Office Manager

The University of Kansas; Lawrence (KS); On-site; USD 45,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of Kansas, Lawrence campus, seeks an Office Manager to support the University Career Center. The role oversees a busy reception, manages the Handshake system and career event logistics, and coordinates office operations for a complex department serving students, employers, faculty and staff.

Responsibilities include supervising 6–8 student employees, handling inquiries, coordinating campus-wide career resources, and supporting events and programs.

Qualifications

• Five years of office experience or a Bachelor's degree with one year of office experience.
• Two years of experience using Microsoft Office (Word and Excel) as evidenced by materials.
• Excellent written communication skills as evidenced by materials.

Responsibilities

• UCC Reception: manage reception and ensure high-quality service for students, employers, alumni, faculty, staff and departments; supervise 6-8 student employees; relay service requests.
• Career Management System/Event Support: manage Handshake accounts, assist with job/internship postings, communicate policies, coordinate event logistics and payments.
• Office Operations: schedule meetings, onboarding, facilities management, maintain space and meetings; update staff on policies.
• Career Resource Logistics: manage campus use of career resources and related inventories; analyze engagement data.
• Miscellaneous: participate in UCC Leadership team and represent UCC in campus meetings; perform CMS updates.

Skills

Customer service

Interpersonal skills

Office software

Education

Bachelor's degree

High school diploma or GED equivalency

Tools

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Excel

Job description

Position Overview

The Office Manager plays an important role in supporting the University Career Center. Essential duties include coordinating office services for a complex department with multiple office activities and constituents, including overseeing reception area that serves as first point of contact for students, employers, campus staff and faculty and community members; managing the career services management system and assisting with career fairs; managing logistics for campus use of career resources; and serving as liaison to staff about departmental operations, policies and procedures. This position reports to the Program Director for the University Career Center.

Job Description

UCC Reception; Frontline communications (30%)

• Manage UCC reception, ensuring high-quality customer service for all UCC stakeholders: students, employers, alumni, faculty, staff and campus departments which includes explaining policies and procedures.
• Hire, train and provide daily supervision of 6-8 undergraduate student employees (Career Center Student Specialists) who provide front line reception support during academic year.
• Relay requests for services from employers, students, faculty and staff to pertinent UCC staff.
• Coordinate and assign project requests for CCSS’s assistance from UCC staff.

Career Management System/Event Support (30%)

• Manage Handshake, UCC’s career management system, which includes account requests and troubleshooting for all types of users of Handshake (off-campus employers, on-campus employers, alumni, students, faculty and external campus career center staff and internal university career center staff).
• Coordinate entry of job and internship information and explain employment policy and procedures; communicate with other campus career services offices concerning career management system maintenance and upkeep of records.
• Answer routine questions from employers who are trying to register for career fairs and other recruitment and networking events. Communicate with event sponsors to ensure efficient delivery of sponsorship materials and metrics. Post UCC career fairs and programs to the KU Calendar of Events system and facilitate payments and deposits for career fairs.
• Manage the JLD (Job Location Development) program, an employment program for local employer engagement, including recruiting, approving and rejecting new employers in Handshake; compiling data for monthly and annual reports.

Office Operations (20%)

• Schedule search committee meetings and assist with new employee on-boarding.
• Schedule training for campus staff engaging in Career Champions program.
• Facilities management (office moves, carpet cleaning, MFD, monitoring and ordering office supplies, and other workspace needs).
• Manage internal and external office meetings such as UCC staff meetings, marketing photos, programming meetings.
• Manage onboarding of new staff including access to building, work spaces and updating space management for office moves.
• Authoritative resource to student staff about UCC departmental regulations, policies and procedures.

Career Resource Logistics (10%)

• Manage campus use of career resources such Professional Headshot booth PHOG Professional Clothing Closet, which includes monitoring use and inventory, curating donated clothing and scheduling social media for closet promotion/donation needs Digital Media Coordinator.
• Generate and analyze statistical reports related to user engagement of career technologies related to employer engagement and front desk operations (Handshake, Iris Photo Booth, Resume Dropbox).

Miscellaneous (10%)

• Serves as member of UCC Leadership team.
• Represent the UCC in HireJayhawks meetings, campus-wide consortium of career services who work manage Handshake.
• Make small and routine updates to UCC website using CMS.
• Other duties as assigned by the Program Director, as needed.

Position Requirements

This position is required to work on site at the University of Kansas Lawrence Campus. Office hours are Monday-Friday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm This position requires the ability work occasional evenings in conjunction with events and programming schedules/demands (advanced notification will be provided for schedule adjustment).

Required Qualifications

1. High school diploma or GED equivalency and five (5) years of office experience or a Bachelor's degree and one (1) year of office experience.
2. Minimum two (2) years of experience using Microsoft Office, including Word and Excel as evidenced by application materials.
3. Excellent written communication skills as evidenced by application materials.

Preferred Qualifications

1. Previous experience that demonstrates using strong interpersonal skill and the ability to work as a team member, as evidenced by application materials.
2. Previous experience that required working independently, as evidenced by application materials.
3. Previous experience working on multiple tasks and prioritizing work activities as evidenced by application materials.
4. Previous experience with organization, attention for details and communicating with all levels of staff and customers.
5. Previous supervisory experience.

Additional Candidate Instructions

1. A cover letter explaining your interest in the position and an assessment of your skills related to the required and preferred qualifications;
2. Resume;
3. A list of three (3) professional references.

The first review of the position will be Wednesday, October 7th and will continue until a pool of qualified applicants has been received. Please apply by Tuesday, October 6th for full consideration.

Contact Information to Applicants

Wendy Shoemaker
[e-mail]
[phone]

Advertised Salary Range

Starts at $49,600 - commensurate with experience

Application Review Begins

Wednesday October 7, 2026

Anticipated Start DateMonday November 9, 2026