How To Become A Career Services Director: What It Is and Career Path

What is a career services director and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

When it comes to career development and counseling, career services directors are the best people to approach. Their main duty is to manage the business operations of an organization, helping streamline career programs and provide valuable career counseling at the same time. In an academic setting, on the other hand, career services directors manage the student career service office of the high school or university.

Typically, the tasks of a career services directors comprise supervising subordinates in the career services department, counseling employees or students on career-related matters, providing assistance in resume or CV preparation, and coordinating with other managers and teams. In terms of soft skills, employers want career service directors that are exceptional at people management, interpersonal skills, communication, and networking.

It is typical for a career service director to have at least a bachelor's or master's degree in business, human resource management, psychology, or other relevant majors. Furthermore, experience of at least five years or more in a related area is a common requirement of many employers. The average salary of a career service director is $56,000 a year. The typical work set-up for this role is in an office with a 9-5 schedule. However, a career service director may be expected to travel to attend job fairs at companies and campuses alike.

ScoreCareer Services DirectorUS Average

Salary

5.0

Avg. Salary $63,640

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.1

Growth rate 7%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.70%

Asian 4.33%

Black or African American 11.27%

Hispanic or Latino 14.07%

Unknown 4.00%

White 65.63%

Gender

female 65.96%

male 34.04%

Age - 47

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 47

Stress level

8.1

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.8

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a career services director

Explore career services director education requirements

Most common career services director degrees

Bachelor's

63.5 %

Master's

22.3 %

Associate

9.3 %

Start to develop specific career services director skills

Skills	Percentages
Alumni	21.23%
Career Development	13.87%
Career Fairs	9.22%
Mock Interviews	5.11%
Career Planning	4.11%

Complete relevant career services director training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New career services directors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a career services director based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real career services director resumes.

Research career services director duties and responsibilities

Support and oversee students from colleges across the country as they organize and lead interfaith service programming on their own campuses.
Facilitate the connection between employers seeking graduating seniors and alumni who are interest in securing career employment.
Counsele law students and alumni regarding legal and alternate career opportunities and job search strategy including resume and cover letter preparation.
Perform agency contact, outreach, and follow up services for disadvantage TANF clients

Get career services director experience

Generally, it takes 4-6 years to become a career services director. The most common roles before becoming a career services director include career services advisor, admissions representative team lead and assistant director.

Prepare your career services director resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your career services director resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a career services director resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable career services director resume templates

Build a professional career services director resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your career services director resume.

Apply for career services director jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a career services director job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do career services directors rate their job?

4.5/5

Based on 2 ratings

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Career services director reviews

5.0

A zippia user wrote a review on Jul 2020

Pros

Helping students develop strategies for their futures and supporting career outcomes is very rewarding. Launching students into careers is very satisfying if you are altruistic and have a helper mentality.

Cons

As a Director at a state institution, I am involved in a lot of administrative duties: budgeting, hiring, training and developing, strategic planning, evaluating programming. These duties are demanding and are necessary for successful outcomes, but they are not as fun as supporting and helping students.

4.0

A zippia user wrote a review on Nov 2019