Career Development

**Schedule**
Monday to Friday; 8:30am-4:30pm

**Education Level**
Bachelor's degree in a related field

**Career Level**
Requires 4 years of relevant experience

**Unit/Project Description**:
As the largest Faculty, with approximatley 8,000 undergraduate student, enrolled in 100+ undergraduate programs and 215+ faculty members, the Faculty of Science is an integral part of McMaster University.

Science Career and Cooperative Education hold a key role in partnering with students, employers and faculty to prepare Faculty of Science students to successfully transition from education to career and to excel in their chosen fields. The team works innovatively and creatively to get science students career ready by connecting students with co-op and other opportunities for experiential educaiton, building their science career competencies, connecting them with employers and ensuring they are prepared to articulate their value to potential employers.

Science Career and Cooperative Education delivers thirteen Co-op programs.

We have an opening in our Cooperative Education Team. We are looking for someone who is as passionate about student career success as we are.
- prepare students with the knowledge, skills and self-marketing tools to secure co-op opprortunities,
- srengthen our relationships with current employer partners
- engage new employer partners who can benefit form hiring our co-op students
- collaborate with our team to expand, gorw and continuously improve our co-op prpogramming
- liaise with faculty and staff to enhance the reputaton of McMaster Faculty of Science

This is a contract position lasting 12 months.

**Job Summary**:
Responsible for planning, organizing and coordinating career development placements. Promotes student development, success and retention, and encourages career achievement by conducting interviews with students dealing with career choice, educational direction and goal progress.

**Purpose and Key Functions**:

- Identify, develop, and cultivate strategic employer relationships in the business community.
- Interview students to assess suitability and make decisions on admittance to the program.
- Interview employer partners to understand recruitment needs.
- Provide individual coaching services and guidance in developing self-marketing and branding tools including, but not limited to, job search strategies, resume critiques, preparation of cover letters and personal statements, interview skills, networking, portfolio development, and negotiation skills.
- Conduct mock interviews by creating specific questions that are relevant to the field of employment students are pursuing, and then provide constructive feedback to students.
- Conduct post-work placement interviews with students to discuss experiences and future goals.
- Write career and skill development materials, and design interview tools.
- Write a variety of documents including, but not limited to, reference letters, correspondence and workshop plans.
- Create, implement and maintain policies and procedures related to the program and career services offered.
- Facilitate or lead career development workshops.
- Coordinate and accompany students on site visits and discuss work objectives.
- Create promotional materials to market program to potential applicants, visitors, and representatives from other institutions at fairs and open house events.
- Plan and coordinate costs, logistics and resources, including catering and audio visual equipment, for career events, information sessions, workshops and speaker presentations.
- Calculate travel expenses for attendance at site visits, seminars, conferences and professional development.
- Track attendance of students using services and compare statistics from previous years.
- Gather, compile, and analyze information identifying labour market data, trends, and job opportunities.
- Review current labour markets and research current trends within professional careers and employment requirements including skill level and comparable salaries offered.
- Request participation and invite employers to post-employment opportunities within the department.
- Act as a liaison between faculty, staff and students to ensure the timely communication of information and adherence to policies and procedures.
- Participate in meetings with students to discuss and provide guidance regarding individual career options.
- Assemble and distribute materials and packages.
- Understand and stay current on employment legislation and government mandates.

**Supervision**:

- Provide direction to others in how to carry out work tasks.
- Ensures adherence to quality standards and procedures for short-term staff and volunteers.

**Requirements**:

- Bachelor’s degree in a related field.
- Requires 4 years of relevant experience.

**Assets**:

- The following are considered assets and may be given preference:

- Educational background in Science
- Experience in a career setting and/or detailed understanding o