Associate Director, Admissions and Recruitment

• Job Type: Officer of Administration
• Regular/Temporary: Regular
• Hours Per Week: 35
• Salary Range: $97,000 - $107,000

Position Summary

Reporting to the Associate Dean, Admissions, the Associate Director, Admissions and Recruitment (Associate Director) works closely with other members of the admissions team to develop actionable goals and execute strategies that drive application growth and support the goal of yielding the most highly qualified students. The incumbent provides exemplary support throughout the enrollment process to the students for the School of Professional Studies' (SPS) diverse portfolio of programs. These offerings currently include cross-disciplinary Master's Degree Programs, Pre-Graduate and Graduate Certificate Programs, Structured and Unstructured Certifications of Professional Achievement, take-a-class options for bachelor's degree holders and visiting students enrolled at other institutions, High School Programs, and the American Language Programs. While the Admissions team supports all SPS programs, the Associate Director specializes in one or more programs, providing backup support for others as needed. The Associate Director also serves on the Committee for Admissions for the programs they support, evaluating applications for admissions consideration. Additionally, this role leads to supporting school-wide initiatives and recruitment-related systems and data needs, directly supervising the work of at least two employees.

Responsibilities

• Research, identify, assess, and develop MS recruitment opportunities, including program-specific and School-wide recruitment opportunities to increase the number of highly qualified applications to assigned portfolio of programs.
• Manage and execute the recruitment plan for assigned programs.
• Recruit for and represent SPS by attending local, regional, and national graduate and career fairs, disciplinary conferences, campus events, face-to-face and online informational sessions, and participate at other web and program specific recruitment related outreach activities.
• Develop and execute information session schedule for assigned portfolio of programs, including slide deck creation, coordination of speakers, hosting session, presenting on application and other relevant details during session, following up with participants, and conducting and after-action analysis to identify points of relevant information and opportunities.
• Conduct proactive (initiate contact with individuals who express interest) and reactive prospect management (respond to incoming inquiries), work to convert prospects to applicants, and admitted applicants to matriculated students.
• Facilitate frequent and productive interactions between prospects/students and school representatives when necessary, including financial aid advisors and the ISSO.
• Make recommendations for high level communication strategies for prospects and ensure that recruitment communications align with those initiated by the marketing team.
• Enter interactions with prospects and applicants into the CRM, grading and tracking level of interest, and continuing frequent and productive interactions with prospects through the decision-making and initial enrollment processes.
• Lead in maintaining data collection on all assigned prospects, reporting weekly on status of the prospect pool, collaborating with other staff to report on trends, and developing action steps needed to meet admissions and enrollment targets.
• Maintain a close collaborative relationship with academic and marketing team members to ensure that recruiting, admissions, and communication initiatives align with program, department and School goals.
• Lead efforts for tracking analytics and impact metrics to promote data-driven decision-making. Maintain records and produce regular reports to track outcomes specific to recruitment initiatives.
• Lead efforts to develop recruitment strategies for new MS program launches.
• Ensure prospect-facing content for the assigned programs is clear and drives the desired action; proactively recommend content changes to the website, communications, and collateral based on the synthesis and analysis of prospect and applicant questions and feedback.
• Serve as member of the Admissions Committee for assigned programs, reading applications and making admissions decision recommendations to the academic directors for the programs in their portfolio, and back-up programs (as needed).
• Partner with advising team to create effective yield management plans for assigned programs, and assist in coordinating and participating in yield events.
• Play a lead role in the annual recruitment assessment process including synthesizing feedback from across the admissions counselors and making personal recommendations, synthesizing data and making recommendations based on outcomes, assisting with the creation of action plans, and implementing changes.
• Manage direct reports as assigned.

PERFORMS OTHER DUTIES AS ASSIGNED OR REQUESTED.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and/or equivalent related experience.
• 4 years of related experience.
• A resume and cover letter with salary requirements must be submitted for this position.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in admissions, recruitment, or academic advising.
• Familiarity with SPS program offerings.
• Experience in a supervisory role, including the training and development of staff, is strongly preferred.

Other Requirements

• Strong management, communication, interpersonal, and presentation skills (verbal and written), and experience presenting in small group and large group settings, and to a variety of audiences, including individuals in positions of influence.
• Intellectual curiosity, sound problem-solving and decision-making abilities, and strength in creative and innovative thinking.
• High energy and passion for recruiting.
• Proficiency with Windows, Microsoft Word, Power Point and Excel required.
• Ability to work mornings, evening, and weekends, as needed.
• Ability to travel up to 25%.
• Exceptional attention to detail, strong organization and time management skills, and the ability to perform non-routine work with changing priorities.
• Ability to handle confidential information in a mature, professional manner.
• Must be able to work with a diverse student body, faculty and administrators.
• Experience in a fast-paced student or client service-oriented environment.
• Ability to work independently as well as in teams in a highly matrixed environment, receiving direction from and providing support to multiple sources.
• Sound problem-solving and decision-making abilities, both as an independent entity and as part of a team.
• Proficient in MS Office/systems (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• Strong working knowledge of all SPS programs and evidence of commitment to support School-wide and divisional goals.
• Slate experience is a plus.

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.