College and Career Dev Specialist

Make a bigger difference

College and Career Development Specialist

At The Jewish Board, we don’t just make a difference – we make a bigger difference as we serve 45,000 New Yorkers every year. Join our dedicated team that’s been helping communities across New York City for almost 150 years and see just how big of a difference you can make.

Reasons you’ll love working with us:

• If you have a particular age range or population you’re interested in working with, you can find your niche here.  Our clients and staff are as diverse as the city we work in, and include people of all cultures, religions, races, gender expressions, and sexual orientations.

• We’re committed to supporting your career development by encouraging mobility and advancement across different program types and jobs.
• With 70 locations throughout the five boroughs, you can work close to where you live. 
• Generous vacation time and 15 paid holidays will help you achieve a healthy work/life balance.
• We offer an excellent benefits package with affordable, high-quality health and dental insurance with low co-pays.
• You’ll receive ongoing support through high-quality supervision, specialized trainings from our Continuing Education team, and an education benefit.

How you can make a bigger difference: 

The College and Career Development Specialist role is part of The Jewish Board’s “A Step Ahead” coaching program, sponsored by Fair Futures. Fair Futures is a coalition of child welfare agencies, non-profits, foundations, advocates and young adults working to ensure they fulfill their promise to New York City’s foster youth. The Specialist is responsible for working with youths residing at the Jewish Board’s two Hard to Place Group Homes, Kaplan House and Cedar Knolls House. Specialists assist coaches and young people in conducting specific, specialized, and targeted tasks that will help them achieve their academic and career development goals.. Some responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Meet with young people interested in college to have an exploratory and informational session, after they are referred by their Coach, and discuss what that roadmap/timeline would look like for them at their particular high school or HSE program;
• Monitor Pre-SAT/SAT scores of those students who do take them, and meet with them to discuss/refine college options;
• Organize college tours;
• Help young people apply to colleges in line with their interests, preferences, and performance;
• Assist students with college essays and personal statements, where needed;
• Review any college applications or financial aid forms filled out by the student’s school/guidance counselor to ensure they are correct;
• Sit down with students and help them apply to FAFSA, TAP, ETV, and all applicable scholarships, including reviewing their essays and helping with letters of reference;
• Oversee any onsite job readiness(s) (e.g., Pre-Vocational Internship Program);
• Oversee and assist young people to identify, apply for and enroll in appropriate internship programs;
• Other duties as assigned

Qualifications: 

The Jewish Board is currently looking for talented individuals of all cultures, religions, races, and gender expressions with the following qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree and at least two years of relevant experience working in college and/or career development services. Experience working with at-risk or system-involved young people is strongly preferred.
• Bilingual in Spanish preferred

If you join us, you’ll have these great benefits:

• Generous paid time off in addition to paid agency holidays and 15 sick days
• Affordable and high-quality medical/dental/vision plans 
• Tuition assistance and educational loan forgiveness
• Free continuing education opportunities 
• 403(b) retirement benefits and a pension
• Flexible spending accounts for health and transportation 
• 27/7 Accessible Employee Assistance Program  
• Life and disability insurance 
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion working groups that are available for you to join, including Confronting Structural Racism (COR), Coalition Against Anti-Semitism (CAAS), and the LGBTQ Steering Committee

Who we are:

The Jewish Board delivers innovative, high-quality, and compassionate mental health and social services to over 45,000 New Yorkers each year. We are unique in serving everyone from infants and their families to children, teens, and adults. We are proud to employ and serve people of all religions, races, cultural backgrounds, gender expressions, and sexual orientations. We are committed to building diverse, equitable, and inclusive teams to help support our mission, and we strongly encourage candidates from historically marginalized backgrounds to apply to work with us.

More on Equal Opportunity:

We respect diversity and accordingly are an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, alienage, citizenship status, age, disability, sex, gender, gender identity or expression (including transgender status), sexual orientation, marital status, partnership status, veteran status, genetic information, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

This applies with respect to recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, transfer, training, compensation, termination, assignments, benefits, employee activities, access to facilities and programs, and all other terms and condition of employment as well as general treatment during employment.

 We will endeavor to make a reasonable accommodation to the known physical or mental limitations of qualified employees with disabilities, without regard to any protected classifications, unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of our business. Any employees who need assistance to perform their job duties because of a physical or mental condition should contact human resources.