Director of Industry to Campus Connections
Center for Career & Professional Development (CCPD), reporting to the Division of Student Success, is the university’s centralized career planning and employment assistance service for USF students and alumni. The programs in the CCPD are designed to help students and graduates assess, explore, develop, and implement their career goals, gain employability skills and career-related experiences, prepare for a successful transition into graduate/professional school or the labor market, and connect with employers to obtain part-time jobs, internships, cooperative education, and professional employment. The CCPD holds the values of community, excellence, integrity, service, and well-being at the core of all they do.
The ideal candidate will report directly to the Associate Vice President/Executive Director of Career Services, this role works closely with the Center for Career & Professional Development team and across the University, and strategic employer and alumni partners. In addition, they manage a team of Assistant Directors and coordinators to:
• Serves on the Center for Career & Professional Development leadership team to align office goals to university initiatives and employment trends. Works collaboratively with the entire team to maximize employer activities and engage students.
• Supervise and coach the team to align activities with the strategic goals and mission of Career Services.
• Leads the Industry to Campus team to create a strategic engagement plan for industry partners to connect with students and increase the hiring of graduates.
• Create recruitment policies and procedures to serve as best practices for campus and community.
• Identify, advertise, and secure sponsorship opportunities for industry connections to brand themselves on campus and create partnerships.
• Work across unit teams to proactively research, identify, plan, and implement existing immersive programs and talent recruitment events. The person in this role must also possess the creativity and drive to innovate new models.
• Oversee student employment and JLD functions of office.
• Collaborate with the Career Services leadership team to facilitate external engagement across the University as needed to ensure strategic partnerships, signature programs, key employer relationships, new initiatives, and externally sponsored activities foster new and expand existing relationships across the university and beyond based upon a culture of trust, collaboration and execution, and value creation.
• Work closely with the Assistant Director of Industry to Campus Connections and Director of Strategic Initiatives to support talent requests from strategic partners. Examples include but are not limited to connections to key faculty, staff, and student organizations, campus Interviews, employer events, information sessions, and access to resume books.
• Host career fairs and participate in Career Services events and represent our unit with the Chamber of Commerce and university committees relating to employer development at local, state, regional, and national meetings.
• Facilitate an Employer Summit each summer to provide professional development to community recruiters and foster connection to USF. Promote and utilize Handshake to track contacts and promote employment opportunities and events.
Responsibilities
- 60%: Engage with employers and alumni to support efforts to connect with USF students. This includes working with the team to host events, panels, career fairs, and activities for student interaction. Serve in the Chamber of Commerce and other industry connected groups to connect with Tampa employers.
- 20%: Supervise the Assistant Director of Industry to Campus Connector, Assistant Director of Internship Development, and Student Employment/JLD Coordinator and train to accomplish goals outlined by the strategic plan of the office and Director of Industry Connections.
- 15%: Create policies, goals, and sponsorship opportunities for employer engagement at USF.
- 10%: Identify ways to assess engagement and impact of industry connections and report findings to leadership and university Deans.
- 5%: Performs other duties as assigned.
Minimum Qualifications:
Requires a Bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution.
Minimum of 7 years of related exempt level experience, including 5 years of managerial
experience. Experience leading a team, project, program, or function.
Preferred Candidate Experiences:
• A dynamic leader with excellent organizational and relationship skills who fosters a culture of collaboration and trust around external relationship building and management and functions with a high degree of professionalism and integrity.
• Possesses a strategic mindset related to achieving goals, able to communicate vision and translate ideas into operational goals effectively.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, process-driven environment while maintaining exceptional attention to detail and accuracy with lean staff support.
• Outstanding written, verbal, and presentation skills and the proven ability to communicate effectively with stakeholders at all levels.
• Demonstrated ability to manage time-sensitive problems in a constructive, positive manner. Leadership Competencies and Personal Traits:
• Exceptional degree of emotional intelligence and ability to establish credibility, work collaboratively, and influence outcomes with a wide range of stakeholders.
• Outstanding relationship skills and building rapport with internal and external constituents
With approximately 16,000 employees, the University of South Florida is one of the largest employers in the Tampa Bay area. We are dedicated to cultivating a talented, engaged and driven workforce that strives to be bold. Employees excel in USF‘s rich academic environment, which fosters their development and advancement. In 2025, Forbes recognized USF as one of Florida’s best large employers, ranked No. 1 among the state’s 12 public universities. Our first-class benefits package includes medical, dental and life insurance plans, retirement plan options, employee and dependent tuition programs, generous leave, and hundreds of employee perks and discounts.
About USF
The University of South Florida is a top-ranked research university serving approximately 50,000 students from across the globe at campuses in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota-Manatee and USF Health. USF is recognized by U.S. News & World Report as a top 50 public university and the best value in Florida. U.S. News also ranks the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine as the No. 1 medical school in Florida and in the highest tier nationwide. USF is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), a group that includes only the top 3% of universities in the U.S. With an all-time high of $738 million in research funding in 2024 and as a top 20 public university for producing U.S. patents, USF uses innovation to transform lives and shape a better future. The university generates an annual economic impact of more than $6 billion. USF’s Division I athletics teams compete in the American Athletic Conference. Learn more at www.usf.edu.
