Teach For America aims to provide an excellent education for all kids, which will require massive system change. We believe that change at this magnitude must be shaped by those most directly impacted by injustice. In 2016, Colorado became one of the first TFA regions in the nation to build an innovative, localized approach to homegrown and diversity recruitment called the Colorado Talent Initiative (CTI) to directly address this need. As a Director on the CTI team, you will create ladders of access to opportunity and build talent pipelines starting as early as 8th grade so the students we teach today can become the classroom, school, and systems-level leaders of tomorrow in Denver, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo. In just two years, the initiative has tripled the diversity of our incoming teacher cohort and set up a successful new fellowship program exclusively for aspiring leaders from Colorado.
The Launch Fellowship is an additional pathway to classroom (and eventually higher level) leadership with three key components: Fellows will (1) learn under the guidance of a master teacher, (2) complete coursework to obtain a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT), and (3) engage in TFA-Colorado programming that offers exposure to systems-level leaders and change. “Launching” officially in 2017, our first two Fellow cohorts have held strong at ~10 participants each year. As the Director of Talent Recruitment and Partnerships, you will have the incredible opportunity to lead the expansion of the Fellowship into its third year, tripling the size of our 2019 cohort to meet the need of our current partners and expand into the Early Childhood Education space in Denver.
The Director, Talent Recruitment and Partnerships will lead a team of three college interns and set vision and direction for the Colorado Talent Initiative’s next phase. You will be the primary leader and driver of our region’s efforts to recruit a diverse incoming corps and implement talent acquisition strategies necessary to scale our Launch Fellowship program to 35 participants in 2019.
- You are extremely organized. You set up strong systems for managing deadlines and leave plenty of time to do high-quality work.
- You are oriented to solve problems. You thrive when given the opportunity to set vision and direction for a project or work stream.
- You take strong ownership of your goals, and are unwavering in your pursuit of success.
- You care deeply about our students and communities. You believe that every child deserves the opportunity to attain an excellent education, and you believe that, with the right approach, we can achieve that vision.
Lead TFA-Colorado’s 2019 corps and Launch Fellow recruitment campaigns (60%)
- Manage three part-time college interns (CTI Campus Campaign Coordinators) to identify and recruit talented candidates at college campuses where 1) many of the students were taught by TFA corps members and 2) TFA historically has not had a strong presence
- Identify and invest key campus “gate-keepers” of CTI target talent to generate “warm” leads and connections to strong candidates (e.g. campus faculty/staffs, presidents of student organizations, career service representatives, etc.) to execute effective campus recruitment campaigns
- Partner with TFA National Recruitment Team members in the joint effort to recruit homegrown and diverse talent at the top-producing college campuses of TFA corps members in Colorado
- Build and manage strategic partnerships with nonprofits, programs, alumni affairs staff of TFA partner schools, etc. to generate additional “warm” leads for the 2019 Colorado corps and Launch Fellowship.
- Compel homegrown and diverse applicants to select Colorado as their region of choice in the TFA corps interview process
- Educate prospects on the unique and exciting benefits of our Launch Fellowship program, review initial Fellow applications, and manage ongoing communication with Launch applicants
- Enlist a committed volunteer base of TFA alumni and community members to champion CTI and the Launch Fellowship
Build future talent pipelines through early engagement of college underclassmen (20%)
- Design, lead, and support programs to engage undergraduate students early in their college experience to build pipelines for our 2020, 2021, and 2022 corps
- Plan and execute CTI’s second annual leadership conference for local and homegrown college students
- Create and maintain records in TFA’s prospect management system, mapping out a communication plan for prospects identified as early as their first year of college
Support the leadership development and cultivation of 8th-12th grade students in Colorado (10%)
- Work alongside the Managing Director, Talent Strategy to support leadership development programming and ongoing engagement of current 8th-12th grade students in our communities
- Communicate effectively and compellingly to student and family audiences
- Provide event and project management support for inaugural Student Leadership Program and ongoing internship/work opportunities for high school students
- Build and maintain a strong knowledge of CTI and TFA-Colorado initiatives to support ambitious cross team goals related to diversity, equity and inclusion
Fulfilling our Mission through Organizational and Regional Priorities (10%)
- Participate in our region’s corps member selection, matriculation, induction, and ongoing engagement initiatives
- Attend regional retreats held throughout the year, monthly staff meetings, and occasional conferences and trainings
- Minimum 4-7 years professional work experience preferred, demonstrating progressively increasing responsibility, with demonstrated success in all or most of the relevant functional areas (i.e. recruitment, admissions, program design, etc.)
- Experience leading work streams, large-scale projects, and/or initiatives
- Deep experience working directly with low income communities and communities of color
- Experience working in Colorado communities, school districts, and/or charter management organizations preferred
- Community organizing or related experience preferred
Skills
- Spanish language proficiency preferred, but not required
- Extremely organized with the ability to design and manage complex systems
- Strong problem solving skills, approaching constraints and challenges with creativity and optimism
- Goal-oriented with an unwavering focus on the pursuit of success
- Management of a part-time team to ambitious results driven by quantitative and qualitative data
- Strategic thinking skills with the ability to conduct ongoing analysis and make immediate pivots
- Exceptional communication skills with internal and external stakeholders with the ability to influence diverse audiences to achieve outcomes
Work Demands
- Ability to work evenings and weekends when necessary
- Occasional out-of-state travel required, along with monthly travel within the region