Jon Schlesinger was appointed as the new Director of the Hiatt Career Center, according to an email sent out to the Brandeis community by Raymond Lu Ming Ou, the Vice President of Student Affairs. Schlesinger served as the Interim Director of Hiatt Career Center before being appointed as director of the center.
According to the email, Schlesinger will “lead Hiatt’s teams whose scope includes career development, employer relations, alumni engagement and marketing.” He also provides a “personalized approach working with students and alumni to discover and explore their major and career interests,” according to the Hiatt website.
The Hiatt Career Center is a resource offered to current students and alumni to help develop their skills and to create professional futures and relationships, according to the Hiatt Career Center’s page. Students are able to seek professional help from the Hiatt Career Center through discovery tools, internship and job opportunities, mentorships, networking help and other professional events.
According to the email, Schlesinger is a “nationally recognized leader in career services and is a sought-after speaker and facilitator.” Some of his focuses include data analytics and career development theory. His job includes “day-to-day operations, career development, employer relations, alumni engagement and marketing,” according to the website.
In addition to his other roles on campus, Schlesinger teaches the internship class (INT 89a/b), an undergraduate 2-credit course offered to all majors in the fall and spring. Schlesinger is a StrengthsQuest educator, MBTI facilitator, as well as a certified career counselor, according to his LinkedIn page.
He has published multiple papers on the topic of career development, including “Undergraduate Student Career Development and Career Center Services: Faculty Perspectives,” “How to score an internship during the COVID-19 pandemic,” “Chaos Theory of Careers & Designing Your Life,” “Applying the Chaos Theory of Careers as a Framework for College Career Centers,” “Career Development Models For the 21st Century” and “Implementing a New Career Development Theory: A Case Study.”
Schlesinger has won several awards, including the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) Career Services Excellence Award in 2020, National Career Development Association (NCDA) Exemplary Career Center in 2019 and NCDA Career Developments Article of the Year in 2019, according to his LinkedIn. The NACE Career Services Excellence Award is awarded for excellence in career services, according to the NACE website. The NCDA recognizes individuals with these awards for their influence on career development, according to their website.
Schlesinger joined the Hiatt Career Center in 2015 as a member of the Career Development Team. In 2020 he was named interim director. According to the email, “during his time at Brandeis, Jon [Schlesinger] has led the Hiatt Career Center to win two national awards.”
Schlesinger has an M.Ed. in counseling from DePaul University, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Architectural Studies from the University of Kansas. Throughout his career, Schlesinger has worked in career centers in other higher education institutions including at the University of Colorado as Assistant Director for Strategic Planning and Communication, at Northwestern University as a Career Counselor and at the University of Florida as an Assistant Director of Career Development.
