THE JOB
Vote.org's Executive Assistant position is an exciting opportunity to be part of a growing team taking on some of the most challenging problems our democracy faces. You'll provide administrative and strategic support to Vote.org's CEO. That will include tasks like managing her schedule, supporting inbox and time management, prioritization, and more. Secondarily you'll support the organization's COO and the broader team.
WHO WE ARE
- Vote.org is a YC-backed non-profit that uses technology to simplify political engagement, increase voter turnout, and strengthen American democracy. And this isn't just talk: the only groups that reached more voters than we did in 2016 were the presidential campaigns themselves. In 2017 we ran the largest nonpartisan programs in Virginia and Alabama.
- In 2018 we'll run a massive GOTV program to turnout the 10 million first time voters from 2016 and attempt to create a habit that'll pay dividends for decades. We'll also be pushing companies in every industry to give their employees Election Day off.
- Since 2016 we helped over 3.3 million people register to vote, check their registration status, or get their absentee ballots; we ran the single largest Election Day GOTV drive in 2016; we pioneered the use of electronic signatures on voting forms; we served over 7.6 million visitors to our primary domain; we ran five of the largest controlled experiments in US voting history in 2016 with several groundbreaking experiments pending from 2017; and LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, and Stephen Curry made a PSA about us. Obama and Ellen have tweeted about us. Also, if you ask Siri how to vote, she'll send you to Vote.org.
- We're ambitious, efficient, metric-driven, passionate, low-ego, and fun to work with.
RESPONSIBILITIES
You'll
- Help the CEO maximize her effectiveness. Your job is to make sure our CEO's time is spent on the priorities she's defined for herself. You'll make sure her schedule reflects those priorities, that she has the focused time she needs on big projects but is also across all the little details of running an organization. This means everything from managing her calendar, to sitting down next to her while she does that thing she's been procrastinating on for a week, to making sure she doesn't miss her flight.
- Manage the CEO's email. Email isn't an ideal communication tool, but you can't escape it. Our CEO's inbox is overly full, and important messages from funders and partners can slip through the cracks. You'll track incoming (sometimes confidential) email, responding to some yourself, and ensuring that the CEO responds herself when necessary.
- Meeting prep, facilitation, and follow-up. The CEO should walk into all meetings prepared to discuss what's on the agenda. Everyone else should be prepared too, so that means circulating agendas in advance and making sure everyone has the Zoom conference line. You'll also take notes in meetings, paying particular attention to the follow up actions, and you'll make sure people actually follow up.
- Logistician. You'll cover many essential details of our CEO's work life: You'll book flights, make sure contracts get signed, drop checks off at the bank, make sure important paperwork that arrives in the mail makes it to the right staff person, and generally make sure nothing slips through the cracks.
- Help with fundraising. You'll research potential funders before our CEO meets them, get her the materials she needs for the meeting itself, and make sure she follows up with them. You'll mail them Vote.org swag, forward them report-back emails about our program, and make sure we file our grant reports on time.
- Manage special projects. It's critical that Vote.org presents accurate information on its website and in presentations. You may be called upon to do things like research voter registration deadlines and key election dates or put together statistics for a presentation. Another day you might be asked to put together a package of files to support the COO in doing the organization's audit.
- Manage our help desk. Voters often email us asking for help with various issues or pointing out problems with our software. In at least one case an important funder made first contact through the help desk. Those are the good messages to deal with. The rest of them are usually requests to be unsubscribed or hilarious nonsense in response to an email we've sent out. You'll need to respond when needed, pass emails off to other staff as necessary, and unsubscribe people when they ask for it.
REQUIRED QUALITIES
- Experience as an Executive Assistant (or similar role). You've been an assistant, scheduler, or similar support person for a person or team. You love to help people. You're great at taking on tasks, making sure they get done, and politely and assertively following up if needed.
- Effectiveness working remotely. This position is part in-person in an office setting and part remote. You've got experience working independently -- ideally in a virtual office setting -- so we know you'll be just as effective working from the comfort of your home as you would be sitting in an office.
- Reliable and trustworthy. You keep confidential information confidential. When you say you're going to do something, your colleagues can trust that the ball is 100% in your court.
- Good communicator. You'll be interacting with a lot of Vote.org's partners and the CEO's work and personal contacts on her behalf. You'll need to communicate ideas clearly and people should perceive you as polite and helpful.
- Keen eye for detail, an expert at getting things done. You're methodical. You're rigorous. You're comfortable with hard deadlines. If you put something on a to-do list, it doesn't disappear. You're outstanding at estimating how long things will take, keeping them on track, and reshuffling plans when needed. You can stick to a plan or can be flexible in the wake of a new need.
- A digital native. You're already proficient with Google Docs, Sheets, Presentations, and all the advanced gmail features. You're the kind of person whose family asks for help learning a new app or figuring why they can't hear the other person on Skype. You love testing out new technology, from task management tools to better headphones. You maybe even have a few of your own favorite productivity tools you'll introduce to us.
BIG PLUSSES
No candidate will bring all of these -- we expect that the successful candidate may come with several of them:
- Experience in a fast-paced non-profit or political organization, whether as a long-term volunteer or as a staff member.
- Experience working in a virtual office environment.
- Experience in electoral politics, either as a long-term volunteer or as a staff member.
- Existing familiarity with pro-democracy and voting rights groups, from the ACLU to Rock the Vote to Color of Change.
- Strong written communication skills (you're probably the person friends ask to proof important documents).
- Relevant technical skills such as a working knowledge of WordPress (e.g., how to make updates), comfort with mass email platforms like Action Network and Mailchimp, and/or advanced Excel skills like pivot tables and charts.
- Experience with voter registration or get-out-the-vote efforts.
- Experience interacting with local or state government entities (especially Secretary of State offices, county boards of elections, etc.).
- Experience with event planning and management.
POSITION DETAILS
Location
Position is based in San Francisco and will work most days in an office with the CEO. Other days can be remote from a location of your choosing. Some travel will be required.
Some of the benefits of working for Vote.org:
- Flexible work schedule. Need to take 3-5pm off every day to hang out with your kids after school? No problem.
- Excellent health benefits. Fully covered health, dental and vision for the employee, and generous coverage for spouse/children.
- Generous time off. 3 weeks mandatory vacation per year, 12 paid holidays, and we all take the week between Christmas and New Years off.
- Retirement accounts. We offer both a 401(k) and a Roth 401(k) since we want you to retire one day.
- Awesome slack channels. Including #pets, #politics, and #OMG-WTF-LOL.
Further Information:
- Vote.org is an equal opportunity employer. This means that we don't discriminate against people because of their race, ethnicity, sex, age, religion, national origin, marital status, pregnancy, personal appearance, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, family responsibilities, matriculation, genetic information, or political affiliation.
- Women, people of color, first-generation Americans, new parents, single parents, people with disabilities, and members of the queer community are especially encouraged to apply.
Salary:
The salary range for this position is $55K to $70K.
HOW TO APPLY
To apply for this position, submit your resume and fill out our application form. Instead of writing a traditional cover letter, you'll answer the following five questions:
- Why do you want to work for Vote.org? (100 word limit)
- What makes you a great fit for this job? (This is your chance to sell yourself for the position) (100 word limit)
- Our CEO's inbox is overflowing with thousands of emails and important emails are slipping through the cracks. If we hire you, one of your jobs will be to help her manage her inbox (the organization uses gmail for business). Describe how you'd propose doing so, at a logistical level. (200 word limit)
- List which of the Big Pluses listed above you meet, with a VERY brief explanation or further detail (1 sentence or less!) where helpful.
- Name when you'd be available to start in-person in San Francisco if you got the job.
The deadline for applying for this position is February 21, 2018. However, we may process a round of early applications first, and we will close applications if we fill the position early -- so get your application in ASAP!
You must fill out an application through our RecruiterBox page.
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