Public Policy Associates, Inc. (PPA) recruits diverse and talented researchers who are passionate about public policy, and highly skilled in analyzing information and developing innovative solutions to meet clients' needs.
PPA is a growing national research and evaluation firm, and we are always on the lookout for outstanding talent. If you think you would be a good fit at a company that does stimulating work on important issues and nurtures professional development, fill out a PPA application on our Web site. We hold resumes for six months and consider applicants for opportunities as they emerge. To learn more about PPA careers, continue reading.
Here is the PPA employment application.
Every staff member at PPA plays a critical role in the success of projects and of the firm. They take a deep, personal responsibility for their work and play active roles in shaping their day-to-day activities while meeting the needs of our clients.
At PPA, we embrace diversity. We recognize that a diverse staff provides broader insights and perspectives and enriches both our workplace and our work product.
Our researchers: They have a passion for public policy and enjoy working on highly collaborative project teams. We strongly encourage and support professional development.
Our work requires strong quantitative research skills. This means a high level of competence working with large-scale, complex databases and conducting data analyses in SPSS. Our work also includes significant qualitative research, so the understanding of methods such as focus groups, key informant interviews, observation, and case studies is very relevant. It is rare that a PPA project includes only quantitative or qualitative research, as we find the richest results to come from a thoughtful blending of the two.
Researchers at PPA must be excellent thinkers, writers, and presenters.
Since much of our work requires synthesis of data from multiple sources to create new insight and meaning, we need research associates who are capable of seeing the connections between apparently unrelated facts, who can quickly come to understand the needs and interests of our clients better than they do, who constantly surprise themselves and their colleagues with their new ideas and understanding of old ones.
Clear Writing: Most of PPA’s products are written documents. We constantly produce memos, reports, and summaries for clients, and that work must be crystal clear, powerful, and well-organized. Our clients dread jargon, as well they should, since it tends to obscure rather than reveal meaning. PPA researchers must engage readers in their writing, not simply recount the facts.
We interact with clients and others constantly, and those interactions include formal and informal presentations of what we are learning or of work we propose to do. As with our writing, our presentations must communicate effectively with our audiences. In these presentations, we frequently use PowerPoint software, so a working knowledge of that application is useful.
Every person at PPA contributes to the development of new business, and research associates play an important role in that. Research associates help senior staff to research those project ideas and develop them into marketable products. They also conduct background research to enrich our proposals in response to competitive solicitations. Senior research associates play leadership roles in project conception and development.
Academic credentials: The education and credentials of our entire staff is an important ingredient in our competitiveness, so we require research associates to have at least a master’s degree (doctorate preferred) in a discipline related to our work and three years of relevant experience. We require senior research associates to have similar educational credentials, but at least five years of relevant experience. An individual with exceptional experience and capabilities who lacks the requisite credentials may be considered for a research assistant position while continuing work toward a needed degree.
In recent years, we conducted a six-year national evaluation for the Ford Foundation, assisted the State of Michigan with redevelopment of its workforce and economic development strategy, helped to shape the Michigan Prisoner ReEntry Initiative, assessed the use of technology in education, evaluated several philanthropic initiatives, and carried out a variety of other interesting and important projects. We recently launched a major evaluation project for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Currently, we are conducting the national evaluation of Generations II and III of the WIRED Initiative of the U.S. Department of Labor, a juvenile crime analysis, a health care workforce development study, and an evaluation of supplemental education service providers. Other current projects include providing support to the Promise Zones, developing a local economic gardening strategy, and organizing an employer’s conference on innovation and inclusion.
PPA is an equal opportunity employer and affirmatively encourages applications from under-represented minorities.