Associate, Events

Role Overview

The primary mission of the Events Associate is to establish and advance a community for our learners that fosters continuous engagement with Merit America throughout their program. This is an ideal position for someone passionate about developing connections that lead to increased participation and learner support, all in service of driving job outcomes.  The ideal candidate possesses excellent communication and networking skills, strong organization and project management, the ability to find innovative ways to connect people and ideas, and a commitment to program equity. Ultimately, this role is responsible for developing strategies and events that result in a welcoming and equitable learner community to ensure a smooth transition to their new careers.

The Events Associate is a non-exempt role and will report directly to the Manager, Learner Services & Community, and will work primarily with the Program Team at Merit America while frequently collaborating with Growth and Sustainability.

Responsibilities

The Events Associate will serve as the in-house event champion. The responsibilities will include, but are not limited to, the following:

Planning and Executing Events (50%)

• Live event hosting, which includes short presentations, managing Zoom breakout rooms, and providing communication support on day-of events
• Assist with the organization of event details (i.e., communication with external or internal guests, volunteers, learners, and alumni)
• Assist with scheduling, planning, and execution of events with the intended support for learners to build skill development and community building (Events include program webinars, program kickoffs, mock interview events, alumni panels, recruiter Q&A, guest speakers, networking, and graduation events.)
• Manage inbox, calendar(s), meeting invites, spreadsheets, and folders related to events (Google Workspace).
• Lead pre-, day-of, and post-logistics for events across multiple regions/teams.
• Track and report data related to program event attendance (to help build out community and program success rates)

Communication & Operations (30%) 

• Ensure that Merit America learners experience top-notch communication and service as they move through our intensive training programs.
• Compose high-quality and engaging written email content.
• Maintain and update our database via Mailchimp e.g. with new volunteer, learner, etc details
• Assist in creating marketing materials (decks, social media posts, copywriting, etc)
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date data in Salesforce in partnership with the program team, including up-to-date preferred event/volunteer information.

Outreach & Recruitment (20%)

• Serve as a primary point of contact for internal staff and learner inquiries related to events.
• Facilitate virtual information sessions to train staff & volunteers for events.
• Creation and tracking of email recruitment campaigns through Mailchimp and Salesforce.
• Identifying opportunities for volunteer and staff involvement within Merit America programming
• Assist in event growth through; research, recruitment, engagement, and retention through proactive networking, follow-up, and communication.

Skills and Competencies

We recognize that individuals from marginalized backgrounds, including women, people of color, and those with disabilities, are often less likely to apply when they don’t meet 100% of the job qualifications. Don’t let that be the reason you miss out on this opportunity! We want to emphasize that your unique skills, experiences, and perspectives are valuable, and we encourage you to apply if you can demonstrate many of the skills and competencies.  Below are the skills that are relevant for thriving in this role:

Must Haves: 

• Strong critical thinking and problem-solving skills
• Be energized by our organizational mission - to provide a pathway to family-sustaining careers for low-wage workers
• Proven history of living within our values
• Sense of deep personal responsibility for our collective success
• Commitment to DEIJ
• Strong relationship-building and communication skills, written and verbal
• Excellent relationship-building and networking ability; strong written and verbal communication with the ability to connect to diverse audiences
• Ability to thrive in an environment of ambiguity and constant change, managing multiple concurrent projects, setting priorities, and driving them to completion
• Exceptional project management skills; strong track record of scoping and delivering complex projects on deadline that engage multiple, diverse stakeholders
• Passion for our learner base and empowering underrepresented adults through education
• Self-starter, solutions-oriented, hyper-proactive, and impressive attention to detail
• Committed to continuous learning and growth in understanding and addressing issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice
• Passionate about fostering a workplace culture that embraces and values individual differences, aligned with our core value of inclusivity

Nice to Have: 

• Proven history of living within our values
• Experience working with adult learners, whether as current students or alumni
• Sense of deep personal responsibility for our collective success
• Knowledge of best practices in creating accessible learning environments
• Quantitative and qualitative data analysis skills

Other Logistics

• This position is full-time: 4-day work week (Fridays are an operating day if there is a holiday closure during the week)
• Location:  Remote
• Salary:  $57,750
• Application Deadline: March 13, 2024

Our goal is to have competitive and equitable compensation.  We have a market-based compensation approach, which means we benchmark each role from reputable data sources. We compare our benchmarks against similarly sized non-profit organizations with comparable annual budgets and geographical areas. We pay the same rate for the same roles and adjust to comply with statutory mandates.