Job Description

National Skills Coalition (NSC) seeks a Manager of Business Leaders United for Workforce Partnerships (BLU) to join the national network team at a dynamic and growing national non-partisan policy organization which advocates for bipartisan skills solutions. 


Through BLU, NSC has built a leading national platform for small and mid-sized businesses to inform and advance skills policies that work for both industries and workers. BLU coalesces employers from a range of industries across the nation who are concerned about our nation’s skills gap, who are working with local partners to train and hire community residents for skilled jobs, and who want our country’s policymakers to follow suit and invest - aggressively and effectively - in the skills of America’s workers. BLU provides a common platform from which these diverse business leaders can jointly communicate to national policymakers, the press, and the American public about the effective industry-based strategies they’ve developed which could serve as models for a more comprehensive national skills policy.


The BLU manager will be responsible for developing, implementing, and supporting organizing and recruitment strategies to maintain and grow, engage, and promote the coalition’s BLU initiative, which includes building and leveraging our national network of businesses and industry associations, and staffing our BLU state affiliate network. This position requires collaboration with policy and other network staff to bring the business perspective and voice to NSC’s state and federal policy campaigns, as well as with communications staff to ensure that BLU is seen as the premiere advocacy organization for small and mid-sized businesses who want to address the skills mismatch in their industryThis position reports to the Managing Director of National Network.


We are looking for a proven leader to provide:


Network development and maintenance

  •        Stakeholders: Develop and lead the implementation of strategies to grow the BLU network of business leaders through partnerships with national and local business       associations and by developing and implementing BLU list-building activities.
  •        State Affiliate Network: Develop new - and support the growth of existing - BLU state affiliates by providing organizing and outreach strategy technical assistance to BLU state leads.  
  •      National Partnerships: Collaborate with NSC leadership to increase the number of national business associations advocating for BLU/NSC policy positions.
  •        Marketing: In consultation with communications staff, develop and implement strategies that build BLU’s external profile through events, online and social media, and other strategies.
  •        Network Measurement and Evaluation: Use NSC’s contact database to consistently track and assess BLU’s network growth and progress in meeting engagement metrics.


A business lens to skills policy

  •        Development: Work with policy staff to engage BLU members and partners in developing and/or vetting state and federal policy proposals as needed. 
  •        Translation: In collaboration with policy and communications staff, maintain a toolbox of business-facing state and federal policy materials that can be used directly with business leaders and by national network partners.


A platform for industry skills advocacy

  •        Federal Campaigns: Support continuous improvement of BLU engagement with federal policymakers and the press in coordination with policy and communications staff.
  •        State Campaigns: Foster alignment between NSC’s two affiliate networks, BLU and SkillSPAN, and support increased engagement of BLU business leaders in NSC-assisted state policy campaigns.
  •        Fly-Ins and other events: Manage outreach and logistics for Washington and state-based fly-ins, and other related events.
  •        Communications: Support BLU engagement in strategic communications campaigns.

      

        Fundraising support to build out BLU efforts

  •        Foundations: Assist in relationship-building, proposal writing and reporting, and other foundation fundraising efforts.
  •        Donors: Assist in the development and implementation of individual donor fundraising campaigns led by NSC’s development team.

 

Candidate Qualifications:

·        Knowledge of business association landscape and players

·        Knowledge of postsecondary and workforce development policy and policy making                      

·        Knowledge of postsecondary and workforce development field, practitioners

·        Written communication (ability to effectively communicate to target audiences)

·        Public speaking (ability to effectively engage and communicate with target audiences)

·        Strong interpersonal, collaborative skills

·        Proactive, problem solving orientation

·        Ability to manage tasks and projects and meet deadlines

·        Attention to detail

·        Effectively use technology to communicate/collaborate with colleagues and manage work

·        Minimum of 3 years relevant experience


Location: Washington, DC. This position will be based at NSC’s main office in Washington, DC with up to 30% monthly travel required.


Compensation: $70,000. Excellent benefits package, including employerpaid health and dental, retirement plan, life and disability insurance, and generous vacation policy.  

 National Skills Coalition is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Women and people of color are strongly encouraged to apply.


More about NSC: National Skills Coalition is a broad‐based coalition of small businesses, labor affiliates, community organizations, community colleges, workforce boards and grassroots advocates who have joined together to change how America invests in its people, so that every worker and every industry has the skills to compete and prosper. We want to restore the profile of the middle‐skilled careers that once built America’s middle class, and which continue to represent the majority of good jobs in the U.S. economy. We organize policy campaigns, analyze policies through a variety of publications, provide technical assistance to policymakers, communicate to the press, and advocate with our grassroots members and allies for state and federal policy reforms. We have a 15‐year track record of success—having been twice named the most impactful national organization in the workforce development field—informing policies that have changed the lives of millions of individuals and thousands of businesses.


Candidate Qualifications:

 

·        Knowledge of business association landscape and players

·        Knowledge of post secondary and workforce development policy and policy making                   

·        Knowledge of post secondary and workforce development field, practitioners

·        Written communication (ability to effectively communicate to target audiences)

·        Public speaking (ability to effectively engage and communicate with target audiences)

·        Strong interpersonal, collaborative skills

·        Proactive, problem solving orientation

·        Ability to manage tasks and projects and meet deadlines

·        Attention to detail

·        Effectively uses technology to communicate/collaborate with colleagues and manage work

·        Minimum of 3 years relevant experience