University Overview

The University of Pennsylvania, the largest private employer in Philadelphia, is a world-renowned leader in education, research, and innovation. This historic, Ivy League school consistently ranks among the top 10 universities in the annual U.S. News & World Report survey. Penn has 12 highly-regarded schools that provide opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and continuing education, all influenced by Penn’s distinctive interdisciplinary approach to scholarship and learning. As an employer Penn has been ranked nationally on many occasions with the most recent award from Forbes who named Penn one of America’s Best Large Employers in 2023.

Penn offers a unique working environment within the city of Philadelphia. The University is situated on a beautiful urban campus, with easy access to a range of educational, cultural, and recreational activities. With its historical significance and landmarks, lively cultural offerings, and wide variety of atmospheres, Philadelphia is the perfect place to call home for work and play.

The University offers a competitive benefits package that includes excellent healthcare and tuition benefits for employees and their families, generous retirement benefits, a wide variety of professional development opportunities, supportive work and family benefits, a wealth of health and wellness programs and resources, and much more.

Posted Job Title

Associate Dean for Career Strategy, Penn Law

Job Profile Title

Director E, Student Services, Advising

Job Description Summary

The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School is one of the nation’s oldest and most distinguished law schools. Penn Carey Law offers a unique approach, incorporating cross-disciplinary education, a distinctly collaborative environment, and an innovative curriculum to enrich student learning. The small and highly interdisciplinary faculty achieves scholarly excellence while emphasizing a shared effort to advance understanding of the law. The result is an intellectual community that bridges traditional boundaries and disciplines, within a resowed internal culture of collegiality, making Penn Carey Law an extraordinary supportive academic community for all its members.

Penn Carey Law is renowned for providing talented students and graduates to the legal and complementary marketplaces. The Associate Dean for Career Strategy is the primary architect of Penn Carey Law’s strategic approach to maximizing these opportunities. The Associate Dean understands all corners of this competitive landscape, manages a talented staff of counselors charged with educating students and graduates to best match these opportunities to their own talents and aspirations, and represents the University publicly to employers, alumni, funders, and educators.

Reporting to the Vice Dean of Student Services, the Associate Dean oversees a staff of highly talented JD-trained counselors and educators who provide direct service to 1,000+ students, 20,000 alumni, and the marketplace. These services include development of a career strategy and professionalism curriculum for students and alumni; counseling students and alumni individually; developing and maintaining relationships with employers; and hosting a variety of recruiting programs and events.

Job Description

Strategic

• Own, develop and share a deep, evolving understanding of the legal market, including market trends, opportunities to enhance employment options for Penn Carey Law students, and changes in hiring patterns in private practice, the public sector, judicial clerkships, and fields complementary to law, nationally and internationally.

• In consultation with the legal marketplace, faculty, alumni, and advisors from fields complementary to law, build and articulate a creative and constantly developing vision of the possibilities for career building students and graduates of Penn Carey Law.

• Develop and implement both short- and long-term goals for the employment of Penn Carey Law students and graduates.

• Understand and employ innovative uses of research and technologies in career development and recruiting processes.

• Play a critical role in Penn Carey Law’s strategic approach to the marketplace, providing advice and counsel to the Dean and the faculty on a host of related issues and strategic decisions about curriculum, development, and programming.

• Collaborate with other departments within Penn Carey Law and the University, faculty, and alumni, building effective working relationships to share information on the legal market, partner on programming and services, discuss student needs and concerns, and provide strategic guidance on aspects of their work that relate to career and professional development.

• Participate at the highest levels of conversation around the changing marketplace, contributing innovative ideas that best represent the interests of Penn Carey Law students and graduates.

Employer Relations and Recruiting Responsibilities

• Demonstrate creativity and innovation in developing employment and recruiting opportunities for Penn Carey Law students in the public and private sectors as well as in judicial clerkships and other fields complementary to the law.

• Oversee the development and implementation of a marketing outreach plan for employers worldwide including, but not limited to, large, medium, and small law firms, in house counsel, consulting firms, investment banks, government agencies, non-profit organizations, NGOs, and federal and state judiciaries.

• Develop and maintain strong professional relationships with legal employers across sectors, both nationally and internationally, to enhance career opportunities for Penn Carey Law students.

• Oversee an active and evolving roster of recruiting programs, job fairs, and networking events for Penn Carey Law students in all sectors.

Counseling

• Provide informed and tailored advice and counsel to law students about career development, job search strategies, and professionalism skills relevant to the field.

• Communicate regularly with the Associate Dean of Students and other relevant Law School faculty and staff around individual students and trends in student direction.

• Maintain an active schedule of student counseling appointments.

Managerial

• Inspire, lead, and energize a highly talented team of career counselors and administrative staff.

• Provide effective staff management, including hiring and onboarding, training and professional development, workflow and performance management, and the promotion of a positive, inclusive, and innovative work environment.

Educational

• Oversee the development and implementation of a career-focused curriculum that ensures that Law School students and graduates develop strong professionalism and job search skills to both excel in the legal job market and be equipped to actively manage their careers as alumni.

• Oversee OCS’s coordination and partnership with other Penn Carey Law departments, including Student Affairs, Equity & Inclusion, the Toll Public Interest Center, Admissions, Communications, and Legal Education Programs, on programming and materials related to professionalism, career development, and career outcomes and opportunities for Penn Carey law students and alumni.

Reporting and Institutional

• Oversee the gathering and reporting of employment outcome data as required by various organizations and media outlets including the National Association of Law Placement, the American Bar Association, and U.S. News and World Report.

• Work closely with the Associate Director of Recruiting Programs to ensure effective and timely data collection and analysis for both required reporting and to inform OCS strategic initiatives.

• Oversee the compilation and analysis of statistical data necessary for ABA Accreditation.

• Serve on or appoint a representative to the Faculty/Student Career Strategy Committee.

• Provide strategic reports to the Dean, faculty, the Law School’s Board of Advisors, University colleagues, and other audiences as requested.

Representational Responsibilities

• Serve as a key public representative of Penn Carey Law, communicating the distinctive educational opportunities and talent of the student body to current and potential legal employers in both the private and public sectors, existing and potential donors, and to professional organizations such as the National Association for Law Placement.

• Build and maintain relationships with colleagues in career services, professional development, and recruiting around the country and beyond.

Other duties as assigned

REQUIREMENTS:

Resume, Cover Letter and JD required. Demonstrated performance record of at least seven to ten years in successful and progressively responsible leadership. A deep knowledge of the legal career landscape, an established record as an educator around career development, an ability to think creatively about professional students and their career development as well as an ability to collaborate across a variety of systems and organizational situations required. Established management track record demonstrating leadership as an effective and motivational manager and as a collaborator in the workplace, within the immediate department and within the larger institution.

Knowledge and experience in an excellent higher education career services environment is highly desirable. Experience working across disciplines with faculty, colleagues, managers, within legal higher education, is also valued. Experience in counseling, program management, higher education, or a related field preferred.

Learn more about The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (https://www.law.upenn.edu/) and about the Office of Career Strategy (https://www.law.upenn.edu/careers/) .

The University of Pennsylvania and its Law school value diversity and seek talented students, faculty, and staff from diverse backgrounds. Please find our Non-Discrimination Policy here (https://www.upenn.edu/affirm-action/eoaa.html) .

Job Location - City, State

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Department / School

Law School

Pay Range

$110,850.00 - $200,000.00 Annual Rate

Salary offers are made based on the candidate’s qualifications, experience, skills, and education as they directly relate to the requirements of the position, as well as internal and market factors and grade profile.

Affirmative Action Statement Penn adheres to a policy that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, creed, national or ethnic origin, citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected class.

Special Requirements Background check required after a conditional job offer is made. Consideration of the background check will be tailored to the requirements of the job.

University Benefits

• Health, Life, and Flexible Spending Accounts : Penn offers comprehensive medical, prescription, behavioral health, dental, vision, and life insurance benefits to protect you and your family’s health and welfare. You can also use flexible spending accounts to pay for eligible health care and dependent care expenses with pre-tax dollars.

• Tuition : Take advantage of Penn's exceptional tuition benefits . You, your spouse, and your dependent children can get tuition assistance here at Penn. Your dependent children are also eligible for tuition assistance at other institutions.

• Retirement: Penn offers generous retirement plans to help you save for your future. Penn’s Basic, Matching, and Supplemental retirement plans allow you to save for retirement on a pre-tax or Roth basis. Choose from a wide variety of investment options through TIAA and Vanguard.

• Time Away from Work: Penn provides you with a substantial amount of time away from work during the course of the year. This allows you to relax, take vacations, attend to personal affairs, recover from illness or injury, spend time with family—whatever your personal needs may be.

• Long-Term Care Insurance: In partnership with Genworth Financial, Penn offers faculty and staff (and your eligible family members) long-term care insurance to help you cover some of the costs of long-term care services received at home, in the community or in a nursing facility. If you apply when you’re newly hired, you won’t have to provide proof of good health or be subject to underwriting requirements. Eligible family members must always provide proof of good health and are subject to underwriting.

• Wellness and Work-life Resources : Penn is committed to supporting our faculty and staff as they balance the competing demands of work and personal life. That’s why we offer a wide variety of programs and resources to help you care for your health, your family, and your work-life balance.

• Professional and Personal Development: Penn provides an array of resources to help you advance yourself personally and professionally.

• University Resources: As a member of the Penn community, you have access to a wide range of University resources as well as cultural and recreational activities. Take advantage of the University’s libraries and athletic facilities, or visit our arboretum and art galleries. There’s always something going on at Penn, whether it’s a new exhibit at the Penn Museum, the latest music or theater presentation at the Annenberg Center, or the Penn Relays at Franklin Field to name just a few examples. As a member of the Penn community, you’re right in the middle of the excitement—and you and your family can enjoy many of these activities for free.

• Discounts and Special Services : From arts and entertainment to transportation and mortgages, you'll find great deals for University faculty and staff. Not only do Penn arts and cultural centers and museums offer free and discounted admission and memberships to faculty and staff. You can also enjoy substantial savings on other goods and services such as new cars from Ford and General Motors, cellular phone service plans, movie tickets, and admission to theme parks.

• Flexible Work Hours: Flexible work options offer creative approaches for completing work while promoting balance between work and personal commitments. These approaches involve use of non-traditional work hours, locations, and/or job structures.

• Penn Home Ownership Services: Penn offers a forgivable loan for eligible employees interested in buying a home or currently residing in West Philadelphia, which can be used for closing costs or home improvements.

• Adoption Assistance: Penn will reimburse eligible employees on qualified expenses in connection with the legal adoption of an eligible child, such as travel or court fees, for up to two adoptions in your household.

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  To learn more, please visit: https://www.hr.upenn.edu/PennHR/benefits-pay

  The University of Pennsylvania's special character is reflected in the diversity of the Penn community. We seek talented faculty and staff who will constitute a vibrant community that draws on the strength that comes with a substantive institutional commitment to diversity along dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, disability, veteran status, interests, perspectives, and socioeconomic status. Grounded in equal opportunity, nondiscrimination, and affirmative action, Penn's robust commitment to diversity is fundamental to the University's mission of advancing knowledge, educating leaders for all sectors of society, and public service. The University of Pennsylvania prohibits unlawful discrimination based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, creed, national or ethnic origin, citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected class.