For the various employment opportunities available at Highlights, and for a list of benefits, click here.
Available positions are listed below and are updated weekly.
Creative Project Manager
This position is responsible for effective marketing materials for a variety of Highlights brand products, managing projects from concept to final files. Works with Market Management, Production and Operations, as well as with in-house and outside creative sources. Directs and evaluates copy and design; assures adherence to direct mail principles and brand standards. Maximum flexibility, accuracy, attention to detail and timeliness is required. Assignments are subject to strict deadlines and heavy workloads.
Responsibilities:
Project Development/Management
- Produce effective, breakthrough promotional materials.
- Interpret marketing strategies and create promotional materials to accurately reflect them.
- Develop creative concepts, often suggesting multiple options.
- Consolidate comments and suggestions, resolve any issues; communicate changes as needed.
- Prioritize and manage multiple complex projects simultaneously.
- Consistently complete assignments on time, on budget and on strategy.
- Strive to improve the process and implement new systems.
Communication and Leadership
- Demonstrate outstanding communication and presentation skills.
- Summarize and communicate details of creative plans
- Select and manage creative sources for each project. Lead the creative process.
- Evaluate copy and design and provide clear direction to creative sources.
- Develop strong relationships within Highlights as well as with outside vendors.
- Build and lead effective teams.
Industry-Related Responsibilities
- Understand and apply the art and science of direct mail marketing.
- Maintain knowledge of competitive and non-competitive promotional and creative trends.
- Understand current industry-related technology; recommend and implement as needed.
Adherence to Standards
- Develop a thorough understanding of the business, the customer and the brand.
- Understand and apply branding strategies; assure adherence to brand and corporate standards.
- Establish and apply key marketing messages accurately and consistently across marketing channels.
- Help assure adherence to postal, legal, production and operations specifications and guidelines.
- Consistently search for and execute smarter, faster, cheaper, easier ways to do things.
Requirements:
- Bachelor's Degree in Marketing, Communications, Advertising or equivalent experience.
- 5+ Years of experience in direct marketing, advertising or related work
- 3+ Years Mac experience.
- Experience in any of the following areas is preferred: publishing, writing, editing, design, art direction, ad agency work, web marketing, print production, teaching, sales, vendor management.
- Requires strong strategic thinking and project management skills
- Design evaluation skills; writing & editing and proofreading ability
- Decision-making skills
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office, Macintosh CS 2/3 programs
- Well organized and able to coordinate and prioritize multiple projects simultaneously
- Excellent communication skills and strong team player with a problem-solving approach
Location: Columbus, OH
Date added: 11/11/09
Send resume to: jobs@highlights.com
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Media Planner
This position is responsible for designing and implementing marketing database-related media strategies and campaign execution from start to finish. Develops new methods for maximizing profitability and efficiencies while navigating through a Marketing Database conversion to a relational database platform. Analyzes data, maintains data integrity, keeps accurate historical records, and provides reports that demonstrate campaign plans at both a strategic and detailed level.
Responsibilities:
- Gain expertise on the media-related aspect of the upcoming Marketing Database conversion, and its impact on HFC's marketing efforts.
- Make recommendations for new and/or revised strategies for data selection, based on the new marketing database, as well as shifts in the external list environment.
- Analyze historical campaign performance and segmentation strategies, and translate this knowledge into media planning for upcoming marketing campaigns.
- Become expert on all external and internal data sources related to assigned campaign planning; understand how data is compiled and verified, brainstorm segmentation, modeling, and cooperative database options, and communicate strategies to the media and marketing database groups, as well as external suppliers.
- Prepare and formally present data recommendations for marketing campaigns. Work closely with the market manager, service bureau, marketing database department and internal analysts to execute marketing list plans.
- Provide clear, accurate reporting demonstrating relative profitability and strategy of the list and segmentation decisions. Effectively summarize and communicate database testing results and recommendations.
- Process lists for use in campaigns. Manage the procurement process including setting schedules, organizing meetings, and writing merge-purge instructions to meet campaign deadlines.
- Understand, execute, track, communicate and improve upon techniques related to data merge-purge, marketing test panel setup, and customer contact strategies.
- Brainstorm new and "out of the box" paradigms for data use. Demonstrate flexible thinking and embrace change in database strategy and execution.
- Maintain and update data for historical and reporting purposes according to media group guidelines and standard practices.
- Continually evaluate existing processes and offer/implement suggestions for improvements and cost reduction. Analyze merge-purge output to ensure correct processing and to glean helpful marketing information. Alter process or recommend tests based on findings.
- Manage good vendor relationships; make recommendations for new vendors and services.
- Follow corporate procedures relative to List Acquisition.
- Review and approve invoices related to processing.
- Manage related projects in areas such as alternative media, modeling, overlays, etc.
Requirements:
- BA required
- Two years of related work experience
- Strong analytical, complex reasoning skills. Working knowledge of analytical models
- Proficiency in spreadsheets, word processing, and databases
- Strong verbal and written communication skills
- Ability to work both independently and within a group
Location: Columbus, OH
Date added: 11/6/09
Send resume to: jobs@highlights.com
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Regional Assistant
This position provides administrative assistance to the sales department. Makes independent decisions for quick problem resolution and independently resolves time-sensitive issues.
Responsibilities:
- Serve as communications liaison between corporate office and offsite sales people using verbal, written, voice mail and E-mail communication.
- Prepare expense reports from receipts. Review for errors and process for payment.
- Track and report company vehicle usage for assigned reps.
- Process time sheets of assigned reps for payroll; track sick and vacation days taken.
- Distribute individual sales goals, monthly.
- Distribute financial information from accounting to sales reps and managers.
- Create and update cost proposal templates. Create customized cost proposals for schools/districts.
- Develop & maintain new hire training manual; train new sales representatives on requirements
- Remain current on product knowledge.
- Schedule on-site and off-site meetings and training, as requested by sales manager; including reserving rooms and ordering food.
- Register sales reps for local exhibits and complete all required paperwork and payments.
- Participate with planning, organizing, preparing & clean-up of annual national sales meeting.
- Travel to sales meetings, as required. (Travel is very infrequent).
- Serve as a backup for the receptionist, for one lunch hour weekly, and as needed.
- Maintain Excel database for tracking special project man-hours.
Requirements:
- Associates degree, or equivalent combination of education and experience
- Three years in office business environment
- Strong Interpersonal communication skills
- Strong knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite, Lotus Notes
- Strong attention to details, organizational and proofreading skills, and good math skills
- Ability to work independently and for multiple people
- Some prior experience in training is helpful
- Experience with SalesLogix or other sales tracking software is strongly desired
- Ability to independently exercise judgment and discretion regarding important and sensitive information
Location: Columbus, OH
Date added: 10/30/09
Send resume to: jobs@zaner-bloser.com
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Accounting Manager
The Accounting Manager maintains the general ledgers for various companies in the Highlights organization. Prepares and analyzes financial statements including cashflow statements and various other management reports. Partners with business unit managers to facilitate evaluation and analysis of financial results. Assists in evaluating and maintaining internal controls. Supervises accounting staff. Performs account analysis, reconciliations and various journal entries.
Responsibilities:
- Ensure the integrity of and maintain General Ledgers
- Prepare financial statements and other management reporting
- Serve as co-administrator for accounting software applications
- Compile and prepare budgets and projections
- Analyze financial statements and other management reporting
- Research variances in reporting
- Prepare audit work papers
- Maintain fixed asset records
- Supervise, evaluate and develop staff
- Supervise and perform month end close
- Perform various account analyses
- Evaluate current processes for efficiencies
- Ensure maintenance of internal controls and make recommendations for improvements as deemed necessary
- Other duties as assigned
Requirements:
- Bachelor's Degree in Accounting (or commensurate experience)
- 5+ years Accounting experience
- CPA designation preferred
- Public accounting experience preferred
- Excellent analytical and problem solving abilities
- Supervisory experience
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications especially Excel and Access
Location: Columbus, OH
Date added: 10/8/09
Send resume to: jobs@highlights.com
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Editor
Highlights for Children Inc, publisher of the premier children's magazine Highlights for Children, has an opening on the editorial staff in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. If you are an experienced editor and would like to work for a magazine that helps children develop creativity, sensitivity, literacy and the ability to think and reason, and have "Fun with a Purpose" the opportunity awaits.
Responsibilities:
- Work closely with the Highlights editors to acquire and create editorial content for young children ages 2 to 6.
- Work with freelance writers. Acquire and edit content; establish and maintain an appropriate, consistent voice and tone; conceptualize new ideas; and ensure all deadlines are met.
Requirements:
- Bachelor's degree, at minimum
- 5 years children's publishing experience
- Excellent written and oral communication skills
- Solid understanding of issues that are important to thoughtful parents today
- Foundation of knowledge about how young children grow and develop
- Relocation to Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Location: Honesdale, PA (Click for more information about Honesdale and the surrounding area.)
Date added: 8/19/09
Send resume to: resumes@highlights-corp.com
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Executive Assistant
Working under minimal supervision and using independent thinking, judgment and analysis, performs advanced, diversified and confidential executive administrative support for executive and the marketing team. Uses comprehensive skill and knowledge of organization policies and practices and interprets as required. Consistently searches for and executes smarter, faster, cheaper, easier ways to do things.
Responsibilities:
- Uses independent thinking and judgment, to maintain a rigorous and fast paced daily and weekly executive schedule. Ensures that executive and staff meet appointments and scheduled meetings. Proactively resolves schedule conflicts. Coordinates and communicates changes in the schedule with all affected parties.
- Applies understanding of the business and knowledge of corporate policies and procedures.
- Prepares correspondence and reports and screens telephone calls and visitors.
- Creates timely management reports utilizing a variety of Microsoft software. Independently arranges data, sets up spreadsheets. May perform some analysis at the direction of executive.
- Seeks executive's advice and counsel on matters that require a direct response.
- Filters, routes and answers routine correspondence not requiring executive's attention to ensure timely and accurate response.
- Interfaces and works with the company's senior officer team as well as outside representatives on a variety of confidential matters.
- Maintains and disseminates department information for the intranet, ensuring the information posted is appropriate, relevant and up-to-date.
- Prepares and proofs communications. Ensures work on special projects associated with executive is accurate and completed in timely manner.
- Completes expense reports, researches and resolves discrepancies and ensures legitimate departmental expenses are paid in a timely fashion.
- Orders and maintains departmental supplies for general use and for meetings to include ordering food.
- Purchases and maintains company competitive material. Maintains library of periodicals and resource materials and online subscription services and memberships; monitors library budget.
- Coordinates external memberships and events with professional organizations.
- Schedules appointments, meetings and travel itineraries involving a high degree of knowledge, judgment and confidentiality.
- Filters material. Organizes and maintains an effective filing system that is easily accessed and that sensitive documents are secured.
- Prepares files for meetings.
Requirements:
- Associate's Degree in Secretarial Science, or combination of experience and business administration education. Bachelor's degree preferred
- 8-10 years executive secretarial experience; some supervisory experience preferred
- A high degree of professionalism, confidentiality and integrity
- High proficiency with office software, primarily Microsoft office
- Ability to independently exercise judgment and discretion with regard to importance and sensitivity of information handled
- Highly developed written, oral, organizational, detail orientation and interpersonal skills
- Ability to work well with people; strong customer service orientation
- Ability to multi-task with consistent organization and follow through
- Flexibility
- Numerical aptitude
Location: Columbus, OH
Date added: 8/18/09
Send resume to: jobs@highlights.com
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Art Director
Highlights for Children Inc, publisher of the premier children's magazine Highlights for Children, has an opening based in Honesdale, Pennsylvania for an Art Director for book programs and other new products. If you are an Art Director with experience in children's book design and would like to work for a corporation that helps children develop creativity, sensitivity, literacy and the ability to think and reason, and have "Fun with a Purpose" the opportunity awaits.
Responsibilities:
- Develop and maintain the design aesthetic and integrity of all products created by the New Products group.
- Serve as the primary liaison with external designers and work-for-hire artists, communicating the overall editorial philosophy
- Work with the Executive Editor to determine the appropriate designer/artist for each program; direct the design and layout of all projects; interact with editorial staff in planning and review of layout; review samples from prospective illustrators and photographers; assure projects are completed timely and within budget; review pre-media proofs for color, content and accuracy.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree, at minimum
- 5 years children's publishing experience
- Proficiency with CS2 software
- Excellent written and oral communication skills
- Solid understanding of issues that are important to thoughtful parents today
- Knowledge of children's book publishing industry
- Relocation to Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Location: Honesdale, PA (Click for more information about Honesdale and the surrounding area.)
Date added: 7/28/09; updated 8/13/09
Send resume to: resumes@highlights-corp.com
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