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Temporary OSS Participant Engagement Specialist

Department: One Small Step (OSS)
Division: Programs
Location: Remote
Reports To: Director, OSS
Term of Employment: 6 month contract (possible extension up to one year)
Status: Full Time,  Temporary, Non-Exempt, Non-Union
Salary: $23.08/hour (based on a $42,000 annual salary)


THE ROLE

The OSS Participant Engagement Specialist reaches out to individuals who have signed up for interviews and schedules and facilitates interviews.  This is a one time, time limited project that will begin on October 15, 2022, and continue through February 15, 2023, though could be extended based on the successful execution of tasks.  The Participant Engagement Specialist will ensure that individuals who have expressed interest in having an OSS interview from as early as 2020 through the first quarter of 2022 have that opportunity.  

The role involves three discrete activities:  (1) call or email participants who have signed up for and confirm their interest in participating in an interview ; (2) if they are interested, match them with others who are ideologically opposed; (3) facilitate interviews with paired participants.  The Participant Engagement Specialist will make upwards of 200 calls a month and will facilitate 20 - 30 interviews per month.  Additionally, we may ask an Engagement Specialist to make follow up calls to participants who have completed interviews to invite them to interview again. By necessity, this Engagement Specialist will log and report the results of these contacts in StoryCorps  internal database.

While this position is principally focused on extending customer service support to participants, we expect that the Participant Engagement Specialist will serve as a Facilitator. Facilitators are the “Corps” of StoryCorps. As the public face of the organization, Facilitators work to carry out our mission by creating a space for participants to feel welcome and comfortable while conducting their interviews with one another. Facilitators also ensure a high-quality audio recording and perform databasing activities so that the interview can be preserved and is searchable in our digital interview archive. However, minimal prior technical experience is required! StoryCorps provides Facilitators with training from experts in recording, archiving, and audio production. 
All aforementioned services are recorded either through StoryCorps Virtual, a digital platform, or through onsite visits with portable equipment.

StoryCorps records, shares, and preserves stories from a diverse range of American voices — from our Griot Initiative to preserve stories of African Americans, to our Historias Initiative to collect the experiences of Latinos.  We also seek to recruit and develop a staff whose diversity matches the diversity of the communities we serve, and we strongly encourage applications from people of color and the LGBTQ community.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

  • Contact roughly 200 individuals/month who are on our mailing list, introduce them to the One Small Step initiative and schedule them for interviews;
  • Facilitate conversations between strangers with opposing political and social views as they participate in interviews for the One Small Step initiative 
  • Record StoryCorps Virtual remotely or Signature (face to face) appointments (travel resources are provided by StoryCorps) as needed
  • Be available to conduct upwards of 25 interviews/month (during the business week) on a schedule that suits the needs of the participants. 
  • Welcome participants and guide them through the interview experience 
  • Professionally represent StoryCorps to the public and actively promote the StoryCorps mission 
  • During One Small Step conversations: Break the ice between strangers, establishing ground rules, and ensure an equal sharing of the conversation space
  • Handle all technical aspects of the recording process 
  • Ensure the preservation of every interview by performing data entry and archival processing tasks 
  • Identify tape from interviews to be considered for broadcast 

ABOUT YOU
Required:
  • You have a high school diploma or equivalency plus 3 years of professional experience, OR college degree plus 1 year of professional work experience. 
  • The ideal candidate would be available to make 200 calls/month and facilitate upwards of 20 - 30 facilitated sessions/month 
  • You are interested in people and are excited about providing high quality customer service
  • You know how to communicate effectively – whether that’s by email, phone or in person. 
  • You have experience interacting with individuals on virtual platforms (Zoom, MS Teams, Google Meet) 
  • You are excited at the opportunity for travel (sometimes on short notice) and able to work evenings and weekends. You have a valid driver’s license. 
  • You are comfortable troubleshooting and navigating a virtual workflow 
  • You are enthusiastic about working with people across the political spectrum
  • You are interested in helping to bridge the political divide between strangers 
  • You’re organized, have a keen attention to detail, and you’re able to multitask effectively. 
  • You have strong problem-solving skills. 
  • You are comfortable learning and working with new technical equipment (e.g., audio recording equipment, editing software, databases, digital cameras). 
  • You are no stranger to providing excellent customer service to everyone. 
  • You love working closely with a team and feel comfortable with resolving conflict.
  • You are flexible and adaptable to a growing, changing organization 
  • You have excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills
  • You have the ability to be flexible and adaptable in order to contribute to problem-solving activities within a growing, changing organization
  • You have cultural competence/humility and the ability to thrive in a diverse work environment
Preferred:
  • You’ve worked in a nonprofit environment. 
  • You can speak Spanish
  • You have at least one year of experience working with diverse communities in a volunteer or professional setting. 
  • You have experience conducting community outreach and engagement with Latino, Black/African American, Asian American, and/or LGBTQIA communities (strongly preferred). 
  • You have a familiarity with audio recording equipment.

ABOUT STORYCORPS

StoryCorps’ mission is to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world. Since our founding in 2003, StoryCorps has provided half a million of people of all backgrounds and beliefs with powerful opportunities to record interviews about their lives, and leave a legacy for future generations in our archive at the Library of Congress. We bring these interviews to life in stories produced for broadcast on public media (including our weekly Friday morning broadcast on NPR’s “Morning Edition"), our podcast, and/or our animations. Together, these stories reach an audience of tens of millions. StoryCorps maintains a relentless focus on diversity, and seeks to highlight voices often underrepresented in mainstream media. While our stories honor and celebrate the diversity of humankind, they also remind us of the many values and experiences we share in common, building bridges of greater understanding.

Our work has been widely recognized with several George Foster Peabody Awards, a MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions, the 2015 TED Prize, and a 2016 Emmy award for our animation “Traffic Stop.”
This work couldn’t be accomplished without the unwavering commitment of the exceptional individuals who make up our organization. Our people are brilliant, hard-working, creative, and incredibly passionate about the vision we share: To touch the lives of every person in this country and to create a culture of listening in the United States.

StoryCorps seeks to hire staff who reflect the diversity of the communities we serve. All positions at StoryCorps are filled without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, HIV/AIDS status, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law. All are encouraged to apply.

COVID NOTICE:
All offers of employment requiring on-site/in-person work will be contingent on the candidate being Fully Vaccinated (at least two-weeks after last dose) prior to starting their new role. As of December 27, 2021 by order of the Commissioner of Health and Mental Hygiene all employees working in-office are required to provide proof of the COVID-19 Vaccination in the Workplace. Reasonable accommodations can be discussed with HR personnel for individuals who cannot be vaccinated due to medical or religious reasons. Proof of vaccination status is required at the time of extending the offer.