It’s that time of year again! Within the past week alone, three of my evaluation friends have asked for my advice in finding positions. Here are my favorite resources for job-hunting evaluators.
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Resource #1: The American Evaluation Association’s public job listings for evaluators. These postings are free to the public. Just visit www.eval.org, and then click on “Career” and “Search jobs/RFPs.”

Resource #2: The American Evaluation Association’s weekly career center email digest. The weekly email digest is one of many benefits of an annual membership. Membership is $80/year (and includes endless perks, like hundreds of live and pre-recorded webinars). To sign up for the email digest, visit www.eval.org and log-in with your username and password. Click on “Career” and “Subscribe to Job Updates.” Then you’ll start receiving great email digests like the one below.
Resource #3: The Eastern Evaluation Research Society’s public job postings on the website. The Eastern Evaluation Research Society is a regional affiliate of the American Evaluation Association for evaluators on the east coast. A majority of the positions are located between DC and NYC. Visit www.eers.org and click “Job Listings.”
Resource #4: The Eastern Evaluation Research Society’s job emails for conference attendees. We send 1-2 job announcements per month as a special perk for our conference presenters and attendees. Most, but not all, of the jobs are located along the east coast.
Resource #5: The Washington Evaluators public job postings and members-only mailing list. The Washington Evaluators is a local affiliate of the American Evaluation Association for evaluators in Washington, DC. Although we post a handful of jobs on our website at www.washeval.org, the way to learn about evaluation jobs in the DC metro area is to join our members-only mailing list. Members get 2-3 emails a week with job postings, RFPs, and upcoming brown bags. At just $25 a year, this resource is a steal.
Resource #6: The Evaluation Jobs group on LinkedIn. Although this group just started in March 2012, it already has 600+ members and dozens of jobs-only postings for evaluators. This is a great place to find jobs and advertise (for free!) for openings within your own team.
Resource #7: The Young Education Professionals of DC mailing list. Visit http://www.youngedprofessionals.org/yep-dc-get-involved.html and sign up for the Google mailing list. The YEP-DC mailing list is an undiscovered gem in DC! They send emails about jobs, brown bags, happy hours, conferences, and trainings related to education and youth development in Washington, DC. A majority of the job announcements are directly related to education (i.e. teachers and curriculum specialists within DC’s public, private, and charter schools) but a good number of jobs are related to data, research, and evaluation (i.e. data coach or quality assurance manager within nearby school systems).

Resource #8: The Washington Post Jobs website.Visit http://www.washingtonpost.com/jobs/home. If you’re looking for an evaluation position within a large consulting firm, government contractor, or think tanks around DC, then this is the place for you! Westat, ICF International, Urban Institute, and American Institutes for Research are some of the frequent advertisers. This is where I found my first evaluation job as an external evaluator in a consulting firm. However, a recruiter at my old job told me that they typically receive 400+ resumes for every entry-level position that they choose to advertise through Washington Post jobs. Now’s a good time to check, double-check, and triple-check your resume for typos.

Resource #9: The Idealist website at www.idealist.org. If you’d like to be an evaluator within a non-profit organization or school system, then this is the place for you! This is how I found my job as an internal evaluator in a youth center. However, you’ll have to get creative with search terms. As shown below, when I typed “evaluation,” the results included advertisements for mentors and online engagement.

 

Do you have additional resources for job-hunting evaluators? Please share the good karma below.

— Ann Emery

P.S. If you’d like additional advice, check out my helpful hints for job-hunting evaluators.