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Volunteering is the new work

May 15, 2009

Think volunteering is all about stuffing envelopes and packing lunches? Think again.

There has never been a more energized call to volunteer service than what we are experiencing today. Fueled by The White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, as well as the work of phenomenal groups like America First, Be The Change, Civic Ventures, and others, the profile of volunteerism has been raised.

A few of the factors impacting the professionalism of volunteering include:

  • A dramatic increase of opportunities, including a tripling of Americorps opportunities beginning in 2010 and the creation of a $10 million Volunteer Generation Fund, as part of the Serve America Act.
  • The trend of Baby Boomer aged adults looking to lend their professional skills on a volunteer basis to nonprofits, as well as the formation of Senior Corps, a $220.9 million project to support nearly 500,000 Senior Corps volunteers.
  • The existence of volunteer programs, such as the Taproot Foundation, connecting nonprofit with in-demand professionals with backgrounds in corporate marketing, communications, and strategic management.

What does this mean for jobseekers? There are now tens of thousands of opportunities for those with professional and in-demand skills available in the nonprofit sector, with even more to become available in the near future. For many, these opportunities not only allow you to gain more experience in the nonprofit sector, but also lay the groundwork for employment opportunities.

Professional volunteering is an especially compelling option for sector switchers, or those new to the nonprofit sector. According to Robert Rosenthal of VolunteerMatch, “A challenging volunteer gig can be an important career move. Workers from a broad array of industries are being challenged to rethink how they contribute to society, and more and more of these folks are finding that volunteering is a great way to stay sharp, develop new expertise, and demonstrate the leadership that will carry them to their next professional challenge.”

We couldn’t agree more.

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Talent Issues

According to survey, leadership gap has widened by 43%

May 01, 2009

Leadership succession may not be a top issue on many nonprofit leaders’ minds these days. According to a recent survey report published by Bridgespan, the need to recruit new talent and plan for leadership transitions is more pressing than ever before.

Published in April 2009, the report “Finding Leaders for America’s Nonprofits” suggests that the leadership deficit previously forecasted by Bridgespan in 2006 has widened. According to the report, senior job openings grew to 77,000 in 2008, a figure that is 43% greater than what had been predicted in Bridgespan’s 2006 survey report, “The Nonprofit Sector’s Leadership Deficit.”

Additionally, and despite the current economic conditions, 28% of organizations surveyed plan to fill over 24,000 senior management roles in 2009.

Where will these leaders come from? While Bridgespan suggests that talent recruited from the corporate and government sectors can step in to fill these roles, that is just one piece of the puzzle. The need for organizations to develop leaders from within has never been greater. The ability to identify “next generation” leaders within your own organization, and then provide career ladders, mentoring and other professional development opportunities will also help to address the leadership challenge. By thinking creatively and broadly – both within and outside of our organizations—there are solutions to the leadership gap.

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In the News, Sector Reports, Talent Issues

YNPN: Tomorrow’s nonprofit professionals today!

April 27, 2009

We always knew that our Director of Client Services Allyson Beigeleisen was on the pulse of emerging nonprofit leadership. As a member of the national board of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network (YNPN), Allyson had the privilege of attending the 2009 YNPN Leaders Conference. The national board and over 60 chapter leaders from regions across the country, as well as a number of local twenty-something nonprofit professionals, convened in Washington, D.C. to discuss the issues that are important to the next generation of nonprofit leaders.

As could be expected, much of the conversation at the conference centered around the economy’s impact on career paths and longevity. According to Allyson, the overall vibe about long-term career opportunities in the sector hovered around cautious optimism. While there was concern about the ability to retain one’s job (about 5% of conference attendees had been laid off this year) or build a long-term career (many attendees planned to work in the government or private sector at some point), there was an overall belief that the sector will continue to grow and create opportunities for young professionals. This sentiment was especially true for people who worked in the education field or other sub-sectors that may benefit from initiatives such as the Serve America Act and Obama’s economic stimulus packages to nonprofits.

When the topic of the “leadership gap” arose, practically all YNPNers in attendance saw the glass as half-full. The feeling of “we’re here and ready to lead” overwhelmed any perception that the nonprofit sector is either currently experiencing or heading for a leadership crisis. As Allyson summarized, “This generation is the solution. We’re doing everything we can to prepare for leadership roles.”

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Events & Career Fairs, Talent Issues

Do you love your job as much as Obama loves his?

April 09, 2009

Mark Cuban. Barack Obama. The cast of SNL. Paris Hilton. These are people who clearly love their jobs. These are people who just ooze happiness when they are performing what they do. (Although, in the case of Paris Hilton, we’re not entirely sure what she does exactly…)

This got me thinking about what it takes to really love a job, especially one less glamorous than Chief of State or celebrity socialite. Particularly when it comes to nonprofit jobs, is the satisfaction we get from contributing to positive change in the world enough to make us fall in love with work?

To get to the bottom of this, I talked to the happiest guy I know: Kevin Flynn, Director of Client Services at Commongood Careers. (This is not to say that the rest of our staff is not exceedingly satisfied. Kevin just turns his love to eleven.)

According to Kevin, job-love is all about the “who.” As in the people he gets to work with and for. He said that it’s the ability to interact with some of the most fascinating and inspiring people and organizations in the country, on a daily basis, that lets him love what he does.

So there you have it. It’s not always what we do, but who we do it with and for. Let that be a lesson to anyone who works alone in a cave.

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Talent Issues

Independent Sector Addresses Next Generation of Leadership Issues

October 31, 2008

Nearly 1,000 nonprofit leaders will gather in Philadelphia on November 9-11 to attend Independent Sector’s Annual Conference. New at this year’s conference is a special program called NGen for nonprofit professionals under the age of 40. This program is designed to help emerging leaders build their leadership skills and professional networks.

As an NGen sponsor, we at Commongood Careers are excited to see these issues being addressed at one of the most well-attended and influential nonprofit conferences.

Learn more about NGen.

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Events & Career Fairs, Talent Issues

Letter from the CEO: A Momentous Month for Social Change

October 08, 2008

Last month, a series of events unfolded in our sector that have brought about an enormous infusion of public policy leadership, media attention, funding, energy, and hope.

So what made September so special? In truly historic terms, ServiceNation launched a national and groundbreaking campaign, elevating the conversation about citizen service to a new level. For those who are unfamiliar, ServiceNation is a coalition of organizations dedicated to strengthening our democracy and solving problems through civic engagement and service, of which Commongood Careers is a proud member.

Kicking off the campaign on September 11th in New York City, Senators Obama and McCain set aside partisanship to speak together at a Presidential Forum about the importance of service and their views on how to expand its impact.  The following day, the ServiceNation Summit brought together hundreds of leaders – nonprofit and for-profit CEO’s, elected and appointed government officials, army generals and celebrities – to discuss and embrace the future of citizen service.  But the rubber really hit the road on September 27th’s “Day of Action,” during which more than 2,700 service events were organized across all 50 states to showcase the power and potential of service.

The month also brought some of the most powerful legislation in decades to expand and improve service opportunities when, on September 12th, Senators Kennedy and Hatch introduced “The Serve America Act” with co-sponsorship from Senators Clinton, Obama and McCain.  When many policy efforts grind to a halt during an election cycle, waiting to see what the election will bring, it is tremendously encouraging to know that the next President of the United States has already endorsed this sweeping and important reform.

These developments are likely to have a profound impact on the workforce of the nonprofit sector, as more and more people are introduced to service and earn marketable experiences working to those ends.  Particularly in response to conversations about the sector’s impending leadership crisis, there may be few more effective strategies for increasing the talent supply than to expand national service programs like City Year, Public Allies, Civic Ventures and Teach For America.

Finally, it is also worth noting that this work represents some of the absolute best tenants of social entrepreneurship – innovating new approaches to addressing social problems, pursuing audacious goals, measuring impacts, and building powerful cross-sector coalitions.  As is often the case with successful examples of social entrepreneurship, and as was certainly the case during ServiceNation events, I found myself thinking daily about Margaret Mead’s often quoted observation: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

As a citizen of the world and on behalf of all of us…. thank you ServiceNation!

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In the News, Social Innovation, Talent Issues

Net Impact Survey: MBAs Working in the Social Sector

August 20, 2008

Net Impact, an international community of new leaders who use business to improve the world, is currently conducting a survey to inform a report on MBAs working in the social sector. Participate in the survey

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Talent Issues

James in the Boston Globe

January 28, 2008

Our very own James Weinberg was quoted in Maggie Jackson’s Balancing Acts column in last Sunday’s Boston Globe. Here’s a snippet:

Will portfolio work turn epidemic? Probably not, although its incidence is growing, according to recruiters, career coaches, and others who follow trends in work culture. James Weinberg, a recruiter for nonprofits, sees an uptick in those willing to work this way - and those willing to hire them.

More job candidates are asking Weinberg for part-time work, saying, “ ‘I’m trying to knit together a career’, or ‘I’d like to have multiple roles that will allow me flexibility,’ “ observes Weinberg, chief executive of Commongood Careers in Boston. Sometimes, executives work on a shared basis for several groups, splitting their time between jobs, he says.

Read the full article.

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Best Practices, Hiring Advice, In the News, Talent Issues

Good Reads: Forces of Good

January 28, 2008

Kevin “I like to read” Kovaleski here with a literature review. If I could make a diorama on this blog, I would.

There is an ongoing debate in the nonprofit sector on what makes an organization a social entrepreneur. Forces for Good, a recent voice on the subject, provides a fresh approach to this topic.

To make the distinction between social entrepreneurs and traditional nonprofits, authors Crutchfield and McLeod-Grant spent four years researching the management techniques of hundreds of nonprofits.  Their findings target the management techniques of twelve nonprofits that they conclude are examples of high-impact, socially entrepreneurial change agents.  In their analysis of these organizations, Crutchfield and McLeod-Grant posit that these groups do not measure success through revenue increases, brand recognition or organizational chart sophistication.  Instead these twelve social trailblazers measure success by the change they are affecting in the piece of the world that they are attempting to improve. 

While old-school nonprofit management looks to governance, organizational structure, fundraising and other internally facing strategies to build a strong organization, social entrepreneurs focus their energy externally through six creative techniques.  These techniques (such as one that advises nonprofit groups to cross sectors and include for-profit partners into the execution of the mission) challenge traditional nonprofits to rethink goals and strategies in the execution of their mission. By exposing limitations and even flaws in traditional thinking, Forces for Good identifies commonly held myths about nonprofit management that are indicative of an outdated system of thought.

The authors conclude that the twelve nonprofits in study focus on the end-goals of creating impact and improving society rather than focusing on building a secure, fiscally sound organization, as their traditional counterparts so often obsess.  The authors offer well researched and thought out examples of innovative approaches to management employed by these groups. The case for innovation and out-of-the-box thinking is also supported by the authors’ warning against reckless management based on wild idealism.  The success of the organizations featured in Forces for Good is instead a product of an unwavering management philosophy that postures mission above tradition.

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What We're Reading, Best Practices, Hiring Advice, Social Innovation, Talent Issues

Congratulations to the 2008 Social Capitalist Award Winners

January 14, 2008

Fast Company published its 5th annual Social Capitalist Awards, and we are so proud of our client organizations on this year’s list. A very warm and well-deserved congratulations to our clients:

BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life)
Citizen Schools
Civic Builders
College Summit
DonorsChoose.org
New Leaders for New Schools
Points of Light Foundation & HandsOn Network
Reach Out and Read
Room to Read
Year Up

We are honored to help each of these organizations build stronger teams, scale operations, and ultimately create deeper impacts in the communities they serve.

Read the full list of winners.

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Sector Reports, Social Innovation, Talent Issues

Why Ethnic and Racial Diveristy Matter

December 13, 2007

Ethnic and racial diversity in the workplace is a core value of our partner organizations. Why is diversity really so important?

In all organizations, diversity of experience and backgrounds has proven itself to be a vital success factor. This can be gained through many types of diversity, including racial and ethnic diversity. Diversifying a team’s membership increases the range of opinions, ideas and opportunities available in decision-making processes. This, in turn, will improve the quality of those decisions, the ease of new strategy implementation, and the organization’s effectiveness in meeting its goals.

Social and human service organizations have are particularly sensitive to ensuring ethnic and racial diversity because so many of these organizations serve a highly diverse constituency. In order to most effectively understand and respond to the needs of their clients and partners, social service organizations know that their staff should be reflective of the communities they serve. Some funding organizations have recognized the importance of these facts and have started to require staff diversity reporting among their grantees.

The social sector needs to continue to improve its workplace diversity, particularly at the senior management level. In order to achieve these goals, Commongood Careers makes several broad recommendations:

(1) Build a hiring pool of diverse talent through constant, year-round outreach to targeted communities and groups, instead of focusing on outreach only for open positions;

(2) Structure your searches so that you can allow a longer hiring window, possibly adding 2-3 months to a search, in order to ensure that every effort has been made to include diverse candidates in the final candidate pool, especially with senior level hires;

(3) Build an internal pipeline of diverse talent by hiring for diversity at lower organizational levels and then ensuring effective retention and career laddering to grow that talent into senior management roles.

Organizations that truly value diversity at all levels have proven to be the most successful at building workplace diversity. Making diversity an organizational priority in all areas, as opposed to focusing on diversity only in recruiting, will make your organization stronger on many levels and will enable you to attract and retain diverse candidates more effectively.

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Talent Issues, Workplace Diversity

Congratulations to the 2007 Social Capitalist Award Winners

January 08, 2007

The fourth annual Fast Company Social Capitalist Awards were announced earlier this week. This year’s 43 award recipients are socially entrpreneurial ventures that are “using the disciplines of the corporate world to tackle daunting social problems.” Commongood Careers is proud to partner with seven of the award recipients:

BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life)
Citizen Schools
Hands On Network
Jumpstart
Nonprofit Finance Fund
Teach for America
Year Up

A very special congratulations to these organizations! We at Commongood Careers are honored to be helping to hire talent and build the teams of these organizations.

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Best Practices, Social Innovation, Talent Issues

How Entrepeneurs Recruit Talent

January 05, 2007

A recent article in Entrepreneur magazine reported that the greatest challenge facing entrepreneurial organizations in 2007 is the ability to hire and retain the right people. The article had two particularly effective suggestions for meeting this challenge: 1) soliciting referrals and 2) hiring interns.

We know first-hand the value of employee referrals. Out of all of the searches we’ve completed in the past year, nearly 50% of placements have come either from the Commongood Careers network or the network of the hiring organization. When we begin any search, we reach out to our professional and personal contacts to explore their interest in a given position or to find out if they know anyone who might be interested. Besides drumming up buzz about a specific position, this strategy also helps us stay in touch with our networks and develop a talent pipeline.

Hiring interns is another effective way for entrepreneurial organizations to build relationships with developing talent. When hiring interns, it’s critical to make sure there is a valuable role an intern can play in your organization. Remember, interns are typically looking for meaningful work experience and exposure to the mission-critical aspects of your organizations. A summer of taking lunch orders or shredding paper is not a meaningful internship. Interns are typically bright and ambitious; employ these talented resources wisely and you may be surprised at what they can accomplish.

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Best Practices, Hiring Advice, Social Innovation, Talent Issues