The 2012 Idealist.org survey on nonprofit jobs landed in my inbox last week, and here’s what I found out.

Some of it’s good–some plain annoying. More on that later.

The folks at the nonprofit job board surveyed over 1,000 U.S.-based organizations and 3,000 active job seekers to find out:

  • what types of groups are hiring
  • who is out there looking
  • the latest in pay practices
  • what are the biggest challenges for job hunters right now

So let’s start with the good news. Ring them bells.

Nonprofits are hiring.

In general, it’s game on for hiring – 48% of all nonprofits plan to make new hires in 2012; and 54% say they will dole out salary increases in 2012, up from 47% last year.

Popular with the over-50 set. I found it intriguing, not surprising, that about one-third of job seekers are over the age 50, a much higher share than a few years ago. Although they don’t provide a statistic to back it up, I will go with it.

Don’t look back. Many of the boomer job seekers I talk to say they seriously are pursuing a job in the nonprofit field. They are bruised and battered from the corporate world. Many have been shown the door in a “downsizing” the past few years, anyway. Perhaps, they’re looking for a kinder, gentler place to land.

The desire to give back and find work with meaning has kicked in along with all the other hormone changes that come rushing in at this stage of life.

And they do have the spirit this can take. A whopping 83% of job seekers have volunteered, demonstrating an interest in staying and growing in the sector. Something the majority of hiring managers consider important, the report found.

Full-time, please. And we’re not talking a stepped down job, 93% want a full time job. This is serious job hunting.

Spoiler alert–40% of jobseekers are looking for executive positions, but the bummer is only about 10% of nonprofits are planning to hire at the executive level this year, according to the survey. Your best bet: educational organizations report the greatest staffing needs.

Idealist.org found that the top types of jobs currently on the hiring lists tend to be for program or direct services staff. But in my experience, there’s not a nonprofit in the land that isn’t seeking someone with fundraising chops, administrative skills, and great communications mojo to get the word out about what they’re up to, and boost donations, too. All three of these categories also hit the survey’s list of top jobs open. For some tips on nonprofit job hunting, checkout my interview with executive recruiter Laura Gassner Otting, who founded the Nonprofit Professionals Advisory Group.

Now for what gets me worked up, and I suspect, you, too.

Here’s what ticked me off about the survey.

 Hello, what does this job pay?

How come no one wants to tell you what the salary range is for these jobs? Despite 60 percent of organizations feeling their “compensation packages are comparable to or better than peers,” many do not include a salary range in their job postings. Seriously, what a waste of time for everyone involved if you don’t give some indication of what the salary might be. That just sets people up for disappointment, anger at being undervalued, and more.

And on the other end, for HR peeps trying to wade through all the resumes, it doesn’t do any good if someone is qualified, but isn’t about to work for a low-ball salary. It’s absurd.

Is anybody out there? Doesn’t anybody really care?

Let’s talk about basic manners and consideration. Who hasn’t sent a resume to a job posting and felt the aching black hole of not knowing who will see it, if they will see it, and who will really care?

The number one challenge job seekers face is the lack of communication from employers, the report says. In fact, 86% say they never receive any feedback or follow up at all.

That’s appallingly rude and insensitive in my book. I’d love to have one of these non-responders take a stab at job-hunting themselves and see what it feels like to be on the outgoing side of that equation.

Here you are sending off what amounts to your personal identity and hopes and dreams into the internet-isphere, and no one takes the time to acknowledge it. Talk about a slap down to the ego. It’s more than frustrating. It’s insulting.

And this finding takes the cake: a gi-normous 40% of hiring managersdislike candidates contacting them to check on their application status… yet almost a quarter of all job seekers do.

The takeaway here–there are opportunities in the nonprofit sector out there, but you better work on having a thick skin and accept on some level that when you’re being ignored, you’re in good company.

For more, download the Job Seeker Survey.

 I’m the author of What’s Next? Follow Your Passion and Find Your Dream Job, available here www.kerryhannon.com. I am a MetLife Foundation Journalists in Aging fellow. To learn about great jobs for retirees, check out my column at AARP. My weekly column  at PBS’s NextAvenue.org is here. Follow me on Twitter, @KerryHannon

 

 

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