College Success Manager

Job Title: College Success Manager

Location: Remote with preference for Boston or Chicago. On-site during Summer Academy in Miami, FL (subject to change)

Employment Type: Full-time, Exempt

Salary Range: $69,300 - $71,000

Benefits: High-quality health and dental insurance, paid vacation, employer-matched retirement plan

The Organization

At Thrive Scholars, we provide high-achieving students from under-resourced communities the opportunities they need to thrive at top colleges and in meaningful careers.

Our comprehensive and data-driven program model focuses on the key inflection points that can be the difference between graduating from any college and graduating from a top college with the grades, degree, career skills, and network needed to thrive in any career. Thrive Scholars originated in Los Angeles as South Central Scholars (“SCS”) twenty years ago. Over this time, the organization has refined its program model and, in the last five years, has focused on expanding nationally; reaching more high-achieving students from under-resourced communities, growing the number of Scholars we serve; and deepening our program impact. Thrive Scholars has begun to grow its footprint with new summer program offerings in three additional cities. The organization has approximately 75 year-round employees and close to 200 summer employees.

College Success

In order for Scholars to cross the finish line at graduation, they need to establish a strong foundation in their first year. That’s where the College Success team comes in. College Success creates a holistic program that supports Scholars in their transition to college. Providing tailored coaching around academics, wellness, and career preparation, the College Success Managers give expert advice to our first-year college Scholars. The College Success team helps Scholars develop strong academic and personal habits so that Scholars can finish their first year with a GPA of 3.3 or higher and set Scholars up for additional summer opportunities that support their economic mobility.

The Position

Thrive Scholars is looking to recruit a dynamic, student-focused, and results-driven College Success Manager to join our team. Our College Success program is designed to help first-year Scholars successfully transition to college, achieve academic success, thoughtfully explore their major and career interests, and position themselves for a competitive summer opportunity (i.e. internship, research position). The College Success team advising modalities include 1:1 advising, group coaching sessions, online modules, and in-person summer programming. Besides serving as the primary relationship manager for first-year Scholars, CSMs collaborate with other departments to connect Scholars with competitive experiential learning and internship opportunities that facilitate their career development. Additionally, CSMs each serve as leads for 2-3 project areas that help advance the work of the department. Sample project areas include academic excellence, Scholar engagement events, summer experience placement tracking, and communications.

While most Scholar-facing work will be virtual, the CSMs are required to be on-site at one of our Summer Academy sites for up to four weeks of the Summer Academy that runs from July until early-August.

Key Responsibilities:

• College Success Advising (50%):
• • Coach a caseload of up to 90 Scholars to help them earn a first-year GPA of 3.3 or higher by identifying the academic and co-curricular opportunities best suited to their goals, interests, skills, and long term economic mobility.
  • Assist students in the development of academic and personal skill-building tied to undergraduate student success (e.g. time management, stress management, study skills, self-advocacy skills).
  • Coordinate workshops and events with College Success and Career teams to equip students with necessary job search skills and employment preparation strategies to secure first year summer internships and research positions.
  • Support Scholars in filing their FAFSA and required paperwork needed to persist to their sophomore year of college.
  • Develop and execute a curriculum that teaches first-year Scholars about course selection, major exploration, para-academic skills, and decisions related to educational and career goals.
  • Aid Scholars in identifying mental health and wellness resources that meet their individual goals
• Program Management (25%)
• • Manage secondary project assignments that advance the department’s goals
  • Support cross-departmental and organization-wide events and initiatives, including College Access and Career transition programming, Career Pods, Development/donor opportunities, and Career Development events.
• Academy Logistics and Facilitation (15%):
• • Contribute to the planning of Summer Academies, including logistical preparation, content curation, and program delivery.
• Administrative Tasks (10%):
• • Monitor student progress and performance towards goals, recording applicable activities via Salesforce in a timely manner
  • Use Scholar information to identify disengaged Scholars and deploy strategies to successfully re-engage them
  • Collect and use data to understand academic, summer internship placement, and persistence trends and develop strategies to support Scholars in their pursuit of highly selective institutions.

Qualifications and Experience:

There are innumerable ways to learn, grow and excel professionally. We respect this when we review applications and take a broad look at the experience of each applicant. The qualifications and experiences listed below are intended as a guide; we do not expect candidates to check every box. If you believe you can meet the expectations and responsibilities of this position, we want to get to know you and the unique strengths you will bring to the work.

• Bachelor’s Degree
• 2+ years of professional experience
• Advising experience at a highly selective college (academic advising, career advising, etc.)
• Experience helping students through crises and triaging students to the right on-campus resources
• Highly-skilled relationship builder who is able to establish strong, trusting rapport
• Effective and adaptable coaching skills through multiple modalities
• Strong skills and experience with program design and execution
• A passion for working with low-income young people of color, and expertise in the issues first-generation students face at selective colleges and in corporate settings
• Strong organizational skills and ability to document and manage detailed data
• Ability to use data to inform decision making and strategic planning to help scholars meet their goals
• Knowledge around, and understanding of, student experience at selective colleges
• Knowledge of college and universities in Boston and/or Chicago preferred

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Equal Employment Opportunities

Thrive Scholars provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment based on race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, national origin, sexual orientation, age, disability, or veteran status. We strongly encourage people of all backgrounds to apply.

For more information, please visit thrivescholars.org