Winning the "Talent" Competition:
How to Recruit the Next Generation of Nonprofit Leaders

Resource
The Nonprofit Career Guide: How to Land a Job That Makes a Difference

Contents
Become a Nonprofit Ambassador
    Key facts about the sector
    Key trends in the sector
Understand and Address Job Seekers' Needs
    Potential barriers
    Advantages to nonprofit employment
Put Your Best Foot Forward
    Write a compelling position announcement
    Take a critical look at your web site
“Guerilla Recruiting” Ideas
Conclusion

From Becky Andrews, Marketing Manager, Fieldstone Alliance:

BY MANY ACCOUNTS, young professionals are increasingly interested in working for social change through a nonprofit career. That’s good news for nonprofits who will need as many as 600,000 new staff over the coming decade as today’s leaders retire.

As a sector, we have a great opportunity right now to recruit the next generation of leaders. To this end, Fieldstone Alliance, in collaboration with American Humanics, has just published The Nonprofit Career Guide: How to Land a Job That Makes a Difference by workforce expert Shelly Cryer.

While job seekers are acutely aware of having to stand out from the crowd, nonprofits also need to realize that they’re in competition—with business and government recruiters. This issue of Tools is adapted from The Nonprofit Career Guide. It includes tips and low-cost ideas for reaching and wooing future leaders and furthering the “cause” of promoting nonprofit careers.

Become a Nonprofit Ambassador
One way to promote the sector is to think of yourself as a “nonprofit ambassador.” When the opportunity arises, you can leave an informative and engaging impression of the nonprofit sector on those who may become future nonprofit leaders.In this role, it’s helpful to have a few facts under your belt.

Key facts about the sector
Here are statistics you can use to get across the impressive size, scope, and breadth of organizations and positions that exist in the sector. Pick one or two to remember:

The nonprofit sector currently employs nearly 14 million Americans–11 percent of the U.S. workforce
Nonprofits will need 600,000 new staff over the next 10 years as today’s leaders retire
The sector accounts for 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) of the U.S. economy and 8 percent of wages and salaries
About 1.4 million nonprofit organizations are registered with the IRS in the United States
From 1998 to 2005, employment in the sector grew by 16 percent—three times faster than the rest of the economy

If you’re interested, additional statistics on salaries, volunteering, and giving are on the book’s web site.

Key trends in the sector
Here are trends that are particularly relevant to the nonprofit sector job seeker:

Growing leadership needs—People interested in rapid career movement may find it in the nonprofit sector with its pronounced leadership needs.
Attention to compensation—As competition for talent escalates, many nonprofits are voluntarily conducting compensation studies and adjusting salaries for entry-level and junior professionals.
Active recruitment of a diverse workforce—Organizations need and want a diverse workforce. This trend points to more leadership opportunities for women, people of color, and other job seekers from traditionally underrepresented or inadequately represented populations.
Increasing collaborations among nonprofits, government, and business—Nonprofits often are looking for professionals with business knowledge and a flair for creative marketing and strategic coalition building.
A surge in social entrepreneurship—People who consider themselves entrepreneurial may find a fit for their ambition, creativity, resourcefulness, and bold vision for how to reshape society in an existing nonprofit venture.
Increased accountability and oversight of nonprofit organizations—Applicants who have at least some knowledge of accounting and finance, and demonstrate good leadership and a strong moral center, will be increasingly coveted in the years ahead.

Understand and Address Job Seekers' Needs
Nonprofits that understand and address the needs of young professionals in their recruitment efforts will have the advantage in the competition for talent.

Potential barriers
It's important to know about and be able to respond to barriers (real or perceived) that may keep people from seeking nonprofit jobs. A couple of the big issues include:

Student debt—Three-quarters (74.5 percent) of new college graduates who take jobs with nonprofit organizations have student-loan debt.

Be aware that new laws can help those who go into public service careers. For example, a new loan forgiveness program will discharge all of a person’s remaining federal loan debt after ten years of repayment and full-time employment in public service. Public service jobs include government, public safety and law enforcement, and public services in health, education, early childhood education, child care, social work, and services for individuals with disabilities or the elderly, as well as public interest legal services, among others.

For more information, see Project on Student Debt at: www.ProjectonStudentDebt.org.

Low pay—The nonprofit sector is famous for low salaries. And there’s no denying that too many nonprofit sector employees are overworked and underpaid. However, researcher Lester Salamon attributes low salaries more to the field of work that nonprofit organizations perform than the fact of being nonprofit.

Nonprofit employees receive about the same pay as their for-profit counterparts who do the same type of work. In fact, nonprofit sector workers in hospitals, nursing or personal care facilities, and social services earn as much or more than their for-profit counterparts.

If salary is an issue for your organization, highlight other forms of compensation you offer such as flexible work hours or job sharing, professional development opportunities, or special work assignments. Also, be sure to list of all your other benefits such as health care plans, paid time off, retirement plans, etc.

Advantages to nonprofit employment
Mission is probably the biggest advantage nonprofits have over other sectors. Nonprofits offer the excitement of making a difference, and the satisfaction of knowing that the work being done is relevant to something greater than a bottom line.

A study by New York University researcher Paul Light suggests that, as compared to the federal government and private sector, the nonprofit sector has the healthiest workforce in the United States.

According to the report, nonprofit organization employees care about their work and have the type of work that many talented people want. They are more likely than government or business workers to say that the people they work with are open to new ideas, willing to help their colleagues learn new skills, and are concerned about their organization’s mission. They also find their work stimulating and presenting long-term opportunity.

Put Your Best Foot Forward
Following are suggestions for assessing and improving your current hiring process and materials.

Write a compelling position announcement
The message of your position announcement is crucial and should answer the question: what's in it for me? Highlight your organization’s distinct inherent strengths to the job seeker:

Mission—Is your mission presented in a compelling way? Do you describe how the work is fulfilling? Where do you plan to be as an organization 5 years down the road?
Incentives—What types of incentives can you offer? Flexible work schedule? Professional development and cross-training opportunities? A strong orientation program?
Growth opportunity—Does your organization want employees or leaders? If you’re looking for future leaders, come right out and state “We hire leaders.” Put some thought into how you see new employees contributing to the organization.
Commitment to diversity—Everyone says that they’re an Equal Opportunity Employer. Make the case for why you’re the organization to work with. Describe your organization's culture, potential career paths, and development opportunities.
Location—Provide information about your geographical location and why it would be attractive to young, diverse workers. There’s always something positive to say!
Hiring timeline—Give an overview of the hiring process and anticipated time frame.

Take a critical look at your web site
Job seekers will visit your site to learn as much as possible about your organization. Look at it from the perspective of a job seeker. Beyond making sure that it doesn’t put people off, are you using your site to the fullest to “sell” the position and your organization? What’s the tone? Does your site reflect your organizational culture? Have you provided courtesy information for candidates such as contact information, directions to your office, where to park, or what bus line you’re on?

“Guerilla Recruiting” Ideas
With typically limited recruitment resources, nonprofits need to get creative to build a diverse, top-notch staff. Following are some “guerilla recruiting” ideas.

Job postings
Advertise in niche and industry-specific media. A couple of options:

Local colleges and universities—contact the career placement offices and school paper.
Nonprofit job web sites—every nonprofit subsector (i.e. arts, health, environment, etc.) has job sites specific to that subsector. See a list of sites from the book.

Blogs
Blogs will play a bigger role in how companies find and retain key talent. There are many ways bloggers can assist you. Some will post job openings, others may recommend your organization, or put in a good word for the work you're doing. You can do a Google search for relevant blogs at: http://blogsearch.google.com.

Listservs
Listservs or electronic newsletters distributed via e-mail to subscribers exist for almost every field and job function and often post vacancies. In addition, many nonprofit sector job web sites operate listservs for their registrants that notify people of job postings matching their criteria.

Career fairs
Career fairs bring together prospective employers in a region for a one-day recruitment and informational event. Some college campuses organize nonprofit sector-specific career and job fairs, either independently or in partnership with other schools (and some nonprofit organizations may participate in more traditional for-profit career fairs as well).

If you can’t afford a booth at a career fair, attend as an observer. See what the competition is doing. Put yourself in the shoes of a job seeker—what catches your attention?

Networking
Networking is as important for job recruiters as it is for job seekers. Here’s a practical tip: it’s helpful to have a “leave behind” to remind people to pass job information along. Print a blurb about the position on adhesive labels and stick them on the back of your business cards. Hand the cards out at conferences, meetings, career fairs, graduations, etc.

Conclusion
Our hope is that you will take up the cause of recruiting and developing the next generation of leaders for the sector. Together, we can work to connect talent with careers for a better future.

If you’d like to discuss ways to collaborate on this cause or have ideas for getting the book in the hands of young professionals, please contact me!

Where to Learn More

www.NonprofitCareerGuide.org
This is the book's dedicated web site. Here you'll find in-depth information about the book, the author, and the nonprofit sector.

Fieldstone Alliance
Articles:
Six Generational Trends that Will Affect Your Nonprofit
Four Impacts of Generational Change
Six Steps to Deal with Generational Change in Your Organization

Books:
The Nonprofit Career Guide: How to Land a Job That Makes a Difference
Generations: The Challenge of a Lifetime for Your Nonprofit

Project on Student Debt
www.ProjectonStudentDebt.org

Johns Hopkins University
www.jhu.edu/~ccss
This site includes Lester Salamon's studies on the nonprofit sector.

"The Content of Their Character: The State of the Nonprofit Workforce"
www.nonprofitquarterly.org/content/view/109/28
A study by Paul Light. Published in Nonprofit Quarterly (Fall 2002): 6–27.

All the Best,

Becky Andrews
Fieldstone Alliance

June 4, 2008

Winning the "Talent" Competition: How to Recruit the Next Generation of Nonprofit Leaders

Resource The Nonprofit Career Guide: How to Land a Job That Makes a Difference

Key facts about the sector Here are statistics you can use to get across the impressive size, scope, and breadth of organizations and positions that exist in the sector. Pick one or two to remember:

Key trends in the sector Here are trends that are particularly relevant to the nonprofit sector job seeker:

Understand and Address Job Seekers' Needs Nonprofits that understand and address the needs of young professionals in their recruitment efforts will have the advantage in the competition for talent.

Potential barriers It's important to know about and be able to respond to barriers (real or perceived) that may keep people from seeking nonprofit jobs. A couple of the big issues include:

Advantages to nonprofit employment Mission is probably the biggest advantage nonprofits have over other sectors. Nonprofits offer the excitement of making a difference, and the satisfaction of knowing that the work being done is relevant to something greater than a bottom line.

Put Your Best Foot Forward Following are suggestions for assessing and improving your current hiring process and materials.

Write a compelling position announcement The message of your position announcement is crucial and should answer the question: what's in it for me? Highlight your organization’s distinct inherent strengths to the job seeker:

“Guerilla Recruiting” Ideas With typically limited recruitment resources, nonprofits need to get creative to build a diverse, top-notch staff. Following are some “guerilla recruiting” ideas.

Conclusion Our hope is that you will take up the cause of recruiting and developing the next generation of leaders for the sector. Together, we can work to connect talent with careers for a better future.