College Counselor

Job Description:

Primary Responsibility

The College Counselor, reports to the appropriate campus leader, utilizing exceptional interpersonal skills and in-depth knowledge of the college catalog, provides one-on-one student advising, as well as coordinating various tasks in support of campus level student services. The College Counselor provides all job responsibilities of the Academic Advisor plus provides career and educational counseling, academic advising, transfer advising, career/life planning, personal counseling, financial aid advising and registration assistance including orientation coordination. In response to changing demographic, technological and evolving community needs counselors provide leadership and support in the development of new and enhanced student success and retention programs.

The college counselor may provide leadership, training and supervision to other student services staff in areas such as advising, registration, student early alert teams and behavioral threat assessment teams.

Hiring range = $69,946.63 - $77,718.48 annual salary depending upon a combination of education and experience. Excellent benefits include Medical, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance, Pet insurance, retirement contribution, tuition reimbursement, annual & sick time, mental health resources, healthy lifestyle benefits, affordable transitional housing may be available to the successful candidate based on eligibility and availability, relocation if applicable.

CMC utilizes a wage progression compensation model that accounts for a candidate's skill and experience. Although a salary range is listed, salary will be set commensurate with the successful candidate's qualifications and in compliance with the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act.

Pre-requisites for Position (Qualifications Standards)

Education and experience sufficient to meet the rigors of the position. Examples may include a Master's degree from an accredited institution in counseling, education, social work, or related field and three years related experience working with a diverse student and adult population in advising and counseling; or Bachelor's Degree from an accredited institution and seven years of experience with a diverse student and adult population; or equivalent education and experience that will provide the necessary knowledge, skill and abilities to perform the functions of the position.

High School and Post-Secondary experience essential. Completed counseling internship or practicum preferred. Experience in higher education counseling preferred.

Special skills or abilities: Knowledge of higher education degree requirements, and current practices and technology utilized in student services.

Ability to provide thoughtful academic, transfer and career advising; interpret and analyze placement data and aptitude assessments. Exhibit exceptional verbal, written, analytical, and interpersonal skills. Effectively speak in public and present educational workshops.

Maintain confidentiality, discretion and professionalism. Organize and prioritize work while exercising flexibility, teamwork and humor.

Knowledge of: advisement and placement methods; counseling, higher education degree requirements.

Ability to: interpret placement, learning assessment and personality/career inventories; provide academic advising and career counseling; crisis and stress management counseling/assessment and/or intervention with referral to college and community resources, ability to organize and prioritize work and meet deadlines; exceptional verbal, written, analytical, and interpersonal skills.

Welcoming. Innovative. Focused on Student Success.

These principles reflect the soul of CMC. They guide us in building our teams, cultivating leaders, and expanding our approaches and mindset. They guide us to be an institution of higher education that's the right fit for every faculty member, staff, student, and community member in its trust. Applicants must demonstrate a commitment to working effectively with students, employees, and community members of all backgrounds.

Bilingual (English/Spanish) or conversational language abilities are preferred.

Minimum Qualifications:

Essential Duties

• Student counseling and advising: The College Counselor advises students in a one-on-one setting, providing them high quality guidance, mentoring, and tools for success in college.
  
  Through the course of students' college journey, the College Counselor interprets placement assessments, co-creates, with students, comprehensive academic plans based upon understanding of program requirements, students' aptitudes and propensities, selects courses, and explores transfer institution and career options. The College Counselor explains options and next steps for students on academic suspension and probation. The College Counselor monitors student progress and maintains appropriate records in order to best assist individual students, as well to provide analytics to guide retention and completion initiatives.
  
  Counsel and support students in the resolution of personal and social issues that may be barriers to academic success. Connects with and triages at-risk student caseload through the campus early alert and behavioral threat assessment team processes. Counseling, intervention, assessment, stabilization, and referral of students to college and community resources as appropriate.
  
  Develops and maintains professional association with mental health providers and establishes referral contacts for students. Utilize institutional software such as Advocate to document, track and report on student issues and involvement.

• Works closely with other offices including disability services, TRIO, residence life, and academic programs on behalf of students to facilitate creation of success plans and problem resolution. Provides on campus advocacy for students reporting or responding to a report of Title IX sexual misconduct.
  
  Leads or participate on student early alert and intervention teams aimed at increasing retention. Leads or participates on behavior threat assessment teams to enhance safety and security of the campus community.

• Coordinates and/or provides prevention and educational programming for students, faculty and staff on a broad range of topics which may include but are not limited to: Student success skills, healthy relationships, Title IX sexual misconduct, resident assistant training, mental health awareness, substance abuse, suicide prevention, mental health first aid, managing classroom behavior and success strategies. Career and life planning, interest inventories, personality assessment and interpretation.

• Campus collaboration and coordination: Maintains close connections with faculty and academic affairs staff to generate and develop student success and retention initiatives.
  
  Collaborates with registration, financial aid and marketing staff. Coordinates campus events such as orientation, success seminars, and campus visits. Assists in planning and working graduation.
  
  Serves on campus committees. Supervises work study students. Performs other duties as assigned.

• Outreach and communication: Generate creative means to develop and present student seminars and workshops.
  
  Assists with outreach to local high schools and TRIO programs. Updates campus online student services content and adapts to evolving communication modalities, including, but not limited to social media. Builds and maintains relationships with relevant community entities.
  
  Facilitates student referrals to mental health services. Connects and communicates with transfer institutions.

• Other duties as assigned.

Supervision Received

This position receives general direction from a designated administrator.

Supervisory Responsibility

This position may serve as a lead for other campus team members. This position may supervise work study students, support staff, or program related staff.

Special Conditions of Employment

Successful completion of a background check including motor vehicles records report will be required. Incumbents in this position will adhere to all safety and compliance policies of Colorado Mountain College while performing all duties assigned. Position may include travel, evenings and weekends.

Serve in the professional staff on-call rotation throughout the year to respond to emergencies and policy violations in the residence hall. Professional staff on-call must be available to take calls and come to campus quickly for the entirety of their on-call duration.

Working Conditions

This position requires constant sitting, occasional walking, standing and driving; occasional handling objects, pushing/pulling; frequent reaching with hands/arms, and use of finger movements; occasional lifting, carrying, pushing or pulling objects up to 50 lbs. Constant written and oral communication and the ability to reason and analyze and perform calculations occasionally. Work is performed using a computer and standard office equipment daily and driving a vehicle occasionally.

CMC is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, the College will assist individuals who have a disability with any reasonable accommodation requests related to employment, including completing the application process, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, participating in the employee selection process, and/or to perform essential job functions where the requested accommodation does not impose an undue hardship. If you have a disability and require reasonable accommodation to ensure you have a positive experience applying or interviewing for this position, please direct your inquiries to our ADA Coordinator, Human Resources, benefits@coloradomtn.edu

NOTE: This position description is intended to indicate the basic nature of positions allocated to this class and provide examples of typical duties that may be assigned.

It does not imply that all positions within the class perform all of the duties listed, nor does it necessarily list all possible duties that may be assigned. Employees may perform other related duties as required to meet the ongoing needs of the organization.