Careers

• Passion for education. We believe that World Change Starts with Educated Children.® We bring deep passion and commitment to our mission to ensure children are educated and can benefit from the opportunities an education can provide.
• Focus on Action and Innovation. We set ambitious, yet attainable and measurable goals, and encourage calculated risk-taking and creativity as we strive to accomplish them. We are a learning organization that finds innovative solutions to challenges. We quickly identify and resolve barriers in order to achieve results and create positive change.
• Commitment to Collaboration. We know we can only achieve sustainable results by partnering with others and that their insights and support are critical to our shared work. We help team members achieve their goals. We embrace diversity, and we develop and adapt global best practices to respond effectively to local circumstances.

• Focus on education of children
• Cultivate top caliber staff and supporters
• Engage communities and local partners
• Promote scale and sustainability
• Maintain a healthy and efficient organization

Room to Read is creating a fair and just world through education. We are helping children acquire the necessary skills to make positive change and contribute equitable solutions to the most pressing challenges – in their families, communities and the world. Our commitment to developing children’s literacy skills enables them to be lifelong learners, no matter where they were born. Our commitment to developing adolescents’ life skills ensures all children - regardless of gender - can benefit from quality education, become leaders and pursue lives of meaning and connection. At Room to Read, the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion are hallmarks of the fair and just world we are building through our work, and we live these values internally and externally every day.

Children learn in the context of their local communities and cultures, as these are the building blocks of childhood engagement in reading and learning. To that end, we thrive as an organization because of our diverse country-based leadership and globally distributed team and are committed to building cultural competence and accountability across our operations. We foster a diverse, equitable and inclusive organizational culture that is relevant to the cultures in which we operate. As an organization focused on education, we view learning as a lifelong process, and we are committed to continuing our own learning, growth and progress together.

We offer competitive salaries, health benefits and retirement savings.

• Room to Read offers competitive salaries and excellent benefits. Benefits vary based on the local requirements and best practices in the country where the position is based.
• Room to Read employees are encouraged to actively plan for long term financial stability, and Room to Read provides retirement savings contributions and/or pension plan matches depending on local practices and requirements.
• Room to Read provides comprehensive medical and accident insurance for all employees. A variety of non-contributory plans are available worldwide.
• All staff accrue paid time off and are encouraged to use it throughout the year!

We offer comprehensive on-boarding as well as rich and practical professional development opportunities for staff through our Professional Development Program.

• Room to Read offers a thorough on-boarding process for new staff, a core supervisory training series for all Room to Read managers, supplemental development options, and stretch assignments to help all staff reach their professional development and career goals.
• Our Professional Development Program is an ongoing initiative designed to help meet the needs of all Room to Read staff by offering tailored training and development opportunities that build staff capacity and facilitate career advancement.
• Staff participate in a very thoughtful annual review and goal setting process. These processes allow individuals to set attainable goals and receive feedback from their peers and managers on their performance.

Our performance bonus is another way we recognize and reward the amazing performance of our staff.

The decision to award the bonus is based on our annual organization-wide goals being achieved and our ability to fund the bonus. The bonus is distributed based on individual performance as determined through the Annual Review Process. 

We have developed an International Assignment Policy for those times when work takes you a long way from home. 

In some cases Room to Read does hire expatriates (U.S. citizens living abroad) and Third Country Nationals (Non-U.S. citizens living in a country other than the U.S. or their country of citizenship) for regional positions or roles where local talent is not available. For those individuals choosing to accept employment outside of their home country, we offer benefits which meet their unique needs and we will share more details throughout the recruiting process.

Room to Read's Global Office (GO) works collaboratively, across multiple geographies, to design programs, develop and oversee worldwide policies, raise funds, and drive awareness for our work. Our Global Office is staffed by passionate, talented individuals from around the globe, with locations in North America, Europe, Asia/Pacific, Southeast Asia, South Asia and Southern Africa.

Room to Read's Country Offices (CO) work to contextualize and implement high quality programs based on Room to Read's global designs. Consistent with commitment to supporting local initiatives, our Country Offices are staffed primarily by local/regional nationals. We maintain Country Offices in Southeast Asia, South Asia and Southern Africa.

Recruitment for all Global Offices positions is managed out of Room to Read’s San Francisco Headquarters and the Asia Global Office based in New Delhi. Each Country Office has the authority to recruit their own staff and make hiring decisions with input from the Global Office as necessary.

We prioritize hiring local nationals whenever possible, and we are dedicated seeking out talent within all of our labor markets. We’ve found that by doing so we build the capacity of the local labor market; maintain strong relationships with local governments; and strengthen our relationships with local communities which leads to long term success and sustainability in our regions.

Room to Read is proud to be an equal opportunity employer committed to identifying and developing the skills and leadership of people from diverse backgrounds.

We strive to create a thoughtful and efficient recruiting process that gives both Room to Read an opportunity to get to know candidates and candidates the opportunity to get to know us. We’ve found that this approach is the only way to make a perfect match.

We will ask you to complete an application that asks for some general information about you and your professional experience, but we’ll ask most of our questions as part of a conversation that starts with a recruiter phone screen, and eventually includes a wide range of team members. We want to make sure you have a chance to get to know us so that there are no surprises when you join the Room to Read team, and we love thoughtful questions!

The interview process varies a bit from country to country and position to position, but in most cases you can expect the following:

• A phone screen with one of Room to Read’s recruiters
• A second round interview either in person, by phone or video conference with the hiring manager
• A final round interview, that is typically conducted in person, and includes all members of the hiring team as well as key members from other teams in the organization. Since we are a global organization there are many times when some of these conversations happen by phone.

Don’t be surprised if we ask you to prepare a presentation or complete a homework assignment. We are just trying to get a sense of your work, and we hope you will embrace the opportunity to share your talents and ideas with us! Some of our most successful campaigns and project plans have started with a great response to a homework assignment or presentation, so think of it as your way to hit the ground running on day one.

There are many different factors that impact the length of the recruiting process. Our goal is to fill open positions as quickly as possible because each individual at Room to Read plays a key role on their team and teams depend on them for their contributions. That said, there are times when unexpected delays do arise and we really appreciate your patience. You are always welcome to contact your recruiter directly for an update on the timeline.

Due to high applicant volume, we regret that we are not able to send personalized responses to each application. That said, if you do advance to the phone screen or interview stage, we will let you know the outcome of the conversation.

YES! We love cover letters and we want to know why you’re interested in joining Room to Read and how your skills match the job description, particularly if you’re transitioning from another sector. We are less concerned with who the letter is addressed to. “Dear Hiring Manager” is fine with us!

Unfortunately, we aren’t able to provide feedback on applications or interviews. We are very fortunate to attract many qualified candidates. Room to Read's interview process is very competitive which makes many of our hiring decisions quite difficult.

You are welcome to apply for as many positions as you would like, and we’ll review your application for each position individually. If your qualifications match our job description for a particular position, we’ll reach out to schedule a phone interview.

Yes! Volunteering or interning in the office at Room to Read is a great way to support our mission. Our volunteer positions allow you to significantly contribute to Room to Read, gain valuable skills, and get to know our amazing staff. These opportunities are posted on our job board when they are available.

Unfortunately, we do not accept volunteer applications for our in-country projects as we do not operate volunteer programs in any of our countries of operation. Due to our strong commitment to community development, most of our work on the ground is done by our local teams and local partner organizations. We have found this model promotes longer term sustainability for our projects.

We also have thousands of volunteers around the world who are self-directed, highly motivated, and passionate about promoting education. We are always looking for energetic individuals who are interested in raising awareness and funds for Room to Read. There are many ways to get involved like joining a chapter, organizing a fundraising campaign or spreading the word about our programs at your place of work or school.

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Unfortunately, due to the number of requests we receive and the busy schedules of our staff, we aren’t able to conduct as many informational interviews as we would like to. We will do our best to accommodate your request, and we also hope that you’ll find the information on our website helpful. Please don’t hesitate to apply for positions that you’re interested in so that we can evaluate your application, and start the conversation that way.

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