a strong referral base or network.

Work with students to create a career development plan including components of career assessment, definition of career and internship goals, choosing a major, job search, resume preparation, interviewing, and applying to graduate or professional school; follow-up with students to discuss progression, to track milestones, and to modify short- and long-term goals; provide advice and tools to assist students through drop-in and scheduled appointments in order to achieve their career goals; inform students of activities/steps related to the career planning process and how various UTC Community resources and programs can be used in that process; integrate specific examples to illustrate or suggest next steps while providing or collaborating with students to develop reasonable action plans; convey information in a clear, encouraging, helpful, and understandable manner.

Plan, conduct, and evaluate workshops on career assessment, choosing a major, graduate or professional school application, resume and professional document preparation, interviewing, and other topics as indicated; develop visual aids, handouts, and presentation materials for workshops; collect evaluations and sign-up lists for each workshop; collaborate with other staff to develop and refine workshop content. 

Cultivate a vibrant network across campus to identify, evaluate, and share best practices in college student career advising; to engage campus partners with the intent to offer expertise generously; and to create and maintain a growing referral base. These networking activities will also include regular and active participation in professional associations, continuous training and development, and robust engagement in cross-functional work groups to include, but not limited to, the Career Development Alliance and the Advisor's Council.

The ideal candidate will possess the following: 

• Ability to multi-task and demonstrate exceptional time management skills
• Ability to demonstrate consistent organizational skills including the documentation of counseling sessions or case notes
• Ability to express a consistent, motivated, student-centered, and enthusiastic work style
• Ability to contribute individually and within a team-based environment
• Ability to integrate technology into interpersonal coaching, presenting information, and documenting effort/progress 
• Ability to provide career counseling to diverse populations including adult learners, historically underrepresented students, and students with prior military service
• Knowledge and application of varied communication styles (informational, promotional, specific to digital channels, etc.)

Review of applications will begin February 20, 2025 and continue until the position is filled. Applications received by this date will receive priority consideration. 
 

Minimum Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree; two years of practical experience in a student services/student affairs office environment; graduate assistant training in a counseling or career services unit within a student services/student affairs organization may be substituted; occasional evening programming and infrequent overnight.

Preferred Qualifications: Master’s degree in Counseling, Student Affairs, Higher Education Administration, Psychology, or closely related field; experience with organizing and managing student engagement through a Career Services Management portal (e.g., Handshake); experience administering, interpreting, and sharing results from career-based assessments and inventories (e.g., FOCUS 2, Self-Directed Search, MBTI, Strong Interest Inventory, etc.).
 

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is in the heart of one of Tennessee’s largest and most dynamic cities. As a national model for metropolitan universities, UTC collaborates with its many regional partners to offer an experiential learning environment with outstanding teaching scholars in 128 undergraduate degree programs and 55 graduate programs—at bot