About iMentor

iMentor builds mentoring relationships that empower students in low-income communities to graduate high school, succeed in college, and achieve their ambitions.Students work with their mentors one-on-one, in-person and online, to develop strong personal relationships, nurture a college aspiration, navigate the college application process, and build critical skills that lead to college success. In New York City, Chicago, and the Bay Area, iMentor partners with public schools to ensure every student in the schools receives a mentor.iMentor also provides its curriculum, technology, and best practices to help nonprofits run effective programs in the iMentor model.

Since 1999, iMentor has connected more than 25,000 students with mentors and this year, iMentor is serving nearly 9,000 students across the country.iMentor has been recognized through funding from many of the leading education funders in the country, including the Ballmer Group, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, the Robin Hood Foundation, the Bezos Family Foundation, New Profit Inc., and the Kresge Foundation.

iMentor is one of the nation’s most innovative and quickly growing college success organizations. As a team, we are mission-focused, results-oriented, passionate and fun, and were named one of the Best Nonprofits to Work For by Opportunity Knocks and The Nonprofit Times.

Position Overview

iMentor is seeking a National Director of Advising (NDA) to become a vital part of the Program Model and Training team on iMentor’s National Program Team. The NDA will lead the evolution of iMentor’s post-secondary-education counseling and advising approach across our high school and post-secondary programs. Although iMentor has been focused on college success for our participants for several years, this will be our first foray into a comprehensive counseling and advising function, so this is an opportunity to build a vision and department from the ground up. This person will build an innovative counseling and advising program that prepares mentors, as well as iMentor staff, to support students to post-secondary success. Specifically, the program will support each student, through their mentoring relationship, to select, enroll in, and ultimately graduate from 4-year or 2-year college or the best-fit post-secondary education option. The NDA will take on critical questions such as:

• How does iMentor support each student participant towards imagining and articulating their highest career aspiration, deploying the one-on-one mentoring relationship as the catalyst?
• What is the right set of strategies and tactics in the college advising process to ensure that every student graduating high school, with support from their mentor, has built the right post-secondary education plan towards that aspiration?
• How will iMentor best prepare and support mentors of the one-third of iMentor students who do not immediately enter college after high school?
• In collaboration with the National Program Team and regions, how will iMentor build and sustain higher education partnerships that help propel our students to graduation and success?
  
  

The ideal candidate will have experience in high school or post-secondary counseling and advising, including experience working with students along multiple education pathways, a passion for supporting young people from low-income backgrounds towards equitable access to higher education and success, and an entrepreneurial approach to creating practices and frameworks where none exist, as well as skill in working with a variety of internal and external stakeholders to execute on those practices successfully.

Responsibilities

Develop a strategic vision for advising across the High School and Post-Secondary Success programs

· Serve as the in-house subject-matter expert on high school advising, post-secondary transition, college counseling and support, and alternative pathways to completion of college and other post-high-school training and education.

· With the Research and Evaluation team, craft the theory of action and program model for the advising program, along with key metrics and measures of success.

· With the National Director of Post-Secondary Success, build out a national framework for partnering with various types of post-secondary education institutions/programs.

· Assert a learning agenda of essential questions that iMentor will investigate year over year to continuously improve our service and impact.

· Collaborate across the Research and Evaluation and Communication teams to tell our story of impact and learning with students over time.

Generate content for program staff and mentors

· Create and integrate advising features across the curricula of the high-school program and the Post-Secondary Program (PSP).

· Provide counseling and advising content to the Program Model and Training team, and support in cultivation of training resources for mentors and staff to support students to college and along multiple education pathways.

· In collaboration with NDPSS and regional teams, curate catalog of best practice resources and tools for implementation by mentors and staff to support matriculation, persistence and graduation

Support the delivery of content and training

· Support program leads in each of iMentor’s regions and partner program sites to implement and customize the national advising model to their regional contexts.

· Serve as a meta-advisor to our 12th grade and PSP implementation teams to help solve the toughest advising challenges across our national student community.

Visit the field to learn about regional nuances, current trends, and to build knowledge on best practices in college advising and workforce development

· Devise methods to hear and learn from iMentor students, mentors, staff, and high-school and higher-education partners to build on best practices and key insights in post-secondary success for first generation students from low-income backgrounds.

· Calibrate internal learnings with best practices from external research and peer organizations to ensure that our advising model is grounded in the latest and best validated approaches around post-secondary success.

Qualifications

· Bachelor’s required; advanced degree in related discipline highly preferred.

· 5+ years of direct-service experience in high school or post-secondary counseling and advising; counseling certificate/certification preferred.

· Experience working with students along multiple education pathways, both college and non-college (e.g. career/technical etc.).

· Familiarity with and skill in coaching and supporting adults to propel young people to success (train-the-trainer, mentoring, coaching, etc.).

· Excitement and appetite around learning about the ever-changing higher education landscape and drive to be at the forefront of learning and impact in that space.

· Passion for supporting first-generation young people from low-income backgrounds to equitable and just education access and success.

· Highly-evolved cultural competence and experience working in organizations or institutions with a strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

· Delight and expertise in collaborating across lines of difference with multiple stakeholders in a highly-matrixed organizational environment.

· Entrepreneurial approach; comfortable working in a “startup” environment, creating frameworks where none exist, and building a program while it is already in motion.

· Aligned in thought and action with iMentor's values (http://www.imentor.org/values)

· Views differences between individuals (race, gender, age, cultural heritage, physical ability, education and lifestyle) as an asset and demonstrates an appreciation of the diversity within iMentor

· Bachelor’s degree required

· Employment is contingent upon the completion of a satisfactory fingerprinting and criminal background check

· Location: This position may be based in any one of our New York City, Chicago, or Oakland offices, but is not a telecommuting position

Compensation & Benefits

· Salary commensurate with experience

· Up to 100% employer funded comprehensive medical and dental coverage

· 18 days paid annual vacation and 13 paid holidays + most iMentor functions closed between Christmas and New Year’s Day

· 401K match up to 4%

· Significant opportunities for professional development and growth

How to Apply

Visit www.imentor.org/jobs to submit a resume and detailed cover letter describing your interest in and qualifications for the position.Applications will be considered on a rolling basis, so it is in candidates’ best interest to apply as soon as possible. No phone, email, mail, or fax inquiries will receive a response.

iMentor is an Equal Opportunity Employer