Manager of Workplace Experience

Position Summary:

Penn Foster Group (PFG) is committed to ensuring that learners not only gain the knowledge they need but also the hands-on experience required to succeed in the workforce. As the Manager of Workplace Experience, you will play a critical role in bridging the gap between education and employment by facilitating externship, internship, and other work-based learning opportunities for our learners, specifically for learners sponsored by our B2B/Enterprise partners in the healthcare sector. Those partners expect a higher-touch level of service to ensure frictionless access to workplace experience for their sponsored learners – and this role will impact thousands of students by ensuring the operational system delivers on that expectation.

This role is designed to support our externship-based programs, ensuring students are successfully placed at practical sites near their location. Additionally, for programs where hands-on experience is not formally required but is proving to be a barrier to employment, you will work to surface opportunities for learners to gain practical experience through internships, job shadowing, or alternative work-based learning models.

Essential Job Functions:

1. Learner Support & Guidance

• Serve as the primary responsible party for the externship experience of B2B/Enterprise-sponsored learners, ensuring they feel supported and are utilizing all available services and externship placement tools effectively.
• Identify learners who are struggling to secure an externship and proactively intervene to support their placement.
• Provide career coaching and strategic job search assistance for graduates facing barriers to employment due to a lack of hands-on experience.
• Track learner progress and ensure timely placement in alignment with employer and client expectations.

2. Externship Process Optimization for Enterprise Learners

• Act as a navigator and advocate within the externship placement process, ensuring that Enterprise-sponsored learners maximize the benefits of our existing externship infrastructure.
• Maintain deep expertise in our placement systems, employer network, and process workflows, acting as an internal expert to streamline the experience for Enterprise learners.
• Identify and eliminate friction points in the placement process for Enterprise learners by working closely with the broader Externship Team.
• Engage with employer partners in our existing network to better understand their needs and refine how we match learners to placements.

3. Employer & Externship Site Expansion

• As needed, proactively develop new relationships with healthcare facilities, trade organizations, and other externship providers to expand placement opportunities for learners.
• Partner with our offshore team to identify and engage smaller or harder-to-reach externship sites that could be ideal for remote or underserved learners.

4. Work-Based Learning Innovation

• Surface alternative hands-on experience pathways (e.g., unpaid internships, job shadowing, simulated work-based experiences) for programs where externships are not required but employer feedback indicates they are necessary for job placement.
• Work with employer partners and internal teams to refine these models and ensure alignment with industry hiring expectations.
• Pilot and evaluate new approaches, ensuring they meet regulatory, accreditation, and compliance requirements.

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities:

• 5+ years of experience in career services, workforce development, externship/internship placement, employer relations, or business development.
• Experience in healthcare workforce training strongly preferred.
• Strong process optimization skills, with the ability to navigate and improve structured placement workflows.
• Exceptional relationship-building skills with both employers and learners.
• Ability to understand workforce trends and develop strategies to improve graduate employability.
• Experience working with online or asynchronous learners is a plus.
• Highly proactive, able to own and drive initiatives with minimal oversight.

About Us: At Penn Foster Group, we are transforming online learning to help learners by bringing together Penn Foster, CareerStep, Ashworth College, James Madison High School, the New York Institute of Photography, the New York Institute of Art and Design, and other education platforms. Together, we create an accelerated path to greater economic mobility through real-world skills and knowledge that enable learners to achieve long-term success in the workplaces of the future. Our history dates back to 1890 when our founder, Thomas Foster, pioneered distance education by offering training by mail for coal miners to get the necessary skills for safer jobs. Today, with the partners who use our education and training programs, we continue that mission of providing accessible training and education for in-demand skills and are building a workforce that’s prepared for the future job market.

Equal Employment Opportunity: We strive toward Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Penn Foster Group by intentionally building diverse teams – in identities, lived experiences, and ideas to create a culture where people feel connected to each other and have a sense of belonging. We value diversity, equity, and inclusion because it is the foundation that enables us to achieve what we set out to do as an organization – from maximizing the number of learners who can reach their goals while giving them the kinds of experiences we want them to have, to becoming the type of company we want to work in.

What We Offer: We offer a robust benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision, flexible spending, generous paid time off, sponsored volunteer opportunities, a 401K with a company match, and free access to our online programs.

This position is fully remote in PA, FL, GA, IL, IN, NC, SC, TN, TX, UT, WI, AL, KS, LA, MA, MI, MO, NH, OH, OK, VA, AZ, CO, MN, NJ, NY only.