Description
Position Summary:
The Program Assessment and Data Specialist reports to the Senior Director of Career and Professional Development (CPD) and provides coordination for all assessments, reporting, and data analysis – including, but not limited to, the First Destination Survey, Administrative Unit Assessment Reports, College Engagement reports, satisfaction surveys, targeted program assessments, and the CPD Annual Report. The specialist consults with CPD leadership and key campus partners to ensure sound data analysis and to create sustainable processes for data sharing.
TheProgram Assessment and Data Specialist serves as Career and Professional Development’s primary liaison to Virginia Tech’s Business and Management Systems (BAMS) and Analytics and Institutional Effectiveness(AIE)– the units providing IT/career technology support and data access and analysis support to CPD, respectively.Thespecialist alsoworks alongside other relevant personnel to establish best practices and ensure effective usage of CPD’s customer relationship management platform (CRM),Handshake, as well as other career technology platforms.
Duties/Responsibilities:
70%CoordinateCareer and Professional Development’s approach to assessment, data, and program evaluation.
Oversees CPD’s first destination survey (FDS) – serving a key role in the dissemination and analysis of the survey.Communicateswith BAMS and AIE on IT support needs survey content and timing. Regularly evaluates the survey and works with CPD senior leadership and key campus stakeholders to amend it as needed and ensure that trustworthy, reliable data is collected. Works alongside CPD marketing staff to increase the response rate through email, social media, and other forms of marketing. Communicates with key campus partners, either directly or through CPD staff, to increase their understanding and promotion of the first-destination survey. Draft communications, including survey emails and flow-through communication templates, to be sent by other CPD staff members.Monitors live survey responserateand strategizes ways to increase responses whenappropriate. Coordinates with CPD and other university personnel to publicize report findings and create customized reports for key populations asappropriate.
Implements strategic actions to increase Virginia Tech’sknowledge ratein relation to student career outcomes and work-based learning/internship participation.
Collaborates with the Associate Vice Provost and the Senior Director for Career and Professional Development to create and facilitateCPD’s overall data strategy. Works with CPD’s leadership team to define desired outcomes and designappropriate evaluationsand assessments. Maintains a macro-view of all CPD assessments and the resulting data to encourage synthesis and collaboration when possible and avoid duplicative efforts and over-surveying students. Creates or oversees the creation of systems and dashboards whenappropriate tocentralize access to data.Consultswith senior leadership to create customized reports and dashboards asappropriate. Ensures that all new assessment and evaluation projects align with the unit’s data strategy and include a plan for longevity and sustainability.Increasesstaffaccess to and understanding of CPD and university data. Consults with andmaintainsresources for CPD staffseekingtoestablishstudent learning outcomes for programs.
Collects and analyzes the data necessary to produce unit-level reports (e.g., annual reports, student outcomes reports, College Engagement Reports, the Administrative Unit Assessment Report, etc.). Consults with CPD senior leadership to evaluate organizational progress toward key performance indicators.
Actively integrates relevant data from Virginia Tech’s University Data Commons (UDC) and other institutional sources to disaggregate population/demographic data, deepening CPD’s understanding of its effectiveness in supporting key populations.
Surfaces and integratesnovel andrelevantlabor marketdataand reports (NACE, NCDA, CEIA, Career Leadership Collective, Business Higher Education Forum, Georgetown Center on Education and Workforce, etc.).Providesthese insightstoCPD and university leadership as requested for strategic decision-making.
10% Administrate Career and Professional Development’s customer relationship management platform [CRM (i.e., Handshake)].
Serves as a member of the Handshake AdministrationTeam– maintaining a breadth and depth of understanding that can support effective platform usage
Serves as a point of contact for the CRM, with the administrative team serving as consultants for questions and needs that arise from CPD staff related to the CRM. Gathers feedback and challenges fromteammembers to share with the primary CRM contact – serving as an advocate and convener when necessary. Communicates with CRMregardingdesired features. Create processes for CPD staff to communicate their desires asappropriate. Documents and tracksrequeststoand responses from the CRMregardingimportant concerns.
Reviews CRM resources and documentation and steers CPD staff to use documentation asappropriate toadvance their usage of the platform. Works with the administrationteamto create or commission the creation of new documentation as needed for our office. Provides feedback to CRM on missing, incomplete, or confusing documentation.
Works withappropriate CPDstaff members and campus partners to expand usage of CRM among campus partners, students, and employers.
10%Leadership and Supervision
Works with Senior Director to create an annual budget request.
Overseesspecial projects as assigned by or agreed upon with the CPD senior leadership.Researchespotential funding sources for programs and services within their purview – working with CPD senior leadership to apply for grants and/orsolicitfunding whenappropriate. Maintains active membership in relevant professional organizations.
Contributes to the field of career services through professional writing, conference presentations, leadership within professional associations, mentorship of professionals in the field, and other methods.
Overseescommittees and workgroups as needed to support team and departmental initiatives.These groups may include non-CPD personnel.
May providedirectsupervision toandfacilitatethe professional and personal development of part-time or full-time professionals.Delegates work based on the needs of the team.
Organizes regularmeetingswith the CPD Leadership Team to discuss program evaluation needs, team-specific data insights, and unit-wide strategy.
5% Oversight of Career Technology Usage; Liaison toBusiness and Management Systems (BAMS) and Analytics and Institutional Effectiveness (AIE)
Evaluates vendor platform usage for relevance, cost effectiveness, and alignment with CPD and institutional priorities – consulting with CPD leadership to raise awareness when opportunities to reduce redundancies and create efficiencies exist.
Maintains an awareness of emerging career technologies,disseminatinginformation asappropriate.
Serves as the office liaison to BAMSand AIE– providing information on CPD’sneeds, processes, timelines, and tools. Providesinformationandfacilitatescommunication betweenCPD, BAMS, and/or AIEas neededtoadvancea shared understanding ofinstitutionalprocesses, resources, and data. Works with BAMS, AIE, and other campus partners to build custom solutions in support of strategic CPD initiatives.
5% Serve as a career services practitioner/advisor and conduct other duties as assigned.
Carries out other duties as assigned or agreed upon with the senior leadership of Career and Professional Development.
Provides one-on-one career advising/coaching (in-person, via phone, or through videoconferencing). The specialist’s one-on-one advising should prioritize student populations whose support has been interrupted by staff vacancies or whose demand exceeds the capacity of their assigned staff member.
Facilitates outreach presentations, workshops, panels, and small-group meetings as needed to support the Career and Professional Development team.
*Career and Professional Development currently offers the opportunity to telework up to 2 days each week.
Requirements
Required Qualifications:
A master’s degree inbusiness, counseling, higher education administration, student affairs/student personnel services, or a related field isrequired, as well as significant professional experience with program analysis,data analytics, statistics,data architecture,businessintelligence, or a related field. Demonstrated ability to analyze data, visualize data, create reports, provide consultations, andfacilitateassessments.Demonstrated experience in handling large data sets and creating compelling data visualizations.Ability to communicate data-laden information and adjust messages based on the audience. Comfort working with data and synthesizing information quickly to advance data-driven decisions. Ability to manage one’s own learning process fornew technologiesand software.Candidates should be well-organized, detail-oriented, andpossessstrong interpersonal, communication, and team skills.
Knowledge/workingproficiencywith data analysis/visualization software and coding languages such as:
Data visualization: Power BI, Tableau, Excel
Statistics software: SPSS, R, SQL, STATA, or Excel
Survey design and distribution tools: Qualtrics(preferred)
Preferred Qualifications:
Experiencein university career services, corporate human resources, talent acquisition, workforce/talent development, or another non-profit/educational setting. Successful relationship-building experience is strongly preferred.Experience withcreating and structuring interrelated processes, practices, and policies in a complex organization. Ability to coordinate and manage multiple projects.
