Student Success Coach - 2024155

Carol Stream, IL / Aurora, IL / Wheaton, IL
US Programs – Education /
Regular, Full-time /
Hybrid
ORGANIZATION SUMMARY:
World Relief is a global Christian humanitarian organization that is fighting for change that lasts, right here in the U.S. and across the globe. We bring sustainable solutions to the world’s greatest problems – disasters, extreme poverty, violence, oppression, and mass displacement. The organization is approximately 75 years old and has worked in over 100 countries around the world since its founding.
 
In the United States, we come alongside local churches, community organizations and hundreds of individual volunteers to support newly arriving refugee and other immigrant families. Today, we are proud to partner with over 6,000 local churches, and 95,000 volunteers globally to bring hope, healing and transformation to the most vulnerable.

POSITION SUMMARY:
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.

World Relief seeks a Student Success Coach to assist students with successful completion outcomes by providing proactive outreach, mentoring, and intervention using a variety of communication methods. World Relief serves over 600 adult learners at every stage of their language journey, including career specific language classes, job readiness for newly arrived refugees and asylees, mainstream English studies, and literacy and schooling support. The position is vital to advancing outcomes for our students.

Role & Responsibilities

    • Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
    • Help students remove barriers by serving as a resource-expert, connecting them to the needed services and collaborating with instructors and student support staff to identify strategies for assisting students in successful language acquisition and career development.
    • Foster persistence and course completion by coaching a caseload of diverse students.
    • Conduct coaching and mentoring for students to develop and accomplish personal, professional, and academic goals through individual and/or group sessions.
    • Encourage students to evaluate their own strengths and weaknesses, normalizing the importance of seeking support and self-advocacy to build their own idea of self-efficacy and responsibility.
    • Motivate students to take ownership of their success inside and outside of the classroom, and to serve as a catalyst to build each student’s intrinsic motivation to succeed.
    • Develop a meaningful rapport with assigned students and provide individualized coaching and ongoing feedback via Zoom, email, text message, and in-person appointments, using qualified interpretation depending on student language level.
    • Refer graduating students to appropriate career and academic services offered by other community-based programs and community colleges.
    • Assess student needs and connect them to existing college resources; identify resources to enhance both academic success and personal development.
    • Communicate regularly and partner with instructors, Student Support staff, Workforce Development, Career Pathways, Case Management, and other departments regarding student progress, to identify course specific strategies that promote student success, and identify critical barriers that could impact retention and course completion.
    • Evaluate, document, and report on student academic participation and progress.

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

    •  Initiative and Independent Work
    • Manage Competing Priorities
    • Organizational Skills
    • Interpersonal Skills
    • Communication Skills (oral and written)
    • Time Management Skills
    • Specific Ability to Engage Interpretation Services
    • Knowledge of World Relief
    • Confidentiality and Professionalism

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 Evangelicals For the Health of The Nation document
    • Bachelor’s degree required, preferred in the following areas: education, human services, counseling or other related fields
    • At least one year’s experience in the field of Adult Education as a Student Success Coach or equivalent (Academic Advisor, Transitions Coordinator, etc.)
    • Ability to drive between DuPage and Aurora offices, as well as flexibility to visit offsite class locations to meet with students before and after class, and the ability to take students for tours of local community colleges.
    • Cross-cultural communication skills
    • Knowledge of community college structure
    • Guidance counseling/student advising experience
World Relief offers a competitive benefits package (25 hours + per week):
 
- Medical, Dental, Vision
- Offer 16 company Paid Holidays + 4 additional Personal days per year!
- Paid Sick and Vacation Time
- Paid Parental Leave (12 weeks for qualified employees)
- FSAs: Medical & Dependent Care, & Commuter Funding
- Supplemental Life Insurance (employee, spouse, and children)
- Critical Illness, Hospital Indemnity, and Accident insurance policies
- Legal Shield Insurance
 
World Relief pays 100% for eligible employees:
- Group Term Life (employee, spouse, and children)
- Long Term & Short-term Disability
- Accidental Death and Dismemberment (AD&D)
- Long Distance Travel Insurance
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
 
World Relief - Retirement:
- 401K & Roth
- WR matches up to 4%, then an additional quarter percent up to 10%
- Eligibility: Full Time (40 hours per week) is eligible after 3 months of employment. Part time is eligible after 1000 hours in a year. 
 
World Relief Discounts (Immediately Eligible):
- Verizon
- Pet Insurance through Nationwide
- Home and Auto insurance through Liberty Mutual
- Working Advantage Discount Program
- Active & Fit Gym Membership
 
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.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS: 
 
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
 
·         While performing the duties of this job, the employee is required to have ordinary ambulatory skills sufficient to visit other locations
·         The ability to stand, walk, stoop, kneel, crouch, and manipulate (lift, carry, move) light to medium weights of 10-15 pounds.
·         Requires good hand-eye coordination, arm, hand and finger dexterity, including ability to grasp, and visual acuity to use a keyboard, operate equipment and read application information.
·         The employee frequently is required to sit, reach with hands and arms, talk and hear.
 
WORK ENVIRONMENT: 
 
·         General office setting. World Relief also offers hybrid and remote schedules for limited positions.
·         Great lengths of time working on computer, reading from computer screen, entering information, standing at copier or fax machine, and some time on the phone or in virtual meetings may be required.
·         Year-end archiving activities involve repeated lifting and bending.
·         Physical, emotional and intellectual demands
·         Equipment used: Employee computer (desktop or laptop), printer, and copier.
·         All of the above duties and responsibilities are essential job functions subject to reasonable accommodation. All job requirements listed indicate the minimum level of knowledge, skills and/or ability deemed necessary to perform the job proficiently. This job description is not to be construed as an exhaustive statement of duties, responsibilities or requirements. Individuals may be required to perform any other job-related instructions as requested by their supervisor, subject to reasonable accommodation. This position description is not all-inclusive and is always under review.
 
We are proud to be an EEO/AA employer M/F/D/V.
 
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.
 
Legal Background in the United States
World Relief is both an equal opportunity employer and a faith-based religious organization. World Relief strictly prohibits and does not tolerate unlawful discrimination against employees on the basis of person’s race, color, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state, or local law, which does not conflict with the protections afforded World Relief as a faith-based employer.  
 
In addition, physical or mental limitations will not be a factor in the application of World Relief's employment policies or employee practices, except for those situations in which occupational requirement make consideration of such factors necessary.
  
Pursuant to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Section 702 (42 U.S.C. 2000e 1(a) World Relief has the right to, and does, hire only candidates who agree with World Relief’s Statement of Faith.