Career Pathways Coach

About PLN

Founded on Skid Row in 1980, Para Los Niños provides education and wraparound support, serving over 10,000 children, youth, and families annually in some of the most underserved areas in Los Angeles. PLN fosters pathways to success by striving for excellence in education, family support, and comprehensive social-emotional, and community-based services.

Through early education, TK-8th grade education, youth workforce services, and family and community services Para Los Niño’s’ model provides a comprehensive, holistic approach to break the cycle of poverty and help children and youth thrive.

Position Overview

The Career Pathways Coach is responsible for developing and coordinating internship opportunities that align with career pathways for college students. This role involves working closely with students, community colleges, education partners, and worksites to ensure that internships provide valuable, hands-on experience in specific career fields.  Under the supervision of the Associate Director of College and Career Pathways, the Career Pathways Coach plays a key role in helping students receive valuable work experience by supporting their professional development and connecting them with relevant internship experiences. This position is in partnership with the City of Los Angeles and requires colocation at East Los Angeles College and Los Angeles City College. 

Duties 

Program Development and Coordination: 

• Develop and coordinate internship opportunities that align with established career pathways for students, ensuring these experiences support both academic and career goals. 
• Collaborate with PLN Youth Employment team on program participant onboarding, timesheet collection and payroll distribution.  
• Maintain an up-to-date database of internship opportunities and actively promote them to students. 
• Coordinate the logistics of internship placements, including matching students with appropriate worksites, managing application processes, and ensuring program eligibility and compliance. 

Student Support and Advising: 

• Provide one-on-one advising to students seeking internships within specific career pathways, helping them identify opportunities that align with their academic and professional goals. 
• Assist students in developing professional documents (e.g., resumes, cover letters) tailored to the requirements of specific worksite. 
• Offer coaching on job search strategies, interview techniques, and workplace professionalism relevant to their chosen career pathways. 
• Support students throughout their internships, including monitoring their progress and addressing any issues or challenges that arise. 
• Provide students with supportive services and linkage to internal and partner resources.  

Worksite Relations and Partnership Development: 

• Establish and maintain relationships with worksites to create and promote internship opportunities within specific career pathways. 
• Collaborate with employers to design internship programs that meet both their needs and the educational objectives of students. 
• Organize and facilitate engagement activities, such as recruitment events, career panels, and networking opportunities focused on specific career pathways. 
• Act as a liaison between youth interns and worksites, ensuring that internships are mutually beneficial and that both parties’ expectations are met. 

Program Evaluation and Improvement: 

• Monitor and support with the evaluation to measure the effectiveness of the internship program, including youth participation, placement success, completion rates, and participant satisfaction. 
• Collect data related to internship outcomes, such as internship placement, hours completed, completion rate, student skill development and hires by worksite.  
• Gather feedback from students and worksites to identify areas for improvement and to enhance the overall internship experience. 
• Prepare regular reports on the performance of the internship program, including metrics related to student success, hours complete, supportive services and worksite engagement. 

Outreach and Promotion 

• Actively promote the internship program to college students, alumni, schools, community partners through various channels, including workshops, newsletters, social media, and classroom presentations. 
• Collaborate with Youth Workforce Services staff to identify internship eligible youth. 
• Engage with students to ensure equitable access to internship opportunities across all career pathways. 
• Organize and conduct workshops and sessions on topics related to career pathways, industry trends, and professional development. 
• Collaborate with departments at assigned community college campus to promote internships and learn about opportunities for students.  

Qualifications and Experience Requirements

• Minimum of 2 years of experience in career services, college advisement, recruiting, student advising, internship program coordination, or a related field. 
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills. 
• Ability to build and maintain relationships with worksites, students, and partner schools. 
• Excellent organizational and project management skills. 
• Knowledge of career pathways, labor market trends, and industry-specific internship standards preferred.  
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team. 

Education and Certification Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in counseling, Education, Human Resources, Social Work, or a related field. 

Physical Requirements

To perform this job the individual must be able to carry out all essential functions satisfactorily.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individual with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job. 

• Approximately 50% of time is spent sitting, while frequently required to walk, stand and bend.
• Must be able to speak and hear well. 
• Good vision is imperative. 
• Occasionally required to stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl. 
• Employee will be required to lift and/or move up to 25 pounds without assistance.

Expectations for All Para Los Niños Staff 

Candidates for employment at a Para Los Niños, regardless of position, will consistently demonstrate the following:

• Unwavering belief in and commitment to fulfill the mission of Para Los Niños.
• Deep commitment to the success of all PLN students and families.
• Commitment to excellence and high standards -- for self, students, and colleagues.
• Continuous learning by engaging in reflection, self-assessment, and individual professional development.
• Use of data to inform decisions and drive continuous improvement.
• Ability to thrive as a member of a collaborative team.
• Self-motivation and initiative with solutions-oriented disposition.
• Belief in and ability to develop respectful relationship with parents and children marked by sensitivity to the students’ cultural and socioeconomic characteristics.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Ability to effectively handle challenging situations.
• Comfort with basic Microsoft Office applications and a curiosity and propensity to push own adoption of new technology and approaches.
• Regular, punctual attendance and professional appearance.

Para Los Niños is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer

It is the established policy of Para Los Niños (PLN) to provide equal employment and advancement opportunities to all qualified applicants and employees without discrimination with regard to race, religious belief (including dress or grooming practices), color, sex, sex stereotype, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions (including breast feeding), age, national origin (including possessing a driver’s license issued under Vehicle Code § 12801.9), ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identification and expression, transgender status, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic characteristics, genetic information, family care, marital status, enrollment in any public assistance program, status as military, a veteran or qualified disabled veteran, status as an unpaid intern or volunteer, or any other classification protected by law. PLN also prohibits discrimination based on the perception that anyone has any of those characteristics or is associated with a person who has or is perceived as having any of those characteristics.