Director of the Undergraduate Engineering Co-Op Program

Title:
Director of the Undergraduate Engineering Co-Op Program

Department:
Career Development Services

Reports To:
Executive Director, Career Development Services

Position Type:
Staff

Position Summary:
New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) is seeking a Director of the Undergraduate Engineering Co-Op Program. Under the supervision of the Career Development Services (CDS) Executive Director and working closely and directly with the Dean of the Newark College of Engineering (NCE), the Director will develop, manage, and oversee the formal, undergraduate engineering Co-op Program. The Director manages the strategic, programmatic and operational functions related to the formal undergraduate engineering Co-op Program at NJIT. This effort includes using and leveraging existing campus-wide initiatives and industrial connections, developing new opportunities to forge strategic partnerships with employer partners, and coordinating co-op opportunities with the academic units of the Newark College of Engineering (NCE). The Director is providing vision, leadership, creativity, and accountability for increasing student participation in the formal undergraduate engineering Co-op program and ensuring a high impact on student professional development and career advancement through these experiences. The Director coordinates closely with other Career Development Services staff to ensure streamlined career advising to co-op students and cohesive relationships with employers across multiple programs or hiring objectives. The Director develops qualitative and quantitative milestones and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the Engineering Co-op program, and reports periodically on progress toward meeting them.

Essential Functions:
- Provide leadership, expertise, and oversight for the formal undergraduate co-op program for all engineering disciplines in NCE.
- Work closely with academic advisors, faculty, and employers to ensure the Program meets the educational objectives of the academic units while providing high impact experiential learning opportunities for students.
- Leverage the resources of existing CDS specialized work teams in the delivery of professionally managed career advisement, employer development, experiential education, and career related on-campus events.
- Work with the Executive Director and other employer relations team members to develop strategic plans focusing on growing full-time six-month NCE undergraduate co-op work experience opportunities across all NCE majors.
- Work with the employer relations team to determine strategy, messaging, target audiences, communications and tracking methods.
- Identify and cultivate relationships with prospective co-op employers
- Work in collaboration with NCE academic units and the CDS student success team to increase NCE undergraduate student co-op participation.
- Develop and maintain relationships with NCE departments as these pertain to the undergraduate co-op program.
- Communicate and meet regularly with NCE representatives to review progress on shared tasks and initiatives as they relate to increasing co-op student and employer participation.
- Collaborate with NCE departments to coordinate the promotion of the co-op program and opportunities to students.
- Collaborate with NCE to leverage existing employer relationships to increase co-op postings.

Additional Functions:
- Ensure student and employer satisfaction with the Program.
- Ensure that the Co-op Program complies with NJIT's
objectives and policies in the areas of inclusion, diversity and
nondiscrimination.
- Host prospective employer engagement events on campus,
off-site, and virtually, educating employers on the benefits of hiring co-ops
and advising them on best practices for building high-impact experiences that
incorporate on-the-job training, mentorship, academic integration, and
continuous feedback.
- Leverage the connections of the NCE Board of Visitors to
increase the number of participating employers.
- Collaborate with Career Advising staff to ensure that
students are well prepared in the areas of co-op search techniques, resume
development and distribution, and interview preparation.
- Ensure the proper pairing of students with employers and
resolve any issues stemming from such assignments.
- Work with Executive Director and other stakeholders in
developing and implementing assessment metrics and KPIs as related to the
overall university and college vision, goals, and objectives for determining
program success.
- Provide periodically oral and written reports detailing the
milestones and KPIs of the Program, as well as progress made toward meeting
them.
- Collaborate with other colleges and academic units outside
of NCE on employer partnerships and career, internship, and co-op opportunities
as needed.
- Explore opportunities to expand formal coop structures to
other colleges across NJIT.

Prerequisite Qualifications:
- Master's degree from a mainstream university/college in a
related field.
- Minimum five years' experience in a four-year university
career services organization, or in an academic department with responsibility
for administering a mainstream, structured co-op program.
- Experience working with students, faculty, staff, alumni,
and employers with minimal direct supervision. o Demonstrated leadership and
business relationship building skills and experience.
- Accomplished oral and written communication skills along
with presentation and interpersonal skills.
- Computer proficiency in Windows and MS Office Professional
Suite environment.

Preferred Qualifications:
- Professional experience with a co-op program in a major
metropolitan area.
- Experience with Handshake, Symplicity or other career services management platforms.
- Experience working with
Engineering students / employers or an engineering or engineering technology
academic degree.
- Documented experience as an author of reports, presentations, demonstrations or
archived papers on co-operative education

Bargaining Unit:
Non-Aligned

Range/Band:
10

FLSA:
Exempt
Full-Time