Career Coach

The Role

The Career Coach is an essential role in the Accelerate U model.This person provides critical coaching and mentoring directly to Accelerate Ulearners as they complete their training courses and through their externship as they prepare for work. The Career Coach serves as a “navigator” to help learners build a professional peer network of support, as well as apply, interview for, and ultimately secure a job. They monitor the learning experience closely and play an essential role in creating exceptional, cohort-based learning experiences for participants. They create and support the experience of every learner in the program.

The Career Coach reports to the Accelerate U Director of Career Coaching and joins a growing team of AU Career Coaches. NLU seeks applicants that reflect the diversity of its student body and the city of Chicago.

This is the right role for you if:

You are committed to equity, access, and building economic mobility.

You understand that economic disparity and income inequality are destabilizing forces for a true democracy.You know the power of a great education - one that catapults a learner into new, choice-filled opportunities. You also know that too many talented, high-potential people get left out, overlooked, or skipped over when it comes to opportunities. You want to breakdown those barriers, destroy those misconceptions, and prepare and connect extraordinarily talented people with the opportunities they deserve.

You are driven to succeed.

You are passionate about serving all Accelerate U participants including first-generation learners and others motivated by the challenge of preparing for meaningful work.You want to take everything you know about coaching, support, interpersonal relationship building and professional preparation and use it to ensure all learners succeed in the program. You’re agile, flexible, and engaging, ready to learn quickly.You believe in and are excited to contribute to a supportive environment and learner-driven culture. You’re ready to work hard, determined to build something special for everyone who enrolls.

You are creative.And relentless.

You understand the urgency of the moment and the responsibility you have as each learner’s coach. You love to learn yourself by testing new approaches all in an effort to refine and improve Accelerate U’s coaching and support systems. You embrace the “and” and work with those around you to hold learners accountable - you have high expectations for what every one of our learners will achieve - and provide critical support when necessary. You never, ever give up.

You want to create a community - a sense of belonging - for every learner.

You understand learners are not passive enrollees in our program, but active drivers of their own learning.That learners in our program support the learning of one another: exploring content together, encouraging one another, and holding each other accountable on their way to full-time work. You will create a space for learners to build “social capital” among their colleagues so that they head into work with a meaningful, professional network.

Essential Responsibilities

• Build community virtually (and in-person where possible) among learners to motivate and build networks.
• Conduct monthly individual check-ins with each learner to provide individualized support as they complete the program.
• Meet regularly with course instructors to ensure each learner receives the support they need to be successful in the program.
• Facilitate and teach the cohort coaching sessions, using the Accelerate U coaching curriculum once a week to each cohort.
• Support learners as they make progress towards a job, including ensuring they complete externship requirements, secure their certification (when applicable), complete job application and other metrics indicating program completion.
• Serve as the first point of outreach for learner concerns using a variety of advising and interviewing methodologies to support program participants as they overcome barriers.
• Participate in regular meetings with the Accelerate U team, as well as training on Accelerate U program, technology, and curriculum.
• Work closely with Accelerate U instructors to identify areas for additional support from program kick-off through full-time hire in new job.
• Communicate regularly with Accelerate U staff and instructors regarding learner progress throughout the program.
• Coach 3-6 cohorts of learners a year through the training, field-based externship, and job placement process of the Accelerate U program.
• Problem-solve with learners to create a personalized Accelerate U success plan and identify appropriate university and community resources and supports to address challenges and ensure completion of the training experience.

Qualifications

What you bring to the team.

First and foremost, the Career Coach must share Accelerate U’s sense of urgency about the need (and opportunity) to build affordable, flexible, rigorous, supportive, career-aligned learning opportunities that set learners up to be engaged citizens in the 21st Century.

Additionally, candidates for the position must have the following:

• Bachelor’s degree in relevant field preferred but not required.
• Strong facilitation and relationship-building skills, including active listening, compassion, and clear communication.
• Proven experience using relevant technology and leading group sessions online with Zoom, Slack, Google Suite, and other learning management systems.
• Ability to perform well under pressure while maintaining a positive attitude and building effective relationships with multiple stakeholders.
• Ability to build trusting connections and hold learners to high expectations, with empathy.
• Proven track record of success coaching and mentoring others, especially in supporting individuals across diverse backgrounds to succeed in careers.
• 3+ years of professional experience in education, social work, career coaching, or counseling.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment.

Link to application: https://careers-nl.icims.com/jobs/1172/career-coach-accelerate-u/job?mobile=false&width=1247&height=500&bga=true&needsRedirect=false&jan1offset=-360&jun1offset=-300