We here at Jellyvision are the proud parents of ALEX®, an interactive employee communications platform that happens to share some DNA (and a sense of humor) with the smash-hit trivia video game YOU DON’T KNOW JACK®, created by Jellyvision's founder. ALEX makes navigating tricky decisions—like choosing and using employee benefits or improving your financial wellness—easier, faster, and more helpful, not to mention entertaining. The success of the ALEX platform has exceeded our wildest dreams, (except for the part right before we woke up where our mom was riding a giraffe), which is why we need talented folks like you to help us help ALEX take over the world…er…continue to grow and succeed.
THAT’S LOVELY… BUT WHAT’S THE JOB?
We’re looking to add a top notch HR Manager to our People team. Specifically, someone with broad experience managing people stuff for a progressive company – think leadership development, diversity and inclusion initiatives, performance management, training, culture building, and support for employee-driven initiatives of all stripes.
Currently, HR duties at Jellyvision are split among a number of people and departments who also have lots of other duties on their plates. As we’ve grown past 300 employees, it’s become clear that it’s time to add folks specifically devoted to HR initiatives to make sure that they get the time they deserve. We’re looking for someone with experience in the HR or Organizational Development space who will bring us innovative ideas – someone with their finger on the pulse of what the best companies are doing to develop and support their people. To that end, the gig entails…
- Manager training and leadership development. Jellyvision has gone from being an incredibly flat organization where almost everyone reported directly into the CEO, to an organization where management chains stretch to 3 or 4 layers. We try to only introduce manager roles where they’re necessary for communication, accountability, and career development and well-being at work – but that still means many more managers every year. Working closely with the SVP of People, you’ll expand our new manager training, run our annual manager feedback survey, and work with departments across the company to help managers develop the skills they need to be excellent leaders and mentors – through formal training, collecting and disseminating resources, and informal coaching.
- Preserving and improving our culture of feedback. Giving honest but kind feedback to each other is one of the bedrock principles of Jellyvision’s culture. If we aren’t honest about where we need to improve, we won’t grow. But if we can’t be kind and respectful when we give tough feedback, we won’t thrive. To help us both grow and thrive, we will be looking to you to run our new hire review process and annual 360 review process – and beyond these two formal processes, constantly innovate on how to make feedback an everyday part of how we work. Giving good feedback is hard, and we need someone to help train, coach and encourage everyone at Jellyvision to do it well.
- Working on our diversity and inclusion efforts. We’re actively looking to increase diversity at Jellyvision across many lines – and to ensure that everyone at Jellyvision feels welcome, included, respected, and empowered to speak up and contribute. You’ll partner with recruiting, hiring managers, and folks throughout the company on ways to attract more diverse talent and be as inclusive a workplace as possible.
- Onboarding and training. Jellyvision has a robust company onboarding program that the People team administers. And each department also has its own approach to training new members – some with very thorough and repeatable training processes, others on a more ad hoc basis. We look forward to you bringing us new ideas for our big picture onboarding process, and working closely with teams across the company to provide resources and support as they refine and develop role and skill specific training.
- Supporting employee-driven initiatives. We have the most amazing group of employees here – and they routinely come up with great ideas for getting to know each other, networking, ongoing education, bringing bunnies into the office (no lie), team-building, etc. You’ll be a resource to employees who want to actively shape our culture – providing them support and guidance as they put together cool Jellyvision stuff to do.
WHAT KIND OF PERSON ARE WE LOOKING FOR? To be a great fit for this role, we’re looking for someone who is:
- A true people person. Getting to know everyone in a 300+ person company is no small feat – so you need to be someone who enjoys getting involved, attending events, and striking up conversations with people you’ve never met before on a daily basis. We’re looking for someone who doesn’t mind – and in fact loves – having a day punctuated by any number of people asking, “hey, can I talk to you about something that’s just come up?” This role will manage a number of projects and initiatives, but being accessible in the office for all of the stuff that “just comes up” is just as important.
- Organized like Martha Stewart. You’ll often have multiple initiatives, contracts, conversations and cups of coffee going at the same time. You need to be a master at moving multiple projects forward simultaneously while making time for all of the things that require your counsel in the moment. Staying supremely organized as you handle it all with a smile on your face is important. It’s a good thing.
- Creative and flexible in your approach to HR. Jellyvision, like many progressive tech companies, tries to take a very employee-first approach to traditional HR matters. We want to be open, honest and trusting in the way we communicate and manage at Jellyvision. So while we want you to crunch numbers and understand market-standard approaches and best practices, we’re often going to deviate from what established HR says you “must” do if a different approach will be better for our people and our culture (like maintaining flexible hours and PTO as we grow). Being flexible will be crucial.
- An amazing communicator. In person, on the phone, and in writing. You will be responsible for communicating both internally and externally with so many different folks in so many different roles that your communication skills really need to be excellent, and on brand for Jellyvision. No HR jargon, please.
- Discrete, trustworthy and with stellar judgment. In this role, you will have access to a lot of sensitive information. People throughout the company will discuss delicate issues with you, and will expect you to keep private information private. You will need to very quickly establish a sense of trust with employees and managers throughout the company. And when people come to you to discuss sensitive topics, you will need to have impeccable judgment on how to react in the moment and appropriately follow up on the conversation in a way that is respectful of the individual and responsible to the company. It’s the delicate balancing act of HR – and we’re looking for someone who makes it look easy.
- Last but not least, a sense of humor is a must. It just makes you more fun to work with.
WHAT KINDS OF EXPERIENCE SHOULD YOU HAVE?
Ordinarily, we look for DNA more than a specific background; but in this case, we’re looking for someone to bring expertise from prior experience. Specifically we’re looking for someone with:
- 3-6 years of experience in HR or Organizational Development. You don’t need deep experience in all of the areas listed above – but we are looking for experience in or exposure to professional development initiatives, performance management processes, manager training, corporate communications, D&I, and culture building – working as a strategic HR partner, not just a coordinator.
- Experience with and ideas for diversity and inclusion. Our leadership and our employees are passionate about being a diverse place where everyone can thrive and where we can talk honestly about any biases that might be standing in the way of being the best company we can be. Experience with diversity and inclusion initiatives is important.
- A track record of executing on strategic HR initiatives. We need someone skilled at identifying and defining areas where a company can improve, gathering information from within and without the company to suggest strategies and solutions, working across the company to execute the solution, and then evaluating the success of the initiative for ongoing improvement.
- Insight into how small companies work. We’re still a fairly small company, so we try to be flexible and scrappy in the way we do things. We don’t have a ton of structure, which could be either freeing or frustrating to folks who are used to a big company atmosphere. The ideal candidate is someone who has worked as an HR Business Partner in a small company before, or has been involved in HR at a larger company and genuinely wants the opportunity to be a part of a more personalized, less bureaucratic, process.
ANYTHING ELSE? Yes. We share a commitment to excellence and a desire to work in a comfortable, friendly atmosphere, so we only hire nice, bright, funny people who are willing to work hard. Our credo is a simple one: be helpful. And we think we can be most helpful if our workforce is as diverse in thought, perspective, and culture as the people who use our products. As mentioned, e are looking to add amazing folks to our team who will bring diversity across many lines, including race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity, sex, and country of origin.
ARE THERE ANY PERKS? Yes, we love perks.
- Competitive pay, 401(k) with matching, stock options and benefits. We pay 100% of the cost of premiums for medical, dental, vision, disability and life insurance for our employees (as long as you qualify for our tobacco-free discount; if you’re a tobacco user, your medical premiums will be higher than $0). We also cover a really nice chunk of the cost of premiums for spouse/dependent medical, dental and vision insurance.
- Casual dress and a flexible schedule. Come in a sweatshirt, jeans, whatever, like everyone else here.
- Creative work environment. We are lucky to work in a place that is full of intelligent, talented and innovative folks. Although most hours the place is deathly quiet (we're a focused bunch), this is punctuated with hilarious outbursts and general merriment, which makes a nice way to spend the day.
- Free food. Every week, we stock our kitchen with free healthy snack foods, and we have a catered lunch every other week to give people a reason to hang out and eat together.
- Easy transportation and lots of love for folks who bike to work. We’re really close to the North/Clybourn red line stop and the Halsted (#8) bus (right by the Apple Store and Mega Whole Foods too), and we have a transit FSA that allows you to dedicate pre-tax dollars to public transportation expenses. A number of our employees like to bike to work, so we also have bike storage, showers and lockers in the office. And for those without their own bike in the city, we offer free divvy memberships – complete with Jellyvision bike helmets you can borrow from the office.
- Did we mention our yoga class? We bring a pro instructor right to the office. Fully subsidized by Jellyvision and fully optional, btw.
- Oh! And we have a massage chair. Not just any massage chair, my friend. It’s the HumanTouch HT 5320 WholeBody™ Massage Chair. Feeling a little stiff? Sit down. Relax. Feel better? Good. Okay, back to work.
AND HOW DO I APPLY?
We look forward to hearing about you and what you do. Make sure your application includes:
- A cover letter that highlights three reasons you think you’d be great for the gig, focusing on how your past experience has prepared you for this kind of position. Writing is key to all we do, and we weigh cover letters heavily. We love a cover letter that really shows us your personality (check out our company bios to see the wide range of personalities we’ve already got in house), but don’t stress if you’re not a comedian. You don’t have to be funny. Just be yourself. We’re mostly interested in learning who you are, what you love to do, and why you’d love to do it here with us.
- Your resume
You will receive an auto-reply confirming that we've received your application.
Please know that every single application we receive is read by a real live human being. However that kind of thoughtful review takes time, so it may take us a little while to get back to you (but we will, we promise). In the meantime, NO FOLLOW UP PHONE CALLS OR EMAILS, PLEASE. It’s not that we don’t love hearing from you. It’s just that time spent responding to follow ups could be spent…well…reading your application. Please rest assured that if you received a confirmation from Recruiting Robot, we’ve got your application, and will get back to you really soon. We knew you’d understand.
If you still have pressing questions in the meantime, please feel free to check out our handy-dandy FAQ page!
Thanks for your interest in Jellyvision!
