Interesting job opportunities at Teach For America…they’re seeking Management Consultant types

What’s good, folk. Looks like I’m mkaing up for lost time by making lots of posts in the month of August. I’m in the process of thinking through responses to some reader emails, but this entry isn’t one of those. Instead, it’s an entry to help a fantastic organization with some of its recruiting efforts. They’re looking for Consulting types and I guess I’ve got a good reader following among their target group, so they reached out to me 🙂

A couple of days ago, I received the following email from the Director of Talent Recruitment for Teach for America, Alice G. Many of you have probably heard about TFA, but, if you haven’t, you can find more information about the organization at their website. In short, TFA aims to resolve inequities in education by placing highly-qualified recent college graduates into two-year teaching positions at schools located in communities in need. Their long-term vision is for all kids in the US to have an opportunity to receive a great education, regardless of where they happen to have grown up. I learned quite a bit about TFA during my days in the Education School at Stanford and I’m a HUGE fan of what they’re doing to help kids who need it most. Over the years, I’ve had a couple of friends go through the program as teachers and they all rave about it. As an additional plus, its founder, Wendy Kopp, first proposed the idea for TFA in her senior thesis at Princeton University…that’s right, she’s a fellow Princetonian, so I just HAD to do what I could to help them out.

Anyways, here’s Alice’s email followed by some more text from our email exchange:

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Alice G. wrote:

“Hi Marquis,

I recently came across your blog via a twitter posting by someone in my network. I enjoyed reading your posting about management consultants and I just wanted to reach out and let you know that we currently have a number of opportunities open on staff calling for the management consultant profile. These roles run the gamut in level (ranging from manager to vice president positions). Given your background and professional network I thought I would reach out and make the broad request for you to send great management consultants my way.

In case you want details to share with your network, I have provided some external language below for you to pass along: a brief intro on Teach For America and some short format job descriptions with hyperlinks to our website and the full job descriptions. These only represent a small sampling of the many opportunities for which we are actively seeking management consultants.

Thanks in advance for your consideration of this request and please let me know if you have any great people you think I should speak with. I would love to connect with people in your network.

Best,

Alice”

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After seeing Alice’s email, I forwarded the opportunities to a few folks that I know. Also, I figured that posting them on here might be a good idea, so I apporached her with the idea of doing that and the following is her response:

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AG wrote:

“Hi Marquis,

Thanks so much for your quick response and your willingness to share this with people in your network. I am dying to find talented consultants who are interested in making the move to nonprofit and I would love to connect with any great people you have in your network. It would be AMAZING if you could post these roles on your blog and feel free to flag my contact information. I can’t thank you enough for your willingness to spread the word.

FYI–I am not sure how much you know about us, but one thing I like to flag for people considering the move from the private sector is that we do offer a nice blend of mission focused work (i.e. people find the sense of meaning and reward they may be lacking in for profit work) with a fast-paced and highly efficient operating environment (our president is a former McKinsey partner—we are obsessed with goals and metrics). Essentially I like to call it the “have your cake and eat it too syndrome”, where people can work for something they believe in without sacrificing professional rigor.

OK, I will step down from my soap box now, but if there is any additional information that you desire please do not hesitate to ask.

Thanks so very much!

Alice”

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So, now that you’ve seen the emails from Alice, here is an overview of the organization and some descriptions of some of the open opportunities at Teach for America. If you or anyone in your network is interested in opportunities with TFA, Alice can be reached at the email address linked here.

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Teach For America Overview
Who we are:
Teach For America is the national corps of outstanding college graduates and professionals who commit two years to teach in public schools in the nation’s lowest income communities and become lifelong leaders in expanding educational opportunity. Just as we seek great talent to join the corps and teach, we also need great talent for staff. We seek talented individuals of all backgrounds, with a strong record of achievement in their professional areas, to join our staff and play a critical role in enabling us to reach our ambitious goals. Visit www.teachforamerica.org/careers for a full list of open positions and more information.

How we operate:
Teach For America is a high-growth, outcomes-oriented organization comprised of more than 1,200 staff members who bring a diversity of personal and professional backgrounds to their roles. Our entrepreneurial atmosphere and results-driven approach give staff members both latitude and structure in their work. Within the organization, there are a wide range of roles and teams, all of which operate with an unwavering focus on quantitative measures, a commitment to continuous improvement, and a relentless pursuit of our mission.


Teach For America Opportunities

Vice President, Strategy – Student Achievement Measurement

Teach For America seeks a vice president of student achievement measurement systems to lead the team that is designing, testing, and implementing the next generation of our student achievement measurement system (while maintaining our current system in parallel). The vice president will lead all aspects of our student achievement measurement strategy, including shaping and executing a multi-pronged strategy to get better assessments and related instructional tools in the hands of our corps members, designing and building a new system of metrics and goals to convert these assessment results into actionable data, driving the testing and implementation of the new system, and representing the strategy in interactions with senior internal and external stakeholders. The ideal candidate has a proven track record of building and leading teams in entrepreneurial and highly data-driven environments.


Managing Director, Design

Teach For America is seeking a managing director of design to create and implement robust large scale staff trainings in the areas of operating and managing skills, interpersonal skills, and strategic thinking skills. The managing director will partner with the vice president of organizational effectiveness to determine the vision, parameters, measures of success and workflow around staff related design initiatives and will identify and evaluate promising learning & development activities across the organization, codifying and disseminating best practices as appropriate. This is an excellent opportunity for someone with at least five years of professional work experience and exemplary critical thinking, writing and organizational skills.


Managing Director, Strategy – Student Achievement Measure Analytics

Teach For America seeks a managing director of student achievement measurement system analytics to lead the team that is designing, testing, and implementing the next generation of our student achievement metrics and goals (while maintaining our current system in parallel). The managing director will lead all aspects of the redesign, including framing the critical design choices and their implications, facilitating the decision-making process with regard to these choices, overseeing the construction of the metrics and goals through data collection and analysis, translating the design into concrete policies, and working with others in the organization to test and implement the new system. Experience with student achievement data systems, econometrics/statistics, and/or other highly quantitative performance management systems are all major assets for the role.


Director, Strategy

We are seeking a director, strategy to provide high-level support to the chief people officer. The director of strategy will manage the planning, communications, and operations of the Human Assets’ (HA) senior leadership team and will develop and oversee cross-cutting HA initiatives, working independently and across teams. This position provides a unique opportunity for an individual with superior critical thinking, communication, and relationship-building skills to play a central role in supporting the advancement of the organization’s human assets priorities, gain an in-depth understanding of Teach For America, and prepare for leadership roles throughout the organization. The director of strategy will report directly to the chief people officer.


Director, Applied Research and Analysis

Teach For America is looking for a director of applied research and analysis to partner with leaders of each of our alumni initiatives to conduct data analysis and market segmentation of our alumni population. The director will conduct research that applies rigorous and objective analysis, and will report results using qualitative and/or quantitative techniques. This position will also develop statistical models to support the application of insights to our initiative work. This is a great opportunity for someone with at least three years of professional work experience as well as a Masters degree in Economics, Statistics, Math, Education, Public Policy, Sociology or a related field to increase the effectiveness of our alumni impact.