So you want to work for a nonprofit, part one -- Career Center Blog

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August 26, 2010

So you want to work for a nonprofit, part one

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By Michelle Goodman
NWjobs

It's no secret that the recession has left many displaced and disgruntled workers wondering whether they can find a more meaningful way to make a living. Working in the nonprofit sector is obviously one option. But as local author Heather Krasna writes in her new book, Jobs That Matter: Find a Stable, Fulfilling Career in Public Service, job hunting in the nonprofit sector is a bit different than doing so in the for-profit one.

Jobs That Matter

I asked Krasna, who's Director of Career Services at the University of Washington's Evans School of Public Affairs, for her top tips on breaking into the nonprofit job market. Here's what she had to say.

Q. What do nonprofits want to see most in a candidate?

A. Proven commitment to the mission of the organization is key. Many people choose to work for nonprofits because they are deeply passionate about a cause, like protecting the environment, curing a disease, helping homeless people, or encouraging kids to go to college. Volunteering in the field is a great way to learn about organizations while demonstrating your commitment.

Knowledge of the mission or issue area is important, as is an understanding of the culture of the nonprofit. For instance, some human services organizations call the people they serve "clients" and others call them "customers." Sometimes kids are called "at risk" and sometimes this term is considered too pejorative.

Understanding the context in which a nonprofit functions -- i.e., their relationships with other nonprofits, government agencies, and donors -- is also important. Having the right skills is essential as well. Just because a nonprofit is helping an important cause doesn't mean the work is all fun -- the work will be just as hard if not harder than it would be in a government agency or business because most nonprofits are short-staffed and under-funded.

Q. How does finding a nonprofit job opening and networking in the nonprofit sector differ from doing so in the for-profit sector?

A. Most nonprofits don't post their jobs on sites like Monster.com. There are specific job boards and discussion groups in the nonprofit sector. Idealist.org is the number one job search site in the field, and there are many other similar sites, like Philanthropy Northwest and the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Many nonprofits just announce their job postings on discussion boards or listservs for their particular sector, ask for referrals from their networks, or look for candidates from a pool of volunteers rather than posting a job publicly. The community of nonprofits can be very tight-knit, so building relationships with those in the field is essential.

Q. What else do candidates moving from the for-profit sector to the nonprofit one need to know?

A. For some jobs, like HR, communication, accounting, and IT, a career transition from corporate to nonprofit is fairly easy because the skills transfer directly, though you still need to understand and care about the organization's mission. For others, like fundraising, there's an analogous job in the private sector (sales); combining sales expertise with a ton of relevant volunteer work could help someone transition. For other positions, like social workers or arts administrators, there's not really a job in the private sector that's an easy transition to a nonprofit, so you might have to get more education and experience before finding a nonprofit job.

Another important thing to remember is that although nonprofits have focused on becoming more "professional" in their management in recent years and must prove the outcomes of their work as much as possible, they still are very different from corporations. If you enter the nonprofit job market (or government for that matter) with the mindset that you will make them run "more like a business," you will soon be asked which business you want to run them like -- Enron, AIG, or BP?

Michelle Goodman is the author of "My So-Called Freelance Life" and "The Anti 9-to-5 Guide." E-mail Michelle at mgoodman@nwjobs.com