Administrative Assistant/Receptionist

●    Answers and screens all incoming telephone calls. Processes incoming mail. Responds to customer inquiries for information.

●    Maintains registration lists for events. Maintains central staff calendar. Produces and maintains procedures manuals documenting all administrative processes.

●    Responsible for doing registration at Heartland events or Heartland-sponsored events, which sometimes take place early morning, evenings, or weekends.

●    Responsible for many ad hoc mailing, mail-merge, and data entry projects.

●    Other duties as assigned, depending on interests and skills. For example, the person currently in this position works closely with the Executive Editor to release several e-newsletters every week and posts documents on The Heartland Institute’s website.

The Heartland Institute is a 36-year-old national nonprofit research and education organization headquartered in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Heartland is the only free-market think tank that ...

• Targets the nation’s state elected officials, sending them a publication on average once every week,
• focuses on effectively marketing the work of other free-market groups (not only its own research),
• devotes as much attention or more to reaching people likely to disagree with our free-market views as those likely to agree with them, and
• has a staff of government relations specialists who work directly with elected officials.

●    Significant experience with and fluency in Windows operating system, word processing software (Word Perfect for Windows and/or MS Word), and database programs (Paradox and/or MS Access). Producing mail-merge letters is a substantial part of the job, and thus a high level of competence with this particular word processing function is critical.

●    Eagerness to learn and ability to be trained quickly.

●    Attention to detail and “rule-following” skills with respect to data entry.

●    Excellent written and oral communication skills. The Administrative Assistant is the first point of contact for callers to the organization, so a customer-friendly personality and attention to detail (spelling of names, taking correct phone numbers) are essential.

●    Must be able to report to work and be here at your scheduled time. Attendance is essential in this position: Excessive tardiness (more than 4 occurrences in a 6-month period) or excessive absenteeism (more than 2 occurrences in a 6-month period) may result in immediate termination.

●    Willing to work as a regular, full-time employee continuously for a period of 3 months in order to be eligible for paid time off. Special circumstances will be considered.

●    Interest in public policy issues a plus.

Salary. Starting salary negotiable and commensurate with skills and experience. Performance reviews are conducted semi-annually; salary reviews are conducted annually.

Hours and location of work. The administrative assistant position is a hourly full-time position requiring 40 hours per week. Office hours are 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, with occasional overtime if a given project demands it. Office is in Arlington Heights, Illinois.

Benefits: Health insurance currently provided by Aetna available to full-time employees. The employer pays 60 percent of premiums and offers a choice of two plans, a low-deductible plan and a high-deductible plan with health savings accounts (HSAs). Employees who choose high-deductible plans also receive annual cash deposits into their HSAs of $2,000 for individuals and $4,000 for families.

Employer pays for life and disability insurance and fees for a 401(k)plan. Employer does not match employee contributions to 401(k) plans at this time.

During the first year of employment, full-time employees earn 10 paid days off after their 90-day probationary period. During years 2 and 3, employees earn 12 paid days off each year. During years 4, 5 and 6 employees earn 15 paid days off. During years 7, 8 and 9 employees earn 17 paid days off. During year 10 and above employees earn 20 paid days off each year.