Employment
Employment
Philosophy
-
We
aspire to hire the "best and the brightest" and provide
a work environment that stimulates and engages.
-
We
value energy, initiative, and specific competencies over degrees.
-
We
promote from within wherever possible
Available
Positions
For the right person, that is, someone who has specific relevant skills
and who genuinely shares our values, our inclination is to find a way
to bring them on board. For this reason
we cannot tell a prospective candidate whether we "have an opening"
without first getting targeted information about that person (see below,
with specific reference to our Skill
Sheet).
For such a person, we generally have - or can create - either a part or
full-time position at either the entry or more advanced levels.
(For part-time positions, however, we have generally found that it is
difficult to give someone much real responsibility unless they can commit
to an average of at least 25 hours per week).
We try to fit candidates' competencies and interests
to our needs rather than starting with rigid immutable notions of what
"positions" we have. That said,
these competencies generally fall into several broad categories described
below.
Conceptual
Organization Chart
*See both descriptions for Field Director
and Data Processing Manager
Position
Description Summaries
Brief summaries of most positions at O'Neil Associates
follow. Full job descriptions are available by clicking on the graphic
above or on the heading of each of the paragraphs below. Before applying
for any position, please read these more extensive job descriptions, not
just the summaries below.
Duties: Most
positions include some combination of project management, client contact,
proposal writing, project design, data processing and writing analytical
reports. Positions such as Analyst or Account Executive typically require
a graduate degree and significant relevant experience, but we are far
more concerned with specific skills and competencies than academic degrees.
Requirements for other positions vary.
-
Account Executive: The
candidate for this position must have a demonstrated track record
in new business development and a thorough understanding of social
science research methods.
-
Analyst:
An analyst candidate will typically have
a graduate degree, significant relevant experience in the industry,
advanced computer skills (generally superior to the data processing
personnel they will generally supervise), and impeccable writing
skills. Writing skills will include the ability to decipher crosstabular
data and efficiently distill the essential findings. We regard an
analyst as a senior researcher. Since we do not regard this as an
entry-level position, we generally hire experienced professionals
for this position. [click
here for a full description]
-
Field
Operations: The requirements for this
department vary by position. Supervisory positions are generally
most appropriate for those who have had significant exposure to
opinion research interviewing either as an interviewer
or a supervisor.
Interviewer positions are frequently held by persons desiring part-time,
flexible employment. Employment as an interviewer, however, can
also be an ideal starting position for someone who has a serious
interest in a career in survey research or wishes to learn more
about the field. It also provides an entrée point for someone
who does not have specific academic training in survey research
or a set of computer skills that would facilitate appointment as
a computer research associate. Most of our current staff consists
of former interviewers who were promoted to other positions. [click
here for full position descriptions]
-
Data
Processing: Most positions require
a high degree of microcomputer literacy. A thorough mastery of MS
Office (including Access) is presumed; desirable competencies include
proficiency with CATI systems (in their absence, some linear programming),
SPSS, Web page design and PC networks. [click
here for full position descriptions]
-
Project
Manager: The preferred candidate profile
for a Project Manager with our firm is an individual with Social
Science research and survey research training with at least some
statistics. The candidate will have had exposure to opinion research
interviewing either as an interviewer or in a supervisory capacity.
The candidate will be highly computer literate (as described in
the data processing paragraph above). Project Managers are involved
with client contact, research design, data processing and field
supervision. [click
here for a full description]
-
Intern:
O'Neil Associates regularly offers internships
to those individuals who don't meet the specific requirements for
other positions, but have a genuine interest in survey research.
We seriously stress the latter point. Internships are not
appropriate for individuals whose resumes indicate that they recently
graduated, were unable to find a job in the field for which they
prepared, and think that an internship in a research firm such as
ours would be an appropriate thing to do until the job that they
really want comes along. Someone with that profile will find an
internship to be altogether too taxing. For those whose interest
in research is sincere, however, it can provide an exhilarating
and extremely useful experience. Most former
interns have provided written
assessments of their experiences and their career relevance.
Since these are more relevant than anything we can say, we have
posted all of these on our site. We commend them to your attention.
Indeed many candidates for other positions have found them to be
useful reads. [click
here for a full description]
To
Apply
-
Read
the full job descriptions to be sure
a given job is right for you. While we will generally consider you
for any appropriate position for which you are qualified unless you
specifically indicate to the contrary, demonstrating that you have
appropriately assessed the fit between your skills and job requirements
generally is a positive indicator.
-
Interviewer
candidates should call and ask to
speak to a field supervisor. Since this position involves oral
communication, we would like our initial
contact with you to be over the phone.
All
other positions involve a serious
written
assessment of your skills and attributes. To be able to make any
sort of reasonable assessment of these, we need to know a bit about
you before we can tell you anything about available positions. Remember,
the second sentence in this section read: "For
the right person, that is, someone who is highly competent and who
genuinely shares our values, our inclination is to find a way to
bring them on board--whether we "have an opening" or not."
So, without knowing something about
you, we simply can't tell you anything meaningful. This would imply,
at a minimum emailing (to
) the following:
-
A
copy of our Skill Sheet. This
is the single most important means we have of assessing the relevance
of your background.
This form is designed to be filled out by an applicant
for any
staff position with our firm. You
spend 5 minutes filling it out, we spend 5 minutes reading it
and we have accomplished more than in the typical one-hour interview.
It is, therefore, the sine qua non of any application; it
is always the first thing we look at.
Resumes alone seldom provide enough information to make a judgment
about your relevant
qualifications.
-
A
cover letter will give you an opportunity to describe
your interests; a resume provides some of the biographical
essentials. (Note: If you send us a resume without the
Skill Sheet we will probably infer that you did not take
the trouble to read this page.)
-
Analyst
candidates (or those wishing an assessment of their prospects
in this area) should also send an analytical
writing sample as described in the document by that
name.
Downloadable Documents
-
Skill
Sheet - Application for ALL positions
except interviewer
-
|