Who we are

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Across the country, college completion rates are abysmal. In our home state of California, just over a quarter of the students that enroll at a state university (CSU) campus graduate within four years. Of students who do graduate from college, around four in 10 end up underemployed in a first job. Traditionally underserved populations — like working students, students of color, parent learners, and those who are first in their families to attend college — disproportionately suffer.

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We think this status quo is unacceptable. Rivet School is college built for real life — a new type of college experience designed from the ground up to support traditionally underserved students. Rivet School students earn an accredited, affordable, job-relevant bachelor’s degree in as little as 2-3 years.

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Rivet School is a fast-growing nonprofit currently supporting ~200 students across California, and aiming to grow to 800 students by 2026. We’re a tight-knit, supportive, and diverse team of 20.

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Why we need you

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Over the last three years, we’ve been experimenting with small scale pilots to bring our core program (which was designed for working adults) to a younger demographic of recent high school graduates, 18 - 22 years old. We call this our Bridge program, a cohort-based experience that leads students through a structured curriculum covering topics from time management to imposter syndrome to effective study habits. Based on our organization’s success and early learning from Bridge pilots, we now have an exciting opportunity to expand our program through an embedded partnership with Da Vinci Schools in Los Angeles.

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We are seeking our first-ever LA-based College Coach, who will be instrumental to getting our Bridge program up and running, and will eventually help expand the program to more communities across LA. As a College Coach, you’ll work directly with Shelly Gleason, our Senior Program Manager. Your responsibilities will need to evolve as we grow this new program, but will start with a focus on both coaching and program coordination.

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Coach Bridge students toward degree completion (~60% of your capacity)

• In year one, you’ll likely start working with a single cohort of 10 - 20 students. For this group, you’ll lead weekly in-person cohort meetings, and facilitate other community-building events. In addition, you’ll support each Bridge student with 1:1 coaching (both virtual and in-person). In this capacity, you’ll play a number of roles, including academic tutor, problem-solver, confidante, and goal-setter.
• You will track student progress using data and progress monitoring, proactively supporting students as unexpected challenges arise. To do this work well, you’ll need to balance many competing factors, including patience with academic progress and empathy with high expectations.
• After year one, you may run up to 3 cohorts (groups of 15 - 20, up to 50 students total) at Da Vinci Schools and at other schools in Los Angeles.

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Program coordination with school partners (~40 % of your capacity)

• As our LA-based point of contact, you will be a key liaison between Rivet School and our first school partner, Da Vinci Schools. You will maintain relationships with Da Vinci staff through regular meetings to share feedback, updates, and learnings.
• You’ll also be responsible for running the day-to-day operations of the Bridge program. This will mean planning and preparing for cohort meetings each week, and revising and updating curriculum as necessary.
• In addition, you’ll work with our Career team to help implement career supports, as well as facilitate community building and bonding events with the cohort. To do this well, you’ll need to have tight organization and event planning chops to manage important day to day changes.

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Who you are

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Characteristics & qualities

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You believe all students are whole people with complex lives, and you believe anyone can succeed with the right support and environment. You understand that our current education system discriminates against low-income people and people of color in systematic ways, and you want to be part of changing outcomes.

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You love connecting with people and building community. When interacting with others, you listen first, then speak. You have keen emotional intelligence, and are attuned to people’s needs. You are comfortable facilitating groups, and speaking and presenting in front of others. You are passionate about supporting students to reach their personal and professional goals, and bringing them together to create a connected, unique college experience.

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You enjoy the process of turning something from idea to reality. You are organized, detail-oriented, proactive and adaptable. You are comfortable with navigating ambiguity, making decisions on the fly, and managing last-minute changes that are a natural part of event planning and program coordination.

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You jump at the chance to solve problems collaboratively. You aren’t afraid to share feedback, and seek it out consistently to advance your own personal and professional growth.

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You are comfortable with an independent role based in Los Angeles, connecting with team members based in Northern California remotely and your manager both virtually and in-person (at a decided frequency).

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Our Core Value Expectations

• Not Yet: You’re open & receptive to feedback, acknowledging gaps and taking steps to correct them.
• No BS: You are honest, communicative, and balance competing interests appropriately, and help foster an environment in which the full team can do the same.
• We are the Riveters: You treat Fellows (our students) and team members as whole people with whole lives and do not shame team members or fellows for falling short of expectations.
• Own the Journey: You adopt a low-ego, self-responsible approach to work and collaboration, taking accountability for mistakes and proactively seeking solutions to challenges.

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Work experience and background

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You have 2-3 years of experience mentoring, coaching, or teaching people from diverse backgrounds. Bonus points if you have a background teaching high school students.

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You have experience in lesson-planning, curriculum design, and/or implementing academic support programs. You know how to break down difficult concepts and make them easy to understand. You know how to make content engaging for students, and can refine and improve curriculum accordingly.

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You are a community builder. You have experience either in your personal or professional life, bringing people together to connect over shared experiences, and feel seen, heard and supported. This might be leading an affinity group, facilitating community dialogues, organizing volunteers, or running workshops. You understand the nuances of group dynamics and can navigate differences to create a sense of cohesion, camaraderie and connection.

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You are a keen communicator, writer, and presenter. You know how to adapt to different audiences and environments, whether it’s a 1:1 meeting with a student or a group cohort meeting.

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You have solid skills in event planning and program coordination. You’ve planned events, workshops, or programs that required you to meet multiple deadlines and collaborate with others. You have experience interpreting data (both qualitative and quantitative) to inform your work.

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You have experience creating flawless deliverables, whether in school, at work, or in your personal life. These could include presentations, email communications, reports, event itineraries & logistics, and/or spreadsheet trackers.

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In general, we define “work experience” broadly, and we care as much about work experience as we do your character, potential, and belief in our mission of building a better college experience for low-income and working students.

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We do not absolutely require a Bachelor’s degree, but we do view it as an asset. Rivet School also supports staff members without a BA on their pathway to earning a college degree. We also are particularly enthusiastic about candidates who share proximity to our learners — candidates who worked while attending college, attended a community college en route to a BA, were an adult or parent learner, or in some other way deviated from the so-called “traditional” pathway.

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Why you should apply

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As a College Coach, you’ll have the unique opportunity of bringing our first-ever LA based Bridge program to life. You’ll use your community building, program coordination and emotional intelligence to increase access to higher education and, more broadly, to economic opportunity.

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Here’s what a few current students have to say about their Coach and Rivet School’s programs:

The support I get from my Coach has been life-changing.

The way the program is built makes it easier to balance work, life, and school without feeling overwhelmed while allowing you to move as quickly or slowly as needed.

The commitment of my Coach is beyond me, and it makes me so grateful that even when I feel like giving up, I have my Coach to give me those pep talks and put plans into action.

This program is a great resource and I hope it’s around for years to come. Without it I wouldn’t be able to go back to school and get a degree.

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We’re committed to helping you achieve your professional and learning goals, so expect to grow. This will be really hard…but also (based on our first-hand experience) really fun.

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The nitty gritty

• Target start date: Tuesday 6/20/23
• This is a full-time role based in Los Angeles, CA with flexible hours and location. For this role, you will be required to travel to the El Segundo area 2 - 3 times per week to run in–person cohort sessions. We are not open to fully remote candidates for this role.
• Because many of our students work during the day, cohort and coaching sessions will often happen in the late afternoon or evening. You should expect to work shifted hours (for instance, 11am - 7pm) up to 3 days per week.
• We do mandate proof of vaccination against COVID-19 for employment, to be submitted at the time of offer acceptance.
• We offer comprehensive health benefits (medical, dental, and vision), including 50% premium support for spouses and dependents.
• We offer 32 days of PTO per year (15 days of PTO and 17 recognized holidays), plus 10 wellness days and generous leave policies (parental leave, bereavement, etc.).
• We assess candidates using pre-set questions and evaluate each step in the hiring process against a pre-set rubric. The steps in this hiring process are as follows: Initial application form (below), phone screen (30 minutes), video interview (60 minutes), performance task (90 minutes), final-round interview (3 hours), and reference checks. While we reserve the right to adjust this process, we’re committed to holding all candidates to the same process and sharing updates as soon as possible.
• At Rivet School, we use a competency-based hiring and leveling framework to ensure equity and fairness in promotions and compensation. For this position, we are open to candidates with a wider variety of experience levels. The associated salary range for these levels is $67,750 - $82,000.

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As an equal opportunity employer, Rivet School is committed to providing employment opportunities to all qualified individuals and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, marital status, veteran status, pregnancy, parental status, genetic information or characteristics, or any other basis prohibited by applicable law.

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