Director of College

Students who attend Chicago Jesuit Academy (CJA) will be the next generation of leaders in the City of Chicago. Talented people who wish to be employed by Chicago Jesuit Academy must demonstrate a past and continued commitment to academic excellence, professional development and the Jesuit ideal of being people for others. Strong candidates are disciplined workers, compassionate listeners and tireless advocates for the children they serve. Most importantly, they recognize that Chicago Jesuit Academy will ask them to approach their work as a vocation and make substantial contributions of their time and talents in the service of the students, alumni and families of CJA.

Reporting to the Vice President of College & Career Persistence, the Director of College & Career Persistence (Director) leads the College & Career Persistence (CP) Team. The role of the CP Team is to accompany students and alumni through major transitions as they chart their unique paths to meaningful employment and lives of loving service as men and women for others in our Jesuit tradition. The Director oversees a team that implements programming that will introduce educational and employment opportunities to students and alumni aged 13 to 27 and partner with them to mitigate obstacles that may impede progress toward educational and career goals.

Essential functions:

• Manage a team of counselors, support their professional growth and program implementation to ensure that the CP Team is implementing programs and one-on-one counseling with fidelity as they accompany alumni on their path to meaningful employment. This includes supporting and developing counselors who each manage caseloads of 60+ alumni as well as overseeing key programs that align with the program mission, values, best practices and budget.
• Work closely with the school leaders and Vice President of College & Career Persistence to ensure the program runs smoothly and is implemented with fidelity.
• Work closely with the Director of Trauma Informed Care and counselors to ensure that the trauma-informed response to emergent and non-emergent crises is implemented with fidelity and care. The Director of CP works closely with counselors who are providing direct service to alumni and families after traumatic events.
• Collaborate with the Director of Trauma-Informed Care and Vice President of College & Career Persistence to ensure that we are actively working to be in contact with every alumnus on our caseload and are implementing and developing best practices in accompanying students by balancing love and rigor to hold high expectations while providing direct interventions to support students and alumni on their path to meaningful employment.
• Works directly with the team to support the implementation of projects and events to ensure that we are providing well-developed and mission-aligned programming to support students and alumni as they develop a strong foundation with the ultimate goal of meaningful employment.
• Provide professional development opportunities to the team about accompanying alumni as they chart their unique paths to meaningful employment.
• Support a caseload of 20-30 students and alumni who are often our most complex profiles by actively communicating and engaging with students, alumni, and families and coordinating services and support for various student/alumni issues.
• Update, maintain, and protect the confidentiality of alumni data in the College-Persistence Salesforce database.
• Have a safe driving record and pass and retain CJA-issued qualification to drive CJA’s minibus and van in order to transport students, alumni and families safely to and from camps, high schools, colleges and other events as needed.
• Execute other duties as assigned.

The ideal candidate should:

• Have a bachelor’s degree and at least 3-5 years of experience in education, social work or other related non-profit service including direct work with youth from disinvested communities.
• Have a demonstrated history of success managing a team.
• Have a demonstrated history of success managing caseloads who are navigating a variety of different obstacles.
• Have a sincere commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion with a belief that all children deserve equitable access to a high-quality education.
• Possess strong relationship-building skills including the ability to navigate challenging conversations across lines of difference and to listen sincerely and effectively.
• Be detail-oriented with exceptional organizational skills and the ability to create and implement processes in support of a strong team.
• Be able to manage individuals by cultivating their unique skill sets so that they work autonomously and collaboratively in service of the mission of the organization.
• Have strong verbal and written communication skills in order to communicate effectively with students, parents, team members and community organizations. This sometimes includes direct conversations that hold people accountable.
• Be willing to admit a mistake, ask for help and receive constructive feedback well.

Chicago Jesuit Academy Mission Statement

Mission: Chicago Jesuit Academy is a loving and academically rigorous tuition-free Catholic elementary school for students and families from resilient communities impacted by historical disinvestment. We accompany our students and alumni from enrollment through the start of their careers as they develop their gifts and grow as men and women for others.

Means: Located in Austin on Chicago’s West Side, CJA admits students to all grades in our lower and middle school without regard for their race, ethnicity or religion, and CJA enrolls 3rd-, 4th- and 5th-grade students without regard for their past levels of academic achievement.

We use small class sizes, extended school days and an 11-month school year to give personal care to our students and help them develop as whole persons.

We accompany our alumni on their unique paths to meaningful employment and support them throughout high school, their post-secondary education and the start of their careers, always welcoming them back as leaders at CJA and in the broader community.

CJA students, alumni, parents, faculty, staff, volunteers and benefactors listen to and learn from one another and make disciplined sacrifices to accomplish our shared mission.

We partner with other schools and the broader community to create access to better educational resources, confront systemic racism and remove obstacles to educational equity.

We call one another to find God in all things and be men and women for others who are open to growth, loving, religious, seeking intellectual excellence and committed to doing justice.

Chicago Jesuit Academy, in accordance with our Jesuit tradition, is committed to fostering a diverse community of outstanding faculty, staff and students, as well as ensuring equal educational opportunity, employment, and access to services, programs and activities, without regard to an individual’s race, color, national origin, religion, age, disability, sex, gender identity/expression, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, predisposing genetic characteristic or military status. Employees, students, applicants or other members of the CJA community (including but not limited to vendors, visitors, and guests) may not be subjected to harassment that is prohibited by law, or treated adversely or retaliated against based upon a protected identity.​​​

Candidates are strongly encouraged to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 upon commencing employment.