Ivette Mekdessi, M.Ed. Email & Phone Number

Houston, Tx, Us

Houston, Texas, United States

LEADER• Lead and supervise the career development and counseling staff, including fostering a collaborative team, ensuring appropriate staff training, coaching and assignment of team responsibilities, delegating work assignments, managing and coordinating hiring and development activities for the team, setting expectations, and managing performance• Provide ongoing leadership to the counseling staff, including but not limited to setting yearly career education/workshop schedule, guiding team through the strategic planCOLLABORATOR• Collaborate with the director of Employer Engagement and Design Learning in guiding the CCD to meet its objectives• Maintain contact and exchange information with employers as needed• Represent Rice Center for Career Development at professional associations and meetings• Conduct educational / informational sessions for faculty, staff, alumni, and prospective students and parentsSTRATEGIC PLANNER• Produce progress reports on program initiatives and counseling metrics• Oversee the development, delivery and management of career-related programming, including career counseling and career assessment administration and interpretation; internship / cooperative education programs; specializedoutreach programs designed to heighten students' awareness of careers, job fairs and information fairsCAREER COACH• Deliver comprehensive career exploration and career planning services / programs to students and alumni• Provide presentations to student groups and classes on career development issues• Provide individual and/or group career counseling

Houston, Tx

LEADER• Lead the Rice Internship Council; creating, collaborating, and executing a strategic vision to centralize and disseminate information about experiential learning at Rice, uniting 155 campus partners• Build connections with students, alumni, faculty, and staff administrators to identify areas of improvement and reach mutual consensus to improve access to center resources including co-founding Rice-TMC Experiential Education (REEN) group• Co-lead office-wide strategic plan creation and roll-outCOLLABORATOR• Collaborate with faculty to create customized assignments, embedding career development in all stages of the student experience• Promote the CCD’s initiatives and mission, rolling out CCD Liaison Plan to all staff, including messaging updates, check-in, assessment and accountability systems• Design, coordinate, and facilitate tailored career planning programs including Business Etiquette LunchSTRATEGIC PLANNER• Gather and analyze data, regularly present progress updates to peers and constituents in meetings via oral presentation and written report• Create, curate, and provide materials for our team of exempt individual contributors to successfully optimize work completion with a focus on equitable access and inclusion• Work independently and act as a resource for colleagues with less experience, resolving problems where no precedence existsCAREER COACH• Coach clients in career development (exploring majors/careers to applying and securing internships / employment / graduate school), completing 4,300+ 1-on-1 appointments• Administer individual and group assessment interpretations (Strong Interest Inventory, Myers Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI), Focus 2), helping clients develop and refine realistic strategies for career success• Track student progress and maintain positive post appointment and event survey feedback• Research and report best practices of career counseling regularly, presenting findings in team meetings

Houston, Tx

CAREER COACH • Counsel clients in career development (explore majors/careers to apply & secure internships/employment/graduate school), completing 4,300+ 1-on-1 appointments• Administer individual & group assessment interpretations: Strong Interest Inventory, Myers Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI), & Focus 2• Help clients develop & refine realistic strategies for career success• Maintain positive post appointment & event survey feedbackPROGRAM MANAGER• Coordinated & facilitated 232 customized workshops/events, devising new curriculum & engaging with 14,000+ students & alumni • Co-managed & restructured Peer Career Advising program, increasing size & engagement levels by 200%• Reviewed & assessed past, co-created new strategic plan & co-lead goal implementationRELATIONSHIP MANAGER• Collaborate with team of 11 in weekly meetings, assisting with projects as-needed• Represent CCD in professional associations: National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), National Career Development Association (NCDA)• Create & maintain strong inter-organizational relationships with diverse constituents, serve as a liaison to offices & create programming for target: departments (student success, writing & communication, student activities, admissions, academic advising, alumni relations, athletics), populations (international, under-represented, graduate students), schools (humanities, social sciences, music)DATA ANALYST• Assess & review ongoing work, streamlining & improving workflow • Produce metrics progress reports using Excel, summarizing findings via slides & written reports • Research & report best practices regularly, presenting findings in meetings• Presented team accomplishments at biannual board meetingsRESOURCE MANAGER • Update & create new career development resources, adhering to branding guidelines• Meet with vendors & negotiate contracts of technology software• Created, launched & edited new website, co-managing student web developer intern

Remote

Committee Co-Chair Aug 2021 - Present - Nominated to offer leadership for a working committee of 40 career professionals across the nation- Develop a plan of work and budget, communicating with president-elect and NCDA Board liaison- Appoint co-leads of 4 separate project-based sub-teams (Research, Resources, Social Media, and Mini-Conference)- Provide support and communicate with co-leads to track the progress of projects and with all members via bimonthly meetings - Write 2 reports annually to summarize team accomplishments over the year, including timeline of activities, budgets, and their benefits to the association- Present best practices at webinars and national conferences Mini-Conference Team - Marketing LeadJan 2021 - Aug 2021- Leveraged existing social media channels (NCDA website and calendar, LinkedIn group, and YouTube page) to market to existing national association and committee members- Created and shared marketing strategy and timeline with peers and branded marketing materials including fliers, email and social media communications, and slides Social Media Team Co-leadSep 2020 - Aug 2021- Managed and increased reach of and activity in social media accounts including LinkedIn group of 500+ and YouTube page - Defined newly formed group’s goals and operations strategy- Facilitated a team SWOT analysis to identify themes and focus areas - Delegated responsibilities, monitored work, and regularly interacted with team members- Centralized and disseminated information, creating a shared digital resource guide for COVID related resources Resource Guide Team Co-leadSep 2019 - Aug 2020- Oversaw 3 subject matter experts on revamp of student advising and counseling resources - Conducted literary reviews of publications on counseling and support, ethics and competencies, and assessment resources- Synthesized research findings, compiling written report with relevant sources and summaries

Houston, Tx

• Counseled and advised students on career exploration, indecision, development, planning, and decision-making• Empowered students and alumni to utilize various job search strategies and develop employability skills• Conducted assessment interpretations of MBTI, Strong Interest Inventory, Focus 2, and StrengthsQuest results• Promoted career planning programs around campus by participating in outreach events including: tabling events, career fairs, and presenting workshops outside of the department• Completed approx. 200% of required time in practicum setting and over 380 hours of individually counseling students• Collaborated with staff members and counseling team to develop and implement successful campus-wide programs

Houston, Tx

Sales Excellence InstitutesJan 2011 - May 2011• Researched and reported on interactions between salespeople and their customers • Collected voice recordings and print data in stores across the city and conducted data entry for all participantsDepartment of Industrial/Organizational PsychologyAug 2010 – May 2011• Researched and reported on the development of conditional reasoning tests of conscientiousness and emotional stability• Presented to classrooms ranging of 40-600 students to recruit participants and engage students in the study• Collected 300+ surveys for data and manually conducted data entry into an Excel spreadsheetDepartment of Educational PsychologyJan 2009 - May 2009• Researched and reported on gender roles and the intersection of prevention and social justice• Presented results at Graduate Student Organization Symposium to 45+ attendees• Collaborated with team of 8 in conducting assessments in a laboratory multiple times a weekDepartment of Health Psychology Aug 2008 - May 2009• Researched and reported on linking gender differences in the process of stress overflow from work to family and family to work domains in teacher performance and teacher turnover • Produced weekly progress reports and summaries of data collected and presented to lead researcherDepartment of Industrial/Organizational Psychology Jan 2008 - Dec 2008• Researched and reported in the field of Industrial-Organizational Psychology (centered on employee well-being, job satisfaction and monitoring technology) with the professor and research group of 6 graduate students• Executed literary reviews and data entry, organization, and analysis on SPSS and Excel• Represented research team and findings at 23rd annual Society of Industrial Organization Psychology (SIOP) conference in San Francisco, CA

Coachrice Leadership Coaching Certificate Of Achievement, Leadership Coaching

International Coaching Federation (ICF) Associate Certified Coach (ACC) course and mentor coach training

Master'S Degree, Counseling Psychology

Activities and Societies: American Counseling Association, Houston Psychological Association

Bachelor’S Degree, Bachelor Of Business Administration In Marketing

o Bauer Business Honors Program, The Honors College ---​> Fall 2006 – Spring 2011 o Certificate of Program for Excellence in Sales – Sales.

Bachelor'S Degree, Bachelor Of Science In Psychology

International Baccaleaureate Degree