Career Pathways and Student Transitions Manager

Job Description

Job Description

Are you a person of compassion? An advocate for justice? Someone who stands up for the rights of the vulnerable and speaks out for the marginalized, the exploited and the forgotten? Do you believe in our calling as Christians to welcome the least of these and love our neighbor?

If you answered ‘yes’, to any of the above, World Relief, and millions of people around the world need you.

At this pivotal moment in time, we are rapidly expanding and growing our team to meet the increasing needs of our world. We are looking for people who want to use their gifts and talents to make a real and tangible difference in our world and the lives of the suffering.

If you’re looking for a purpose-driven career in which you can grow your talents, while also standing up for the rights of the vulnerable, we want you to join us today.

ORGANIZATION SUMMARY

World Relief is a global Christian humanitarian organization whose mission is to boldly engage the world’s greatest crises in partnership with the church. The organization was founded in the aftermath of World War II to respond to the urgent humanitarian needs of war-torn Europe. Since then, for 80 years, across 100 countries, World Relief has partnered with local churches and communities to build a world where families thrive and communities flourish.

Today, organizational programming focuses on humanitarian and disaster response, community strengthening and resilience, and refugee & immigrant services and advocacy.

POSITION SUMMARY:

World Relief seeks a Career Pathways and Student Transitions Manager (CPSTM) to provide integrated leadership for World Relief Chicagoland’s Career Pathways Specialists and Student Success Coaches (dotted line), ensuring cohesive delivery of career planning, academic transitions, training preparation, and employment support for adult immigrants and refugees. The CPSTM further supports cross‑department integration between the Career Pathways team, Adult Education, and the Employment Services team to ensure that learners, and jobseekers move along coherent, accessible pathways from English acquisition and foundational employment toward long-term economic mobility. This role safeguards team culture, maintains program continuity, ensures integrated programming with Employment Services, Adult Education, and Children and Youth through shared systems, aligned goals, and consistent implementation.

Hybrid schedule: 4 days onsite and 1 work from home day.

ROLE & RESPONSIBILITIES:

This role is responsible for supervising others and includes responsibilities consistent with supervising employees, including but not limited to monitoring daily work activities, tracking and approving timesheets including approving time off, monitoring performance including entering goals, progress check-ins, and weekly or bi-weekly check-ins, documenting performance concerns, entering staff promotions, transitions, and separations in HRIS within required time frame. Managers at World Relief are also considered spiritual leaders and are expected to lead staff in a manner consistent with our Christian values, including but not limited to praying with staff, leading devotionals, and fostering a Christian environment in interactions with staff throughout World Relief.

Overall Responsibilities:

• Provide direct supervision, support, and coaching to all Career Pathways (CPS) staff and dotted-line support to Student Success Coaches (SSC).
• Maintain cohesive team culture across Adult Education (AE) and Workforce Development (WD) functions, ensuring communication flows smoothly between departments.
• Lead team meetings, case reviews, and cross-functional planning sessions.
• Support staff development in both academic transition advising and workforce readiness coaching (SMART goals, wrap around delivery, career development and upward mobility).
• Coordinate dotted-line supervision of Student Success Coaches, ensuring alignment of transition advising with AE instructional goals, without direct personnel oversight.

Program Coordination & Service Delivery

• Promote integration with the Employment Services team to ensure coordinated recruitment and referrals and collaboration on career-based activities.
• Collaborate with Adult Education instructors to align curriculum, bridge programming, and ICAPS pathways with employer-informed skills requirements identified through World Relief Chicagoland (WRC) employer partnerships.
• Coordinate with Children & Youth (C&Y) to ensure older youth (16+) receive early career exploration, part-time job readiness support, and connection to skill-building opportunities.
• Ensure Career Pathways Specialists maintain aligned practices with all collaborating teams around job upgrades, credential pathways, wage/benefits tracking, and advancement milestones.

Cross-Department Functional Alignment

• Support shared recruitment pipelines and current practices across AE classes, Employment 6/12-month job follow-up touchpoints, and C&Y after-school programs to strengthen consistent referral flow into CP services.
• Translate AE priorities into career pathways practices through SSC participation on the team.
• Translate WD priorities into academic transitions through CPS support of AE-led workforce initiatives and pilots.
• Maintain strong dotted-line alignment with the Director of Community Enterprise & Workforce Innovation to ensure strategy, program vision, and AE–WD integration remain consistent.
• Participate in cross-department client tracking activities, ensuring CP activities support Employment and Case Management, and AE progress toward grant performance benchmarks.

Stakeholder & Partner Coordination

• Maintain relationships with community colleges, training providers, and employer partners for clinical placement, advising, job placement, and post-placement retention.
• Represent WRC in external meetings, workgroups, and partnership development activities.
• Maintain partnership alignment with employer advisory groups to ensure CP program design reflects current labor market needs, supports employer co-developed training pathways, and increases opportunities for job upgrades.
• Coordinate youth-relevant partnerships (high schools, youth workforce programs) in collaboration with the C&Y team for students exploring early employment.

Compliance, Data, and Performance Management

• Ensure staff documentation meets the standards of AE, WD, and grant-funded programs (ICCB, WIOA, JTED, etc.).
• Monitor progress toward key outcomes such as training completion, credential attainment, employment placement, and retention.
• Support continuous improvement processes and contribute to strategic planning with leadership.
• Ensure CP staff document job upgrades, credential attainment, training completions, and wage changes consistent with RSS definitions and WRC-wide reporting standards.

Scaling Responsibilities (Effective September 30, 2026 or as needed)

• Maintain the managerial anchor role even if staffing is reduced due to funding changes. Take on a small caseload if needed to ensure service continuity.
• Sustain program presence with a core team of 2–3 CPS/SSC and the CSTM, preserving culture and operational continuity.
• Support cross-training of remaining staff so they can function in both SSC and CPS capacities if needed.

Sustainability & Growth

• Prepare the CP/SSC structure to scale up efficiently if new funding is secured.
• Strengthen the shared oversight model that supports long-term financial resilience through AE and WD integration.
• Maintain consistent processes, SOPs, and team identity regardless of funding fluctuations.
• Strengthen the CP team’s integration footprint by maintaining flexible cross-training models that enable smooth collaboration with AE, Employment, and C&Y.

JOB REQUIREMENTS:

• Mature and personal Christian faith
• Committed to the mission, vision, and values of World Relief
• Desire to serve and empower the Church to impact vulnerable communities
• Able to affirm and/or acknowledge World Reliefs Core Beliefs, Statement of Faith, Christian Identity and National Association of Evangelicals' For the Health of The Nation document
• Ability to work a flexible schedule including occasional early mornings, evenings, and weekends
• Proficient in Microsoft Office applications
• Bachelor’s degree required
• Valid Driver’s License and good driving record

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Strong supervisory and coaching skills across diverse functional roles.
• Understanding of career pathways.
• Ability to manage a regional, multi-site team and maintain cohesion.
• Strong communication, problem-solving, and cross-cultural skills.
• Experience in collaborative program delivery across departments or organizations.

World Relief offers a competitive benefits package and employee discount program for full-time, Regular, employees.

World Relief is honored to be recognized with the Gold-level Cigna Healthy Workforce Designation for exceeding the core components of our well-being program including leadership and culture, program foundations and execution, and whole person health.

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Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

We are proud to be an EEO/AA employer M/F/D/V. We maintain a drug-free workplace and perform pre-employment substance abuse testing.

For World Relief staff, strong commitment to the mission, vision, and values of World Relief is essential, and Christian faith is a prerequisite for employment, based upon United States federal guidelines provided in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.