Description

 The Mission

Polaris is leading a data-driven social justice movement to fight sex and labor trafficking at the massive scale of the problem – 25 million people worldwide deprived of the freedom to choose how they live and work. For more than a decade, Polaris has assisted thousands of victims and survivors through the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline, helped ensure countless traffickers were held accountable and built the largest known U.S. data set on actual trafficking experiences. With the guidance of survivors, we use that data to improve the way trafficking is identified, how victims and survivors are assisted, and how communities, businesses and governments can prevent human trafficking by transforming the underlying inequities and oppressions that make it possible.

About Opportunity

The Contract Triage Advocate is primarily responsible for responding to incoming calls on the National Hotline, assessing immediate safety concerns, and determining the scope and need of the caller (i.e. triaging) before transferring the call to a Hotline Advocate. This primary task occupies 75-100% of the Triage Advocate’s workday. This is a contract position for up to 40 hours a week, with full-time benefits. Triage Advocates are exposed to graphic information about human trafficking and other crimes. The Trafficking Hotline provides support and wellness benefits to Triage Advocates to help navigate this part of the role.  

Responsibilities

• Respond to calls from victims and survivors, service providers, law enforcement, government, professionals, and community members in accordance with National Hotline protocols via telephone;
• Assess for immediate safety concerns and provide immediate safety planning as needed
• Assess for trafficking indicators and determine the scope and need of the caller to assist with triaging situations
• Strategize responses to signals, including redirecting out of scope signals where possible to more appropriate resources;
• Input and maintain clear, concise, and accurate case notes that allow the Hotline Advocate to take over the signal;
• Commitment to the NHTH mission and Polaris values;
• Other duties as assigned by the supervisor.

Requirements

 Required Qualifications

• Ability to respond to signals via telephone
• Ability to follow directions, manage time, work well under pressure, and maintain composure during stressful situations;
• Able and willing to work an alternative schedule, including overnight shifts and weekends, remotely and from the Washington, D.C. based office;
• Demonstrated critical thinking and creative problem-solving;
• Experience, competence and confidence working independently and as part of a team;
• Experience working in multicultural environments;
• Demonstrated passion for social justice, human rights, and gender issues;
• Practical and/or academic knowledge of the anti-trafficking movement in the United States;
• Lived or professional experience with human services or social work field or working with survivors of severe trauma
• Highly professional with excellent interpersonal skills;
• Strong focus on direct and open communication with the ability to transition easily between diverse communication styles on and off the hotline;
• Excellent writing and analytical skills;
• Strong organizational skills, particularly under pressure
• Demonstrated ability to learn new technology systems. 
• Intermediate knowledge of Google suite;
• Comfort and sensitivity when working with survivors of severe forms of exploitation;
• Resiliently positive and energetic attitude.

 Preferred Qualifications

• Accredited certificate demonstrating Spanish/English bilingual proficiency
• Call center experience a plus

Other

• Subject to a criminal background check;
• Subject to a probationary term contingent on training performance; and
• Request for three professional and/or personal references.

Organization Background

VALUES: Polaris is grounded in a set of values and organizational beliefs and strives to model and embody these values in all that it does.

We work with humility and a spirit of service. We serve a mission that is bigger than ourselves, and we recognize that we cannot do this work alone. We foster a caring community of mutual support, and we actively pursue collaborations and partnerships to expand our reach.

Victims’ and survivors’ experiences ground our efforts. We honor the dignity, agency, and resilience of victims and survivors of slavery, both past and present. We serve, work alongside, and stand in solidarity with those who have been most affected by modern slavery.

We strive for inclusion and equity. We engage different perspectives to inform our decisions, actions, and positions. We create opportunities that empower individuals of diverse backgrounds and circumstances. We acknowledge the structural inequities that lead to human trafficking and modern slavery, which drives us to create just and equitable solutions.

We approach our work with courage. We promote a culture of inquiry, innovation, risk-taking, and continuous learning. We are resilient and evolve when faced with obstacles or failure. We recognize that what is typical or traditional is not always optimal.

We create positive impact and achieve results. We leverage and cultivate the strengths of our staff, and we work with discipline, integrity, and a commitment to excellence. We embrace a measurement culture to track our progress. We view impact holistically, considering multiple sectors and the effects on individuals’ lives, as we pursue systemic and social change to eradicate modern slavery

Diversity Statement:

Polaris designs and implements data-driven strategies to prevent and disrupt human trafficking, and restore freedom to survivors. Achieving this ambitious goal requires both trafficking-specific systemic interventions and broader cultural and structural shifts that reduce the inequities that lead to human trafficking. While Polaris alone cannot build a more diverse, just, equitable, and inclusive society, both the success of our work and our organizational values require modeling in the workplace the change we want to see in the world.

This means cultivating a workforce, organizational culture, and priorities that respect and celebrate a dynamic, multi-disciplinary team made up of individuals with different identities, lived experiences, and backgrounds. Within both our team and across every part of our work, we strive to integrate and elevate the full range of survivor voices.

This is a living commitment. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are values to be manifested daily, in the work we do, the decisions we make, and the way that we treat each other and the people we seek to serve. This means creating space where staff can be included, heard, valued, and set up for success, and where everyone feels empowered to bring their full, best selves to work. We will not check boxes and consider it done. We will push new innovations and different ways of thinking, and treasure the community built and strengthened by each of our contributions.