Associate Director Employer Partnership

About NYU Abu Dhabi

NYU Abu Dhabi is pioneering a new model of higher education for a global world, dedicated to excellence in teaching and research and to advancing cooperation and progress on humanity’s shared challenges. Drawing on the strengths of the NYU global network, it offers an outstanding liberal arts and sciences education to students from the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and around the world, with a distinctive focus on intercultural understanding and leadership. It supports innovative research and graduate education programs that push forward the frontiers of knowledge and respond in powerful and interdisciplinary ways to vital global and local challenges.

Position summary

Applications are welcome from all qualified candidates. In line with UAE regulations, Emirati candidates are encouraged to apply.

New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) seeks to appoint an Associate Director, Employer Partnerships of the Career Development Center (CDC), reporting to the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and Director, Career Development Center.

The Associate Director, Employer Partnerships of the Career Development Center (CDC) at New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) leads the development and direction of an innovative array of programs and services for employers and industry contacts. The focus of these programs and services is to cultivate, sustain and continuously improve external relationships with the Career Development Center, and the University for the purpose of hiring students for internships and full-time jobs. This is done while leading a team of four full-time staff, three of which are dedicated to employer relations.

The Associate Director will provide career coaching and deliver programming regarding career decision-making, goal setting, career research, and the job search process in individual and group settings; delivering customized workshops and programs on a variety of career-related topics to students and alumni.

Additionally, the Associate Director will oversee a portfolio of professional development programs and grants, embedding this into the broader job development strategy for students.

Key responsibilities:

Employer outreach:

Design and develop an employer outreach strategy that creates a pipeline of jobs and internships for NYUAD undergraduate and graduate students

Lead the employer relations team in executing employer outreach strategy, with a focus on UAE and regional market

Oversee all employer events on campus inclusive of career fairs and larger scale networking events, as well as more boutique programming

Manage the employer interface for Handshake, a shared career management software between New York, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai campuses

Ensure strong reporting of employer contacts and relationship management, to ensure continuity of relationships over time

Build talent pipelines and expand awareness of NYUAD student talent in the UAE and globally

Adapt employer outreach strategy based on research about industry trends, student interests and feedback, ensuring a broad range of recruitment options for undergraduate and graduate students

Conduct introductory, follow up, and other meetings with employers at all stages of recruitment

Oversee on-campus recruitment for jobs and internships, including on-campus interviews, employer information sessions, and other related content

Ensure employers align with NYUAD CDC recruitment guidelines, in alignment with UAE Labor Law and other government regulations; collaborate with the Office of Equal Opportunity, Office of the General Counsel, and Compliance as appropriate

Support broader university partnerships by collaborating with internal stakeholders focused on external relations; make referrals as appropriate

Oversee the assessment of internship quality and satisfaction via a survey, incorporating this data into decision making across the CDC team

Develop a micro experiences portfolio to support a wide range of employer connecting points for students

Career coaching and advising:

Conduct one-on-one appointments and walk-in coaching meetings with students from over 120 countries about career related topics including job and internship search strategy, visa and employment regulations, negotiation, CV and cover letter development, networking

Support with two career communities focused on industry-specific career education, in collaboration with other advisors, curating programming, alumni connections, and other upskilling opportunities

Oversee the enforcement of the student professional conduct policy, in collaboration with the student conduct team of Student Affairs

Deliver programming for undergraduate or graduate students about job markets and trends, negotiations, recruitment strategy and other career education topics as needed

Professional development and grants:

Oversee the employer and external-facing aspects of CDC grant programs, including employer user experience, student/employer contracts, work permits, and work authorization status, ensuring alignment with institutional goals and mission

Oversee integration of professional development programs like mentorship and advancement opportunities into the student employability journey

Staff management:

Hire, train, and supervise three full-time staff

Conduct regular check-ins to manage performance

Ensure staff understanding of and alignment with CDC goals, vision, and values

Other duties as assigned:

Engage in divisional projects as needed

Support students and the university’s mission in student-facing initiatives as required, inclusive of serving as an essential staff member in the event of an emergency

Required education:

Master’s degree in Higher Education and Student Affairs, Human Resources, Counseling, or related field.

Required experience:

Minimum of five years of progressive leadership experience in career development, employer relations, coaching, student affairs, business development, recruitment, or an equivalent combination of education and experience

Experience establishing and strengthening relationships with local and global employers in a variety of industries to promote student talent, identify opportunities for internships, full-time work, and mentorship

Experience working across an organization with multiple stakeholders

Experience counseling and advising students individually and in groups on issues related to recruitment and job search strategies

Identifying and addressing students’ needs and skills, and formulating individualized plans of action for job seekers

Advanced experience managing contact management software, ideally Handshake specifically

Experience developing and supervising full-time administrative and professional staff, including experience with making effective recommendations for hiring, promotions, salary adjustments, evaluations, etc.

Knowledge of career and internship, job search and administering self-assessment resources and tools; including those available online

Ability to quickly assess students’ career-related needs and provide useful responses and advising within brief time frames

Ability to effectively critique CVs, resumes, and cover letters in a timely manner

Ability to stay current on national and international trends, and ensure that national and international opportunities for professional and graduate education are promoted, educating students, faculty and staff on emerging issues and trends as necessary

Strong oral and written communication and interpersonal skills to effectively interact with diverse groups and individual faculty, staff, students, university administrators and constituent organizations

Ability to work collaboratively with faculty and staff from other university departments to create positive experiences for students

Preferred experience:

Experience leading and training a team

Experience creating student employment policy

Served on a university-wide committee before

Knowledge of the UAE employment landscape

Established presence on LinkedIn

Network of industry contacts in the UAE

Regularly thinks outside the box

Ability to pivot quickly to reflect market conditions and student sentiments

Other information about NYUAD

NYU Abu Dhabi is a degree-granting research university with a fully integrated liberal arts and science undergraduate program in the Arts, Sciences, Social Sciences, Humanities, and Engineering. NYU Abu Dhabi, NYU New York, and NYU Shanghai form the backbone of NYU’s global network university, an interconnected network of portal campuses and academic centers across six continents that enable seamless international mobility of students and faculty in their pursuit of academic and scholarly activity. This global university represents a transformative shift in higher education, one in which the intellectual and creative endeavors of academia are shaped and examined through an international and multicultural perspective. As a major intellectual hub at the crossroads of the Arab world, NYUAD serves as a center for scholarly thought, advanced research, knowledge creation, and sharing, through its academic, research, and creative activities.