Under the direction of the Associate Vice President (AVP) of Instruction and Workforce Development, this position proactively recruits employers, expands work-based learning opportunities, facilitates employer engagement in CTE programs, supports student employment outcomes, and ensures that employer needs are communicated to college programs, services, and engagement strategies.
The Director of Employer and Workforce Partnerships (DEWP) serves as the College’s primary liaison between career education employers, industry associations, workforce organizations, community organizations, and other strategic partners. The DEWP develops and helps sustain meaningful and collaborative partnerships that create/expand work-based learning, career-connected learning experiences, and employment opportunities for students that align with regional workforce needs.
The successful candidate will demonstrate expertise in workforce development, relationship building and management, stakeholder engagement, project management, labor market analysis, data analysis, reporting, communication, strategic planning, data-informed decision-making, program evaluation, and collaboration across diverse teams and partners.
Work-based Learning and Job Development
- Developing, cultivating, and helping maintain relationships with new and existing employers, industry organizations, workforce agencies, and community partners to expand work-based learning and employment opportunities for students and program completers.
- Collaborating with faculty and career services staff to expand employer participation in career fairs, industry panels, mock interviews, networking events, mentoring programs, advisory committees, and other student engagement activities.
- Facilitating connections between employers and faculty to strengthen career-connected learning and increase the integration of industry experience within academic programs.
- Collaborating with faculty and career services staff to expand effective work-based learning opportunities, including internships, job shadowing, and other experiential learning models.
- Researching and identifying resources, partnerships, and opportunities that support the development and expansion of work-based learning experiences for students.
- Developing and helping maintain employer partnerships that create hiring pipelines for students and program completers.
- Engaging employers to identify workforce needs and employment opportunities, and coordinating the posting and promotion of positions through the district’s Handshake platform to support student and alumni career development.
- Monitoring employer satisfaction and responsiveness to ensure high-quality experiences for students, faculty, and industry partners.
Strategic Collaboration and Stakeholder Engagement
- Recruiting and coordinating employers to serve on advisory committees and provide industry expertise to support program improvement and alignment with workforce needs.
- Fostering collaborative partnerships that strengthen workforce development efforts and support student success.
- Identifying opportunities to align employer workforce needs with college programs and connecting employers to relevant academic and career education programs.
- Facilitating employer engagement efforts that support Career Education programs, workforce initiatives, grant-funded projects, and regional workforce strategies.
- Supporting faculty and deans in gathering industry input to strengthen program relevance and workforce alignment.
- Collaborating with college leadership, faculty, student services, and external partners to develop innovative strategies that improve career education student career readiness, employment outcomes, and workforce responsiveness.
- Coordinating regional programming while actively planning, developing, and participating in targeted workforce sectors as directed by the AVP of Instruction and Workforce Development to maximize community impact and stakeholder engagement.
- Participating in North Far North (NFN) Regional Consortium planning meetings and other workforce development partnerships meetings, as needed.
- Planning, developing, participating in, and representing the college at industry, workforce, and community events to promote partnership opportunities and strengthen employer relationships.
Data Management, Reporting, and Continuous Improvement
- Utilizing labor market information, employer feedback, and workforce trends to guide outreach efforts and partnership strategies.
- Tracking, collecting, analyzing, and reporting key performance indicators and grant metrics, including, but not limited to:
- Number of employers offering work-based learning programs to college students
- Number of internships secured
- Number of work-based learning program completions
- Number of employer advisory committee participants
- Number of students employed after program completion
- Monitoring progress toward established goals/objectives and key performance indicators. Preparing reports, dashboards, presentations, and other documentation demonstrating progress toward strategic goals and grant objectives.
- Recommending and implementing process improvements that enhance employer engagement, student employment outcomes, and partnership effectiveness.
- Maintaining accurate records of employer contacts, partnership activities, and outcomes.
- Ensuring compliance with College and District policies, grant requirements, reporting standards, applicable regulations, and data privacy requirements.
- Evaluating partnership effectiveness and developing continuous improvement plans designed to strengthen employer satisfaction, student outcomes, and workforce impact.
Performing other duties as assigned.
- Have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution.
- Have two (2) years of formal training, internship, or leadership experience reasonably related to the administrator’s administrative assignment.
- Have an equity-minded focus, responsiveness, and sensitivity to and understanding of the diverse academic, socioeconomic, cultural, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, and ethnic backgrounds of community college students, including those with physical or learning disabilities as it relates to differences in learning styles; and successfully foster and support an inclusive educational and employment environment.