To make our vision of ending educational inequity a reality, Teach For America must connect and engage our 3000 alumni. In order to maximize on the leadership of our full alumni base we must provide spaces and experiences for our alumni to come together to feel connected, valued, and empowered. Our alumni are critical agents of change and in the Chicago-Northwest Indiana region and we know their ability to stay in Chicago and continue to impact change is hinged on the extent to which they feel valued, connected, and tapped for their unique leadership potential.
The Manager, Alumni Talent Support will play an integral role in ensuring that we are executing on a strong vision and direction for network engagement and early career pathways. The Manager, Alumni Talent Support is responsible for managing our strategy and programming connected to new alumni engagements as well as our alumni who are transitioning to our region annually. The person in this role will partner with each member of the Alumni Leadership Team to ensure we have a connected and strategic year-long plan to provide target career resources and support you our alumni base (career networking events, online resources, etc.). This role will support our efforts to ensure we are helping our earliest career alumni in navigating career pathways in our Chicagoland landscape. This will include but is not limited to supporting the transition of our 2nd year corps members as well as annual program fellowships for early career alumni and executing on one on one alumni career pathway conversations. Additionally, this role will play an execution and support role in ensuring that we are cultivating stewards in our non-education based alumni by managing tools and opportunities for those alumni to get involved in volunteering, mentoring, etc. and act as a point person for any non-education alumni connections or events.
The Manager, Alumni Talent Support is a member of the Alumni Leadership Team and reports to the Director, Alumni Talent Support.
Program Management & Design (35%)
- Alongside the D, Alumni Talent create and execute on a vision and metrics that support early and new alumni engagement and career path clarity.
- Manage the execution and design of annual alumni career pathway fellowships. Including but not limited to our Work on Purpose Fellowship and our Alumni Social Innovation Fellowship.
- Manage and design annual programing to support alumni career attainment. Including but not limited to two annual career networking and hiring events.
- Manage and design annual programming to support 2CM and new to regional alumni clarity around alumni Chicagoland career pathways, programs, and partnerships. Including but not limited to designing workshops for 2CM leadership summits and hosting new to region alumni webinars and events.
- Support the D, Alumni Talent in management and execution of alumni leadership programming and resources for non-school based alumni.
Early Career Support & Engagement (45%)
- Manage a portfolio of recent and rising alumni (2CMs) to execute on 1x1 and small group engagements to ensure our early career alumni area career on alumni pathways, tools, resources, and programming. This will include but not be limited to executing annually on 300-400 targeted 1x1 career pathway meetings.
- Serve as a constant connector of alumni to alumni, and alumni to resources which will support their leadership trajectory.
- Manage a toolkit of career resources on our online platforms and be responsible for connecting alumni to these tools and resources.
- Manage our communications and engagements with new to region alumni. Including but not limited to virtual resources and tools, regional onboarding calls, etc.
- Be the liaison and initial connection point for alumni who are interested in social innovation and connect and refer them to the appropriate members and partners in our network. This includes referring alumni to our current social innovation network and in-house coach and managing these relationships.
Team Responsibilities (10%)
- Prepare for and lead check ins with your manager around progress toward your goals and your ongoing development
- Coordinate with members of the Program team to ensure clarity of vision and alignment across corps members and alumni experience milestones and outcomes
- Collaborate with members of the Program team to execute against collective team goals and support the administration of regional and national initiatives (alumni survey, etc.)
- Consistently track and maintain updated data in our TFACT database to ensure accuracy of information about alumni instructional leaders and clear reporting on programmatic outcomes
- Partner with Teach For America’s national organization to leverage leadership development opportunities for alumni teachers facilitated by the national organization
Collective Responsibilities (10%)
- Fulfill foundational responsibilities that allow our region to do our work, make decisions, grow as professionals, and strengthen our team culture, including but not limited to attending regional meetings, operating with our Core Values and commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusiveness, completing our performance management cycle, and upholding our data management, office operations, and fiscal responsibilities
- Make a direct impact on the organizational mission of enlisting, developing and mobilizing leaders to strengthen the movement for educational equity by participating in corps member selection (6-10 days total plus preparation and close out time), matriculation (up to six windows across the year), member-facing events (corps member Induction), alumni survey, and other initiatives that impact our members and partners
- Experience managing large cross team projects
- Experience managing relationships with multiple stakeholders
- Experience in building strong rapport with individuals and small-groups
- Experience designing and executing strong, outcomes-based programming and large-scale events
- 4+ years of relevant work experience
Building Relationships and Influencing Others
- Building Relationships & Networks: Ability to manage key relationships to set mutual goals and pilot and implement programming for our alumni and build rapport quickly with individuals and small groups
- Communicating Effectively: Demonstrates a growing ability to engage with alumni, via phone, email, and in-person meetings, in order to assess current leadership opportunities and make strong referrals on behalf of members
Operating and Managing
- Operating, Planning, & Executing: Ability to organize, plan, and execute high quality programming for alumni within stated program timelines and objectives. Able to maintain up-to-date program data and monitor progress toward collective deadlines
Reasoning and Strategic Thinking
- Making Decisions & Demonstrating Judgement: Demonstrates an ability to utilize available data and context to channel and refer alumni to the appropriate program, person, organization, or resources
- Synthesizing, Integrating, & Developing Strategies: Ability to organize and develop resources, tools, and strategies connected to the engagement of early career alumni and new to region alumni
Work Demands:
- Occasional evening and weekends are required
- Limited overnight travel required to attend Teach For America conferences (expenses paid for by Teach For America)