Engagement and Operations Associate at Iowa Hillel

Engagement and Operations Associate

The Louis Shulman Hillel Foundation, Aliber Center for Jewish Life

Role Overview

Iowa Hillel is seeking a early career professional to have a unique window into engagement work and nonprofit operations. We are looking for someone with contagious passion, entrepreneurial energy, superb organizational and communication skills, and a commitment to Jewish life. You will build one on one relationships with students and help inspire students to make a commitment to Jewish life. Additionally, this role will serve in an operations capacity on our team providing overall support for the team and direct support the kitchen operations and the executive director. They’ll serve as the first connection point for inbound communications for the organization.

What You'll Do

• Develop one-on-one relationships with Jewish students by meeting them where they live, work and/or study, utilizing creative methods to reach and connect them to Jewish life.
• Mentor student leaders in their Jewish growth through individual meetings and group trainings, to cultivate a Jewish community that is caring, diverse, welcoming, and actively inclusive.
• Work with other full time engagement professionals on creating and executing and engagement plan.
• Supervise and innovate the hospitality internship program.
• Be the first connection point for emails, phone calls, in-person visits from prospective students and alumni, and student interactions. Answer phone calls and route calls to appropriate parties.
• Serve as front of house for the Hillel kitchen providing operational support and communications for daily operations, catering, and larger scale events.
• Connect and communicate with University of Iowa departments and faculty members.
• Provide administrative support as needed to the Executive Director and the Board of Trustees.
• Orchestrate parent and community care packages and the Chicken Soup Hotline.
• Help manage the various Hillel programmatic, logistical, and staff calendars.
• Sort and manage physical mail and manage billing.
• Facilitate weekly meetings, taking notes, and compiling minutes
• Coordinate with contractors as needed
• Manage inventory and ordering as needed
• Maintain comprehensive and accurate electronic and paper files
• Manage passwords and access to online records.
• Other duties as assigned.

What You'll Bring to the Job

• Bachelor’s degree and 0-2 year’s professional work experience.
• Participation in student life and organizations during your college career.
• Strong entrepreneurial spirit. Things may not always go according to plan, and you must be willing to take risks and learn your wins as well as your losses.
• Confidence initiating and running programs, and comfort asking questions.
• Ability to identify your own interests and students’ interests and find where they intersect to create innovative new programming.
• Exemplary time management skills, including the capacity to juggle competing priorities and deadlines, and to remain flexible within an ambiguous, fast-paced environment.
• A commitment to pluralism and comfort with your Jewish identity so you may act as a role model and mentor for emerging Jewish adults.
• Owning your unique Jewish knowledge and experiences and inspiring others to be on a Jewish journey.
• Strong written and verbal skills.
• Resourceful, proactive, solutions oriented and persistent in overcoming and removing obstacles that impact goal achievement.
• Someone who operates with integrity, kindness and transparency.
• A high level of attention to detail and a high sense of urgency.

What You'll Receive

• Competitive salary in the nonprofit marketplace. The salary range for this role is $42,000-$46,000.
• A comprehensive benefits package, including health insurance, retirement plan, Life, AD&D and Long Term Disability (LTD) insurances, Flexible Spending accounts, generous vacation/sick time, and parental leave.
• Great professional development, mentoring, and skill building opportunities.
• Travel regionally and potentially abroad.
• Plenty of Hillel and university schwag.

About Iowa Hillel

Hillel has had a presence at the University of Iowa since 1926, and we have an estimated 600 Jewish students. Iowa is a Big10 University in a beautiful town and it's the smallest of the public Big10 with about 20,000 undergraduate students. We strive for our Hillel, the only staffed Hillel in the state of Iowa, to be the tipping point for Jewish students when they're deciding where they want to spend their next four years. Our building is two-stories and is a block from campus and students use the space daily to hangout or study.

Iowa City, located just 3.5 hours from Chicago, 2 hours from Des Moines, and 5 hours from Minneapolis, is a beautiful city in Eastern Iowa. The city and campus are intertwined quite beautifully and seamlessly. It’s easy to live close to campus, and there is a public bus transportation system as well in downtown and Coralville. In the main downtown district, there are many cute shops and restaurants that accommodate many dietary restrictions, and in the next suburb over, Coralville, there is a larger mall and larger grocery stores, like Trader Joes and Costco. In Coralville, you’ll also find Agudas Achim, a reform/conservative synagogue. The University of Iowa students are primarily from the Midwest, and the campus is a great combination of a town that bleeds black and yellow while also boasting the incredible Iowa Writers Workshop and being a UNESCO City of Literature. There is always something fun going on and seeing live music, sports, art, or theatre is right at your fingertips. It’s a beautiful place to connect to nature either by strolling by the river, biking, or hiking at one of the different local parks only a short drive away.

Iowa Hillel is affiliated with Hillel International. Hillel International enriches the lives of Jewish students so they may enrich the Jewish people and the world and envisions a world where every student is inspired to make an enduring commitment to Jewish life, learning and Israel.