How to hire a career services director

How to hire a career services director, step by step

Here's a step-by-step career services director hiring guide:

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

What does a career services director do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your career services 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 a career services 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?

   Yes

   No

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a career services director to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a career services director that fits the bill.

   This list presents career services director salaries for various positions.

   Type of Career Services Director	Description	Hourly rate
   Career Services Director	Postsecondary education administrators oversee student services, academics, and faculty research at colleges and universities. Their job duties vary depending on the area of the college they manage, such as admissions, student life, or the office of the registrar.	$21-42
   Dean	A dean is responsible for overseeing the educational operations of the assigned department, enforcing school policies, and monitoring the students' progress by coordinating with the teachers and setting up procedures to improve teaching methods. Deans administer educational training and programs for the students, as well as extra-curricular activities to develop the students' social behavior, maximize their potentials, and increase their self-confidence... Show more	$23-72
   Registrar	A registrar's role is to process and maintain accurate records within an institution or establishment. They are the main point of communication to obtain various kinds of information... Show more	$13-26

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Alumni
   • Career Development
   • Career Fairs
   • Mock Interviews
   • Career Planning
   • Student Placement
   • Colleges
   • Business Development
   • Interview Techniques
   • Professional Development Course
   • Placement Rate
   • Accreditation Standards
   • Advisory Committee
   • Advisory Boards

   Check all skills

   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
   • Create PowerPoint presentations for training each aspect of career development.
   • Develop and present PowerPoint presentations for upcoming and current students.

   More career services director duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the career services director job description is a good way to get more applicants. A career services 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 a career services director in Kansas may be lower than in New Jersey, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level career services director. Additionally, a career services director with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average career services director salary

   $63,640yearly

   $30.60 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level career services director salary

   $45,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 19, 2026

   Average career services director salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	New Jersey	$79,642	$38
   2	New York	$79,443	$38
   3	District of Columbia	$77,967	$37
   4	California	$76,209	$37
   5	Connecticut	$75,071	$36
   6	Michigan	$74,264	$36
   7	Washington	$72,389	$35
   8	Massachusetts	$68,693	$33
   9	Oregon	$65,897	$32
   10	Georgia	$64,426	$31
   11	Colorado	$58,984	$28
   12	Texas	$53,925	$26
   13	North Carolina	$53,258	$26
   14	Illinois	$53,257	$26
   15	Florida	$51,760	$25
   16	South Carolina	$51,049	$25

   Average career services director salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Bain & Company	$95,123	$45.73	1
   2	Northern Trust	$86,499	$41.59	2
   3	Mastercard	$80,262	$38.59	7
   4	Interactive Brokers	$78,642	$37.81
   5	Lincoln Memorial University	$75,773	$36.43	6
   6	Yale University	$71,955	$34.59	4
   7	Universal Technical Institute	$69,114	$33.23	11
   8	Hanes Companies, Inc.	$67,696	$32.55
   9	Howard University	$67,411	$32.41
   10	UMiami Health System	$67,348	$32.38
   11	Chicago State University	$66,610	$32.02
   12	Emory University	$65,782	$31.63	12
   13	Education Affiliates	$64,500	$31.01
   14	University of Michigan	$63,835	$30.69	5
   15	Western Washington University	$63,579	$30.57	2
   16	Michigan Technological University	$63,375	$30.47
   17	Eastern Washington University	$63,201	$30.39
   18	Central Washington University	$63,103	$30.34
   19	Illinois Institute of Technology	$61,776	$29.70
   20	Western State College of Law	$61,715	$29.67

4. Writing a career services director job description

   A career services director job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. To help get you started, here's an example of a career services director job description:

   Career services director job description example

   The Trade Desk is changing the way global brands and their agencies advertise to audiences around the world. How? With a media buying platform that helps brands deliver a more insightful and relevant ad experience for consumers - and sets a new standard for global reach, accuracy, and transparency. We are proud of the culture we have built. We value the unique experiences and perspectives that each person brings to The Trade Desk, and we are committed to fostering inclusive spaces where everyone can bring their authentic selves to work every day.
   
   So, if you are talented, driven, creative, and eager to join a dynamic, globally-connected team, then we want to talk!
   
   The Trade Desk is looking for a Director, Early in Career Recruiting to help us build out our internship program and create entry points into our company for new grads. This is a great opportunity for someone who enjoys being both creative and strategic and who has a true passion for talent acquisition, diversity, and inclusion. The ideal candidate will have previous experience in a University Recruiting role.
   WHAT YOU'LL DO:
   
   Create and drive our end-to-end recruiting strategy for interns and new grads with a focus on leveraging relationships with student organizations to give candidates of all walks of life an opportunity to engage with The Trade Desk as interns and employees.
   
   Manage a team of recruiters, be the program manager and the partnerships lead to ensure our programs are carried out in a timely manner. Focus on developing robust University relationships with targeted schools, creatively cultivating candidate pipelines in key areas of our business. Evangelize the programmatic advertising opportunity to excite university stakeholders and persuade them to invest time and resources accordingly Build strong internal relationships with senior TTD leaders across Client Services, Engineering, Tech Ops to understand and cultivate specific roles that are well-suited for early in career talent You will own the intern experience from first point of contact to the extension of full time offers, including onboarding and summer engagement programs.
   
   Recruit, cultivate and engage with the next generation of talent through building and running best-in-class programs and innovative marketing initiatives. Support students looking to make their first steps into the working world and passionate about programs that help Early Career talent, develop and progress. You will get involved in several internal and external programs, to help us continue to deliver best in class Early Career experiences and help our hiring teams build. Own and develop processes to elevate our candidate experience across all intern and new grad hiring and will measure success and milestones along the way. Responsible for on-boarding of early in career candidates, working with hiring teams to identify work assignments, development of employee leadership capabilities, career coaching and deployment upon program completion Collaborate with People Operations, contribute to building, evaluating and reporting on workplace diversity and inclusion policies, programs, and hiring practices.
   
   Collaborate with business leaders across TTD to ensure clear pathways exist for career development and upward mobility
   •Develop partnerships with education and industry bodies (ie. National College Credit Service) that will accelerate the scale of our university engagement
   
   WHO YOU ARE:
   
   BS degree or equivalent years of experience and 10+ years of corporate recruiting experience, with at least 5+ years of experience focused on leadership in building out University Hiring programs. Proven track record of success in developing a University program from the ground up.
   
   Experience building an intern and new grad experience, including onboarding, engagement programs, feedback loops that influence planning, and marketing to interns before, during, and after their program. Experience leading a national and international team of Recruiters and Program Managers, focused on University Recruiting. Experience in building a strong brand that enables a company to be seen as an employer of choice amongst the University population. Strong collaboration and experience working on cross-functional projects. Experience analyzing and interpreting data to make decisions, including tracking and reporting on metrics, goals, and milestones.
   
   Ideally would have experience of leading University programs globally
   
   The Trade Desk does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firm recruiters. Fees will not be paid in the event a candidate submitted by a recruiter without an agreement in place is hired; such resumes will be deemed the sole property of The Trade Desk. The Trade Desk is an equal opportunity employer. All aspects of employment will be based on merit, competence, performance, and business needs. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, marital status, age, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic information, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other status protected under federal, state, or local law.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find career services directors for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any career services directors they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level career services directors with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   To find career services director candidates, you can consider the following options:

   • Post your job opening on Zippia or other job search websites.
   • Use niche websites that focus on engineering and technology jobs, such as k12jobspot, learn4good, serious teachers, teachingjobs.com.
   • Post your job on free job posting websites.

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit career services directors, your first interview needs to engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. You can go into more detail about the company, the role, and the responsibilities during follow-up interviews.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete 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 career services director

   Once you've selected the best career services 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.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new career services director. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are 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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How much does it cost to hire a career services director?