How to hire an academic advisement director

How to hire an academic advisement director, step by step

Here's a step-by-step academic advisement director hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write an academic advisement director job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new academic advisement director
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your academic advisement director job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find an academic advisement director for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

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   An academic advisement director's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, academic advisement directors from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   This list shows salaries for various types of academic advisement directors.

   Type of Academic Advisement Director	Description	Hourly rate
   Academic Advisement Director	School counselors help students develop academic and social skills and succeed in school. Career counselors assist people with the process of making career decisions by helping them develop skills or choose a career or educational program.	$18-60
   Job Coach	A job coach is responsible for evaluating people's skills and qualifications, advising them with career paths, helping with their aspirations, and promote employment opportunities. Job coaches help the clients build self-confidence and explore their maximum potentials to develop their professional growth... Show more	$14-21
   Evaluator	An evaluator is responsible for assessing a speakers' speech, identifying areas of improvement, and providing constructive feedback to hone their communication skills and boost their self-confidence. Evaluators analyze speech delivery, including unnecessary fillers and mannerisms that may distract the audience from the speaker's presentation... Show more	$16-34

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Career Development
   • Professional Development
   • Student Services
   • Student Retention
   • Student Development
   • Academic Policies
   • Program Development
   • Academic Programs
   • Academic Affairs
   • Financial Aid
   • Advisory Boards
   • Academic Support
   • Persistence
   • Retention Strategies

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Devise process improvements that lead increased operational efficiency and persistence.
   • Supervise faculty and oversight of instructional program through training, observation, discussion, and professional development.
   • Provide oversight in the academic affairs of the university from the student's perspective.
   • Assist students with choosing a major course of study and all issues relate to course sequencing and registration.
   • Work with advising team and implement goals for student success measures, at- risk student persistence and other registration-relate goals.
   • Create and facilitate student-centered workshops on effective study skills, new student orientation, time management, and successful academic progress.

   More academic advisement director duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the academic advisement director job description is a good way to get more applicants. An academic advisement director salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for an academic advisement director in Montana may be lower than in Massachusetts, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level academic advisement director. Additionally, an academic advisement director with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average academic advisement director salary

   $69,979yearly

   $33.64 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level academic advisement director salary

   $38,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 5, 2025

   Average academic advisement director salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	Massachusetts	$104,447	$50
   2	District of Columbia	$103,448	$50
   3	New Jersey	$94,059	$45
   4	Virginia	$89,168	$43
   5	New York	$86,549	$42
   6	Michigan	$81,454	$39
   7	Washington	$78,338	$38
   8	New Hampshire	$78,003	$38
   9	Texas	$70,360	$34
   10	Wisconsin	$67,885	$33
   11	Colorado	$64,495	$31
   12	Arkansas	$64,305	$31
   13	Nebraska	$63,138	$30
   14	Florida	$61,174	$29
   15	Georgia	$58,955	$28
   16	Montana	$54,673	$26
   17	Missouri	$54,123	$26

   Average academic advisement director salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Salesforce	$144,866	$69.65
   2	Emory Healthcare	$133,736	$64.30	2
   3	BMO Capital Markets	$120,732	$58.04	10
   4	Silicon Valley Bank	$119,783	$57.59
   5	Coty	$110,874	$53.30
   6	Community College System of New Hampshire	$107,006	$51.45	1
   7	Columbia University in the City of New York	$100,366	$48.25	2
   8	New York Institute of Technology	$99,638	$47.90	1
   9	New Jersey Institute of Technology	$94,620	$45.49
   10	Emory University	$90,545	$43.53	1
   11	University of Michigan	$87,776	$42.20	2
   12	Colorado State Express	$87,436	$42.04
   13	University of Massachusetts Boston	$83,873	$40.32
   14	Georgetown University	$79,734	$38.33	2
   15	University of Houston-Clear Lake	$79,476	$38.21	1
   16	University of Colorado Boulder	$78,246	$37.62
   17	Univ Of Colorado-Colorado Spgs	$77,715	$37.36
   18	BMO Harris Bank	$72,665	$34.94
   19	Montana State University	$70,475	$33.88	4
   20	State University of New York College at Cortland	$70,457	$33.87

4. Writing an academic advisement director job description

   A job description for an academic advisement director role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's an academic advisement director job description:

   Academic advisement director job description example

   Morgan Stanley has a long-standing commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. The Office of Diversity and Inclusion, a global organization embedded in Human Resources, provides enterprise-wide leadership for DEI. With over 40 professionals worldwide, the Office for Diversity and Inclusion drives an integrated strategy in partnership with our businesses, HR partners and other key stakeholders internally and externally to effect change. Our mission is to provide the thought leadership, tools and resources necessary to help the Firm achieve its goals of attracting, recruiting and advancing a diverse group of employees, and to drive inclusive behaviors and practices through every aspect of our business globally. The Firm's commitment to diversity is underpinned by our core value Commit to Diversity and Inclusion.
   Role Description
   
   In this role you will help drive and support the overall deliverables for divisional clients.
   
   Leverage your expertise in diversity and inclusion to develop and implement solutions that will drive diversity and inclusion outcomes for your businesses. In partnership with the D&I team leads you will;
   
   * Collaborate with HR teams to ensure D&I is infused in all areas of the employee experience.
   * Develop deep relationships with key stakeholders across the division to help implement customized, practical and commercial D&I strategies for their businesses.
   * Track diversity metrics, highlighting progress and focusing on areas of opportunity.
   * Develop and deliver recommendations on initiatives, education and awareness programs that promote diversity, inclusion, culture and belonging.
   * Partner with marketing and communications teams to amplify DEI efforts and ensure cohesion across the division.
   * Liaise with external organizations and professionals to develop and deepen relationships in support of our diversity and inclusion goals.
   * Work with and advise employees in groups or individually on issues related to diversity and inclusion. Requirements
   * Experience supporting diversity and inclusion efforts in a large matrixed organization.
   * Direct experience working in partnership with Human Resources, Diversity and Inclusion, Talent Management or a consultancy focused on diversity and inclusion or talent management.
   * Critical to the role is having a consultant mindset, strong partnership and relationship building skills and experience interacting with, working alongside HR, and employees at all levels.
   * Experienced in building and maintaining relationships; collaborative and able to work effectively with peers and colleagues to deliver results. Experience engaging with senior stakeholders.
   * Demonstrated ability to function in a high-volume, fast-paced environment and manage multiple responsibilities.
   * Highly analytical, organized and process driven. Proven track record in successfully leveraging metrics, applying core concepts, current and best practices, strategies and tools to drive strong outcomes

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find academic advisement directors for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your academic advisement director job on Zippia to find and recruit academic advisement director candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   During your first interview to recruit academic advisement directors, engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. During the following interview, you'll be able to go into more detail about the company, the position, and the responsibilities.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new academic advisement director

   Once you've selected the best academic advisement director candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   To prepare for the new employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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