Teach For America seeks a Director, Intern Learning & Development (D, Intern L&D) to design and lead professional development that supports interns, as well as the staff members who manage interns, to excel at finding and engaging exceptional leaders to join the movement for educational equity.
Currently, the Recruitment Team (RT) does not have strong team-wide training and support structures for interns and RT members who manage and support interns. The D, Intern L&D role has been designed to address this challenge. The individual in this position will serve as the head of intern training and ongoing development. Their role is to ensure RT interns have best-in-class onboarding and professional development, leading to stronger progress towards their outcomes and increased satisfaction within their roles.
With support from the SMD, Learning & Development, this individual will create a vision for the effectiveness and professional growth of campus interns by designing a summer onboarding conference, including outcomes, sessions, materials, etc. Additionally, over the course of the year, they will develop ongoing tools and supports that address both typical and emerging intern opportunities and challenges. Ultimately, they will be responsible for the overall effectiveness of these interns in meeting their campaign outcomes.
This role will also lead the summer training design and ongoing support structures for staff members who manage or support interns to ensure those people set clear expectations, provide coaching and direction, and support interns to achieve ambitious goals within their individual portfolios. Over the course of the recruitment season, they will collaborate with interns and recruitment team members to analyze data and problem solve key issues to design aligned resources in order to ensure optimal intern effectiveness.
The D, Intern L&D will also work alongside the SMD, Learning & Development, and the Directors, L&D to support the execution of broader Recruitment Team trainings and structures, including analyzing prospect journeys, creating resource packages, taking on design/facilitation for other topics, etc. These additional responsibilities will range in scope and time commitment, based on team need.
The ideal candidate has demonstrated exceptional results managing interns, possesses deep expertise with respect to leading interns to achieve outcomes, has experience designing and facilitating adult learning experiences both in-person and virtually, and has strong skills in lateral management. They also have a record of demonstrating initiative and developing aligned visions and/or project plans that address key challenges, particularly in places where there previously had been no structure.
The D, Intern L&D will:
- Set vision and direction for a rigorous scope and sequence of learning for both interns and staff members, grounded in quantitative and qualitative data about interns’ knowledge and skills, as well as known gaps and areas of opportunity. Contribute to the broader vision of the L&D team and RT-wide onboarding and ongoing learning.
- Laterally manage others to design and facilitate high quality learning experiences. To these ends, the D, Intern L&D will create strong project plans with clear benchmarks and deliverables, assess progress against these plans, and hold an exceptionally high bar for the quality of learning that ultimately results.
- Coach, especially through layers, the implementation and execution of knowledge and skills, to ensure that learning experiences translate to changes in both recruiters’ and interns’ practice in the field.
- Assess intern progress during the season, communicate noteworthy trends and initiatives to staff members, and design resources or sessions to support effective staff management and intern execution for optimal impact on outcomes.
- Collaborate with key internal stakeholders, such as Early Engagement, Finance, Performance Analytics, and Performance Management, to compile relevant information related to effectiveness, budget, feedback, and other initiatives to understand intern impact and make key decisions for the future.
- Help to plan, manage, and execute operations, communications, and finances for recruitment team conferences, in partnership with other members of the People & Performance team.
- Prior experience on the recruitment team in field roles required
- Prior experience designing and leading professional development experiences for adult learners required
- Previous demonstrated success managing a team of interns
A strong D, Intern L&D candidate
- Embodies conviction around Teach For America’s mission and Theory of Change and exemplifies TFA’s core values. Holds deep belief that educational inequity is a massive, urgent injustice, TFA plays a crucial role in the long-term fight for change, and we need to enlist as many outstanding, diverse leaders as we can to join the corps.
- Is outcomes-oriented and driven to maximize impact against measurable goals
- Capably manages across teams and through layers without formal management authority.
- Communicates clearly and compellingly (both verbally and written) across lines of difference and in multiple contexts - 1:1, small groups, large audiences.
- Thinks strategically, using data to make timely and informed decisions to prioritize actions that matter most and have the greatest impact.
- Always seeks to grow and improve - reflect on successes/failures, seek feedback, incorporate feedback immediately to improve, ask for the help or resources they need to be successful, and assume personal responsibility.
- Demonstrates ability and motivation to build community and team, virtually and in-person.
- Thrives in an entrepreneurial, fast-paced, diverse, results-oriented environment.
Work Demands
- <25% travel
- Some evening & weekend work required
Technical Skills
- Proficient with Microsoft office applications, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
- Comfortable with TFACT and willing to become a champion TFACT user