News

Working Strategies: Applying yourself to nonprofits

Interested in working for a nonprofit? Here’s some seasoned advice from employers about your job search.

AMY LINDGREN TwinCities.com

As director of the Center for Nonprofit Management at the University of St. Thomas, Patricia Wilder coordinates certificate and degree programs for training in the nonprofit sector. Last year, 2,100 students came through her center’s courses, up from about 800 when she started five years ago.

In addition to a master’s of business administration in nonprofit management, the program features institutes for community leaders, ministry leaders and executive directors.

One of the center’s most popular classes is short and free. In "Explore Working for a Nonprofit Organization,” people unfamiliar with the nonprofit sector learn the basics of "crossover" job search. The monthly class is always full.

Wilder, who has done more than her share of hiring in 20-plus years of nonprofit management, peppers the session with personal experiences and advice. Her sternest warnings are reserved for those who would try to impress her with corporate-speak.

"You have to transfer the language and experiences into the nonprofit lingo," she said in a recent class. "I’m not talking about putting too many Kumbayas in there, but don’t make it all about revenue and production. What was your input in other ways?"

To get this right, Wilder recommends asking someone in the nonprofit arena to review the resume for tone and language. Even in the 1990s, Wilder says, she was receiving 150 resumes for each opening. With that many to review, she learned to drop those that showed no nonprofit experience.

Now, she advises candidates who cross over from for-profit jobs to include a commitment statement at the top of the resume, defining their intention to work for nonprofits and to put volunteer jobs under a category called "community experiences. "

"I don’t care if you got paid or not," she says. "I just want to see those skill sets. I want to see that you’ve done some fund-raising and managed committees and led dialogues. Nonprofit work is about multitasking."

Wilder relies on cover letters to tell her more about candidates, and she prefers a two-page resume to a one-pager that doesn’t give enough information.

Sean Kershaw, executive director of the Citizen’s League in Minneapolis, agrees with Wilder’s penchant for cover letters — as long as they don’t go too far.

"There are very few people who deserve a three-page cover letter," he said recently, after receiving such a letter for a job he posted in September. "This was basically an entry-level job, but we still got 135 applicants. I was amazed at the differences in presentation, including horrible misspellings. Just because you’re applying at a nonprofit doesn’t mean the basics don’t apply."

On the other hand, Kershaw saw some very good candidates in this search.

"One of the best cover letters literally said, ‘Here are the things you requested and here are the bullet points of why I’m good at them.’ That person got an interview."

Kershaw used a committee to make his hire, with former employees helping to sort the applicants and an adviser assisting in the interviews. Such committees are quite common for nonprofit employers, who place a premium on consensus decision making.

With more qualified candidates than he could hire, Kershaw faced a difficult decision this fall. One promising applicant, who was turned down for a lack of experience, surprised and delighted him by offering to construct an internship to work for free.

Meanwhile, the candidate he was preparing to hire was doing his own research, asking others what they thought of Kershaw’s management style. It’s a move that impressed the executive director.

"It is a fair and appropriate question to ask how nonprofits are managed," he said. "I think a lot of people are attracted to nonprofits because of the mission, and then driven away by the management."

Kershaw and his committee conducted several rounds of interviews before making their choice. Despite the hard work, he would do it that way again.

"I got a great intern and a really great hire," he says.

Ready for a review? Here is what these two seasoned nonprofit directors advise:

• Writea commitment statement in your resume showing your intent to work in nonprofits.

• Strengthen your nonprofit experience.

• Consider a resume section called "community experience” for volunteer posts.

• Show your nonprofit skills on your resume.

• Write a brief but targeted cover letter to show your strengths for the job.

• Stay open to other possibilities in the organization.

• Be ready to multitask.

• Research the management as well as the mission.

• Prepare for a long round of interviews, or a committee process. The final step, once you have your new job, is to manage your nonprofit career. As both Kershaw and Wilder note, no job is forever — even in the nonprofit world.

Amy Lindgren owns a careerconsulting firm in St. Paul. She can be reached at

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/business/columnists/amy_lindgren/7321749.htm

Posted in:

Sorry, we couldn't find any posts. Please try a different search.

Leave a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.