Talent Search Counselor

General Requirements:

1.  Education:        A Bachelor’s Degree in education, social work, related field, or any acceptable combination

of education and experience.  Experience may be substituted for college education based on a ratio of two years’ experience for one year of college.

1.  Experience:     Two years of experience in working with disadvantaged youth in promoting educational 

                             opportunities, admissions, and financial aid counseling.  Experience in diagnostic testing

                           testing and data processing.  Experience in documentation and accountability.

1.  Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

Must have good organizational skills and the ability to work with minimum supervision.  Ability to demonstrate sensitivity in communicating with students and/or individuals from diverse social, economic, ethnic, academic, and cultural backgrounds like that of other Trio Programs, such as the Upward Bound.

Specific Responsibilities:

• Responsible for identifying, recruiting, screening, enrolling, and providing services to 220 – 240 high school/middle school eligible project participants (grades 6 - 12) in target area schools with the potentials to pursue a post-secondary education. Also, responsible for the evaluation and assessment of each student’s eligibility for services. 

• Responsible for designing, coordinating, and implementing student delivery services to participants at partnering high/middle schools (face-to-face classroom or virtual settings). 

• Maintain records of all ETS participants for case manage purposes and for data entry into Trio Blumen software system. Responsible for documentation and keeping a list of services rendered to each participant.

• Provide workshops to encourage and support the participants’ school persistence, but not limited to, workshops such as study skills, bullying, self-esteem, self-awareness, individual/academic counseling, and other counseling sessions in-person or through virtual platforms.

• Motivates, encourage, and help participants to complete a rigorous secondary school program of study and help them to graduate in the standard number of years and pursue a post-secondary educational program of study.

• Provide guidance and connections to high quality academic tutoring, mentoring, and academic advisement to ensure students’ persistence in secondary and post-secondary education.

• Provide students with information about educational opportunities, financial aid/literacy, career exploration,

college choices and majors, PSAT, SAT, ACT and all other standardized exams needed for college entrance. 

• Responsible for helping senior project participants to select a post-secondary educational institution that meets the needs of the participant, assist them with completion of all college admissions applications, federal financial aid forms (FAFSA, ACG, SMART, etc.), scholarship applications, and writing letters of recommendations for students to ensure they are successfully enrolled into college.  Responsible also for follow-up of former Talent Search Program participants until college graduation.

• Organize, coordinate, supervise, and chaperon all ETS student field trips, college visits, and all cultural activities, along with the Lead Counselor and under the supervision of the ETS Program Director.

• Conduct or assist with Financial Aid Workshops, Parent Nights at target area schools and community fairs.

• Compile and submit monthly ETS Reports to the ETS Program Director by the 5th working day of each month.

• Assist with gathering student data from target area schools to compile Agency’s Annual Talent Search Performance Report to the U.S. Department of Education.

• Attends monthly staff meetings, conferences, seminars, and trainings to maintain current knowledge of Trio regulations and updates from the U.S. Department of Education, as well as agency’s policies and procedures.

• Perform other related duties as assigned by the Program DirectorApplications are on our website www.myactionpact.org and emailed to hr@myactionpact.org. Deadline to appli is June 19,2023