{"id":635,"date":"2012-04-10T15:51:26","date_gmt":"2012-04-10T15:51:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=635"},"modified":"2012-04-29T21:18:12","modified_gmt":"2012-04-29T21:18:12","slug":"nonprofits-are-hiring-three-things-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=635","title":{"rendered":"NONPROFITS ARE HIRING: THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Read<\/a>\u00a0Published Article<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Nonprofit jobs have a certain cachet with boomers looking for a career shift.<\/h2>\n
\n

I hear it all the time from job seekers, and\u00a0I get it. It\u2019s a time in life where you\u2019ve made the bucks, climbed the ladder, and so on.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re fortunate, an early retirement, or nice severance package has given you the flexibility to unsnap the velvet handcuffs and get to work doing something that really brings meaning to your life\u2013and those whose lives you touch. You can put your lifetime of skills and tools to work making the world a better place.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And it looks like there\u2019s no time like the present to take action. Hiring freezes at many nonprofits have been lifted, and new jobs are opening up, according to the\u00a0Nonprofit Employment Trends Survey<\/a>, a national study of nonprofit employment practices released last week. One-third of nonprofit outfits plan to create new jobs this year and nearly as many said they \u201cmight.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s promising.<\/p>\n

The largest piece of that job growth is expected to be at mid-sized and large organizations and primarily in the area of direct services. In other words, jobs on the front lines that involve working directly with people who need assistance, such as counseling, tutoring and mentoring programs. Continued job growth in program management\/support and fundraising\/development is also expected.<\/p>\n

The study of some 450 organizations, including\u00a0Amnesty International USA<\/a>, the\u00a0Girl Scouts of America<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0United Services<\/a>, was conducted by\u00a0Nonprofit HR Solutions<\/a>, a human-resources consulting firm in Washington, and the Caster Family Center for Nonprofit and Philanthropic Research at the University of San Diego.<\/p>\n

My first reaction to the findings was, yes! Sweet. But as I dug through the data, I found a hint of the underbelly. Here are three things you should know.<\/p>\n

1. It\u2019s still who you know.<\/strong>\u00a0Unless you\u2019re looking for an entry-level job, you may have a hard time getting hired if you\u2019re not currently working for a nonprofit, or know someone inside the organization. In truth, your best shot of stepping up to one of the new jobs is if you\u2019re already working at the organization in some capacity, maybe on a volunteer-basis.<\/p>\n

The overall trend, according to the report, suggests that most nonprofits will pull talent from other nonprofits to fill senior\/executive positions, and people promoted from within typically fill mid-level vacancies.<\/p>\n

In their defense, while nonprofits do have a reputation for their insular nature, most employers, not just nonprofits, prefer to hire people who get the pre-approved stamp from existing employees and those they know and respect. When budgets are tight, as they often are in a business that relies on donations in large measure, that mode of operation is even more obvious.<\/p>\n

2. CraigsList trumps Careerbuilder<\/strong>. Once they step outside their informal networking with colleagues and friends and formal networking with their counterparts at other nonprofits, recruiters rank online editions of local newspapers and CraigsList as their top places to advertise job openings.\u00a0Idealist.org<\/a>, CareerBuilder.com and Monster.com, are their next three choices in descending order.<\/p>\n

3. Diversity is an issue<\/strong>. Call me na\u00efve, but this shocked me. In the \u201cRace and Ethnicity\u201d section of the report it clearly says that when respondents were asked to provide the approximate ethnic\/racial composition of their staff, the composition of respondents\u2019 staff was predominately white. The median percentage of white staff was a whopping 80 percent. \u201cThis demographic finding was consistent with the 2010 Nonprofit Employment Trends Survey, as well as national ethnic\/racial composition data of nonprofit employees, and confirms the need for increased ethnic\/racial diversity in nonprofit sector employees,\u201d according to the report.<\/p>\n

If you who fall in this category, this glaring dearth of diversity could be an opportunity\u2013provided those hiring take the findings seriously.<\/p>\n

Here are some steps to consider:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Find a nonprofit training program<\/strong>. There are a growing number of organizations in cities around the country designed to help experienced professionals do the nonprofit shuffle through a variety of training programs, fellowships and part-time assignments.<\/p>\n

For my recent Forbes\u2019\u00a0Retirement Guide<\/a>\u00a0story, for example, I interviewed Cheryl Champagne. Champagne was 60, with 25 years as a finance manager, when she took an early retirement buyout package from a downsizing Hartford Life Insurance Co. in September 2009.<\/p>\n

Today, after completing a fellowship with\u00a0Encore!Hartford<\/a>, a crash-course in non-profit management and finance (44-hours of classroom learning at the University of Connecticut, two months in the field), Champagne is a full-time fiscal analyst at\u00a0Key Human Services, Inc<\/a>., a Hartford nonprofit offering community-based services to individuals with a range of mental disabilities. Her salary is roughly 25% less than at Hartford, but others rewards are greater, Champagne reports. \u201cI feel I\u2019ve lived my life with blinders on\u2013never interacting or encountering the extreme need and poverty around me,\u2019\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n

Encore!Hartford\u2019s program, a partnership with Leadership Greater Hartford, other key Connecticut agencies and the University of Connecticut\u2019s \u00a0Nonprofit Leadership Program in the Center for Continuing Studies, is aimed at unemployed midcareer and traditional retirement-aged corporate professionals with a do-gooder bent.<\/p>\n

All classes are held in nonprofits of varying missions and sizes; from a food pantry and kitchen in the basement of church to a multimillion dollar science center. Executive directors of the hosting nonprofits meet with fellows after class to share their perspectives on leadership and managing in a nonprofit. The fellows job shadow with practitioners in the field. Key to their experience is their Encore Fellowship, in which the fellow works full-time for two months on a high-level project for an individual nonprofit.<\/p>\n

To date, the Encore!Hartford has a 78 percent employment rate -including part-time- for its first class of twenty-three graduates. Not too shabby. The second class of twenty-four new Encore Fellows will graduate on June 16th.<\/p>\n

The program\u2019s success is due, in part, to its deep outreach into the state\u2019s nonprofit and public sector ties.\u00a0But the heart of it is this simple fact: \u201cDuring all of this immersion in the nonprofit sector, networks and relations are formed\u2014and that leads to jobs,\u201d says director David Garvey.<\/p>\n

Another program that\u2019s gaining traction is\u00a0ReServe<\/a>, a 6-year-old nonprofit agency that connects \u00a0professionals over 55 \u00a0with experience in marketing, accounting and other areas with more than 350 government agencies and nonprofit groups in New York City and surrounding areas on a part-time project at a modest stipend, say, $10 an hour. You might work 15 or 20 hours a week.<\/p>\n

The group offers an online Opportunity Board, which lists openings. Over the next five years, plans call for expansion to include postings from affiliates across the country. First up, reportedly, Baltimore and Miami.<\/p>\n

While there\u2019s no guarantee that you\u2019ll get hired by the nonprofit you lend a hand to, it will provide some training, boots on the ground experience and a networking opportunity that can make it well worth your time. For a nice profile of the group, click\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0to read, SecondAct.com\u2019s story written by Michelle Rafter.<\/p>\n

Check for board openings.\u00a0<\/strong>Another good place to start is\u00a0BoardnetUSA.org<\/a>, a website for anyone looking for a nonprofit board. Once you\u2019ve posted your information, you get a weekly e-mail with a list of organizations looking for people who fit your profile. And visit the\u00a0resources<\/a>\u00a0on my nonprofit jobs hunter section of Second Verse.<\/p>\n

Volunteer.<\/strong>\u00a0If you\u2019re on the outside looking it, perhaps the best and easiest way to get noticed is by volunteering your way in the door.\u00a0In my book\u00a0What\u2019s Next? Follow Your Passion and Find Your Dream Job<\/a>, for example, you meet Anne Nolan, who began as a volunteer at\u00a0CrossRoads Rhode Island<\/a>, the state\u2019s largest homeless shelter, after she lost her corporate job. With her management skills, it wasn\u2019t long before she was asked to join the board, and when the top position opened, she was tapped for a paid position as executive director.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s true that Nolan was in the right place at the right time. But you can never go wrong by stopping in at a local charity whose mission you believe in and offering your time a few hours or more a week. You never know where it will lead and who you might meet there who can help you in your job quest. Importantly, your pro bono work can make a difference.\u00a0It\u2019s good karma any way you look at it.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor it is in giving that we receive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 St Francis of Assisi<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Share<\/a>