Current Openings
OPERATIONS ASSISTANT (PART-TIME)
Springfield, Illinois
Description: This position has the accountability to assist in
the efficient operations of the Illinois Policy Institute by providing
support in general office administration and in Human Resources.
Primary tasks will include:
- Office reception
- Processing incoming/outgoing mail and packages
- Supply requisition
- Administration of telephone system
- Maintenance of petty cash account
- Assistance with new employee/intern hiring paperwork and office orientation, and with employee/intern termination processes
- Assistance processing vendor payments
Requirements:
The successful candidate will have a high level of professionalism and
will possess the ability to multi-task and to work independently.
Desired skills and experience include:
- A strong commitment to the principles of personal responsibility and free enterprise
- At least 2 years’ experience providing administrative support in a professional office environment
- Excellent communication, customer service and interpersonal skills
- Proficient computer skills, including Microsoft Office applications (with special emphasis on Excel), and web-based applications
- High level of Confidentiality
- Organization, flexibility and the ability to multi-task
Type: Part-time – 20 hours per week
Contact - Submit cover letter and resume to:
Operations Manager
Illinois Policy Institute
802 S. Second Street
Springfield, Illinois 62704
operations@illinoispolicy.org
PENSION POLICY DIRECTOR
Chicago or Springfield, IL
The Illinois Policy Institute seeks a Pension Policy Director with excellent communication skills to inspire changes in hearts, minds and laws that will improve outcomes in Illinois.
Illinois is grappling with a public pension shortfall that tops $96 billion. After decades of underfunding and mismanagement, Illinoisans are learning the hard way that its state pension systems face insolvency without real reform. Continuing to promise benefits under a defined benefit system will bankrupt Illinois.
The ideal candidate embraces the notion that pension reform cannot merely tinker at the margins. Rather, the ideal candidate will have a sincere interest in effecting the serious long-term changes needed to properly structure incentives and accountability within government retirement systems. The goal ultimately is to place control of retirements in the hands of state retirees and not those of the politicians. Only then will the burden be lifted off of taxpayers, who are frequently called on to bail out the state’s failed pension systems.
The ideal candidate will not be content with a career based solely in the theoretical; rather, he/she will revel in solving real-world problems. The ideal candidate will have a passion for communicating how free market principles and real pension reform can change lives.
The Pension Policy Director will report to Vice President of Policy Ted Dabrowski. The position can be located in Chicago or Springfield. The position will include occasional travel, primarily across Illinois.
Key job responsibilities will include:
- Researching, analyzing and writing policy studies, issue briefs and commentaries on current, significant policy issues
- Utilizing quantitative analysis to calculate effects of policy and recommend solutions
- Reading, comprehending and translating complex legislation
- Developing an expertise of pension issues in Illinois
- Monitoring state and federal legislation, as well as local initiatives
- Tracking reform in other states that may inform Illinois’ reform efforts
- Understand and influence how Illinois’ fits into the overall national dialogue on pension and other state retiree costs
- Taking ideas, data and principles and turning them into compelling stories
- Making media appearances, including radio, television and print
- Making presentations and engaging in public speaking, as well as debating those with opposing views
- Educating lawmakers and influencers on key pension and retirement policy issues, promoting policies that increase individual liberty while countering those that boost government control
Requirements
- Three-plus years of experience in business field, academia, public policy arena or nonprofit setting
- In-depth experience with pension issues/policy
- Knowledge of a variety of pension-related issues, including defined contribution versus defined benefit plans, municipal pensions, Social Security, OPEB, etc.
- Knowledge of the current system and free market alternatives that will improve the status quo
- Firm grounding in free market economics
- Superb storytelling, communication and debate skills
- Strong analytical and research skills
- Desire to work collaboratively with Illinois Policy Institute staff
- Strong project management skills and ability to multitask, set priorities and follow-through
- A sincere dedication to making Illinois a better place to live and work
- Strong commitment to the principles of personal responsibility and free enterprise
- An advanced degree in public policy, economics or related field preferred
- Media experience a major plus but not required
To apply
Qualified candidates should submit the following application materials:
- Cover letter detailing: salary requirements and your interest in the mission of the Illinois Policy Institute
- Writing sample that demonstrates your ability to communicate complex concepts to a lay audience in a compelling fashion (preferably on a topic related to pension issues)
- Links to media appearances, if applicable
Materials should be emailed to Claire Kittle, executive director of Talent Market, who is assisting with the search: claire@talentmarket.org.
While we thank all applicants in advance for their interest in this position, we are only able to contact those to whom we can offer an interview. No phone calls please.
HEALTH CARE POLICY DIRECTOR
Chicago or Springfield, IL
The Illinois Policy Institute seeks a Health Care Policy Director with excellent communication skills to inspire changes in hearts, minds and laws that will improve outcomes in Illinois.
Most of the talk of health care "reform" involves an expansion of government bureaucracies and state-run health care. Free market health care solutions are often buried in the media and ignored by politicians dashing towards "universal" health care.
The Illinois Policy Institute serves as a leading voice for liberty, answering those who advocate state-run health care with affirmative alternatives that are market-based and solve the real problems at hand.
The ideal Health Care Policy Director candidate embraces the notion that real health care reform lies within the free market system, not within the government Leviathan. The ideal candidate will work tirelessly to develop health care policy solutions that embrace choice and competition, putting the individual in charge of his or her own health care.
The ideal candidate will not be content with a career based solely in the theoretical; rather, he/she will revel in solving real-world problems. The ideal candidate will have a passion for communicating how free market principles can change lives.
The Health Care Policy Director will report to Vice President of Policy Ted Dabrowski. The position can be located in Chicago or Springfield. The position will include occasional travel, primarily across Illinois.
Key job responsibilities will include:
- Researching, analyzing and writing policy studies, issue briefs and commentaries on current, significant policy issues
- Utilizing quantitative analysis to calculate effects of policy and recommend solutions
- Reading, comprehending and translating complex legislation
- Developing an expertise of health care and health insurance issues in Illinois
- Monitoring state and federal legislation, as well as local initiatives
- Tracking reform in other states that may inform Illinois’ reform efforts
- Taking ideas, data and principles and turning them into compelling stories
- Making media appearances, including radio, television and print
- Making presentations and engaging in public speaking, as well as debating those with opposing views
- Educating lawmakers and influencers on key health care policy issues, promoting policies that increase individual liberty while countering those that boost government control
Requirements
- The ideal candidate for the Health Care Policy Director role will possess the following attributes:
- Three-plus years of experience in business field, academia, public policy arena or nonprofit setting
- In-depth experience with health care issues/policy
- Knowledge of a variety of health care-related issues, including ObamaCare, Medicaid, Medicare, etc.
- Knowledge of the current system and free market alternatives that will improve the status quo
- Firm grounding in free market economics
- Superb storytelling, communication and debate skills
- Strong analytical and research skills
- Desire to work collaboratively with Illinois Policy Institute staff
- Strong project management skills and ability to multitask, set priorities and follow through
- A sincere dedication to making Illinois a better place to live and work
- Strong commitment to the principles of personal responsibility and free enterprise
- An advanced degree in public policy, economics or related field preferred
- Media experience a major plus but not required
To apply
Qualified candidates should submit the following application materials:
- Cover letter detailing: salary requirements and your interest in the mission of the Illinois Policy Institute
- Writing sample that demonstrates your ability to communicate complex concepts to a lay audience in a compelling fashion (preferably on a topic related to health care issues)
- Links to media appearances, if applicable
Materials should be emailed to Claire Kittle, executive director of Talent Market, who is assisting with the search: claire@talentmarket.org.
While we thank all applicants in advance for their interest in this position, we are only able to contact those to whom we can offer an interview. No phone calls please.
MILTON FRIEDMAN INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
“Only a crisis – actual or perceived – produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes the politically inevitable.”
– Milton Friedman
Named after famed Chicago School economist and free market advocate Milton Friedman, this exclusive program provides interns with the opportunity to work with the Illinois Policy Institute's policy staff and scholars to advance liberty in Illinois. Interns will work in one or several departments of the organization, each of which help advance the mission and the objective of the organization in a unique way.
Ideal candidates will have a positive can-do attitude, flexibility, excellent writing skills and attention to detail. Successful candidates will have an appreciation of and interest in free markets and liberty. If you are creative, ambitious and passionate about liberty and free markets, we would love to hear from you.
Interns can specialize in policy, marketing and communications, and external relations.
Policy
Current centers for policy research at the Institute include budget and taxes, education, labor, government reform and health care policy. Interns will have the opportunity to:
- Write for the Institute's website, as well as our enewsletter and quarterly print magazine, The Compass
- Conduct policy research on both short-and long-term projects
- Assist policy directors with Statehouse activities
- Organize events with leading policy experts
Marketing and communications
The Institute communicates with citizens, investors, influencers and policymakers. The marketing and communications department shares our work with as many people as possible, and maximizes the impact of those impressions by making sure we’re presenting our work in clear and compelling ways. Interns will have the opportunity to:
- Contribute toward internal and external communication projects
- Support the Institute’s digital marketing strategy and social media web outreach
- Conduct primary and secondary research on key target audiences
- Monitor and track earned media appearances
- Compile competitive analysis on similar public policy organizations and think tanks
External relations
The external relations department is responsible for planning and executing general outreach, events and fundraising operations. Interns will have the opportunity to:
- Research and compile reports on prospective donors
- Process and track gifts
- Help plan and execute Institute events
- Assemble materials and mailings for donors and prospective donors
- Research potential foundation and corporate grant opportunities
- Assist the CEO and vice president of external relations with day-to-day fundraising operations
Our internships are volunteer, not employee positions. We do, however, pay a daily stipend. Applicants are accepted on a continual, year-round basis.
Interested candidates should send a resume, cover letter and preferred area of specialization (please note your preferred specialization in the subject line) to internships@illinoispolicy.org.
The deadline to apply for a 2013 summer internship with the Illinois Policy Institute is March 31 2013.
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