Job Description

Reporting to the Director of the Office of Career Development and Academic Advisement, the Career Coach and Advisor provides integrated developmental coaching that empowers undergraduate students to successfully transition to Alfred University, engage in meaningful academic and co-curricular experiences, and graduate with purpose. Through a holistic coaching model grounded in academic advising, experiential learning, and career development, the Career Coach and Advisor partners with students to integrate learning, experience, and identity throughout their undergraduate journey.

This posting is for two available Career Coach and Advisor positions, each scheduled to work 35 hours per week.

Serving as the primary first-year academic advisor for an assigned undergraduate college, the Career Coach and Advisor supports students in navigating academic requirements, exploring interests, developing effective learning strategies, and successfully transitioning to a faculty advisor at the conclusion of the first year. Following the transition, the coach remains each student's dedicated developmental coach, providing continuous guidance in career exploration, experiential learning, professional development, graduate school planning, and preparation for life after Alfred.

The Career Coach and Advisor builds meaningful relationships that foster reflection, informed decision-making, resilience, and self-authorship. Through individualized coaching, proactive outreach, and collaboration with faculty and campus partners, the coach helps students integrate their academic, co-curricular, and experiential learning into a purposeful undergraduate experience.

Rate: $22.25-$23.54

Essential Responsibilities:

Developmental Coaching:

• Build meaningful coaching relationships with an assigned population of undergraduate students from matriculation through graduation.
• Employ an integrated developmental coaching approach that encourages reflection, goal setting, and intentional decision-making.
• Empower students to identify strengths, clarify values, explore possibilities, and develop individualized academic and professional goals.
• Help students connect learning, experiences, and personal growth into a cohesive educational journey.

First-Year Academic Advising:

• Serve as the primary academic advisor for first-year students within an assigned undergraduate college.
• Guide students through course selection, degree requirements, registration, academic policies, and university procedures.
• Assist students in exploring majors, understanding academic expectations, and developing strategies for academic success.
• Monitor student progress through institutional technologies and provide proactive outreach to students experiencing academic challenges.
• Coordinate a successful transition from first-year advising to a faculty advisor while maintaining an ongoing developmental coaching relationship.

Career & Professional Development:

• Continue serving as each student's dedicated coach beyond the first year, providing individualized support through graduation.
• Coach students in career exploration, graduate and professional school planning, internship preparation, job search strategies, networking, interviewing, and professional communication.
• Administer and interpret career assessments to facilitate self-awareness and career exploration.
• Assist students in identifying and articulating transferable skills and competencies gained through academic, co-curricular, employment, leadership, and experiential learning.

Experiential Learning:

• Encourage participation in internships, undergraduate research, student employment, leadership experiences, community engagement, global learning, and other experiential learning opportunities.
• Facilitate reflective coaching conversations that help students connect experiences to academic learning, personal identity, and future aspirations.
• Support students in documenting and communicating learning through university initiatives such as Saxon Ready and Saxon Record.
• Promote intentional engagement in experiences that contribute to career readiness and lifelong learning.

Student Engagement & Success:

• Deliver workshops, classroom presentations, and programming that support student transition, academic success, career readiness, and professional development.
• Collaborate with faculty, academic departments, and Student Experience partners to promote student persistence and holistic development.
• Connect students with campus resources that support academic achievement, well-being, belonging, financial wellness, and personal success.
• Participate in orientation, open houses, admissions events, and university-wide initiatives.

Assessment & Administration:

• Maintain accurate and timely documentation of coaching interactions and student progress.
• Utilize institutional technologies to support advising, communication, assessment, and reporting.
• Collect and analyze data to evaluate coaching effectiveness and contribute to continuous improvement initiatives.
• Maintain knowledge of best practices in student development, academic advising, career development, and experiential learning.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree required.
• Two (2) years of professional experience in higher education, academic advising, career development, student success, or a related student-facing role.
• Demonstrated ability to build supportive relationships with diverse student populations.
• Strong interpersonal, organizational, communication, and problem-solving skills.
• Commitment to inclusive excellence and student-centered practice.
• Prefered:
  • ​​​​​​​Master's degree in Higher Education, Student Affairs, Counseling, Education, College Student Personnel, Career Development, Psychology, or a related field.
  • Experience with first-year advising and/or career coaching or workforce preparation.
  • Familiarity with experiential learning and high-impact educational practices.
  • Experience using student information systems and advising technologies (e.g., Banner, Navigate, Canvas, Handshake, or similar platforms).

Physical Demands & Work Environment:
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

Personal Protective Equipment must be worn when required. A respiratory function test and the ability to use respirators may be required. Stairs and uneven surfaces may be present; artificial lifts, etc., may or may not be available. The position may require the incumbent to walk outdoors in all types of weather to other buildings or offices located on the campus. The Campus is in an area that contains numerous hills and slopes and may not always be fully accessible for mobility-impaired individuals.

About Alfred University:
Lighting the way for students since 1836. “We've always been a place for makers, especially those who make the future. Our commitment to independent thinking, creativity, academic rigor, and community have made us a unique kind of leader since 1836.”

Alfred University (AU) was founded on principles of social justice in 1836 by liberal, independent thinkers who placed high value on education for all citizens. The University has retained and built upon the strong values of its founders, developing as an institution of national and international renown that is responsive to the needs of contemporary society while remaining consistent with the spirit of its origins. Alfred University is the second oldest coeducational college in the United States as well as one of the earliest nineteenth-century colleges to have enrolled African American and Native American students. It has a long-standing history of educating socially conscious students who make a difference in their professions and their communities.

Over the course of the twentieth century, Alfred University evolved into a complex institution offering a full range of programs in the liberal arts and sciences, art and design, engineering, business, education, counseling, and school psychology to its nearly 2,000 undergraduate and graduate students that live, learn, and play on a 232-acre campus located in an idyllic, creative valley in Western New York.

Alfred University actively subscribes to a policy of equal employment opportunity, and will not discriminate against any employee, student or applicant because of race, age, sex, color, sexual orientation, gender identification or expression, physical or mental disability, religion, ancestry or national origin, marital status, genetic information, military or veteran status, domestic violence victim status, criminal conviction status, political affiliation or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.