The Voice of Nonprofit Talent in 2008
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Commongood Careers is an innovative talent partner for the nonprofit sector. Functioning principally as a retained search firm that supports social entrepreneurs with their recruitment and hiring needs at every level of the organizational chart, Commongood Careers also works to provide resources for socially-driven jobseekers and to address talent-related issues throughout the sector.
To this end, Commongood Careers recently developed and distributed a 25-question survey to the 15,000 members of its candidate pool. The survey asked jobseekers to share their attitudes, motivations and challenges in pursuing careers in the social sector. The following report is intended to provide employers with a deeper understanding of what employees prefer and expect from them. This information can help organizations be more effective at recruiting, hiring, developing and retaining talented individuals.
Three major themes emerged in the survey results. The first, Cultural Connection, reveals the participants’ motivations and values. The second, Employment Incentives, explores compensation-related concerns and preferences. Finally, Career Development offers a glimpse into their longer-term plans and aspirations.
Theme 1: Cultural Connection
Although most nonprofits consider “candidate fit” with their organizational culture to be one of the most important factors in making a hiring decision, survey results illustrated the degree to which jobseekers also place cultural connectivity above almost all other factors in assessing their job opportunities.
When asked what type of organizational culture they desired, a “collaborative, team-oriented” environment was most prized, with respondents indicating that this was one of their primary reasons for choosing nonprofit over private sector jobs. Demonstrating a “strategic, results-oriented” approach was also essential, as was an effort to engage employees in the development and implementation of that strategy. People want to see, feel and impact results while working in organizations that they believe are effective agents for social change.
Theme 2: Employment Incentives
Although survey participants indicated high levels of tension around “doing good” while also needing to earn a living, they did not want to make substantial trade-offs in the process. While “mission” still ranked first in evaluating job opportunities, “salary” finished second and remained a prevalent theme throughout the survey.
When asked to consider which non-salary benefits were most important to them (other than standard healthcare)
“vacation policies” topped the list, with second place going to “flexible work plans such as 4-day weeks and working from home.” Both factors ranked far above traditional benefits such as dental, vision, performance bonuses, tuition debt support and family leave.
Theme 3: Career Development
Respondents voiced a clear intent to stay in the sector and pursue leadership roles, with 63% indicating a plan to stay in the sector for at least ten more years; 82% saying they wanted to hold a nonprofit executive-level role at some point; and 66% stating that they were ready, or would be soon, to hold an executive position.
When asked what might keep them employed at a single organization for 5-10 years, the top response was “feeling continually challenged by my job.” On the other hand, respondents indicated that the relative absence of career ladders, mentors and professional development might limit their long-term ability to remain in the sector.
Implementing Strategic Responses
Jobseekers agree that the need for change is real, as over 75% of respondents agreed with each of the following statements:
- Organizations must change their recruitment practices to attract next generation leaders.
- Organizations must change their employment practices to retain next generation leaders.
- Organizations must do more to professionally develop future nonprofit leaders from within.
To provide some ideas for nonprofits looking to put this information to work, the following strategies are offered:
1. Define and publicly share a statement about your organization’s unique culture and values.
2. Define your “employer brand” and leverage your marketing resources in your hiring efforts.
3. Develop a proactive, year-round commitment to recruiting and informational interviewing.
4. Consider “re-scaling” growth plans for increased salaries across fewer, higher-level employees.
5. Stay current with evolving salary trends and maintain your competitiveness in compensation.
6. Get creative with benefits, offering more flexibility with vacation time and employment arrangements.
7. Build career ladders for every employee, identify successors, and promote employees regularly.
8. Challenge and develop employees through in-house training programs and mentoring opportunities.
The Case for MBAs in the Nonprofit Sector
The Aspen Institute, in its 2007 – 2008 publication Beyond Gray Pinstripes, reports that over 30% of the 112 schools of management surveyed offer a special concentration focused on social and environmental issues. Additionally, coursework and academic research on social and environmental issues has increased dramatically in the past few years. Even with increased access to such curriculum, Net Impact, a nonprofit organization that helps business school students use their skills for social impact, reports that only 6% of MBA graduates plan on pursuing careers in the social sector.
What will it take to get more MBAs into the social sector? Is there even a demand for these types of hires? This article describes the success that two organizations have found in hiring MBAs, outlines some of the challenges associated with hiring candidates with MBAs, and provides some suggestions for overcoming those challenges.
Nonprofit Finance Fund: MBAs Positively Impact Programs and Culture
Catherine Gill believes that hiring MBAs into nonprofit positions creates a valuable win-win. As the Director of Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) in New England, Catherine oversees a budget of $1 million and a staff that delivers financial and advisory services to community-based nonprofits. An MBA herself, Catherine sees the unique perspective and skills MBAs bring to nonprofits.
“MBAs bring hard skills like financial know-how to NFF, but that’s not all,” Catherine says. “They also bring a really sharp understanding of teams and how to access resources that aren’t always obvious. The MBA degree is incredibly broad and teaches people how to approach problems from different angles.”
In addition to offering business savvy, MBAs can impact an organization’s culture in positive ways. “As a result of having MBAs on staff, our culture is more operational and streamlined. There’s an organization-wide emphasis on efficiency. Our culture values processes and understands how they can help us more efficiently fulfill our social mission.”
Catherine describes that one of the biggest draws for MBAs at NFF is the intellectual stimulation of the work. The advisors and analysts at NFF deal with complex business problems on a daily basis, ranging from working with organizations to secure funding for large-scale capital projects to helping nonprofits understand the impact of their finances on program outcomes. According to Catherine, the sophisticated nature of this work requires “people with good degrees…strong educational backgrounds who understand the values of the work we do, as well as understand why this work is interesting and satisfying.”
Center for Effective Philanthropy: MBAs Bring Outstanding Analytical Skills
Kevin Bolduc is Vice President of Assessment Tools at Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP), a nonprofit that provides management and governance tools to define, assess, and improve foundation performance. Overseeing the design of new tools and the refinement of CEP’s suite of current assessment offerings, Kevin depends upon the analytical expertise MBAs bring to his team’s work.
“The MBAs on our staff help round out our core competencies. Some staff bring a deep understanding of philanthropy to our work, while others possess research design expertise. [The MBAs on staff] complement that institutional knowledge with razor sharp quantitative and analytical skills, as well as performance assessment experience,” says Kevin.
Bringing a sophisticated understanding of analysis to understand foundation performance is just one asset of having MBAs on staff. Kevin also explained that being able to quickly understand their clients is a critical piece of their work, which he finds MBAs are prepared to do. “We focus on the largest philanthropic funders …sophisticated and complex organizations that face unique challenges. MBAs possess the ability to develop strong relationships and communicate with these organizations effectively about their program performance.”
Additionally, MBAs are prepared for internal organizational change and growth. Kevin says that “the MBAs on staff help us maintain and develop processes and structures that allow us to grow quickly. They understand that a nonprofit is more than just running programs; it’s also about management, leadership, and scalability.”
Kevin believes that more and more nonprofit opportunities are opening up to MBAs, largely because of the growth of the social entrepreneurship field. “MBA skillsets are more relevant than ever. Looking at social problems through an analytical lens is becoming the norm for nonprofits, particularly as foundations and nonprofits hold themselves more accountable for producing quantifiable results. MBAs bring a complementary skillset to those taking more traditional paths into the sector, and together these skills build a stronger and more accountable social sector.”
The MBA Hiring Challenge
While some nonprofits have been successful in attracting, hiring, and retaining MBAs, there are challenges involved. For example:
Salary – While there is some truth that nonprofit employers cannot match the market salaries MBAs expect to earn, more and more nonprofits are realizing that they may need to pay a higher salary or offer a signing bonus to secure MBA talent. In response to the discrepancies between nonprofit and corporate salaries, some funders, namely venture philanthropists, recognize the compensation piece of recruiting in-demand business talent and allot targeted funds for team development. In cases where higher salaries are not possible, nonprofits can offer other forms of compensation that may be appealing to MBAs, such as greater management responsibilities or more senior titles than a recent graduate would receive at a for-profit company.
Visibility on Campus – On-campus recruiting is a costly and resource-intensive effort even for corporations like investment banks and management consulting firms. Because most nonprofits cannot afford to participate in on-campus recruiting programs or form relationships with MBA career development offices, graduating MBA students don’t have access to information about nonprofits and therefore often don’t consider the option of working in the social sector. Nonprofit career fairs organized by campus social entrepreneurship clubs or organizations such as Idealist, Net Impact, and Starting Bloc have successfully created more visibility for nonprofit career opportunities among MBAs. Still, nonprofits need more opportunities to present their organizations to MBA candidates and to develop relationships with career development offices who can present nonprofit opportunities to graduating students.
Timing – Typically, graduating MBAs begin their job searches in the fall of their second year. This is also when companies are doing on-campus recruiting. Since most nonprofits don’t plan their hiring that far in advance, these organizations potentially miss out on candidates. One solution is for nonprofits to consider planning ahead for 1-2 key positions for which recent MBA graduates would be perfect and making early commitments for these hires.
Internship Opportunities – According to Harvard Business School, more than 30% of last year’s MBA graduates went on to full-time positions at the companies where they held internships the previous summer. There are some opportunities for prospective MBAs to intern at nonprofits, such as through New Sector Alliance, but the overall lack of formalized programs within organizations and the sector at large limit this form of early “recruiting” of MBAs. If internships are not possible, nonprofits can engage MBA students early through programs like Wharton’s Nonprofit Board Leadership Program, which places MBA students on local nonprofit boards.
Cultural Expectations – Because of the relative lack of information about nonprofit careers presented in business schools, MBAs may carry some misconceptions about what it’s like to work at a nonprofit (i.e. they are disorganized, have no internal systems, and do not follow business best practices). On the flip side, nonprofits may be skeptical about an MBA’s ability to fit into their organizational culture. Nonprofits need to share as much as possible with MBA students and career development offices about the work of the sector and the opportunities available for MBAs. In addition, organizations need to ensure that their culture is clearly communicated throughout all materials, including their web site and job descriptions. For more ideas on this topic, read Communicating Your Organization’s Culture to Job Candidates.
The good news for nonprofits is that it is absolutely possible to overcome these and other challenges in hiring MBAs; it just takes commitment, creativity and flexibility. This commitment will pay off as securing talent with strong business knowledge and analytical thinking skills can result in deeply impacting an organization’s effectiveness and scalability.
This article was written by Commongood Careers and is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
For more information about nonprofit and socially entrepreneurial careers, visit Commongood Careers at http://www.cgcareers.org.
Movin’ On Up: Nonprofit Career Paths
Today’s nonprofit sector is growing faster than ever. In fact, Independent Sector reports that nonprofit employment doubled to nearly 10 percent of total U.S. employment in the past 25 years. The report also predicts that by 2010, the nonprofit sector will employ 15 million people. With this growth comes a demand for strong nonprofit talent, as well the opportunity to build a long-term career in the sector.
This article explores a few proven career inroads that provide opportunities for advancement.
Ways In and Up
Nonprofit career options vary widely at the entry level, but the most popular inroad is program work, or positions that provide opportunities to work directly with the constituents served by an organization. Often people enter the sector on the ground-level as a tutor or community advocate. From direct service, people often transition into coordinating aspects of programs, such as managing volunteers, and then eventually managing entire programs. While this is a natural progression within the field of program management, direct service positions can also serve as a springboard to positions in different functional areas within an organization.
“Most people go into nonprofits thinking they are only going into the program arena. But getting involved in development, marketing, or some of the other important functional areas can be a smart idea for those seeking to advance their careers,” said Cassie Scarano, Vice President and Co-Founder of Commongood Careers. One of the inherent challenges to advancing in program work is that there are many positions on the ground-level, but only a limited number of senior management positions. Considering other skills that you can bring to an organization, like fundraising or marketing, in addition to having first-hand experience in direct service, is a great way to create career opportunities within or across organizations.
Building a Career in Nonprofit Development
Careers in nonprofit development provide ample opportunities for advancement and long-term success. Development is the area of each organization responsible for all aspects of fundraising, including pursuing and obtaining funds from foundations, corporations, individuals, and government sources, as well as managing activities like grant-writing, annual appeals, events and strategic campaigns. “There will always be high need for development professionals. Because of the demand, people in the area of development have lots of opportunities, tend to progress quickly and are often amongst the highest paid in an organization,” Scarano said.
The area of development is multi-faceted and requires different skills depending on the type of position and organization. Writing is important in development positions related to grant writing, while strong interpersonal skills are necessary for positions focusing on nurturing donor relationships. Some development positions are more research-based while others focus on the logistics of planning special events for the organization. There are also positions that are more general and require the development professional to incorporate many of these skills strategically.
Executive Support as a Strategy for Advancement
An often overlooked entry point for new nonprofit professionals is a role as an executive assistant. “While many people avoid these types of positions because they don’t sound glamorous, they actually provide a huge number of opportunities for advancement and provide access those at the entry level would never have otherwise,” Scarano said.
An assistant to a high functioning executive is connected to all of the senior leaders, both internal and external, with whom the executive corresponds through reviewing and drafting emails and other correspondence, managing the calendar, and fielding phone calls. Additionally, this position often includes work on special projects that are essential to the organization, such as analyzing data, creating reports, or supporting hiring. Especially in dynamic and fast-paced socially entrepreneurial organizations, something as basic as taking notes at a board meeting or managing an executive’s calls can provide a huge amount of experience and insight into the way nonprofits work.
Also, the executive assistant position is tremendously constructive to a nonprofit career. “Being impressive in an executive assistant role can be a fast track to advancement,” Scarano said. In fact, many executives treat these roles like fellowship positions, making sure that after a year or so their assistants are ready to move on and up, either within that organization or to another nonprofit.
The Nonprofit Advantage in the Long Run
When on the fence about deciding whether to enter the social sector or head for the private sector, there are some things to take into account about nonprofit jobs that might make a difference in your decision. For example, working at a nonprofit can help you develop highly transferable soft skills like being able to take on leadership, being flexible, and having strong interpersonal skills.
Working at a nonprofit can also give you personal experience with things that you might not have access to in larger, private sector organizations. “Generally in nonprofits, especially smaller organizations, you get a broader view of how an organization runs, have more access to strategic decision making, and are challenged to take initiative,” Scarano noted. Senior leadership tends to be younger and the environment more collaborative in nonprofit organizations, thus providing those at the entry level more opportunities to have a hand in the organization’s growth while also providing opportunities to advance within the organization.
What’s more, today’s trends show that the private and social sectors are converging, so that those who want traditionally private sector benefits with traditionally social sector values have more options. “It’s no longer about deciding if you are either mission-driven or profit-driven,” Scarano said. “Instead, people need to consider where on the continuum they fall and what factors on a whole are most motivating to them.” Today’s socially entrepreneurial nonprofits are able to provide many opportunities to develop strong business skills while at the same time aligning with the personal values of their employees. “Choosing a career path is a harder decision today because the sectors are no longer so black and white,” said Scarano, “but with that challenge come many great career opportunities.”
This article was written by Commongood Careers and is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
For more information about nonprofit and socially entrepreneurial careers, visit Commongood Careers at http://www.cgcareers.org.
Finding a Guide: The Value of Having a Professional Mentor
In any field, having a professional mentor can help individuals develop and advance their careers. Mentors are especially important in the nonprofit sector, where structured career development opportunities are not always readily available.
A strong mentoring relationship is built on collaboration and the commitment to the professional development of one or both of its participants. While in the typical mentoring relationship, one participant has more experience, skill, knowledge than the other, many strong mentoring relationships provide an opportunity for both parties to learn from each other through the development of a caring and respectful partnership.
The Growth of Mentoring in the Social Sector
Corporate mentoring programs have long been recognized as an essential strategy for attracting, developing, and retaining top employees. According to a survey by the American Society for Training and Development, 75% of private sector executives said that mentoring had been critical in helping them reach their current position.
In the social sector, employee mentoring programs are more unusual. While some innovative organizations are taking steps to create effective internal programs, other organizations offer external programs that connect mentors and mentees; these programs can be a great option for nonprofits that lack the resources to provide internal programs.
For example, the Center for Nonprofit Development and the International Mentoring Network Organization have developed their own mentor-matching programs to help connect seasoned nonprofit professionals with professionals earlier in their careers. The Center for Nonprofit Development focuses on connecting new but high-level nonprofit leaders with other, more experienced nonprofit leaders to help them strategically solve organizational challenges or create carefully developed plans for the future of the mentee’s organization. The International Mentoring Network Organization applies an “open source” approach to mentoring, giving its members access to interviews with experienced professionals, discussion forums, and a mentor match service.
Why a Mentor?
There are a number of benefits to building a mentor relationship with a seasoned nonprofit professional, most notably access to new contacts, knowledge, and skills.
“Mentors can do a number of things for your career. They can help you build your resume, guide you on a project, and help you identify resources, including referring you to other mentors and important people in your field,” said Ken Williams, Director of the New Voices National Fellowship Program and author of the monograph “Mentoring the Next Generation.”
Mentors provide developing nonprofit leaders with the support they might not have access to otherwise. For example, access to the mentor’s personal network can give emerging leaders a chance to meet important people at a crucial time in their careers and can broaden their range of possible professional opportunities.
The New Voices National Fellowship Program, administered by the Academy for Educational Development, works on leadership development for human rights activists, currently focusing on emerging leaders in the Gulf Coast region. New Voices requires each fellow participating to have a mentor because of the benefits the organization has seen from these relationships.
“In our program we’ve seen mentors help develop the Fellows’ strategic thinking, connections and contacts, and resources and opportunities. Having a mentor provides people with an open space in which to raise issues, tackle challenges, and nurture growth,” Williams said.
Finding a Mentor
A mentor is someone whose knowledge and experience the mentee respects and someone whose wisdom and know-how can support the professional growth and development of the mentee. Often this is a boss, professor or other nonprofit leader who the mentee has already met, but sometimes a mentor can be someone who is not known to the mentee. Mentors do not necessarily need to be the most senior person at an organization or within the field; the right mentor depends on what knowledge the mentee hopes to gain.
“If you don’t have an idea about who to ask to be your mentor, find organizations that work in the area you’re interested in and look to their leaders. Asking to do something as simple as getting a coffee together can be very successful,” Williams said.
Another great way to engage a mentor is to collaborate on a project that is of interest to both parties. “Choose something that supports your potential mentor’s work and ask for some help putting it together,” Williams suggested. “This way, you are both invested in completing a goal together that can lead to a deeper relationship during the process.”
Sustaining Healthy Mentor Relationships
To make the most of a mentoring relationship, start with a formal agreement that outlines the roles and expectations of both participants. Including details such as when the pair will meet, how frequently and for how long, and what the goals of the relationship are will build a strong foundation for the relationship.
While the duration and frequency of mentoring meetings varies, most mentoring partners meet or talk once a week for about an hour. The format and content of these conversations may vary, but typically consist of brainstorming sessions to solve problems, updates and follow-ups on current projects, or more focused discussion of professional development topics. A mentoring relationship should not be considered an inside track to the top or an opportunity to complain; it is a respectful and professional relationship in which both parties can learn from the experience and each other.
As the relationship develops, mentees should remember to share their successes with their mentors and make sure the mentor knows how valuable their time and insight is. Remember that mentoring is about sharing knowledge and expertise in a way that benefits both of the participants and thereby helps to build and strengthen the nonprofit sector as a whole. As nonprofit professionals develop their leadership skills, it will be important to incorporate best practices into every mentoring relationship.
This article was written by Commongood Careers and is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
For more information about nonprofit and socially entrepreneurial careers, visit Commongood Careers at http://www.cgcareers.org.
Nonprofit Career Profile: Business Operations
Commongood Careers
Finance. Marketing. Facilities Management. These may not be the first words that come to mind when you think about nonprofits, but these are all crucial parts of most nonprofit organizations’ abilities to succeed.
Similar to corporations and small businesses, nonprofits strive to operate with method and within budget. It is especially important for nonprofits to run efficient operations and demonstrate measurable outcomes, because they are accountable to funders, board members, and the government.
What to Expect
In any industry, the operations team is the infrastructure of an organization that works behind the scenes to keep things running. This is especially true in the nonprofit sector, where operations staff support an overall organization in a number of functional areas, including accounting and finance, administration, human resources, information technology, marketing, and office management. Across all of these functional areas is one goal: to make sure an organization is operating efficiently and to its full potential.
Most roles in nonprofit business operations require individuals to work with systems. This could mean working to devise an accounting system that helps departments process their invoices more efficiently, or following existing protocols for ordering supplies or on-boarding new employees. While the specific functional area of a role will dictate what type of systems an individual will be involved with, the ability to quickly understand business challenges and address them systematically is an asset to all operations roles. Generally, individuals who are highly organized, analytical, and adaptive do well in nonprofit business operations roles.
Within business operations, roles vary by functional area. For example, in facilities management, a Facilities Coordinator might be responsible to managing sites where programs are delivered, including the layout, design, equipment, and furniture at the site. An understanding of how physical environment affects an organization’s ability to deliver programs is essential to this type of work. Another example is that of Marketing or Communications Associate, a role that generally requires an individual to support an organization’s fundraising and constituency building efforts.
Roles within nonprofit business operations not only vary by functional area, but also by level of experience. In general, job titles with “coordinator” or “associate” are entry-level, and typically entail supporting the back-office administration. “Manager” level positions focus on two areas: 1) developing solutions and systems in a given functional area, and 2) managing the staff that implement these systems. Typically, the most senior operations role is Chief Operations Officer (COO), who oversees all back-office functions for an organization and works closely with the CEO or Executive Director to provide strategic and organizational leadership.
A few examples of opportunities in business operations recently managed by Commongood Careers include:
Human Resources Manager, Kiva, San Francisco, CA
Director of School Operations, New Schools for New Orleans, New Orleans, LA
Director of Finance and Administration, Root Cause, Boston, MA
Director of Operations, Teach For America, Philadelphia, PA
Senior Marketing Manager, TechSoup, San Francisco, CA
Director of Marketing and Communications, Year Up, Boston, MA
Job Outlook
As more and more nonprofits adapt entrepreneurial philosophies of operating efficiently while scaling their programs, career opportunities in business operations are on the rise. Unlike nonprofit roles that typically require at least 3-5 years of experience to get in the door, such as development or program management, there are a number of entry-level opportunities in business operations.
Professional experience in operations is largely transferable across industries. Individuals with experience in nonprofit business operations can generally transition into similar roles in other sectors. Industries that are particularly operations-intensive include manufacturing, transportation, banking, financial services, retail, telecommunications, and health care. However, operations roles exist in almost all companies and organizations. For individuals with nonprofit business operations, their experience and skills are valued greatly by small businesses, start-ups, or other organizations that operate in resource-constrained environments.
For those seeking to transition from other industries into the nonprofit sector, opportunities in business operations often provide a bridge. The skills and experience gained in these roles can be some of the most transferable from the corporate to the nonprofit sector, and often prove to be exceptionally rewarding to sector-switchers looking to apply their operational skills in a socially driven setting.
This article was written by Commongood Careers and is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
For more information about nonprofit and socially entrepreneurial careers, visit Commongood Careers at http://www.cgcareers.org.
Breaking into the Nonprofit Sector: A Guide for Recent Graduates
Commongood Careers
So it’s your senior year and campus is buzzing. Everywhere you turn there’s a career fair. Recruiters have blown into town and they’re interviewing everyone in their path. Your roommates are mulling over offers from Fortune 500 companies and even friends in your community service club are comparing sign-on bonuses. You, however, have never pictured yourself working for a paycheck in a huge corporation. You envision a career spent working towards a bottom line measured by social gains. The nonprofit sector is calling you. The pressure is on to get a job. Graduation is around the corner, student loan bills are on their way, and the last thing you want to do is move back home with your parents.
If this sounds familiar, then welcome to the crossroads of your real world responsibilities and your “change the world” sensibilities. Though the challenge seems daunting, you can land an amazing job in the nonprofit sector with the right strategy and techniques.
Step 1: Know What Moves You
A good place to start is to focus on the social cause or mission that excites you. What issues do you feel strongly about? Whether it’s the environment, immigrant rights, or education reform, it may take some digging to find the roots of your social consciousness, but this effort is essential before diving into your job search.
Next, think about the characteristics of your dream job. Ask yourself about your ideal organizational culture (e.g. collaborative, entrepreneurial, or results-oriented.) Picture your day-to-day responsibilities. Do you want to be out in the community running programs? Or do you prefer to work behind-the-scenes in an office? Through this exercise, you will develop a detailed understanding of yourself and what you want. This will best prepare you to target the right organizations and opportunities.
Step 2: Know What’s Out There
Unlike corporations that may plan well ahead of their hiring needs and have the resources to recruit on campus, nonprofits recruit when staffing needs arise. Breaking into the nonprofit sector, you most likely will not have the luxury of setting up on-campus interviews or landing that dream job without stepping foot off campus. You’ll need to be proactive to find what opportunities are out there.
Begin by putting those research skills to work! Find the organizations that inspire you. A great launch pad is idealist.org, a web site with information about over 75,000 nonprofits. Also, Guidestar provides more in-depth organizational information, such as budgets, staff, and funders. Finally, familiarize yourself with the issues impacting the sector; publications like Stanford Social Innovation Review, Nonprofit Times, Philanthropy News Digest, and Fast Company’s Social Capitalist Award offer a window into what’s buzzworthy in the sector.
Based on this research, create a target list of 5-10 organizations that interest you. Scour their web sites and find the job descriptions for their entry-level positions. This way, you can determine exactly what they’re looking for in these positions and tailor your application accordingly.
Step 3: Get to Work!
Now that you’ve done your homework on yourself and the sector, it’s time to figure out how to put this knowledge. There are a number of nonprofit roles for recent graduates. Some examples of titles that may be good matches include:
- Program Associate or Coordinator
- Project Coordinator
- Special Projects Assistant
- Executive Assistant
- Business or Program Analyst
In addition to entry-level positions, there are a number of other ways to gain tremendous experience in the nonprofit sector, including:
- Service Programs – Public service programs offer amazing (and often paid!) opportunities to get your feet wet and gain incredible experience in your field of interest. Some of the nation’s largest service programs include Americorps, Teach For America, CityYear, and AVODAH.
- Fellowships – Similar to service programs, fellowships provide recent graduates with the opportunities to gain experience over a relative short amount of time, typically a year or less. Some popular fellowships are offered by Youth Service Oppportunities Program, American Jewish World Service, CORO, and New Sector Alliance.
- Volunteering – Volunteering is a tried and true way to get your foot in the door, as well as network with nonprofit staff and hiring managers. From your list of 5-10 target organizations, research what volunteer opportunities they offer and sign up. Also, scour the idealist.org, Hands On Network, and Volunteer Match for interesting fundraising event volunteer opportunities.
Though challenging, making the jump from school to the nonprofit sector may be easier than you think. A strategy based in defining your interests, researching organizations, and pursuing the right opportunities can result in a promising start to a fulfilling career in the nonprofit sector. You may not be changing the world tomorrow, but you’ll be on your way to making a big impact, one footprint at a time.
This article was written by Commongood Careers and is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
For more information about nonprofit and socially entrepreneurial careers, visit Commongood Careers at http://www.cgcareers.org.
Working the Room at a Career Fair
Commongood Careers
Nonprofit career fairs can be an excellent opportunity to learn about job opportunities and meet staff from hiring organizations. However, jobseekers should do some preparation before attending any career fair to ensure that they make a good impression!
By the end of 2008, Commongood Careers will have participated in over one hundred career fairs across the country. To date, we have met thousands of nonprofit jobseekers, some who have impressed us and others who have left us underwhelmed. Based on this experience, we’ve prepared a set of tips to help jobseekers gain valuable information, make important connections, and create positive impressions with hiring organizations at career fairs.
1. Prepare a scouting report: Before arriving at a career fair, set aside some time to visit the web site of the career organizer. Idealist.org, a nonprofit resource that organizes a national series of career fairs, lists the names and web sites of every organization that attends their fairs. For organizations that interest you, read the mission statements and learn about their programs. Jot down some notes and prepare one or two questions if you’d like to hear more about a given nonprofit.
According to Meg Busse, Director of Nonprofit Career Transitions Program at Idealist.org, there are a number of ways jobseekers can prepare in advance.
“Just as you’d never walk into an interview without researching the organization, don’t show up at a career fair without having reviewed the list of organizations in attendance and selected a few to research more in-depth. Conduct an Internet search to find out who is on staff at any organization that interests you, and check to see if you have any personal connections.”
2. Visit your short list: After you research what organizations will be at the career fair, prioritize your list of favorite organizations and make visiting those organizations your top priority. This will save you time and keep you focused. Being focused at a career fair communicates confidence and direction. Aimlessly meandering around a room reflects confusion and self-doubt.
Do not plan on papering the career fair with your resume. Bring only a couple of resumes for a few select organizations. This will help you bring a focused attitude. If you know you are already planning to apply to an opening posted on one of your targeted employer’s web sites, craft your resume to match the qualifications of the position and bring it along (but don’t forget to also apply as instructed in the job description; you don’t want your application to get lost in all the paper of a career fair!).
3. “To thine own self, be true”: When visiting an employer booth, a representative may ask you about your career interests. Be prepared to give a thoughtful answer. You don’t have to know exactly what your career goals are, but be prepared to articulate your interests. Take stock of your values and motivations, and use this information to craft a personal “elevator pitch” in advance. Because hiring decisions are rarely made on the spot at a nonprofit career, working on a fluid personal pitch at a career fair can prepare you for actual in-person interviews.
4. Be confident … but check your ego at the door: An approach that will surely derail your credibility with an organization at a career fair is to be overconfident about your skills and experiences. Employers want to meet competent jobseekers who are interested in making a contribution and being team players, not those who are egocentric and arrogant.
To make a great first impression, start off by maintaining a positive, enthusiastic attitude. Smiling, making eye contact and projecting genuine excitement will not only demonstrate your interest, but will also communicate soft skills like friendliness and approachability.
Finally, listen actively and make a connection with the organization’s representative. According to Kasey Gagnon, Recruitment and Events Manager at Commongood Careers, passively listening to an organization’s pitch can translate to disinterest. ”It is very obvious to an organization representative when you have tuned-out and only want to talk about yourself and your experiences. Listen actively by asking a few brief questions that are relevant to the information that the representative is telling you. Having nothing constructive to add to the conversation can make the interaction go south very quickly. We want to know that you have understood what we have told you. If you are able to connect the information back to why you may be interested in our work, we will be impressed.”
5. Mingle with your peers: Representatives from organizations are not the only people at career fairs who are valuable sources of information. Because career fairs attract attendees with a diversity of backgrounds and experiences, chances are there are peers in the room who could be helpful in your search. Strike up conversations with fellow jobseekers and practice your elevator pitch some more. Be friendly and welcome other jobseekers into your conversation with the organization’s representative. However, if the table is crowded, be respectful and don’t jump into conversations already going on.
6. Manage the clock: Organizations have a lot of people to meet during the course of a career fair. Being aware of this simple fact can help a jobseeker not overstay his/her welcome at an organization’s table.
“Just as attendees are anxious to get information and then move on to the next organization on their short list, staff members who are manning tables have a lot to manage. It’s not the time to go into your life story. Get the information, ask a brief but relevant question and then move on,” says Jocelyn Sherman, Commongood Careers’ Director of Recruitment and Partnerships.
Therefore, limit your time spent at a table to only a few minutes. Quality of time spent at a table trumps quantity of time. A short, smart, positive conversation will be most memorable.
7. Take advantage of career fair programming: Along with providing organizations a venue to recruit talent, many career fairs have informational programs for jobseekers scheduled into the day’s events. These programs may include panel discussions or tutorials on topics like effective resume writing. In addition to gaining information that will help in your job search, these programs provide opportunities to network in a smaller, more focused setting.
8. Remember names and follow up: When meeting an organization that interests you, do your best to remember the name of the representatives you meet. When appropriate, ask the representative for a business card. Then, write a note on the back of the card to help you remember them. Thank them by name on the spot, and follow up with an email with 24 hours. If you have any remaining questions, an email is a great avenue through which to ask them. Initiating this contact with an organization will help solidify you as a thoughtful and strong candidate in their memory.
Smajl Cengic, Director of Career and Alumni Services at Year Up, agrees that follow-up is key. “The most important phrase for a jobseeker who approaches our table at a career fair is relationship building. If our recruiters walk away from the fair remembering something about a candidate, that person is much more likely to continue a relationship with Year Up. The strongest candidates we meet engage us in real conversations and then follow up with an email referencing the conversation after the fair.”
Conclusion
There is much more to career fairs than just showing up. Effectively working the room at a career fair requires knowing details about the organizations in attendance, as well as being able to talk about yourself and your interests with humility, confidence, and enthusiasm. Being mindful of these tips will help you stand out among all the other attendees.
This article was written by Commongood Careers and is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
For more information about nonprofit and socially entrepreneurial careers, visit Commongood Careers at http://www.cgcareers.org.
The Quest for Work-Life Balance in a Nonprofit Job
Nonprofit employees are known for their dedication to their jobs, devotion to their organization’s missions and passions for their careers. In the study The Voices of Nonprofit Talent Survey in 2008, Commongood Careers found that 84 percent of nonprofit jobseekers saw work as part of their identities, not just a way to make a living. While this level of commitment is a driving factor when it comes to working for social change, it also can be a factor in the ability for nonprofit professionals to find a healthy balance between their work life and personal life.
As the demand for leaders in nonprofits is rapidly increasing, concerns about work-life balance are becoming more important to younger professionals. In the study Ready to Lead? Next Generation Leaders Speak Out, CompassPoint Nonprofit Services and its partners reported that two of the top five reasons potential nonprofit leaders surveyed were wary of rising to executive positions were related to the belief that they would have to sacrifice work-life balance to be a director. Additionally, the study’s focus group participants frequently said that being an executive director means making compromises in personal life they are not willing to make.
Simple Steps to Balance the Work-Life Scale
With today’s expectations and norms for work, especially in the social sector, many with nonprofit careers recognize that these things may be more easily said than done. To address this challenge, here are some simple ideas that can help those looking to balance the work-life scales:
Keep a log of a week’s worth of time. Writing down every activity in which you participate in one week can help pinpoint opportunities to maximize your time, as well as weed out extraneous or the needlessly time-consuming activities.
Learn to say no. The important thing about saying “no” is being honest with yourself about the activities to which you say “yes.” Remember that saying no can help you do more and better of what you already have on your plate; saying yes to too much not only impacts current projects, but can add a level of stress not worth taking on. In addition, turning down requests to do everything can help you better understand the capabilities of your colleagues, and what they are able to take on themselves. If you are concerned that saying no is too much of a hassle or is going to produce a conflict you want to avoid, complimenting the person or group’s effort while saying that you’re unable to commit at this time helps to soften the blow and can keep you in good standing with your co-workers.
Communicate clearly. Mistakes happen, but mistakes that arise from rushed communication are especially frustrating because they can be easily avoided. Taking the time to communicate as clearly and succinctly as possible can help you avoid the time-consuming mistakes that sometimes come from miscommunications. Clear communication can mean you are more efficient at work and give you more time for yourself.
Take advantage of what your organization has to offer. The best methods of striking a comfortable work-life balance are often readily available at the workplace. Find out if your organization offers flex time or allows you to work from home. Or explore the option of a “4 x 10,” essentially compressing your work-week to a four-day week by working ten hours a day. And yes, use your vacation time and know how much paid and unpaid leave you have available to you.
Additionally, the message of the importance of work-life balance needs to come from the top. One of the best things current nonprofit managers and leaders can do to attract these new leaders is set an example of positive work-life balance. Avoiding sending e-mails at all hours, staying in the office far into the night, and keeping weekends relatively work-free are simple ways to communicate that working to help others does not mean unacceptable personal sacrifice.
Work-life Balance as an Organizational Value: DonorsChoose.org’s Story
DonorsChoose.org is known for helping teachers fund educational projects by providing an online platform that gives donors the flexibility to choose projects to support. What may be news is that it also applies that flexibility to the organization’s approach to work-life balance. The organization’s culture puts an emphasis on a healthy work-life balance by encouraging employees to use their alloted vacation time, maximize their individual work time, and work on a schedule that fits with each individual’s home and work life.
“We still work hard enough that sometimes our work load is pretty immense, but in our employee survey, flexibility of work hours was one area that scored highly. Our employees told us how much they appreciate the flexibility of their work time,” said Charles Best, Executive Director of DonorsChoose.org
Since there are a number of parents on staff, the organization is flexible about when employees can arrive and leave. “One of our workers makes time to take his kids to school every day and so comes in more around 9:30 or 10:00, while some of the moms on our team make an effort to walk out of the office doors at 5:00 or 5:30 to be with their kids when they’re awake,” Best said. By being flexible to these kinds of approaches, working at DonorsChoose.org encourages healthy family life in addition to a dedicated work life.
In addition to offering flexible hours, DonorsChoose.org offers five weeks of paid vacation at every level of employment. “We encourage people to take their vacation time, and unlike some law or consulting firms that state a policy but don’t stick to it, there is an organizational expectation and allowance for our team to take that time,” Best said.
Additionally, the organization encourages employees to evaluate their work if they feel that they have too much on their plate. “There is a standing offer between managers and their direct reports that if someone is feeling overwhelmed their manager will run a prioritization exercise to maybe eliminate some items from the bottom of the priority list or prune down a task list to what has to get done,” Best said. The organization is committed to helping its team work at its best and one of those ways is through promoting a healthy work-life balance.
Balancing as Best You Can
Even if your organization does not offer all of these benefits, it pays to take a look at what they do offer and see how you can best take advantage of it. Additionally, stay aware of the other things you can do to make your work life and home life as balanced as possible. Taking stock of the important things you do during the day and remembering to take on only the tasks you know you have time for can increase your performance and productivity at work and make your home life happier too. Dedicated people with nonprofit careers may have put their home lives aside in the past, but as new leaders look for positive examples to encourage them to direct nonprofits, paying attention to the balance of your work and life may be one of the most important things you can do for the health of both your career and the social sector. Finding the right work-life balance can help you do a better job, create more impact while also giving the social sector a boost in attracting the best talent that will continue to make a difference.
This article was written by Commongood Careers and is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
For more information about nonprofit and socially entrepreneurial careers, visit Commongood Careers at http://www.cgcareers.org.
Working Your Organization’s Network
When an organization has an open position, it typically relies on advertising the job through traditional means, such as online job boards and newspaper classifieds. However, many organizations overlook one of the most useful resources available to them in the hiring process: their personal and professional networks.
According to a study by the U.S. Department of Labor in 2001, almost half of all jobseekers (48 percent) obtain their jobs through referrals. Additionally, numerous publications report that between 60 and 80 percent of executive level positions are filled through networking or referrals. In fact, the executive search industry in the United States is built upon the premise that senior level positions are filled through actively making connections with a targeted set of people pre-identified by an organization. The ability to leverage and extend an organization’s known relationships, as well as market an organization and its opportunities to this group, is key to making networking work as a viable recruitment source.
What’s in a Network?
A healthy network is a well-tended network. To ensure that an organization’s network will be effective when needed, it is important to define who is in that network. An organizational network consists of a varied group of people, all with some interest in or association with the organization. Networks are typically comprised of board members, peer and partner organizations, former employees, and even current employees. Collectively, this group represents a huge pool to tap for candidate leads when an organization has an open position.
While some organizations, like City Year, look internally to cultivate talent, they also rely on networks for additional leads. “Our emphasis is really on promoting and hiring internal talent, with 80 percent of our hires coming from within” said Elaine Mak, Director of Talent Services at City Year, “but a good portion of our external hires come from our network, through funders, friends and family, and other contacts.”
Networks consist of members acquired through both face-to-face and online relationship building. In today’s digital age, members of an organization’s online social network can prove to be especially good at spreading the word about an open position. Web sites such as LinkedIn provide a simple way to reach people in an organization’s network who otherwise might be difficult to contact. An organization using its LinkedIn connections can reach a wide range of network members who also probably have broad networks themselves.
Organizations can take advantage of this and encourage network members to spread the news of the open position through their wide-reaching online networks. “When we tap into our network to find candidates, we especially hear from friends of friends,” Mak noted.
Creating Your “Employer Brand”
In addition to knowing who is in their network, it is crucial that organizations communicate with members of their network regularly. Keeping in touch with the members of a network, such as sending occasional emails with friendly updates on organizational milestones, is important relationship maintenance, whether the organization is hiring next month or not.
Part of the ongoing communication with an organization’s network is sharing information that creates overall positive associations about an organization, including what it is like to work there. Commongood Careers’ study The Voice of Nonprofit Talent in 2008 suggests that one way organizations can attract more talent is to create a distinct perception of themselves as an employer, essentially an “employer brand.” Just as an organization has messages to communicate to funders and constituents, it needs to communicate positive information about itself to potential employees.
“We find that what attracts people to share our open positions with their networks is not necessarily any particular aspect of the position itself, but the overall message and reputation of City Year in general,” Mak said. “People will often select themselves out if they discover that City Year is not the right fit for them, but the people that do really connect will find the right position eventually. Often they get that information through messages about what it’s like to work here and what City Year values in its employees,” Mak said.
How and When to Network
There are many methods to reach members of an organization’s network. Sending out information in the newsletter and via e-mail are quick and relatively simple ways to blast out information about new positions. Getting in touch by phone or in person with key contacts can help an organization pinpoint prospective candidates or people who can connect the organization to strong candidates.
“The most successful networking we’ve found is still through word of mouth,” Mak said. “We use our newsletter, especially our corps member alumni newsletter, to promote job openings, but most of the success we have in networking for hires has been reaching out to individuals and getting them excited about our positions.”
There is no wrong time for an organization to start talking to its network about its hiring needs, even if it doesn’t have current open positions. Sometimes the best connections take time to develop, so engaging people early and often is important. That way, when the time is right to make a hire, an organization may already have a short list of potential candidates to contact.
“Our Executive Director for the DC area came through a networking process.” Mak said. “He was identified by a board member who referred him to the senior leadership at City Year DC and then was sent to me. We had an ongoing conversation for six or seven months about what the right place for him at City Year would be and then successfully placed him as the director of our DC branch.”
Networking for the Next Great Hire
Some of the best candidates for an open position may be right within your organization’s reach. Leveraging your organization’s network, whether by contacting them by email or newsletter, reaching out to them through online social networking sites like LinkedIn, or fostering word-of-mouth communication can make a difference in the quality and availability of candidates for your organization’s next search.
This article was written by Commongood Careers and is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
For more information about nonprofit and socially entrepreneurial careers, visit Commongood Careers at http://www.cgcareers.org.
Growing Pains: Managing Organizational Change
The nonprofit sector is growing quickly. According to the Urban Institute’s 2008 Nonprofit Almanac, the number of nonprofit organizations grew to over 1.4 million from 1.1 million in 1998. The report also notes that in 2006, nonprofits accounted for 9.7 percent of jobs in the U.S, up from 7.2 percent in 1998. That number is projected to grow, as a 2006 Blackbaud report found that nearly half of nonprofits (44 percent) planned on increasing their staff size in the following year.
As an organization grows, almost every aspect of its operations are impacted, and perhaps none more so than organizational culture. Because organizational culture is shaped by many factors—leadership styles, the demographics of team members, the physical work environment—growth deeply impacts the cultural feel of any nonprofit.
Fortunately, many of the cultural aspects that nonprofit jobseekers desire are likely already a part of successfully growing organizations. In its Voice of Nonprofit Talent Survey in 2008, Commongood Careers found that nonprofit jobseekers most value organizations with cultures that are collaborative, results-oriented, and strategic. Many of these characteristics exist in growing organizations just by virtue of the fact that they are growing.
The Challenge of Maintaining an Evolving Culture
Organizations face many challenges as they grow to scale, and one the biggest challenges is managing the culture change that comes with growth.
The first step in managing an evolving culture is understanding the culture that already exists and proactively supporting the ongoing development of the organization’s culture. Using the vision and mission statements can be a good place for an organization to start defining its culture. It is important to look at not only the goals and objectives of the organization, but also the language the organization uses to communicate them, and the emphasis employees and management put on connecting to these statements, especially when hiring new employees.
Hiring for Cultural Fit
“It’s definitely a challenge to maintain culture as an organization grows,” said Tiffany Cooper, Chief Operating Officer of Field Operations at BELL, “but we try to manage our growth by ensuring cultural fit in all of our hires. We make culture fit a key part of interviewing.”
This means BELL that recognizes and names cultural factors such as preferred leadership styles, interpersonal dynamics, and organizational traditions and celebrations, and incorporates this information into the hiring process. Of course, all of those factors can be affected by growth, so it is important to periodically re-examine important cultural elements, identify those that are truly core to the organization, and hire candidates who embrace and embody those core cultural factors.
“Solid hiring is critical to an organization’s growth and is hugely important in managing culture change,” said Cooper. “Hiring people motivated by our culture and our mission is essential to our organizational growth. We are very slow to hire and we will turn down many great candidates in order to make sure we get candidates that are both great and compatible with our organizational culture.”.
Additionally, BELL focuses on supporting new hires through the onboarding process by being explicit about various cultural elements and making sure that those who are familiar with the culture are involved. “Once we’ve made the hire we ensure that the people with the most history with the organization, like me and the CEO, are involved in the onboarding process,” Cooper said.
The Risk – and Opportunity – of Subcultures
Adding new employees in a growing organization inevitably will bring some degree of cultural change. The value of new hires – new expertise, different perspectives, geographic expansion – can also lead to challenges.
The subcultures that develop as a staff grows can stem from various factors. Geographic subcultures result from cultural differences in environment, like standards in dress, styles of language, and expectations of the community served. Subcultures developed within functional areas highlight the transition from relying on employees to be “jacks-of-all-trades” to creating more specialized and culturally unique functional responsibilities. As diversity in experience, background, and life experience grows, so too can subcultures evolve based on these factors.
It is important to recognize and value these subcultures while also staying mindful of overall organizational culture. It is important that everyone on staff remains committed to and connected with the organization’s mission and feels like a valued part of the organization. Reminding employees that they are all working to solve common problems and to reach common goals, despite location or function, can build unity and an important shared identity. When the overall organization culture is one of healthy, positive respect, subcultures need not be feared.
Communication is Key
Perhaps the most important factor in building and maintaining organizational culture is communication. Employees need to and want to feel included in organizational developments and decisions, even if they can’t be involved directly. Sharing information through various formats sends a message that employees are respected and valued, no matter how large the organization.
“Communication is essential to managing cultural growth. We have various systems to do so including cross-functional meetings, a monthly internal newsletter and a quarterly external newsletter,” Cooper said. BELL also uses a unique quarterly “town meeting” to share organizational developments and encourage employees at all levels to contribute feedback on the strategic direction of the organization.
The Importance of Intention
Perhaps the most valuable lesson for organizations experiencing growth and the associated cultural evolution is to be intentional. Don’t let changes in organizational culture just happen without being thoughtful and aware. It is much more challenging to change a culture that has evolved in a negative way than to proactively build a positive culture, even as growth is happening.
This article was written by Commongood Careers and is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
For more information about nonprofit and socially entrepreneurial careers, visit Commongood Careers at http://www.cgcareers.org.