Director of Jewish Student Life

Ohio University Hillel

Role Overview

Make your mark on Jewish student life by joining Ohio University Hillel as the Director of Jewish Student Life. You will build one on one relationships with students, host awesome events around campus, and help inspire students to make a commitment to Jewish life. You’ll use your stellar communication and active listening skills to develop relationships with students less engaged and help them map a path to create a Jewish story that’s relevant and exciting for them. 

You’ll be excellent in this role if you can’t leave the coffee line without chatting with the person next to you and have an infectious curiosity about the world. In this role, you’ll use data to map areas of campus that are less connected and create strategies to develop new markets. You’ll identify students that have common interests using your ability to network and build coalitions.  You’ll meet students, university partners, and other stakeholders on campus, as well as throughout the close knit small town of Athens, where you’re likely to run into a few alumni visiting beautiful Athens, Ohio. 

You will join a small and mighty team of staff and student leaders with a focus on professional development and overall success. As Director of Jewish Student Life, you’ll spend your days being genuinely excited and enthusiastic about creating an inviting place that inspires students to explore, experience, and create vibrant Jewish lives. 

What You’ll Do

• Meet with students from different cohorts and demographics on campus to engage them, identify their interests and connect to opportunities
• Map out a plan to strategically build one on one relationships with at least 180 students currently not engaged in Jewish life
• Collaborate with students and colleagues to develop and manage Birthright recruitment, staffing and follow-through
• Plan and facilitate weekly student leader meeting, various committee meetings and events
• Supervise and mentor student leaders who are responsible for engaging their peers in Jewish life on campus
• Execute a plan for staff and student leaders to reach our organizational goals for student engagement, using engagement as a vehicle to provide a meaningful experience for students and a gateway to becoming involved in Jewish life 

What You’ll Bring to the Job

• 1-3 years’ professional work experience
• Bachelor's degree
• Strong entrepreneurial spirit. Things may not always go according to plan and you must be willing to take risks and learn from your wins as well as your losses.
• Confidence initiating and running programs, and comfort asking questions.
• Ability to collaborate across teams both inside and outside of Hillel.
• Willingness to admit what you don’t know, and excitement to learn in those areas.
• Creative problem-solving.
• Excitement to continue developing your own relationship to Judaism

What You’ll Receive

• Competitive salary in the nonprofit marketplace. The salary range for this role is $45,000 - $50,000
• A comprehensive benefits package, including health insurance, retirement plan, Life, AD&D and Long Term Disability (LTD) insurances, Flexible Spending accounts, generous vacation/sick time, and parental leave.
• Great professional development, mentoring, and skill building opportunities
• Travel regionally and abroad, particularly to Israel (*Only include if applicable)
• Plenty of Hillel and university schwag

About Ohio University Hillel

Hillel at Ohio University was first established in the late 1930s and has a rich history of serving the approximate 350 Jewish students on campus and the Athens Jewish community. Ohio University is in Athens, OH, approximately 75 miles from Columbus, OH. Ohio University draws students from across Ohio and the eastern seaboard seeking a high-quality education in a beautiful rural campus setting. Located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, Athens is a quintessential college town with a vibrant music and art scene and many opportunities for outdoor activities.

You’ll enjoy small town living where you can meet and interact with students and community members at local quaint coffee shops or “schmooze” with them amidst the pretty campus greenery that is just steps from Hillel. 

Hillel at Ohio University is affiliated with Hillel International. Hillel International enriches the lives of Jewish students so they may enrich the Jewish people and the world, and envisions a world where every student is inspired to make an enduring commitment to Jewish life, learning and Israel.

About Life in Athens, Ohio

Athens is a quintessential college town with a vibrant music and art and “foodie” scene. The University provides a Performing Arts Series as well as a myriad of cultural programs and activities. In addition, it offers a Division One intercollegiate athletic program. If outdoor pursuits is your thing, there is a nine-mile bike path along the river that runs through the campus as well as numerous trails for hiking and biking. Athens has one of the ten best rated Farmers Markets in the Midwest where five minutes of shopping easily turns into three hours of "hanging out" every week, regardless of the weather. Learn more about Ohio University Hillel at www.ohiohillel.org.