Assistant Director, Industry and Campus Connections
Multiple Career Communities
Assistant Director, Industry and Campus Connections
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, seeks two dynamic team members to serve as an Assistant Director of industry and Campus Connections (UHR Title: Sr. Program Coordinator) within the Office of Career Exploration and Success.
Application Deadline to Apply: 11:59 pm on January 12, 2026
Institution Overview
Rutgers University-New Brunswick, the flagship campus of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a renowned academic institution that boasts a vibrant and diverse community of learners. With its enrollment numbers exceeding 43,000 students, Rutgers-New Brunswick offers a broad range of programs across its schools and colleges, providing students with ample opportunities for intellectual growth and personal development. The campus's rich history, state-of-the-art facilities, and distinguished faculty contribute to a dynamic learning environment that prepares students for success in their chosen fields and equips them with the skills necessary to thrive in an ever-changing world.
About Career Exploration and Success
Career Exploration and Success (CES) is committed to assisting students with making connections between their academic experience and career paths. We provide career-related advising, resources, and programs to help individuals discover their interests, values, and skills, explore careers and majors, develop skills through internships and experiential opportunities, and pursue their post-graduate goals. We build relationships with alumni, employers, and graduate schools to optimize internship, job, and career opportunities while also creating strategic partnerships with campus departments to assist students in developing and articulating co-curricular experiences that will help to ensure they are competitive in their future pursuits.
CES is comprised of four units, each with its own director who is responsible for the day-to-day operations of their unit, making hiring decisions, providing leadership to their unit, managing their unit's budget, solving challenges and celebrating wins, and making decisions aligned with overarching goals.
About the Industry and Student Connections Unit
One of four units within the Office of Career Exploration and Success, the Industry & Student Connections unit strengthens, expands, and diversifies recruiting relationships to maximize not only career opportunities for Rutgers University–New Brunswick students and graduates but also to generate support for the university’s academic mission from these important partners. Staff organizes recruiting events such as fairs, interviewing days, employer information sessions, and more. They also build relationships with recruiters and help them to connect with campus partners. The unit also oversees the Knights of the Round Table corporate partners sponsorship program which financially supports CES operations. The ISC unit consists of eight full-time staff members and three graduate coordinators organized into two teams led by associate directors: Recruiting Programs team and Industry-to-Campus Connections team (associated with this role).
About the Industry-to-Campus Connections Team
Aligned with the ISC Unit's mission, the Industry-to-Campus Connectors Team cultivates meaningful relationships with industry partners, enabling deeper connections within the campus community through specialized recruiting opportunities. Each team member is assigned career communities that focus their outreach efforts, and they work closely with the student-facing staff members associated with their community.
About the Associate Director of Industry and Campus Connections
As the associate director and direct supervisor, Catarina (Cat) Caulfield leads a team of industry connectors whose role is to facilitate connections between employers and the campus for recruiting programs, campus partnerships, and engagement with Rutgers students. Cat, who was recently promoted to this position, brings over 7 years of experience in career services. Her expertise includes developing relationships with new employers in underserved career communities, recruiting and onboarding organizations for the Knights of the Round Table (KoRT) corporate partners program, leading efforts to track, investigate, and address fraudulent employer activities, and managing employer engagement for the Rutgers Scarlet Service Internship Program. Prior to joining Rutgers, Cat spent six years in the recruiting sector, where she supervised a team of professionals and provided talent acquisition and sourcing services to the property and casualty insurance industry.
Cat was recently honored as the Outstanding Career Services Professional of the Year by the HireBig10+ consortium, with nominations submitted by various members of the CES team. Cat has served on the executive board of the New Jersey Career Center Consortium as President, Vice President of Employer Services, and Vice President of Networking. She has also served in various leadership roles within the HireBig10+ Consortium and will serve as the consortium Chair next academic year.
About the Director of Industry & Student Connections
Michelle St. George-Galando is the director of Industry & Student Connections, appointed in November 2023. Michelle has served in various roles over 10 years within CES, including Associate Director of Industry-to-Campus Connections, Assistant Director of Networking Programs, and Recruiting Programs Coordinator. In 2023, Michelle was selected as the Outstanding Career Services Supervisor of the Year by the HireBig10+ Career Consortium, honored for her genuine support and regard for her colleagues who reported to her. She is also a former President of the New Jersey Career Center Consortium and very active in the career services community.
About the Executive Director
Michelle Galando, Director of Industry and Student Connections, reports to William (Wil) Jones, Executive Director of Career Exploration and Success. Wil was officially named Executive Director in 2021 by Rutgers University-New Brunswick Chancellor-Provost Francine Conway. Jones previously served in various roles within CES, including Director of Operations and Strategic Initiatives, Senior Director, and interim Executive Director. At Rutgers, he co-founded the industry-centric career community approach to career development – which has become a national model – to diversify office offerings and help students think about their professional goals beyond the confines of their academic discipline. Before joining Rutgers, Wil oversaw an industry relations team at the University of Maryland, among other responsibilities.
Position Description
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is seeking a Senior Program Coordinator (Industry and Campus Connections) within the Office of Career Exploration and Success. Reporting to the Associate Director, Industry & Campus Connections, the Assistant Director, Industry & Campus Connections will focus on increasing opportunities for Rutgers students. They will work to develop and maintain a database of employers and alumni to assist with student programming and collaborate with the Rutgers University Foundation staff. The incumbent will also plan and facilitate special events and programs to connect industry professionals and students and will manage the approval process of Rutgers Handshake job and internship postings.
The new Assistant Directors will be aligned with one of the following three career interest communities as their primary assignment:
- Arts, Media, and Communications
- Food, Agriculture, Animals, and the Environment
- Healthcare and Life Sciences
Industry Development:
The connector will spend substantial time working to increase opportunities (i.e., industry and position types) aligned with the vast career interests of the Rutgers University-New Brunswick student community. This will include researching employer leads and cultivating new employer relationships. The development and outreach efforts are tracked through a dashboard which will require running monthly year-to-year comparisons of employer activity reports. They will also identify employers and alumni for student programming needs and source employers in support of fairs, networking events, and other recruiting programs. the incumbent will also handle various Rutgers University Foundation employment requests when applicable.
Special Recruiting Programs:
The Assistant Director will work with partners to develop and support recruiting programs (networking events, career field trips, lunch & learns, coffee chats, etc.) for career communities and student interest communities as a vehicle to attract new employers to campus or expand existing relationships. The Assistant Director will also develop special recruiting events for high-level corporate donors as well as employers with substantial hiring needs.
Handshake Administration:
The Assistant Director will assist with the timely approval of new employer accounts as well as new job/internship postings within the Handshake system. The incumbent will also manually add positions to the system when appropriate. On average, nearly 200 positions need to be approved each day. Currently, the Handshake system houses data for over 20,000 employer organizations.
Miscellaneous:
The Assistant Director will participate in committee/staff meetings, professional development, assist with the Knights of the Round Table partners program and other responsibilities as assigned.
Candidate Profile
To be considered for the assistant director position, candidates must meet the following minimum requirements:
- Experience and Education: A bachelor’s degree in a related field or an equivalent combination of education and/or experience that demonstrates highly relevant experience in career services, workforce development, campus relations, human resources, recruiting, and/or customer service environment is required. A minimum of two years relevant experience in a sales/outreach, talent acquisition, or program coordination.
- Skills and Competencies: The successful candidate must have a relationship-building orientation with strong interpersonal and exceptional communication skills. They should be able to work independently and as part of a team.
Preferred Qualifications: A master’s degree and experience within a career services, higher education, or talent acquisition is preferred.
Flexible Work Arrangement Program
Rutgers announced the extension of the FlexWork@RU Pilot Program through January 31, 2026. Full-time staff members within Career Exploration and Success are permitted to either a 4:1 compressed work week or up to two days per week of remote work. Please note that as of December 12, 2025, no decision has been made by the university administration regarding the continuation of these flexible work arrangements.
Consistent with the current application of Rutgers Policy 60.3.22 or the applicable provisions of relevant collective negotiations agreements, this position is eligible for a hybrid work arrangement while FlexWork@RU is in place. Flexible work arrangements are not permanent, are subject to change or discontinuation, and contingent on the employee receiving approval in the FlexWork@RU Application System. Additional information may be found at https://futureofwork.rutgers.edu.
Additionally, CES has implemented #FocusFriday, a department-wide practice where internal meetings between CES colleagues are discouraged every Friday. This dedicated time enables staff to concentrate on accomplishing their goals. Periodic meditation or mental health breaks throughout the day are also supported. To further support productivity, CES encourages the utilization of automated "Focus Blocks" through Microsoft Outlook. These automated blocks allow staff members to schedule designated periods of uninterrupted work time, further maximizing productivity and focus.
Benefits Program
Rutgers offers a comprehensive benefit program to eligible employees. For details, please go to http://uhr.rutgers.edu/benefits/benefits-overview.
Rutgers also offers a benefit program to eligible full-time postdoctoral fellow students. For details, please go to https://finance.rutgers.edu/healthcare-risk/insurance/postdoctoral-health-insurance.
Non-Discrimination Statement
It is university policy to provide equal employment opportunity to all its employees and applicants for employment regardless of their race, creed, color, national origin, age, ancestry, nationality, marital or domestic partnership or civil union status, sex, pregnancy, gender identity or expression, disability status, liability for military service, protected veteran status, affectional or sexual orientation, atypical cellular or blood trait, genetic information (including the refusal to submit to genetic testing), or any other category protected by law. As an institution, we encourage all qualified applicants to apply. For additional information please see the Non-Discrimination Statement at the following web address: http://uhr.rutgers.edu/non-discrimination-statement.
Search Committee:
Stacey Kohler, sk1916@echo.rutgers.edu (Search Committee Chair)
Associate Director, Career Pathways - Career Exploration & Success
Full Search Committee Coming Soon
Apply Today
Application Deadline to Apply: 11:59 pm on January 12, 2026