IAF Careers
Industrial Areas Foundation organizations are actively recruiting, training, and developing the next generation of organizers to work in existing groups and to assist in ongoing strategies and targeted campaigns. IAF seeks women and men of diverse backgrounds from colleges, graduate programs, seminaries, business and law schools, the military, and other professions who are interested in exploring careers in organizing.
We don't only seek people from professional backgrounds. We seek people who have some success in whatever field or career or endeavor has occupied their time.
Click the headings on the right to read more about careers with the IAF
Applying
Please see our affiliates pages for the address of the local IAF affiliate with whom you are interested in working, or email us directly for information about internships and tryouts. Each region and each affiliate may have a slightly different approach to both the issue of internships and of try-outs. The information on this page is provided as a general guide, not a specific process that each affiliate follows.
Native Intelligence not necessarily degrees, but the ability to think, reflect, communicate, challenge the conventional wisdom, make judgments in complicated situations, and show flexibility
Anger and Edge not temper, not ideological fervor, not an abstract commitment to "the people," a clear sense of what's wrong, impatience in the face of that wrong, and a drive to address it
A willingness to cross race and culture to be willing to work with people unlike yourself, people of other races, classes, orientations, faiths
A track record some evidence, in high school, in college, in your local community, in your workplace, of attempting to relate to people and to respond to situations that call out for action; and some success or impact in whatever field or career or endeavor has occupied your time.
Some IAF affiliates or regional IAF efforts sponsor summer internships, at times in concert with local college or university internship programs, at other times independently. Contact the IAF affiliate in your area if you are interested in this possibility
The IAF offers paid, 90-day tryouts to interested, qualified men and women at its various local affiliates throughout the year. These try-outs are offered after a process that includes:
- An expression of interest by an individual that would include a letter of introduction, a resume, and some references
- An individual meeting, or series of individual meetings, held with the candidate
- Often, some contact with the individual in the context of local training or some mutually agreed-upon voluntary experience that gives the individual a better view and feel for IAF organizing and the local IAF organizer a better sense of the individual
- Then the 90-day try-out itself
Successful tryouts lead to full-time professional organizer positions with an IAF affiliate.