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.

Nonprofit organizations hiring entry-level talent often face a difficult Catch-22. Organizations search for candidates looking to enter an organization on the ground floor, but they also want candidates who bring relevant professional experience.  This reality is a frustration for first-time jobseekers and nonprofit organizations alike. 

For organizations seeking entry-level candidates who also possess demonstrated experience, leadership development programs can open up a vast talent pool. Nonprofits that rely upon these programs as sources for talent find candidates who have been tested in challenging environments and who have come out of their years of service impassioned and committed to the social sector. Because of the skills and experiences that participants in these programs gain, more organizations are looking to leadership development programs as “the new entry-level”.

This article will discuss a few of the major leadership development programs serving the social sector, as well as share some real-life examples and recommendations for how organizations can leverage this unique talent pool. 

What’s Out There?

There are hundreds of nonprofit leadership development programs currently operating in the United States and they vary widely in their scope and programming. This article will focus on the programs that the team at Commongood Careers has found to be the most valuable talent sources for a range of nonprofit hiring needs. As illustrated in the chart below, these programs offer emerging nonprofit leaders practical experience in areas like community development, education, consulting and management while subsequently providing organizations with talented candidates who are committed to the sector.

Tapping into Program Alumni Networks: Achievement First’s Story

Achievement First is a charter school management organization started in July 2003 by the leaders of Amistad Academy, a high-performing charter school in New Haven, CT. A nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization, Achievement First is creating a network of achievement-gap closing charter schools in Connecticut and New York to bring to scale the dramatic, life-changing student achievement results produced at Amistad Academy. Achievement First currently operates 12 schools and has plans to open 1-3 schools per year over the next several years. Over the next decade, Achievement First will support 25 schools serving over 7,000 students in New York and Connecticut.

With such rapid and successful growth, Achievement First looks to hire high-performing individuals with experience in education. Achievement First actively recruits teachers and school leaders as well as internal management staff. Whether the position is school-based or an internal placement in the management team, Achievement First actively recruits recent alumni from such programs as Teach For America, Education Pioneers and the New York Teaching Fellows program.

Maia Heyck-Merlin, Achievement First’s Vice President of Talent Development, strongly believes in the value of these programs.

“Teach For America, the New York City Teaching Fellows, and other like-minded organizations bring in talented individuals who may not have been originally drawn to the field of education. We value the past leadership experience and accompanying results that these candidates bring, as well as their zeal and passion for closing the achievement gap in this country. Our Teach For America alums in particular come in hungry for a district that values data-driven instruction. They also hold themselves to a high bar of excellence for student success, and it comes out in every part of their interview process. In addition, Teach For America and alums of similar programs bring a passion for social justice, and they wholeheartedly believe that this is the most important work they could be doing for our country.”

To date, Achievement First has hired over 100 Teach For America alumni into teaching and leadership positions, and looks to tap into more leadership development alumni networks in their future recruiting efforts.

Life After Peace Corps: Thomas Peng’s Story

Thomas Peng recently started a position as a Senior Application Support Analyst at College Summit, a nonprofit organization that prepares low-income students for the college admissions process. Three months before accepting this position, Peng was finishing up his two years of service in the Philippines as a Basic Education and Technical Assistance
(BETA) Information Communications Technology volunteer. Peng views his Peace Corps experience as great professional development.

“Professionally, I wanted to work in an unstructured environment and succeed despite the various challenges.  I learned to develop assets in a community rather than focusing on the deficits.  I also discovered that from an outsider’s perspective many things may seem broken, but you have to also focus on what works well.  You should improve upon the things that work well so that you can grow.  If you stop to fix everything and make it perfect, you will stunt your growth.  You must also listen to the people and get their thoughts and input and let them drive the change they want in their community.  Patience, perseverance, careful observation, and the ability to truly listen to others are invaluable skills that I learned during my service as a volunteer.”

In Peng’s opinion, the Peace Corps was integral to his successful tranisition into the nonprofit sector.

“My experience in the Peace Corps demonstrated [to College Summit] my commitment to working in the nonprofit world and gave me experience in education. I worked for four years in the private sector before joining the Peace Corps.  My Peace Corps experience demonstrated to nonprofits that I was serious about working in the sector; I had dedicated two and half of my life to serving as a volunteer.  Also, prior to Peace Corps, I had never worked in education.  Because College Summit works with teachers and students, my ability to understand the challenges of teaching and common issues in education aid me in my daily work.  With the experience and background that I got from Peace Corps, few would doubt my dedication to this field.”

Recommendations to Hiring Organizations

In closing, we have five suggestions for how organizations can leverage leadership development programs to source talent:

1. Collaborate with leaders in other nonprofit organizations.

If your organization has not actively recruited talent from leadership development programs, chances are someone in your professional network has. Activate your network and speak with a contact at an organization with connections to alumni from leadership development programs. Ask them what is unique about these alumni and how they go about sourcing these candidates.

2. Gain access to program databases.

Gaining access to a database of program alumni can be an extremely effective tool for candidate mining. For example, Teach For America keeps extensive databases of Teach For America alumni in an effort to track their career progressions and communicate with them about job opportunities. Building an organizational relationship between your organization and a leadership development program can lead to a stronger flow of talented applicants.

3. Partner with local leadership development programs.

Look to local programs that offer leadership development fellowships and place participants directly at hiring organizations. For example, New Sector Alliance operates a year-long fellowship with a dual mission “to accelerate social change by strengthening organizations today, while developing leaders for tomorrow.” In particular New Sector’s Residency in Social Enterprise offers the skills and talents of twenty young professionals to twenty local organizations in the Boston area for a year-long fellowship. According to Kristi Komendant, a Program Manager at New Sector Alliance, “the value proposition for [nonprofit] organizations is that they find the talent that will help forward their work. It is an effective program because it gives them the opportunity to hire on a specific initiative that they might not have the capacity to hire for more than one year.”

Additionally, a report by Nonprofit Congress entitled “Nonprofit Leadership: A Sample of Networks, Fellowships and Workshops,” is another resource for regional leadership development programs operating across the country in a wide range of communities across the country. 

4. Devise guaranteed placement programs to incentivize alumni.

The Presidential Management Fellowship program has been providing career development for emerging professionals in the public sector for thirty-one years.  One of the reasons why the Presidential Management Fellowship received 4000 applicants in 2007 is because upon completion of the program, fellows are guaranteed employment in governmental departments at a pay grade above entry-level. In the nonprofit sector, organizations with similar missions could band together and create coalitions of guaranteed placements. Removing the question of “what next” for program alumni could result in an influx of talent to the sector.

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.

In the nonprofit sector, an estimated 60% of open positions are filled through referrals and networking. For this reason, nonprofit organizations benefit from building wide professional networks. Thanks to the proliferation of social networking web sites, nonprofits can go online to grow their networks, promote their “employer brand,” and connect with prospective employees.

As there are over 200 social networking web sites, the following article discusses the most effective options for nonprofit organizations to market to and recruit top talent.

What is Online Social Networking?

We have all donned “Hello my name is…” stickers and mingled with colleagues at after-work networking events. Now imagine accomplishing a similar end while sitting at your laptop with a cup of coffee. That’s the gist of online social networking. Though establishing relationships with fellow nonprofiteers through face-to-face real life introductions is still far more genuine than electronic communication, maintaining these ties online can deepen relationships on a regular basis while extending your networking reach to a much broader audience.

Since appearing on the cyber-scene in 1995, online social networking sites have evolved into web-based communities of millions of people connecting based on shared interests and affiliations. Many nonprofit organizations are establishing a presence beyond their homepage and are utilizing social networking sites to recruit talent and spread the word of social change. Because setting up and managing online networks merely require an investment of time, nonprofits can greatly benefit from this low-effort, no-cost and high-touch means of expanding their inner circles and reaching passive job candidates. Below are a few examples of the most effective social networking sites for recruitment.

Facebook

Founded in 2004 by a Harvard undergrad, Facebook allows users to create personal profiles and join networks of like-minded individuals. Networks can be constructed around affiliations such as universities, geographic regions, and organizations/companies. Today, Facebook touts 67 million members.

On Facebook, individuals or organizations create personal profiles to which other Facebook members can then connect. As a nonprofit organization that operates a person-to-person micro-lending program, Kiva has greatly benefited from having a Facebook profile. Kiva’s page includes basic information about their organization, such as its mission, logo, and URL. On its page, Kiva invites Facebook members to add themselves as a “fan.” Yesterday, I became Kiva’s 3,927th Facebook fan (by the end of the week Kiva’s total fans numbered 4,912 members).  By doing so, I was then able to share Kiva’s page with my personal Facebook contacts and invite them to view Kiva’s page. This viral networking spreads the word about Kiva’s work through like-minded networks.

As demonstrated by Kiva, organizations can significantly grow their networks by using Facebook. Having a Facebook profile communicates to today’s jobseekers that an organization is nimble and responsive to current trends. Additionally, extending an organization’s network using Facebook can help when hiring. For example, an organization can post its open positions on a page that is instantly viewable to literally millions of users. Furthermore, an organization can search member profiles to identify and reach out to prospective candidates or to glean more information about those that have already applied to a position at their organization.

Though Facebook is a phenomenon that originated in the college-aged world, students only make up half of all active users. Facebook cites that users over the age of 25 are the fastest growing demographic on Facebook. This growing trend is encouraging for organizations who are seeking more seasoned employees.

Finally, Facebook’s traffic is staggering. It currently is the fifth most visited web site in the world.  Its 67 million users spend an average of twenty five minutes on the site a day perusing the profiles of their personal connections. These are engaged users who share information, including job leads.

LinkedIn

One of the most widely used social networking web sites for nonprofit professionals is LinkedIn. Members create profiles that summarize their professional accomplishments, which can then be used to find and be found by “connections,” such as current and former colleagues, clients, partners, and schoolmates. Your network consists of your connections, your connections’ connections, and the people they know, linking you to thousands of other professionals. The site also features a job board where members post open jobs at their organizations, as well as LinkedIn For Good, a section within the site created to promote positive social change.

For recruiting and sourcing, Commongood Careers uses LinkedIn regularly. When launching a new search for a client, we often post job descriptions on LinkedIn, as well as browse our personal connections to identify strong candidates. To date, we have found hundreds of candidates and new connections through LinkedIn. As a result, we have been able to maximize our ability to connect with people within our spheres of association.

Think of LinkedIn as your classic rolodex meets the theory of the six degrees of separation. Prior to LinkedIn, second and third degree connections to people were often undiscovered. Knowledge of these indirect connections can be extremely valuable when hiring and sourcing new candidates. Instead of applicant pools of complete strangers, hiring organizations can first tap their colleagues’ networks for potential jobseekers.  These jobseekers can then be recommended through trusted colleagues. Organizations that are hiring can also post open positions, allowing LinkedIn members to review positions and refer their colleagues to openings.

Doostang

Founded by two alumni from Stanford and MIT who wanted an easy way for their friends to share job information, Doostang is an invitation-only online career community of over 400,000 members. Members use Doostang to share relevant career opportunities, as well as to interact through groups and forums. Describing itself as an “exclusive online career community that brings together the world’s most talented minds and the world’s leading employers,” Doostang’s greatest asset is its membership of individuals from prestigious universities, companies, and other affiliations.

Doostang can be a highly effective tool for advertising new positions and sourcing candidates. Individuals from hiring organizations can create a personal profile and/or a special practice group on Doostang. By creating a group, users can post open positions, as well as invite other Doostang members to join the group.

Remember, Doostang is invitation only.  However, if you are interested in joining, Commongood Careers has created a special practice group on Doostang, entitled Careers in the Social Sector. If you are interested in joining, send an email with the subject “Request to join” to cgcareers@doostang.com.

Conclusion

Online social networking is all about connecting people in dynamic and new ways. A small investment of time in online social networking can yield big results for an organization’s ability to reach new audiences with information about job opportunities and cultivate a broader and more diverse talent pool.

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.

Benefits are a key factor when job seekers evaluate job opportunities. Even though budget constraints often dictate a ceiling on nonprofit salaries, a competitive and robust benefits package can be an effective way to attract talent and retain employees.  This article highlights some misconceptions about benefits and suggests a few ways that organizations can rethink the benefits they extend to their employees. 

#1: Skip the matching and make retirement planning possible.

Offering a retirement plan like a 403b can be expensive for some nonprofit organizations; however, they may not be as cost prohibitive as one might imagine. In general, retirement plans become expensive when employers agree to match contributions made by employers.  If an employee agrees to match up to five percent of an employee’s base salary for every employee, annual costs even for a small organization could sail high into five to six digits annually for the organization. 

However, it may be surprising to learn that for under $200/month an organization can offer a retirement savings plan to employees if contributions are not matched. If an employer does not match contributions, it is only responsible to pay the administrative fees charged by the benefits company used by the nonprofit organization. To scale retirement plans over time, organizations have a few options. For example, if an organization winds up in the black at the end of the year, this profit can be distributed to employees in the form of an end of the year bonus that can be added to an employee’s retirement fund.

Tip #2: Consider the cafeteria plan

A Cafeteria Plan is outlined in Section 125 of the IRS Tax Code.  Offering a Cafeteria Plan provides a level of decision making to each employee and it communicates to your staff that you value exactly what each member values.  Typically, managing these plans require diligent administration to ensure that the Cafeteria Plan is in compliance with IRS guidelines. If your organization is already employing a benefits administrator, he/she will be able to manage the plan. PayChex is a benefits administrator that offers affordable benefit plans including Cafeteria options.

Tip #3: Get flexible!

Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) allow employees to set aside a portion of their paycheck for qualified expenses. Qualified expenses can come in the form of expenses associated with medical care and dependent care.  Money that is deducted from a participating employee’s paycheck and placed into an FSA is not subject to payroll taxes. This can be a valuable benefit to your employees because of the payroll tax savings. The other good news about FSAs is that nearly every medical and childcare cost is qualified. Common expenses like Vaseline, contact solution, co-pays at the doctor’s office, daycare fees, diapers, aspirin and gym fees can be deducted from an employee’s payroll thus reducing their taxable income. 

Tip #5: Get creative!

If your organization is unable to offer these types of financial benefits for your employees, do not despair.  Thinking a bit outside the box can offer yield some benefits that your employees will really appreciate.

Start by reflecting on your culture.  How do you reward hard work or success?  Would you allow an employee to work from home for a day as a reward for some noticeable hard work? Do you throw parties to celebrate organizational milestones?  Do you recognize birthdays?  These may sound like trite questions, but demonstrating that you pay attention to and reward hard work in creative ways can show an employee that management really appreciates their contributions.

Learn about what makes your employees tick.  A common strand in many nonprofit jobseekers is that they are motivated by doing good for the public.  However, they might not get the chance to exercise their unique brand of social justice during the 9-5 or they might be too burnt out to volunteers as much as they would like.  Why not add on a few days off for volunteering into your vacation package.  This might allow an employee to play the role of a scout leader for an extended weekend camping trip or encourage the former College Democrat to drive seniors to the polls on Election Day without spending his/her well deserved vacation days.

If you are a nonprofit organization in a city, you are literally surrounded by opportunities for your staff members to spend their hard earned salary.  Hit the streets and talk to the management of local gyms, restaurants, movie theaters, parking garages and coffee shops and see if you can work out discount prices for your employees.  Kiva, a nonprofit in San Francisco that promotes micro-finance investments in developing countries, touts 50% off at the sushi restaurant in its benefits package.  Similarly, the EF Foundation in Boston offers discounted Celtics and Bruin tickets to its employees due to its close proximity to the teams’ arena.

Tip #6: Revisit time-off and work arrangement policies.

In a recent study by Commongood Careeers, The Voice of Nonprofit Talent in 2008, nonprofit jobseekers ranked benefits such as “vacation policies” and “flexible work plans such as 4-day work weeks and working from home” as the most important non-salary benefits. There factors ranked far above traditional benefits such as dental, vision, performance bonuses, tuition debt support and family leave.

There are a number of low-to-no cost ways to implement alternative time-off and work arrangement benefits. Pick 2-3 non-holiday Fridays and declare them organizational holidays. Offer unpaid summer vacations to those who want it and who you can afford to have out for a few months. Encourage employees to utilize flex-time, the option to work less than 40-hour weeks, or work part-time from home. Invest in your management capacity to maintain performance levels within an increasingly flexible office.

Tip #7: Collaborate with your employees on what they want.

Do you use “collaborative” anywhere in your literature, web site or job descriptions to describe your organization’s culture?  If so, practice what you preach and bring the staff to the conference table to discuss benefits.  If all are involved in the discussion it will be clear to your employees that you are serious about providing benefits and that you want to do what is best for each individual.  If you fail to communicate with your team on benefits a negative sentiment that you are just too poor or too cheap might brew.  These feelings of organizational uncertainty can lead a good employee to dust off his/her resume and consider new opportunities.  If benefits that employees want are too out of reach, be honest about it and work through alternatives. Being open about goals and concerns can be a benefit in itself.

There are a number of online resources available that have more tips that might help you rethink benefits for employees.  Web sites such as www.irs.gov and www.commonwealthconnector.com offer good places to start.  Paychex also has great information on flexible benefits packages.  Considering these tips and offering creative and flexible benefits will communicate to your employees that you are concerned with the aspects of their lives that occur beyond the office while keeping your organization competitive to active job seekers.

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.

An important aspect of any effective search strategy is the search structure, which refers to the people who will be involved in each hiring process and the roles that they will play. Developing an appropriate structure for each search will ensure that the hire is made in accordance with the needs, values, and capacity of your organization.

In developing the search structure, you will want to make sure that the following stages in the search process are appropriately designated:

• Who will provide overall management of the process?
• Who will be involved in scoping the role and writing the job description?
• Who will post the position and distribute it to your organizational networks?
• Who will design the tools to be used at each stage of the search?
• Who will provide administrative support (i.e. scheduling candidate interviews, communicating with candidates)
• Who will provide an initial screen of candidates?
• Who will be involved in interviewing candidates?
• Who will complete reference checks on finalists?
• Who will be involved in decision making?
• Who will make the offer and negotiate with the final candidate?

Generally, the categories of people who may be involved in these various stages include board members and other external constituents, internal hiring managers, administrative support staff, and human resources representatives.  Who is involved in each stage depends on the following criteria:

• Level of Position:  Generally, the more senior the position, the more senior the group involved in the hiring process should be.  For a CEO or executive director-level search, for example, it will be appropriate to have a search committee structure involving board members and possibly other external constituents (more on search committee structure below).  For an entry-level position, it is possible (though not advisable) to have only the position’s direct supervisor involved in the hiring process.
• Style and Values of the Organization:  Is your organization extremely collaborative or are decisions made by one or just a few people?  Does your organization value input from various team members or is it more autonomous?  If your organization values collaboration, then input from staff in any hiring process is probably important to consider, regardless of the level of position.
• Structure of the Organization:  Does your organization have a human resources department?  If so, what is its role in any hiring process?  It may range from leading the entire hiring process to only being involved in a sign-off for the final candidate.  Similarly, does your organization have support staff?  Many of the stages in the hiring process can be handled by strong administrative staff.
• Availability:  Finally, consider the availability of each of the groups you are thinking about involving.  Of course, in most nonprofit organizations, everyone is already doing much more than their job description, but if you know that there is no way that one director will be able to dedicate the time to interviewing candidates for a particular position in the coming months, then there is no sense in including that person in the search structure.  You want to make sure that the search will be able to progress quickly at each stage, with no roadblocks.  When an organization has administrative support staff available, senior leaders will be more highly leveraged in a hiring process.

So, what are some options available to you?  The following are four commonly used search structures:

Search Committees

Search committees typically comprise five to eight individuals and include representatives from a variety of organizational stakeholders, such as senior management, the board of directors, funders, and organizational members, participants, or alumni.  The committee is typically chaired by a board member or whoever will supervise the hire, if different.

Depending on the nature of the hire, internal staff may not be involved.  This is especially true for high-level searches for a CEO or executive director, or for any search where information is confidential.

With a search committee, there are typically different roles for different members. At the start of the search, significant work is put into collectively scoping the position, identifying candidates within personal networks, and defining the systems needed to support the search—such as feedback collection and decision making tools.  Typically, the committee participants as a group in search-related tasks like interviewing.  The committee will also have regular meetings to review top candidates, share feedback, decide on next steps at each stage of the process, and ultimately make a hire.

While the committee members manage the majority of the search directly, it is preferable if there is administrative support available for the logistical aspects of the search, such as posting job descriptions and scheduling interviews.

Single Hiring Manager

In some cases, particularly for nonprofits with small staffs, a single hiring manager will be responsible for the majority of the search-related responsibilities.  Typically, this individual is the person who will ultimately supervise the hire.  Others might be involved in providing administrative support, but the onus of screening, interviewing, and decision making lies with the hiring manager.  To manage a search adequately, a single hiring manager should carve out approximately two hours per day for search-related tasks.

In addition to owning or overseeing the many search-related tasks, the hiring manager is also responsible for communicating with other staff about the status of the search.  This communication will help to prepare the organization for the addition of a new staff member and will initiate the onboarding process before the hire is even made.

Group Process

For most hiring processes, a group process will be most appropriate and effective.  There are a variety of ways to structure a group hiring process.  In some cases, an entire department manages the search; in others, representatives from different functional areas may each own an aspect of the search.  For more senior hires, a representative of senior management or even the CEO or executive director should be a member of the hiring team.

Like search committees, group hiring teams require a great deal of up-front planning and preparation, especially when creating systems and tools to facilitate the hiring process.  For example, the group must decide how often it will meet, how it will debrief after meeting candidates, and what tools are required for collecting and assessing candidate information.

Groups will divide and conquer tasks, such as posting and sourcing, but may choose to collaborate on other tasks.  For example, the group may work together to scope the role and write the job description or to create interview questions and evaluation tools.  Typically, each member of the group will be assigned different roles during the actual interviews.  In general, the person who will supervise the hire will handle the tasks of extending and negotiating the offer with the chosen candidate.

HR/Hiring Manager Partnership

For organizations with a Human Resources Department, an HR/hiring manager partnership can make for a highly organized and professional search.  In these searches, HR can participate in a variety of ways, from providing purely administrative support to acting as a liaison between the hiring manager and the candidate to having decision making input.  An HR representative can also act as a neutral third party when it comes time to make an offer and negotiate salaries.  Candidates often appreciate the ability to negotiate their offers with someone who will not be supervising them directly.

To help inform what type of structure works best for your organization, consider the benefits and challenges of each search structure outlined in the table below.

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. 

Many career counselors advise nonprofit job seekers—especially sector switchers and recent graduates—to identify and market their transferable skills. Do organizations really consider these candidates without feeling as if they are taking too great a risk? How open-minded are nonprofits when it comes to looking at candidates that offer skills and experiences gained in other sectors or environments?

In a sector of close to 2 million organizations, the answer is: it depends. Organizations that consider themselves entrepreneurial are generally open to hiring talent from other sectors or nontraditional backgrounds. For many organizations, candidates with transferable skills are welcomed in some job functions, such as operations, management, and finance, but not in others, such as fundraising and program management.

Cultivating a broadly skilled talent pool is key to developing the next generation of nonprofit talent. In the current climate of explosive organizational growth and the pending retirement of “baby boomer” leaders, there will be a huge need for new talent in every functional area in the very near future. These issues require us to start thinking creatively about what a qualified and skilled nonprofit professional looks like, and to be willing to embrace the potential impact of hiring people with transferable skills.

The Softer Side of Skills

In the nonprofit sector, soft skills play a big role in hiring decisions. For example, in a recent inquiry conducted by Commongood Careers, a group of 20 nonprofit hiring managers ranked cultural fit and personality traits above more traditional hiring considerations of experience, skills, and education.

Knowing the soft skills that are most important to your organization allows you to consider candidates based on their personal qualities and abilities, in addition to the positions they have held or where they have worked in the past. Although desired soft skills vary between organizations, we’ve found that there are some personal qualities that span many nonprofits, including:

• Being entrepreneurial
• Being a self-starter
• Having a positive attitude
• Being resourceful
• Working collaboratively
• Being creative, particularly in a resource-constrained environment

To evaluate the presence of these or other transferable soft skills in potential hires, follow two rules of thumb: stay open-minded and do your homework. Begin by thinking broadly about a candidate’s past experience in work, school, and civic life. Research the companies listed on candidates’ resumes to understand their past work environments; many desirable soft skills are developed when working in start-up, fast-growing, or highly creative work environments. When speaking with candidates, ask for specific examples of times they were called upon to use a certain soft skill. Demonstrated past success is the best predictor of strong performance in a new role or organization.

In addition to evaluating a candidate’s transferable soft skills, probe on personal qualities that demonstrate a mission-fit with your organization. Not all candidates are going to come to you with extensive work or volunteer experience in your specific field, but that does not mean they do not possess the personal qualities required to connect with and embrace your organization’s mission. Share as much information as you can—including brochures, videos, or other collateral—with strong candidates in order to give them a sense of the importance of your organization’s mission. With openness and candor on your part, candidates will understand the importance of your organization’s mission and will be able to demonstrate their personal connection to it.

Are Hard Skills Really Transferable?

It’s common for nonprofit hiring managers to have a very specific picture of the hard skills required for a given role. A grant writer needs to have written grants before. Someone working in community affairs must have experience with the community being served. But how hard and fast are these rules? What candidates might you be missing out on by not considering candidates with demonstrated success from different work environments or roles?

We mentioned earlier that many nonprofits are open to hiring people who possess hard skills in operations, management, and finance. Whereas skills required for these functional areas easily cross sectors, there are other skills that can also be successfully transferred to nonprofit roles, such as:

Sales and Marketing – Skills learned and honed in the fields of sales and marketing can be easily transferred to the field of nonprofit development and fundraising, which is the area of most need within the sector.  Even if a candidate doesn’t have direct experience in development (e.g., fundraising, grant writing, event planning, corporate partnerships), don’t overlook candidates with hard skills in building high-touch relationships, producing collateral, giving presentations, or “making an ask”.  People with sales experience, particularly those with a background in identifying prospects and cultivating relationships, can often make a smooth transition into the field of major gifts fundraising.  Finally, be open to considering candidates who possess experience in volunteer event planning or other fundraising activities, are members of a nonprofit board, or are strongly networked in philanthropic and/or corporate circles.

Writing and Research - Individuals with experience in journalism, corporate communications, and other fields that require strong writing skills can often leverage their transferable skills into other types of development and fundraising roles. Additionally, recent graduates from master of public administration (MPA) or master of public health (MPH) programs typically possess the research and writing experience needed to break into development.

Consulting – Management consulting experience is sought after in the nonprofit sector because of the analytical, research, project management, and client management skills that people with this kind of experience bring.  Consulting experience transfers extremely well to certain roles, such as portfolio manager at a social venture fund or other areas where a nonprofit organization provides professional services to other nonprofits.  Corporate partnerships, community outreach, and board relations are other roles in which consulting experience can be valuable. 

One challenge of transitioning from a management consulting (or other corporate) background to a nonprofit role is the shift from working for an internal client to an external one. For example, some management consultants work in the trenches of customer research but do not interact with clients face-to-face. When considering these candidates, probe their knowledge of and experience in client-focused environments and be prepared to connect these hires with mentors or other internal staff to support their transition.

Information Technology (IT) - Thinking creatively about IT staff can yield great results for nonprofits. Coined by TechSoup.org as “accidental techies,” administrative or operational professionals who have been responsible for technology and systems management in past jobs can easily transfer these skills to a nonprofit environment. Similarly, technology professionals who have been specialists in a large department or corporation, but who are seeking more autonomy and ownership of their work, also transfer well to the nonprofit sector. In addition to technology skills, look for strong customer service skills and a friendly, patient demeanor.

Finally, many graduate degree programs—particularly master of business administration, MPH, and MPA—provide excellent training in hard skills that can be transferred into a range of nonprofit roles. For example, most MPH and MPA programs require coursework in grant writing and nonprofit finance.

When it comes down to it, a candidate’s past success using a specific set of skills and competencies is the best indicator of how he or she will perform in a new role. Whether a hire is new to a job function or to the sector, remember that this person’s ability to call upon his or her soft and hard skills in a new role is what most ensures success. By considering candidates with a variety of transferable skills, you will diversify your staff and increase the impact of your organization.

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. 

Hiring is one of a manager’s most important responsibilities.  Although most organizations recognize the opportunities and consequences involved with talent selection, few are prepared to lead a truly effective interview process.  This article will give you a few tips for making the most of your limited time with a prospective employee.

General Planning

First, you should develop an interviewing structure that can be kept consistent across all candidates.  As much as possible, standardize the questions, environment, and interviewers involved so that you can really compare apples to apples when it comes down to a few finalists.  This structure will not only make your interviews more effective but will also increase the professionalism, equity, and legality of the whole process.

Chose your interview format carefully.  A one-on-one meeting is more likely to set a candidate at ease and facilitate a conversational relationship, but it does not provide the objectivity gained by having two or more interviewers involved.  In the latter case, make sure that each participant’s role is distinct and mutually understood.  For example, have one person focus on employment history and experience, another on skills capacity/job requirements, and a third on culture/personality fit.

Defining the Role

Know what you want to see before the interview starts.  To the greatest extent possible, candidates should be selected for roles; roles should not be defined around candidates after the fact.

Brainstorm with colleagues about the characteristics of an ideal candidate.  Identify the core competencies that are required for success in this role and in your organization as a whole.  Keep in mind that some competencies should be based around skills and experience, whereas others should consider personality attributes and cultural fit.  Make a list that can be developed into an interview template and scoring sheet, as described later.

Interview Questions

Ensure that all your questions are:

• Relevant—centered on the required core competencies and pertaining only to areas that equal opportunity laws refer to as Bona Fide Occupational Qualifications (BFOQ), which are those qualifications required to perform a job safely and efficiently and that are reasonably necessary to the operation of the business.
• Behaviorally Based—asking candidates to describe past experiences in which they successfully demonstrated specific competencies.
• Open-Ended—allowing insight into a candidate’s thought processes without ‘leading’ the answers you want or requiring unknowable, organization-specific facts.

Structure your interviews to provide candidates with multiple opportunities to prove their potential values and abilities to succeed in the role.  Interviewing should not be a throw-back to fraternity hazing, where you put a jobseeker on the ‘hot seat’ just because someone once did the same to you.  It is easy to miss out on a great candidate if you focus more on making someone nervous and setting them up for failure than you do on evaluating their potential.

The Interview Conversation

Begin with introductions, a review of the meeting goals and timetable, and opening questions designed to put the candidate at ease.  Then move into the format that you have prepared.  You may want to have a template, on which you can quickly write notes around responses, handy.  Know that your notes may be used as evidence in any employment-related lawsuit, so please make sure to keep them focused around required qualifications and competencies.

Remember that in a good interview, information should flow both ways.  Plan time in the interview to take advantage of this opportunity to tell your organization’s story to a person who may end up being important to you, whether or not they are right for this particular job.  Allow the candidate to talk for approximately 70 percent of the time and you (and your colleagues) to speak for 30 percent of the time. Watch for responsive comments and intelligent questions.

Making a Decision

Fill in a scoring sheet as soon as possible to capture your thoughts around a candidate’s capacities related to your specific areas of focus.  This information should be recorded both numerically (1-10 scale) and in short commentary form.  If multiple interviewers are involved, have each one complete the scoring sheet individually and then convene the group to compare impressions.

Try to prevent immediate reactions, premature conclusions, and irrelevant subject matter from clouding your judgment about whether or not a candidate will be able to succeed in a role.  You may not be able to gain adequate perspective on any one candidate until you have interviewed several individuals.

Although all interviews should carefully consider a candidate’s personality fit with the organizational culture, remember that you need to focus on selecting the right employee, not a new best friend.

Conclusion

A thoughtful and thorough interview process will increase your ability to evaluate candidates and make the right hires.  Remember that your interview process reflects the value your organization places on its members. Viewing the interview process as an opportunity, not a chore or challenge, will communicate a positive corporate outlook and engender goodwill between candidates and your organization.

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.

Navigating the hiring process can be daunting for even the most seasoned managers, particularly if hiring is the not your primary responsibility. When faced with an open position, most managers want to hire as quickly as possible and therefore may try to shortcut the process.  We have found, time and again, that the organizations who lead the most effective searches have a clearly defined and strategic process outlined before they even post the position.  This is what we refer to as a Search Strategy, and this strategy directly impacts the efficiency and effectiveness of any search process. 

An effective Search Strategy includes defining the position, creating a job description and a job posting, developing a recruitment plan, and planning for the different phases of screening.  This article will outline each of these phases in more detail.

Defining the Position

You are hiring because a new position has been created or because you need to replace an existing position.  In either situation, doing a thorough needs assessment is the first phase in developing your Search Strategy.  With key internal stakeholders and decision-makers, start with looking at the needs of your organization (or department) fully; what are the key functional responsibilities that need to be included in order for your organization/department to be successful?  Then, determine what key competencies are needed in order to fulfill those functional responsibilities.  Look at your current staff and map their responsibilities and competencies to your needs.  Where are the holes that need to be filled in?  Is there anyone currently in your organization whose role could be adjusted in order to meet those needs?  If not, you will need to make a new hire.

If you are hiring for a replacement, make sure to avoid one of the most common pitfalls: hiring a clone of the exiting employee.  More than likely, the organization has grown and changed since the exiting employee started, so their old job description is probably not relevant any longer.  In addition, thinking in such a linear way will limit the opportunities available to your organization.  For example, if you are committed to hiring someone with a very similar background to the exiting employee, you might not consider someone with a different profile but very relevant competencies who could bring some new ideas and perspectives to your organization.

Once you have defined the needs, it is time to more thoroughly define the particular position and identify the profile of your ideal candidate.  To ensure an equitable process, gather input by survey or committee from other staff members to help shape the definition of the role.

Some questions to consider:

• What are the key roles and responsibilities for the position?
• What are the opportunities and challenges presented by the position?
• What competencies are required for success in the role?
• What organizational values would an ideal candidate reflect?
• What kinds of people are generally successful in this organization, and in this type of role?  What kinds of people are generally not successful in this organization, and in this type of role?
• Where does this position fit in the organization?
• What is the background of the ideal candidate for this role (e.g. educational background, professional experience, skills, cultural/personality characteristics)?

Now, it is time to think about one of the most challenging parts of position definition, particularly for a nonprofit organization: salary.  It is important here to take into consideration both internal and external factors.  Externally, you want to make sure that the salary you are offering is as competitive as possible in the marketplace.  Start by conducting a market analysis by researching salaries for similar positions at similar organizations.  Resources and job boards such as Idealist.org and Philanthropy New Digest can be helpful in this area, as is your own professional network; ask your colleagues for some benchmark data.  If you are hiring for a replacement position, use the exiting employee’s salary as a guideline, but do not be constrained by that number; based on the needs assessment, you may well be hiring for a differently defined position or looking for someone with a different profile.

Internally, you need to ensure that the salary fits into the organization’s budget and takes into consideration issues of equity with other employees.  Once you have a sense of the salary you will be able to offer, revisit the position definition and ideal candidate profile.  Are you way off base?  Are you hoping to find someone with 20 years of IT experience but can only pay them $30,000?  Make sure that the background and experience you are looking for matches with the salary you are able to offer.

Creating a Job Description and a Job Posting

It is now time to develop two different documents: a job description is an internal document that will lay out, in detail, the exact roles and responsibilities of a particular position.  This will be used during the onboarding phase for the new employee, to set expectations and help the manager to supervise, as well as during evaluations and performance reviews.

A job posting is an external document that is created to motivate candidates to apply to the open position.  As such, it is viewed as a marketing tool.  Visiting online job boards is a great way to see a variety of different types and styles of job postings to inform the creation of your posting.  A strong job posting will include:

• A compelling but concise description of the organization’s history, mission, and key programs; communicate what an exciting place it is to work;
• An overview of the position that summarizes the key responsibilities while demonstrating the importance of the role to the overall success of the organization;
• A well-constructed and organized list of key roles and responsibilities; you do not need to include an exhaustive list, but provide some detail about what the role entails, including highlighting the appealing aspects of the position, such as decision-making authority, participation in strategic planning, etc.;
• A list of the qualifications required; try to focus more on the competencies required than specific levels and types of experience; for example, “exceptional relationship-management skills, especially working with high net worth individuals” is better than “4 years of experience leading major donor campaigns” because it encourages non-traditional candidates with transferable skills to apply;
• Clear instructions on how to apply; we advise receiving applications only through email;
• A statement describing your organization as an equal opportunity employer.

Creating a Recruitment Plan

A strategic recruitment plan outlines the methods you will use to solicit qualified applications for your open position and includes three key components:

Internal Distribution: Send a thoughtful email to your organization’s staff.  This email should include a brief and appealing description of the role and the ideal candidate and should have the full job posting attached and/or included in the body.  Your staff are very good sources of referral candidates because they know your organization best and have an idea of what it takes to succeed there.  Be sure to thank them in advance for their willingness to distribute the posting to their personal networks and, if possible, consider offering a referral bonus.

Distribution to Your Constituents: Next, share the job description with your constituents. Post the job to an appropriate section of your organization’s web site and include information about the position in any newsletters or other external communications. If this is a new position, use it as an opportunity to highlight your organization’s growth and development.  If appropriate, contact donors, board members, partners, and other contacts; you never know who may be the source of a great referral.

External Posting: Broaden your reach beyond your inner circles by advertising the position externally.  For most positions, gone are the days of placing a want ad in the local newspaper; these days, it is usually more cost-effective to post positions on multiple online job boards.  Even so, you should budget at least $500-700 for external postings. In order to determine how to most efficiently spend your recruiting dollars, research the relevant job boards or publications where you would find similar postings. Ask staff who have similar roles where they would look for jobs.  Find out what professional associations people in the field belong to and see if those organizations have a job board or listserv.  There are also job boards based on geographic region or job function (such as accounting, development, or IT) that may be appropriate, but are typically more expensive.  When evaluating posting channels, consider both flow and quality; most hiring managers would rather have a smaller pool of qualified candidates than a larger pool of unqualified candidates.  While job boards without a nonprofit focus may result in a large number of resumes, more targeted posting for candidates interested in nonprofit positions is often more effective.  Sites such as Idealist.org and Opportunity Knocks are excellent nonprofit-focused job boards. 

Outlining the Screening Process

The goal of the screening process is to assess each applicant across consistent criteria in order to make the most informed and effective hiring decision possible.  Determining the screening process in advance also ensures internal alignment and accountability among all staff involved in the hiring process; be sure to share all relevant materials with appropriate staff to ensure that everyone is on the same page and to make any necessary adjustments before the screening process begins.

Screening is a process of gradually getting more and more detailed information about a smaller and smaller candidate pool and generally includes at least three stages:

• Resume Screen:  Before you review the first resume, determine what information you want to learn from the resume.  Return to the job description and come up with a list of criteria you are looking for in a candidate.  Now, cut this list down to include just those criteria that can be gleaned from a resume.  Use this list of criteria to create a resume screening worksheet to complete for every application.
• Phone Screen:  We recommend a phone screen as the next step in the process.  Because it is often difficult to decide from a resume who is a strong overall candidate, the phone screen allows the hiring organization to get more information about a candidate without investing the time to conduct a full in-person interview.  Go back to the full list of criteria that you developed.  Figure out what questions you are going to ask during the phone screen based on what information you are looking for.  Types of questions for the phone screen typically fall into three categories: skill fit (e.g. “Tell me about your success managing employees new to the workplace.”), culture fit (e.g. “In what kind of organizational culture are you most successful?”), and logistics (e.g. “When would you be able to start a new position?”). Make sure that you are consistent in all of your phone screens in order to prevent possible claims of discrimination. 
• Interview:  In-person interview(s) are typically the last step in the screening process.  Use the in-person interview to probe for information you did not gain in the earlier stages of this process. As you did with the phone screen, plan your questions in advance. Create questions that allow a candidate to provide evidence of his or her characteristics and competencies that will position him or her for success in the role and the organization.  Make sure that you allow the candidates plenty of time to learn about the role and the organization; you should consider sending your organization’s collateral material to each candidate in advance of the interview and you should definitely build in time for the candidates to ask questions during the interview.  Remember that an important part of the interview process is marketing; at this stage, you think that you might be interested in hiring this candidate.  You need to make sure that the candidate is interested in working for your organization.  For more information about structuring effective interviews, read this article.

Communicating with Candidates

It is vitally important that you plan, in advance, how you are going to effectively communicate with candidates at each phase of the process.  Remember that every single person who comes into contact with your organization is a potential donor, supporter, volunteer, Board member, staff member, etc.  As such, all candidates need to be treated with respect.  Although most hiring managers feel bad telling candidates “no”, candidates would rather hear “no” than nothing at all.  Ensure prompt notification of your decision, at each stage of the screening process, while communicating your appreciation of the time and effort that went into their application.

Ready, Aim, Hire!

Once you have a comprehensive Search Strategy, you will be armed with the tools you need to begin the actual hiring process. Taking the time up front to discuss the strategy and develop the required materials will pay off in the long run, ultimately leading your organization to the best possible hires.

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. 

Over the past few years, there has been a lot of talk about utilizing core competencies in the hiring process.  You may be wondering what exactly core competencies are and how they can help your organization make better hires.

The term “core competency” was originally introduced in 1990 by the Harvard Business Review to describe the management concept of corporations possessing specialized expertise in a specific area.  Corporations quickly adopted the concept of core competencies to communicate what they did “best,” and to leverage the competitive advantages of their brands.

Since then, core competencies have been applied to other aspects of management and have become a key strategy used in the hiring process.  This article explores competency-based hiring and how nonprofit organizations can best use this technique in the hiring process.

What is Competency-Based Hiring?

An individual’s core competencies are determined by two groups of factors: skills, knowledge, and technical qualifications, and behavioral characteristics, personality attributes, and individual aptitudes.  While traditional hiring has focused primarily on evaluating a candidate’s skills and technical qualifications, a competency-based approach includes an analysis of a candidate’s behavioral characteristics as well.  Competency-based hiring is grounded in the identification of core competencies required for success and the subsequent evaluation of each candidate’s demonstration of those competencies in their past experiences.

From a hiring perspective, there are two different kinds of core competencies: position-specific and organizational. The following is a brief overview of each type.

Position-specific competencies refer to the abilities and behavioral characteristics required for success in a specific role.  These characteristics may include attributes of an individual’s work style as well as personal qualities like being analytical, resourceful, flexible, or creative.

Organizational competencies refer to the qualities and attributes that characterize success across an entire organization.  These competencies include fit with the organization’s management style, risk tolerance, work pace and volume, employee demographics, and physical environment.  Organizational competencies play a major role in determining what type of people will “fit” in an organization, regardless of their specific role.  For example, a bureaucratic, autonomous manager may not succeed in a management role at a highly entrepreneurial nonprofit where all decisions are made by consensus.

Core Competencies in Action

The first step in adopting a competency-based hiring model is to determine both the organizational and position-specific competencies required for a given position.  To figure out organizational competencies, we recommend convening a focus group or implementing a carefully crafted survey to identify the top 3 - 5 characteristics and traits that typically make someone successful within the organization.  Be sure to include all key stakeholders, including management, staff, board members, funders, and other constituents as appropriate.  In order to determine position-specific competencies, you will want to employ a similar process, focusing on those who know the position best.  Depending on your organization, it may also be helpful to define department-specific competencies, particularly for highly specialized departments such as Finance or Development.

After you have determined the competencies for a given position, you can use this information to inform all subsequent stages of your recruitment and hiring process.  For example, your job description should focus on the core competencies successful candidates will demonstrate and not focus only on academic or technical qualifications.  In terms of recruitment, a focus on core competencies will lead to a broader candidate pool because you will be seeking professionals who possess the desired competencies required for a position but may come from less traditional backgrounds.  Learn more about developing your search strategy and recruitment plan in this article.

Using core competencies to drive the screening and interviewing phases of the hiring process will provide more relevant information upon which to base hiring decisions than matching candidates against a list of requirements or assessing whether the hiring manager “likes” the candidate.  We recommend using behavioral interviewing, which refers to asking questions that require candidates to describe past experiences in which they were able to demonstrate specific competencies.  Based in the premise that “past behavior predicts future behavior,” research and experience has found behavioral interviewing to be a more effective way of gauging how each candidate has performed in certain types of situations and therefore how successful each may be in a certain role.  Learn more about behavioral interviewing in this article.

Hiring and Beyond

Adopting a competency-based hiring model requires an investment of time and effort up front, but that investment is well worth the effort when you are making more appropriate and sophisticated hiring decisions.  After the hire is made, core competencies continue to be useful in setting goals and positioning new hires for success, identifying areas for professional development, and making appropriate decisions about future promotions and raises.  All of this leads to increased employee engagement and retention, two hallmarks of successful organizations.

For more information on competency-based hiring, we suggest the following helpful resources:

CompQuick: Focusing Interviews on MIT Core Competencies

Competency-Based Behavioral Interviewing

Hiring and Keeping the Best People

How to Compete in the War for Talent

The Talent Edge

The War for Talent

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. 

Human resources staff at nonprofit organizations frequently face significant and different challenges than their counterparts in the business world. Often, they perform not only the work of traditional human resources staff, but also manage office administration, volunteers, and Board of Directors support, among other functions. In fact, in many nonprofits, an “HR Manager” does not exist, and the responsibilities fall upon staff who don’t have a formal HR background. Moreover, support for the unique needs of the HR role in a mission-driven nonprofit organization can be hard to find, and difficult to navigate.

The Scope of Human Resources

Primarily, human resources is the function of selecting and developing people so they are satisfied with their work and have the knowledge, skills, and tools to give their best to the organization and help it fulfill its mission and its operational goals.

HR staff play a pivotal role in the success of the organization. There are many components in the HR toolkit that enables them to do this important work:

HR Planning
Creating meaningful positions that link to the overall strategic direction of the organization and provide the resources it needs to successfully and efficiently fulfill its long-term goals.

Recruitment and Selection
Developing hiring practices that are fair and consistent, and which provide an opportunity to bring a skilled and diverse array of people to the organization to help further its work.

Compensation and Benefits
The practice of providing an equitable compensation and benefits package that is consistent and aligned with organizational direction. Compensation can include both base pay (salary) and variable pay (bonuses). Benefits include health, dental, disability, and life insurance, as well as various leave programs such as parental and vacation. It also may include “work-life” balance initiatives like flexible work hours and telecommuting. Finally, benefits packages often contain some kind of retirement or pension plan.

Training and Development
A commitment to continuous learning for employees that ensures they have the knowledge and skills needed to perform their jobs effectively. It also provides them with an opportunity to develop their talents and abilities for future opportunities within the organization.

Performance Management
A process by which plans, goals, and performance are regularly reviewed to ensure that expectations of both staff and the organization are met.

Health and Safety
Focuses on prevention of workplace injuries and creating an environment that is safe and healthful for all staff. Regular training and audits as well as thorough accident investigation are all tools to help promote an injury-free workplace.

Policy Development and Regulatory Compliance
Creating fair and consistent policies, procedures, and reporting systems that help to ensure regulatory obligations are met and the needs of both staff and the organization are considered.

This article was republished with permission from Idealist.org, a project of Action Without Borders. Action Without Borders connects people, organizations, and resources to help build a world where all people can live free and dignified lives, whose work is guided by the common desire of its members and supporters to find practical solutions to social and environmental problems, in a spirit of generosity and mutual respect.

Imagine it’s your first day at a new job. You arrive at an office where no one seems to be expecting you. After locating your workstation, you realize that no one has shown you how to log into your computer or get an outside line on your phone. You do not have a clear idea of what you are expected to do first in your new job. Your supervisor is nowhere to be found, and you are starting to question your decision to accept this position.

As the above scenario suggests, an organization never gets a second chance to make a first impression with its new hires. Investing in employee onboarding ensures that an organization is prepared for and committed to positioning its new hires for success in their new roles.

Effective employee onboarding serves three interrelated purposes. First, it ensures that the new hire feels welcomed, comfortable, prepared, and supported. In turn, this leads to the new hire’s ability to make an impact within the organization, both immediately and over time. Finally, employee success leads to satisfaction and retention, which allows the organization to continue to meet its mission.

In order to position a new hire for success, it is important that an organization prepares in advance and continues to support a new hire throughout the first several months (and beyond). This article explores some tried and true best practices for employee onboarding procedures.

Before the First Day

Preparing for a new hire’s start date is the first step of ensuring effective onboarding. Start by completing an agenda for the first week on the job. As part of the agenda, schedule times for the new hire to meet with key staff members. Provide staff members with the new employee’s resume and job description, and advise them to follow a meeting format that includes sharing a description of their own position, how their role interacts with that of the new hire, and how they might expect to work together in the future. This is also a good time to assign a mentor or buddy to the new hire as an immediate resource for any questions, help them build a network, educate them on resources, and give key information about organizational culture and goals.

Next, create a comfortable workstation for the new hire. Stock his or her workstation with the tools needed to hit the ground running, such as paper, pens, computer, phone, keys, and business cards. Make sure that voicemail and email accounts are set up. Leave a copy of an organization chart, staff list and phone directory on the new hire’s desk. If your organization has a new employee handbook, leave this on the desk as well. To really impress people on their first day, add any branded collateral that you can spare ‘ a logo backpack, hat, T-shirt or mug.

Finally, make sure all administrative forms—such as employment, direct deposit, and benefits—are ready to be completed on day one.

The First Day

The first day of a new job can rattle the nerves of even the most experienced professional. The better prepared you are to welcome the new hire on his or her first day, the easier this transition will be for everyone.

Schedule a particular staff member to be available to greet the new employee and give an office tour. During the office tour, introduce the new hire to all staff members as well as pointing out the copy machine, mail room, employee mailboxes, lunch room, and restrooms. Remember that new hires are asked to absorb a lot of information in a short amount of time, so they will likely have questions about these things later.

Balance the first day schedule between orientation, meetings, and less formal gatherings. Arrange for the new hire to be treated to lunch on the first day by a group of staff members.

Schedule a meeting with the employee’s supervisor for the first afternoon. During this meeting, the supervisor should review the responsibilities of the position and give an overview of what the first 30-90 days in the position will look like.

During the First Week

While the first day entails presenting a good deal of information to the new hire, the first week focuses on the exchange between the new hire and other staff members, primarily with his or her supervisor and/or direct reports.

During the first week, the supervisor and new hire should meet to discuss desired management style and information about typical processes, such as how decisions are made. This is also the time to agree on expectations and create a timeline for deliverables.

If in a supervisory role, ensure that the new hire meets with any direct reports one-on-one and as a group within the first week. These meetings will help build the new team, provide context and orientation towards the department/team, and allow the new hire to get a sense of the work style of each team member.

It is also important for the new hire to interact with other staff that may not be on his or her immediate team. Schedule at least one meeting set up per day with different staff members. This gives the new hire time to learn about the whole organization from many different perspectives and to create new relationships with key staff members.

In addition to interacting with internal staff, if it is appropriate for their role, ensure that the new hire is scheduled to meet in person with any necessary partners, funders, Board members or other constituents within the first month. Encourage new hires to notify their personal and professional contacts of their new role, thereby providing a marketing opportunity for your organization.

The First Three Months and Beyond

Effective employee onboarding continues past the first week. Throughout the first three months, stay mindful of opportunities to integrate new hires into their work groups and into the organization as a whole.

After 90 days, have the supervisor provide formal feedback on the new hire’s performance, while also soliciting feedback from the employee. Depending on the organizational culture and policies, this meeting could involve a representative of the human resource department. During this meeting, any issues should be addressed and all parties should be confident that the new hire is poised for success in their role.

Finally, remember to build opportunities for feedback into the onboarding process. Encourage the new hire to note any ideas that they have for improving the operations, strategy, or culture of the organization. The new hire may or may not feel comfortable sharing these immediately, but it is important that the organization be open to the impressions of someone with fresh eyes. Allow employee onboarding to be an iterative process, one that evolves with your organization’s growth.

Although all of these steps require an investment of time and resources, it is an investment that will pay enormous dividends for your organization for years to come.

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. 

In our daily conversations with nonprofit hiring managers, we constantly hear how cultural fit is one of the most important criteria for hiring. A challenge for some nonprofits, however, is communicating organizational culture in every stage of the hiring process. Can a hiring process genuinely reflect an organization’s distinct personality and values? The answer is yes, provided the organization is aware of its organizational culture and makes an intentional effort to demonstrate the various attributes of its culture to job candidates.

Attributes of Organizational Culture

Organizational culture is characterized by the attitudes, experiences, beliefs and values of an entire organization. In the social sector, an organization’s culture is closely tied to its mission and programs.

The attributes of an organization’s culture can be tangible, such as dress code, or intangible, such as shared values. When trying to describe your organization’s culture, think about the following questions:

• Mission connect – How important is it that all staff are highly committed to the organization’s mission? How do individual staff members contribute to the advancement of the mission?
• Leadership/management styles - How are staff managed? Is leadership a core value of the organization? How are decisions made and problems solved? Is the process collaborative or individual?
• Reporting structure – What does your organization chart look like? Is your organization hierarchical or flat?
• Language and communication - Is there internal language or terms used and understood by staff? Are there specific terms or key messages used in external communication? How would you describe your organization’s communication style
• Physical work environment - Does your organization have offices, cubicles, or open workspaces? Are there common areas like reception, a kitchen, or a lunch room?
• Staff Diversity - Is diversity of backgrounds, experiences, or beliefs important to your organization? Is it essential that staff share racial, ethnic, or economic backgrounds with the communities your organization serves?
• Interpersonal dynamics - How do staff interact? Is the environment highly structured, intense, impersonal, or collegial?
• Titles - Are staff titles important and meaningful? How do titles affect how staff perceive their own role and others’ roles?
• Traditions and celebrations – How does your organization acknowledge personal successes and other milestone? What social rituals are institutionalized across the organization?
• Work pace - Do staff work at a fast, moderate, or leisurely pace? How would you describe the work/life balance for staff

It is important to think through the various attributes of your organization’s culture before launching your search. To find examples of how cultural aspects are demonstrated, look to existing materials, such as annual reports, grants, and marketing collateral. Speak with staff across the organization and probe on their opinions about the attributes listed above. Observe the physical and interpersonal environments. Most importantly, look to how your organization’s mission and values are translated across the overall culture.

Communicating Your Organization’s Culture

Communicating aspects of your organization’s culture begins well before you meet a candidate in person or they observe the organization firsthand. There are opportunities to share information about your organization’s culture at every stage of the hiring process. For example:

When developing a job announcement/posting:

• Include your full mission statement in the introduction or footer.
• Offer an explicit description of the organization’s culture and/or values, such as, “We work in a collaborative, team-based environment. There are no private office walls at our organization and camaraderie is a value shared amongst all staff.”
• When listing job requirements, use language that mirrors specific values such as “Collaborate with…” or “Produce results on…”
• When listing candidate qualifications, include specific values you are seeking, such as “entrepreneurial” or “flexible.”
• If being results-oriented is an important aspect of your organization’s culture, share statistics of program successes or other results.
• If diversity is an attribute of your organization’s culture, make sure that is communicated throughout the job posting. At the very least, include your organization’s “equal opportunity employer” statement on the job posting.
• When posting the position, choose channels that reflect your organization’s culture whenever possible.

When interviewing candidates:

• Use a manner of outreach that reflects the organization’s communication style. Some organizations use form language in emails and some organizations use less formal language; maintain the appropriate style for your organization.
• Reflect your organization’s culture in your office décor, particularly the reception or waiting area. Display photos, annual reports, constituent artwork, or other collateral materials for candidates to peruse while waiting.
• Conduct the interview at the location where the new hire will work, such as in the office headquarters, field office, or program sites.
• Probe on candidates’ fit with your organization’s values in interview and follow-up questions, but be careful not to “lead” candidates. For example, to probe on the value of teamwork, inquire about their past experience working in collaborative environments, including asking about the challenges that they faced.
• Share candid information about work/life balance, work pace, and other realities of the work environment.
• Give or lend videos, marketing collateral, or other materials to candidates for them to take home.
• Practice what you preach! If you pride yourself on being a friendly organization, give candidates a warm welcome and introduce them to other staff. If your organization values multi-input decisions, have a variety of staff interview and weigh in on candidates.
• For organizational cultures that highly value results, share important organizational data, such as budgets, strategic plans, and outcome evaluations, with the candidate.

When conducting interview follow-up and extending offers:

• In the period following the interview, invite candidates to external events such as fundraisers, speaker panels, or other gatherings, if possible.
• If they haven’t already done so, allow candidates to visit program sites or other places where your organization’s services are delivered. Even for non-program roles, it can be very helpful for candidates to see programs in action in order to get a better grasp on organizational values and culture.
• When communicating regrets to candidates, make sure you do so in a way that reflects your organizational culture.
• For candidates still in consideration for the role, make sure they have multiple points of contact within an organization in case they have questions or want to follow-up.
• If candidates are returning to the office for additional interviews or meetings, schedule some informal time for the candidate to spend with other staff. At the very least, allow the candidate to meet his/her direct reports or peers if this didn’t already occur.
• When making an offer, present the offer in a style that reflects the culture.
• After a candidate accepts an offer, provide information about any tangible attributes of the culture, such as dress code, rules for common areas, and other common policies. See Commongood Careers’ onboarding article for best practices in this stage.

Case Study: Massachusetts Public School Performance

For Massachusetts Public School Performance (MPSP), an educational nonprofit that helps school leaders use real-time data to improve instruction and increase student achievement, the ability to produce results sets the tone of its organizational culture.

“Our culture is results-driven,” says Executive Director John Maycock. “The school clients place high performance demands on their students and expect to see results. We try to set the same expectations for our staff.”

To communicate these attributes of its culture during the hiring process, MPSP starts with the job description. “When we write each job description, we make sure to clearly state the results-driven nature of our organization. This is the most important aspect of our culture for applicants to understand,” says John.

In addition to focusing on results, John describes the organization’s culture as “growth-oriented, team-driven, and non-hierarchical.”

Each job description tries to convey the teamwork and non-hierarchical aspects of the culture by listing responsibilities such as “work on multi-functional teams across the entire organization” and “collaborate with all staff on projects.”

During the interview stage, MPSP involves the entire team in the process. “It’s important for everyone to get a sense of the candidate and vice versa,” noted John.

The interview also includes direct questions posed to the candidate about their experience in results-oriented, deadline-driven environments. Candidates are asked to talk about scenarios that demonstrate their ability to handle multiple projects, meet deadlines, and deliver results. In turn, the interviewers try to be as transparent as possible about the results-oriented aspects of MPSP’s culture; candidates are given access to growth plans, and challenges and success to date. “The interview process is not only about evaluating the position-specific and overall cultural fit of the candidate, but also helping the candidate understand as much about our organizational culture as possible,” explains John.

In the period from extending an offer through onboarding the new hire, MPSP makes an effort to continue to make their organizational culture transparent and accessible. Top candidates are matched up with staff and encouraged to schedule informal conversations. When a new hire comes on board, they are given an outline of workplace expectations and are also integrated into the team from day one.

As John put it, “We expect our staff to be integrated into our results-driven and solution-oriented culture from the get-go. Making them feel part of the team helps to promote that organizational expectation of high performance and results, a quality which characterizes our entire culture, our clients, and the students we serve.”

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.