MANAGING DIRECTOR OF CARA PLUS
About Cara Collective
Cara Collective seeks to fuel a courageous national movement to eradicate relational and financial poverty. Through our four entities – Cara, Cleanslate, Cara Connects, and Cara Plus – we engage job seekers, employers, and other organizations across the country to break the cycle of poverty through the power and purpose of employment. At present, we produce 1,000 jobs each year; however, our results don’t just end with employment. Today, we take the insights gained over the past 30 years to equip other organizations and employers with practices to help build a more inclusive economy. Learn more at
www.caracollective.org
.
About the Role
In 2019, building on three decades of direct service experience, Cara launched its expansion arm, Cara Plus. This initiative collaborates with leaders nationwide to develop inclusive employment pathways within their communities by adapting Cara's best practices for new audiences. The ultimate goal of Cara Plus is to foster practice change at both corporate and practitioner levels, thereby creating more opportunities for untapped talent across the country. To achieve this, Cara Plus is currently managing and growing two portfolios:
- Workforce Development. Where we work with non-profits and workforce development programs to help them deploy sustainable pathways to self-sufficiency in their communities. We do this through:
- Affiliation – For organizations in different cities that want to move people experiencing poverty to self-sufficiency, Cara Plus partners with them to co-develop a workforce development program based on Cara’s methodologies – customized for each organization’s context and population needs.
- Workforce Development Solutions Lab – For organizations looking to build or grow a workforce development program, this cohort-based program provides an immersive, multi-day experience to equip practitioners with actionable tools and resources from Cara and from others in their cohort.
- Inclusive Employment. Where we help employers shift their practices to improve how they recruit, hire, cultivate, and advance untapped talent. We do this through:
- Inclusion Action Lab – For employers that are interested in creating more inclusive workplaces, this cohort-based training provides tactics, tools, and approaches to help employers flex how they attract and retain overlooked talent.
- We work with civic leaders throughout the city/country and other organizations to launch regional level efforts that better support the demand and supply side of talent acquisition.
We have assembled a dynamic and skilled Expansion Team dedicated to turning our vision into reality. The Managing Director of Cara Plus leads this team, introducing our model to partners nationwide and representing Cara’s expansion efforts within the organization. In just five years, Cara Plus has evolved from a start-up to a respected player in the industry. The Managing Director of Cara Plus will be instrumental in guiding us to the next phase of our growth.
Reports to
Chief External Affairs Officer
Outcomes
Cara Plus is responsible for cultivating long-term partnerships in the non-profit and for-profit sectors, based on creative problem-solving, clear communication, and thought partnership. The goal is to increase job and retention outcomes among our affiliates and develop learning opportunities for non-profits and employers that can show measurable impacts for their stakeholders. To contribute to these outcomes, the Managing Director of Cara Plus will advance initiatives that help achieve the following outcomes:
- Change the narrative of what talent looks like and how to unlock the talent within.
- Shift how organizations create opportunities for overlooked talent to obtain, retain, or advance in gainful employment.
- Produce more jobs and higher retention rates for untapped talent.
- Help position Cara Collective as a sector leader in inclusive employment, workforce development solutions, and poverty alleviation, at a local and national level.
Responsibilities
The essential activities described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the job.
Expansion Strategy, Execution, and Growth (40%):
- In partnership with CEAO and CEO, evaluate, refine, and lead the overall expansion strategy, based on a strong understanding of different expansion approaches and tradeoffs.
- Develop the capability, necessary systems, tools, and processes to ensure method fidelity and replicability across different offerings.
- Stay sharp on workforce best practices and emerging business needs and challenges, based on each market.
- Support Director of National Workforce Solutions to source and assess potential affiliation partners.
- Bring learnings from Cara Plus’s national network to Cara Collective to inform our approach and impact.
- React to and evaluate opportunities for growth, ensuring that key projects and/or initiatives clearly align with Cara Plus’ strategic vision and direction.
- Working with CEAO, devise, implement, and oversee a multi-faceted revenue strategy that secures necessary capital for expansion efforts, where needed, and ensure Cara Plus has a sustainable and diverse (both earned and philanthropic) funding stream over the long-term.
- Manage the P&L for the Cara Plus team, with support from the CEAO, to ensure operational efficacy.
Partnership Development and Cultivation (35%):
- Work in partnership with the CEAO and Development Team to cultivate strategic funders – both before and after securing investment – to turn them into long-term partners that can advance Cara Plus’s impact and growth.
- Identify and cultivate potential channel partners to help grow both portfolios through a one-to-many approach.
- Identify strategic partners that can augment Cara Plus’s offerings with complementary skillsets or knowledge to bring greater value to our clients.
- Identify and cultivate potential clients for each portfolio, from initial outreach to close.
- Update strategic partners through informal and formal channels, by providing updates on successes, transparency on opportunities, and uplifting learnings.
- Work closely with our corporate partnerships and employment services team.
- Develop strong messaging that helps convey and demonstrate Cara Plus’s role in Cara Collective and the broader ecosystem.
- Uplift Cara Collective’s brand equity by using different media to share the Cara Method, publishing thought leadership, being a guest speaker.
Leadership (25%):
- Hire, train, supervise and evaluate Cara Plus Department personnel and consultants.
- Participate in Cara Collective’s Leadership Teams, providing strategic and operational input to ensure we collectively reach our goals and maximize our impact.
- Meet regularly with team members to identify priorities, discuss strategies and review ongoing projects.
- Lead the team in the development of annual work plans, and support tracking progress towards goals and making mid-course adjustments as necessary.
- Provide professional development opportunities and guidance to team members to help strengthen their skill sets and job satisfaction.
Qualifications
To perform this job successfully, an individual must demonstrate evidence of success in a previous role(s). The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required:
- 5 to 7+ years of experience of successfully driving strategic planning.
- 5 to 7+ years of leadership and supervisory experience
- 5+ years in an external facing role, managing and building multifaceted relationships.
- Demonstrated track record of developing and implementing/operationalizing large-scale initiatives.
- Demonstrated understanding and deep knowledge of Inclusive Employment and Workforce Development ecosystem is strongly preferred.
- Proven leadership and strong interpersonal and presentation skills, and the ability to generate enthusiasm and confidence from others.
- Capacity to represent Cara Plus and effectively communicate how it benefits the continued growth and impact of Cara Collective.
- Insatiable curiosity and ability to connect with people of all walks and backgrounds.
- Highly organized and experienced in managing multiple individuals and projects, with a broad set of goals.
- Focused on outcomes over activities.
- Ability to deepen ties with a diverse team on a non-hierarchical basis.
- Ability to motivate staff and maintain consistency during periods of innovation and growth.
- Ability to prioritize critical tasks with grace and tenacious follow up in a fast-paced startup environment.
- Occasional to moderate travel necessary.
Equal Opportunity Employer
Cara Collective is committed to creating a diverse work environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. Cara Collective does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability, parental status, veteran status, or any other protected status under applicable laws. We encourage individuals of all backgrounds to apply. If you are a qualified candidate with a disability, please email us at kboelkens@carachicago.org if you require reasonable accommodation to complete this application.
