Spotlight for Career Services Professionals

Although the average salaries for career center directors and associate directors were highest among all career services positions, individual salaries for these positions also ranged more widely based on school types, according to NACE’s 2016-17 Career Services Compensation Report.

Overall, directors earned an average starting salary of $75,058. On average, directors at doctoral universities earned the most—particularly at R1 and R2 institutions as defined by Carnegie Classification—while directors at smaller institutions earned markedly less. The differential between the highest and lowest averages by school type was 52.5 percent (about $39,000)—the widest margin by school type for any position.

Meanwhile, salaries for associate directors overall averaged $64,381. While associate directors at R1 and R2 institutions did earn the most, their average salaries—unlike those of directors—were not huge leaps ahead of those at smaller institutions. The differential between the highest and lowest averages by school type was 38.7 percent (about $23,000).

At $51,995, the average salary of assistant directors also exceeded $50,000. The next group—including employer relations coordinators ($45,795), information technology coordinators ($45,031), career counselors ($44,533), and internship coordinators ($44,360)—all had average salaries clustered in the mid-$40,000 range.

Directors and associate directors both averaged a decade of experience, followed by information technology coordinators (seven years), and assistant directors and internship coordinators (both at six years).

NACE’s 2016-17 Career Services Compensation Report survey was conducted among NACE college members from September 21, 2016, until January 20, 2017. It was sent to 1,900 institutions; responses were received from 729 member institutions—a 38.4 percent response rate. The 2016-17 Career Services Compensation Report is available to members through MyNACE.

Figure 1: Average Salary and Years of Experience by Position