Connection Coach

Reading Area Community College; Philadelphia (Philadelphia County); On-site; USD 39,150 - 47,850; Full time

Job summary

Reading Area Community College seeks a Connection Coach to enhance new student onboarding and retention. This full-time position focuses on providing registration assistance, personalized advising, and connections to college resources, with emphasis on serving bilingual students.

Ideal candidates will have experience in education or student services and the ability to communicate effectively in both English and Spanish. Join us to make a positive impact on student success and retention!

Qualifications

• 2-3 years’ experience in instruction and/or student service.
• Excellent written communication skills.
• Knowledge of serving bilingual/bicultural student populations.

Responsibilities

• Onboard and coach new students through the registration process.
• Provide advising and support during special events.
• Assist in overcoming obstacles related to registration and financial aid.

Skills

Bilingual communication (English/Spanish)

Interpersonal skills

Public speaking

Education

Bachelor’s degree in education, counseling, psychology or related field

Tools

Microsoft Office Suite

Job description

Title: Connection Coach

Posting Date: 06/23/2026

Apply by Date: 07/07/2026

Application status: Accepting Applications

Position type: Full-time

Salary: $43,500 per year

Working Hours

Working hours for this position consist of a 7.5 hour period exclusive of a 1/2 or 1 hour lunch. Specific hours will be assigned at the onset of employment. In this position, the employee will be required to work one evening per week, to be agreed upon at the onset of employment. The employee may be required to work additional evening or weekend hours. The employee has the option to work these additional hours, in addition to or in lieu of regular hours. This is an on-campus position that will work with students both in person and remotely.

Travel Requirements

Position requires occasional local travel; employee must have access to transportation.

Summary

The Connection Coach plays a key role in successfully onboarding new students from the point of application and promoting a positive learning experience through their first year, in an effort to meet student retention, success and completion goals of the college. The Connection Coach provides registration assistance, support, advisement and connections to college resources, aimed at motivating and engaging new students in order for them to be successful.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Register and Onboard cohort of students and coach them through the process of being a first-time student
• Provide advising to students, including non-advisees, through walk-in times in office and at targeted special events such as New Student Orientation, Accepted Student Days and Welcome Week Activities
• Assist students with identifying, planning for, and overcoming potential obstacles in the placement testing, registration, financial aid, and technology processes and procedures
• Assist students with setting goals and defining steps in education and career planning for the first year
• Maintain advising log or case management files to track contact hours, issues and outcomes with appropriate documentation
• Monitor student progress toward goals and assist students and instructors to problem solve issues that arise related to progress towards academic goals, persistence, attendance, and completion
• Explain the processes for interpreting transfer credits, prior learning assessment, satisfactory academic progress (SAP) and other credit and financial issues for students
• Review and stay current on curriculum requirements and policies impacting students, including meta majors and guided pathways
• Provide targeted outreach and hold meetings (including remote/online) with students flagged from the Early Alert program, with a focus on identified at-risk populations and LatinX populations
• Create and conduct workshops and information sessions and develop / distribute materials as needed to support student success
• Develop printed and on-line resources such as first-year guidelines and financial literacy information to help students and their families better understand
• Participate in New Student Orientations
• Provide and/or procure bilingual service to monolingual and limited English-speaking program participants and/or their family members as needed to achieve the grant objectives
• Provide advising/coaching in both English and Spanish language when needed for an advisee and their family
• Work both collectively as a team and also independently with the ability to make well informed decisions in the best interest of each advisee
• Identify support that students need with a focus on goal setting, GPA recovery, study skills, test anxiety and stress management skills, time management, and connecting students to helpful resources
• Conduct workshops and hands‑on training how to navigate through institutional technology and campus resources. Assess workshops and training sessions
• Meet enrollment and retention goals
• Provide monthly report on activities and initiatives
• Monitor student progress proactively, and conduct outreach to connect students to services
• Coordinate student referrals to departments or services to help them overcome social and economic barriers
• For online learners, counsel and advise students by phone, email, text and other available online technologies
• Attend staff meetings and trainings as required.
• Meet regularly with the Director of Advising and Retention and Task Force to inform challenges, or needed support
• Other related duties as required.

Supervisory Responsibilities

This job has no supervisory responsibilities.

Qualifications

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Education and Experience

Required

• 2‑3 years’ experience in instruction and/or student service and/or related field; preference may be given to those with experience as an academic advisor/counselor/recruiter or faculty member in a higher education setting
• Knowledge of and commitment to serving bilingual/bicultural student populations and others traditionally underrepresented in higher education
• General Conversational English/Spanish speaking and listening as measured by scoring a performance level of 7 or higher on our standardized live telephone assessment

Preferred

• Bachelor’s degree in education, counseling, psychology or related field: preference may be given to individuals who possess a Master’s degree
• Community College experience
• Experience working at a Hispanic Serving Institution (college or university serving 25% or more Hispanic students)

Other Skills and Abilities

• Excellent communication and public speaking skills
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work well with people
• Excellent written communication skills especially in the areas of report writing and business correspondence

Computer Skills

To perform this job successfully, an individual should be proficient in the use of Microsoft Office (especially Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) and Internet skills. Knowledge of Ellucian Colleague or other administrative software a plus.

Communication Skills

Ability to write reports, business correspondence, and procedure manuals. Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from groups of managers, clients, customers, and the general public.

Reasoning Ability

Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations.

Mathematical Skills

Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals. Ability to compute rate, ratio, and percent and to draw and interpret bar graphs.

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee is frequently required to stand, to sit and to reach with hands and arms. The employee is occasionally required to walk and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.