Career Advisor

Who We Are: 

The average graduation rate from a four-year college in America is over 60%. It is 26% for first-generation students and 3% for foster youth. 25% of foster youth graduates will be homeless after graduation.

At Ready to Succeed, we are changing these ratios everyday, one student at a time. 

Ready to Succeed (RTS) empowers first-generation and foster youth college students to graduate, launch and accelerate their careers, and reach their full potential. We offer our RTS Scholars a unique combination of personalized college and career coaching, connections to industry professionals, placements in paid internships, and access to financial and mental health resources. 

We ensure that our RTS Scholars graduate college with the skills, experience, and support system they need to enter the workforce as career-ready and self-directed young adults. After completing the RTS program, Scholars become RTS Alumni—building a strong peer-to-peer network, giving back to their communities, and providing mentorship, access, and opportunities for younger RTS Scholars. Our program is a proven path to career success. 

Check out our 2020 impact report. Feel free to check out more about the general RTS story and about Regina’s story, an incredible scholar-alum. 

We are looking for Career Advisors who are passionate about working with underserved youth, are college-, career-, and industry-knowledgeable, and are ready to join our team and rapidly growing organization. 

Does this sound like you? Then read on…

What You’ll Be Doing:

Reporting to the Program Manager, you will be part of our Career Success Team and provide career and college advising support to our Scholars to stay in good academic standing and graduate career-ready. Our typical ratio of advisors to students is 1:40.

Responsibilities will include, but are not limited to:

Providing RTS Scholars with career research tools, exploration assistance, and advising support. Conducting career advisement sessions for current scholars and alumni, and helping students to develop and implement individual career action plans.  Coaching students on how to write their resumes, cover letters, LinkedIn profiles, elevator pitches, and professional emails; interview skills, professional relationship building and networking techniques and skills, practicing mock interviews (in person and video), etc.  Coordinating, creating, contributing to, and delivering professional development workshops, presentations, and materials in collaboration with our Career Success Team.  Managing caseload of advisees and maintaining current student records in Salesforce and Google Drive. Participating in weekly all-team meetings to discuss achievements and assess barriers to success for students, contributing innovative ideas and solutions.  Establishing and maintaining close relationships with university career centers, researching and identifying opportunities and resources. Working with the RTS Employment Director to identify and track students who are internship and job ready. Identifying and tracking student challenges and needs outside of college and career support, working with our Student Success Coordinator. 

Compensation and Company Benefits: 

RTS has always maintained a healthy work, life, and wellness balance since our inception. RTS observes a flexible work arrangement which may be arranged upon completion of the 3-month trial period. Both Ready to Succeed and this role will retain their respective right to At-Will employment.

Salary range for this exempt, full-time role is commensurate with experience, between $54,500 - $70,000 with potential eligibility for up to 10% annual bonus (after completing 12-months of employment). 

• Vacation allotment: begins at 15 days accrual potential and goes up to 25 days with tenure after 5 years
• 3 recharge weeks: this includes the last 2 weeks of December and one week over the July 4th holiday week (as defined by the RTS calendar)
• 11 Federal holidays + your birthday is a holiday too :) (or the day before/after, if it falls on a weekend)
• Health benefits: We currently use a health insurance reimbursement program to cover the cost of premiums on the open market, up to $440 per month. We are exploring group insurance plans for 2022. 
• IRA: SIMPLE (Savings Incentive Match PLan for Employees) with dollar-for-dollar match up to 3% 
• Cell phone stipend: $50 per month
• Flexible work schedule and hybrid remote structure

You Have/You Are: 

A Bachelor’s degree from an accredited 4-year institution. Degrees in Psychology, HR, Higher Education, Education Counseling, Student Affairs, or similar programs are desirable. 2 - 3 years of experience in career services with college students and/or underserved populations; career mentoring, programming, nonprofits and advocacy, or equity and inclusion programs.  An understanding of internship and entry-level employment opportunities in a broad cross-section of various sector companies. Knowledge of STEM-track and pre-health students a plus.  Ability to put together various marketing materials and presentations; and experience with PowerPoint, Canva and/or tools in the Google Suite. Database management experience. Excel will be considered but Salesforce and or Airtable are preferred.  Excellent and effective verbal and written communication skills; able to adapt communication styles to suit many different audiences.  The ability to work in a fast-paced environment with frequent change and also able to slow down and focus on the details when needed.  The courage to ask for help, find common ground when there is disagreement or confusion and seek alternative perspectives calmly.  The ability to work on multiple projects and learn quickly. Demonstrated ability to take initiative and the capacity to work independently as part of an organizational team. Attention to detail in the materials you produce is critical.  Creative ideas and the enthusiasm to bring those ideas forward to the team. A team player and leader with committed and authentic desire to help others excel. A knack for unlocking, nurturing, and championing potential in others. Open-minded, seek alternative perspectives, collaborate effectively with people of diverse backgrounds and cultures Interested in, and committed to, positive and sustainable societal impact. A sense of humor — you work hard, but don't take yourself too seriously!

It’d be great if you also have: 

A Master’s degree (obtained or currently in progress) in Higher Education, Education Counseling, Student Affairs, or similar program. Sensitivity to the unique college and career development challenges common to former foster youth and first-generation college students.  Experience working with Motivational Interviewing training and or Trauma Informed training. Zoom and Salesforce professional usage experience, including back-end management.  Interest in the nonprofit industry and working with underserved youth. 

Duration and Hours: 

We are looking to fill these positions immediately. The start date is ASAP. This role is expected to work a schedule of Monday-Friday, full-time hours of 40 hours per week. The specific schedule and hours will be confirmed with the final candidate but is typically 9 am - 5:30 pm. Note that there may be times when this role needs to work evenings and or weekends and more than 40 hours per week. For example, virtual student workshops are Wednesday evenings once a month. We also plan to host quarterly, in-person events on weekends at least once a quarter. This role is not eligible for overtime pay given our exempt classification. 

Location: 

Our office is in Santa Monica, CA. This role is mainly remote/hybrid until further notice. The expectation is that this role will be based in-person, in the office, in a hybrid arrangement, once it is deemed safe to return. If not currently based in the Los Angeles area, must be open to relocating when full in-person services return. Onboarding may be done in person or remotely depending on arrangement and business requirements.

Our Commitment:

Ready to Succeed LA is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE) committed to a diverse and inclusive workforce. We recruit open-minded people of all gender identities, sexual orientations, ethnicities, abilities and experience. At RTS, we are committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

We will consider employment for qualified applicants with criminal histories consistent with the requirements of the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring. Additionally, reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform essential job functions as required by ADA.  

Should YOU apply: 

Do you have a passion to work in a non-profit, specifically one that is positively changing the lives of college students? Do you have a startup mindset, ready to jump in and work hard while making a difference? Then you are the candidate we have been looking for! 

HOW TO APPLY:

Follow instructions closely, as we will ignore incomplete applications. Applications submitted via LinkedIn or other online portals are considered incomplete and will be ignored.

Please send all application materials listed below to jobs@readytosucceedla.org with the job title and your name in the subject line.

Resume Cover Letter  A video of you talking to the camera about who or what inspires you and why you are interested in this role. (3-minute maximum length)
You may have to provide a link to the video if your file is too large to send in an email. 

Due to the number of applicants, we may only respond if you submit all parts of the application, and are selected for an initial phone/video screening interview.  We regret that we cannot respond to all initial applicants. 

All interviews will be conducted by phone, Zoom and/or Google Hangouts. Some writing or presentation samples may be requested as part of the second round. Please note that references will be required if your candidacy moves to the final round.