Career & Life Design Specialist, Undergraduate

Career & Life Design Specialist, Undergraduate

Join our community and experience Emerson College!

The Career & Life Design Specialist, Undergraduate reports to the Associate Director, Career & Life Design, partnering with undergraduate students through transformational coaching practices and life design frameworks to support exploration, decision-making, and the development of meaningful career pathways.

The Career & Life Design Specialist serves as a generalist for undergraduate students, providing accessible, high-impact coaching through 1:1 and group formats. Coaches are aligned with one or more Career Communities (e.g., Arts & Creative Industries, Business & Entrepreneurship, Public Impact, STEM & Innovation), developing deeper industry awareness and building relationships with faculty, alumni, and employer partners within those areas.

ESSENTIAL JOB DUTIES

• Provide high-impact 1:1 and small-group coaching on topics including career exploration and identity development, job search strategy, application material development, interview preparation, and navigating early-career challenges and decision-making.
• Maintain a student-centered, strengths-based, and inclusive coaching approach that supports a wide range of student experiences and goals.
• Serve as a primary coaching liaison for assigned Career Communities.
• Develop and maintain working knowledge of industry trends, roles, and entry pathways relevant to the community.
• Partner with faculty and academic departments to align coaching with disciplinary pathways and student interests.
• Contribute to community-specific programming, including panels, workshops, and alumni engagement events.
• Partner with faculty to support the integration of life design and career development concepts into courses, workshops, and co-curricular experiences.
• Deliver guest sessions, embedded workshops, and short modules that connect academic learning with career exploration and professional skill development.
• Collaborate with faculty to introduce concepts such as career exploration and meaning-making, reflection and narrative development, prototyping and iterative career decision-making, and translating academic work into professional skills and experiences.
• Contribute to the development of scalable classroom resources, toolkits, and assignments that faculty may adapt within their courses.
• Design and deliver workshops aligned with the institution's Life Design framework.
• Contribute to developmentally sequenced programming across the undergraduate experience (e.g., first-year exploration through senior-year transition).
• Integrate reflection, experiential learning preparation, and career readiness competencies into group programming.
• Work closely with Experiential Education colleagues to connect coaching conversations with internships, research, creative work, and applied learning.
• Coordinate referrals and warm handoffs to employer relations, alumni engagement, and campus partners.
• Contribute to shared language and consistency across coaching, experiential education, and employer engagement.
• Track coaching interactions and engagement in relevant systems and use data and student feedback to refine coaching approaches and programming over time.
• Contribute to assessment efforts related to student engagement, learning, and post-graduate outcomes.
• Other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree in Higher Education, Counseling, Student Affairs, Organizational Psychology, or related field or equivalent experience required; Master's degree preferred.
• 2-4 years of experience in career coaching, advising, student development, or professional coaching required.
• Experience facilitating workshops, presentations, or classroom-based engagement required.
• Experience supporting students or early-career professionals in competitive fields required.
• Experience engaging with faculty or supporting learning within academic contexts preferred.
• Experience supporting students in industry-specific pathways (e.g., arts/creative industries, communications) preferred.