Wildlife Conservation Society Position Description
Job Title: Youth Development Associate
Location: Bronx Zoo
Department: Education
Reports to: Manager of Youth Development
Type: Part-Time
Rate: $ 22/hour
Schedule: Approx 30 hours/week; this is primarily a weekday position with occasional night and weekend work.
Who We Are:
The WCS Education Department works across five wildlife parks: Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Queens Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo, and New York Aquarium. Our mission is to inspire a diverse and inclusive movement of conservation advocates by sparking a connection with animals and nature, enhancing scientific literacy through hands-on investigation, and engaging constituents in stewardship and action to conserve wildlife and wild places. WCS is proud to be an equal opportunity employment workplace dedicated to pursuing and hiring a diverse workforce. We are committed to cultivating an inclusive work and learning environment and look for future team members who share that same value. We value team members and community partners from all backgrounds and cultures with different skills, abilities, and perspectives.
Job Overview:
You will work as a member of the Education Department's Youth Development unit to support the implementation of the WCS Career Lattice; an integrated career pathways program through which youth from low-income communities have expanded entry points to opportunities at our parks and equal access to a suite of professional services and supports. You will play a key role in position recruitment, screening, placement, and onboarding for interns and volunteers and in tracking youth advancement and providing individualized case management and effective communication to more than 1400 youth annually.
You are dependable, creative, and pay meticulous attention to detail. You excel at communicating with a variety of internal and external audiences in person, as well as
through writing. You are able to work in a team as well as independently and can thrive in a fast-paced environment, effectively juggling many projects at once by applying your strong organizational skills. You understand the tenants of youth development and want to see youth succeed in and gain experience. You can converse and relate to youth but also with a diverse range of adult professionals.
Responsibilities:
● You will support the Youth Development team with recruitment (position posting, advertising, screening and interviewing), placement, onboarding, and hiring for a variety of internship and volunteer opportunities.
● You will communicate in-person and through phone, email and text messages with youth and internal and external partners.
● You will liaise with WCS departments to identify opportunities, recruit and review applicants, and place and onboard hired youth,
● You will work with WCS staff and external partners (local community based organizations, schools, and NYC etc.) to match, place, and support youth in available opportunities.
● In collaboration with WCS Research & Evaluation and WCS Human Resources, you will help to collect and update data systems for efficiently tracking the 900+ youth in WCS volunteerships, and internships each year.
● With the support of WCS staff, you will track and report metrics on WCS youth
● Support general administration tasks such as record keeping, creating ID badges, expense tracking, and issuing stipend payments.
● Produce marketing materials such as flyers, event sign ups, and more
● Deliver skill-building workshops, support career building & networking events, and engage in small group or 1:1 career development and career counseling sessions.
● Monitor the youth development email and phone account and respond to requests in a timely and professional manner.
● Other duties as assigned
Internal Qualification RequirementsMinimum Qualifications:
● Associates degree or equivalent
● Strong organizational, writing, verbal, and interpersonal skills
● Excellent people skills; ability to work with a wide variety of personalities
● Strong presentation and public speaking skills
● Attention to detail
● Strong skills in Microsoft Excel, including formulas, pivot tables and filters
● Willingness to learn new software platforms
● Demonstrated experience cultivating and working with diverse audiences.
Preferred Qualifications
● Bilingual- Spanish
● BA/BS in relevant fields such as Education, Youth Development, Communications etc.
● Familiarity with Salesforce or other Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology
● Familiarity with Canva or other design software
