Every week, I dive into job boards from coast to coast, scanning roles in career education, experiential learning, and student services. And every week, I think the same thing: Our institutions are making this way more complicated than it needs to be.
I’ve had a bit of a hodgepodge career, from car sales (yup, straight out of university with a history degree in hand) to business management (I loved Enterprise!) and training and development. Talent acquisition. Work-integrated learning (on the industry partnerships side). Back to recruitment. Then came organizational design and behaviour; leadership in career and experiential education, and a deep dive into strengths-based philosophies and how teams work. Then President & CEO of a national WIL organization, all while building strategic plans, mission statements, and eventually, because why not, starting not one, but two companies, including a co-working space.
It’s a mouthful, I know. But what do all these experiences have in common?
Work.
How we get work. How we do work. How we structure work. How we teach work. How we lead people doing work. How we strategize work. Who we choose for our work. What does our work mean?. How to be our best at work. And now, how we make space for work to happen better. I think you get the point.
At this point, if someone asked for my elevator pitch, I’d say:
“Hi, I’m Cara. I’m an expert on work.”
Which is why it’s baffling that even I have trouble figuring out what specific jobs in post-secondary institutions actually do, just by looking at their job titles.
Labels Matter
In the book I’m writing (halfway done!), I reflect on the labels we give ourselves, such as titles, departments, and job functions, and how those labels shape our identity and behaviour.
When I was building a department from scratch at Brock, I spent weeks obsessing over what to name it. This is when I was in HR working on organizational design. We landed on “Co-op, Career & Experiential Education,” with very intentional wording. No Oxford comma (my Brock colleagues are laughing right now), because “education” wasn’t just tagged on; it applied to all three areas. Co-op education. Career education. Experiential education. That one word shifted how we saw ourselves and how others saw us.
We weren’t a “service.” We were educators. We weren’t there just to fix resumes or run workshops. We were there to teach lifelong skills in career development, reflection, and readiness. Our behaviours shifted because our identity did. That’s the power of a name.
Job Titles Should Mean Something
When I started in the space, I honestly can’t remember what my title was. I do remember Cindy hiring me and saying, “Just pick something.” (Classic Cindy.) But I’ll never forget the moment I got a letter while on maternity leave saying my new title was now Senior Relationship Manager. I remember looking at the title and thinking, ‘Interesting.’ Then I had a friend ask me, “Do you work at a retirement matchmaking service?”
And that’s the thing. If a job title doesn’t help someone outside the org know what you do, is it helping anyone inside the org do better work?
As someone who has spent more than 25 years obsessing over how people work, I can tell you: unclear titles, clunky org charts, and siloed departments are not helping.
When I scan the job boards, I often see roles with overlapping responsibilities, employer engagement, community partnerships, and industry liaisons, all split across different units with different names. Student success teams are chasing the same students that co-op teams are trying to reach. Academic advisors working in parallel with career educators. Everyone working hard. But the systems, and the workload, make it difficult to be working together in a cohesive, efficient way.
And what does that mean for students, employers, or partners trying to navigate it all?
Well, we’ve raised a generation that solves problems with a Google search. If they can’t find the right person or service at your institution in under 30 seconds, you’ve already lost them.
Form Follows Function
One of the first principles of good organizational design is: form follows function. However, too often in higher education, our structures follow historical trends, funding models, or internal politics.
Instead, what if we asked:
- Which functions truly support our students, partners, and communities?
- Where are we duplicating effort?
- How can titles, team names, and structures clarify, not confuse?
What if we stopped designing for bureaucracy and started designing for belonging, clarity, and impact?
A Quick Look Ahead
In the meantime, I’ve curated a list of some of the most recent jobs in our field, roles that are shaping the future of work, education, and partnership. You’ll find them below.
I’ll also be at the CEWIL Canada Conference next week in Hamilton, presenting with our partners at the University of Lethbridge on the plan we developed for career and experiential education. Looking forward to learning from all of you and seeing what job titles spark some new thoughts (and maybe a few laughs).
Atlantic
- Guidance Counsellor (Online) – College of the North Atlantic (NFLD)
Apply here | Closes: June 16, 2025
Ontario
- Student Development Officer (2-year term) – U of T Mississauga
Apply here | Closes: June 17, 2025
- Business Development Coordinator – Queen’s University
Apply here | Closes: June 17, 2025
- Career Educator and Coach (International Students) – Queen’s University
Apply here | Closes: June 12, 2025
- Program Manager – DeGroote School of Business (McMaster)
Apply here | Closes: June 24, 2025
- Professional Development & Graduate Internship Coordinator – Sprott School of Business (Carleton)
Apply here | Closes: June 18, 2025
- Experiential Learning Coordinator – Limited Term – Ontario Tech
Apply here | Closes: June 25, 2025
- Co-op Coordinator – Trent University
Apply here | Closes: June 19, 2025
- Career and Student Success Advisor – Humber College
Apply here | Closes: June 20, 2025
- Employment Solutions Advisor – Initiatives/Opportunities – Canadore College
Apply here | Closes: June 16, 2025
Prairies
- Career Consultant – University of Manitoba
Apply here | Closes: June 18, 2025
- Student Affairs and Career Advising Coordinator – University of Saskatchewan
Apply here | Closes: July 8, 2025
- Associate Vice President, Student Services – Saskatchewan Polytechnic
Apply here | Closes: Not listed
- Associate Director, Business Collision – University of Regina
Apply here | Closes: June 23, 2025
British Columbia
- WIL Administrator – NorQuest College (yes, in AB, but relevant to BC connections)
Apply here | Closes: June 24, 2025
- Student Development and Leadership Coordinator – UBC
Apply here | Closes: June 23, 2025
- Experiential Education Coordinator – UBC
Apply here | Closes: June 19, 2025
