Whenever there's a global financial crisis, there typically isn't enough money floating around in the economy for the private sector to pay investors AND pay employees. So, perfectly productive workers are given the chop, naturally. When this happens, you can expect to see bloggers giving great advice about how this would be a good time to go and do that nonprofit work that you'd always rather have done but didn't.
But it isn't that simple.
Nonprofits are often guarded when it comes to their culture, and for good reason. They dedicate themselves to serving society or the planet and they almost never have the funds to match the salaries in the corporate sector, so having a genuine passion for the cause will be necessary to carry you through whenever times get tough.
Your values
The first thing you should do is figure out what your values are. Do a Google search for "list of values words" and you'll get some ideas. You know the way medevil knights used to live by a code? In a way, you'll essentially be giving yourself a knighthood by articulating your values as they can become a big part of your own code of honour.
Employers take a risk when they offer a job to someoe they don't know very well, but if you're able to tell a nonprofit (or any employer) what your values are, it can help to mitigate that perceived risk. I recommend including a values statement in your cover letter - it will help you to stand out.
If you get to live your values day-to-day in your job, I promise that you will never lack motivation. This is what matters in any job and it's what people mean when they say "do something that you love".
Picking favourites
Not all nonprofits work in the same way. Some may focus on a cause that has a very high feel-good factor whereas others may focus on injustice or tragedy. They may provide services, raise awareness, engage in advocacy on some issue, try to save lives, save the planet, promote culture... I don't know anyone who could devote their lives to each and every one of these things and be 100% motivated, so try thinking about your personal connection to the cause.
Know what you bring to the table Okay, you've figured out what your values are, so now you must decide what value you can add. People aren't always aware of the huge variety of skills that are required by nonprofits, so they may not think there's any place for them.
I once spoke to someone with a master's degree in data analytics who didn't know how they could be useful to a charity - I told them that this is particularly valuable for a type of fundraising called 'individual giving' (analysing data about individuals who gave a one-off gift to your organisation or monthly donors who are already supporting your cause).
Maybe your superpower is for helping peope in distress but you don't have medical or social work qualifications, though you could be great at donor care.
Not every organisation requires every type of skill, and don't assume that they'll settle for second best (blog posts advising people to take a job with a charity until they figure out their next steps always overlook this), so do some research to see what's needed by the sector.
Where to look
Consider the following aproaches for your job search:
Online job ads
You could visit the website of every nonprofit you can think of, but that going to take a lot of work. You'll be burned out before you even start your job!
LinkedIn is a fantastic resource for job hunting. Plenty of nonprofits pay to advertise their jobs there, though they might not always have the budget for that. However, LinkedIn has another feature that's used to get around this - groups. The groups come in many forms:
- Large global groups, such as Nonprofit & Philanthropy Jobs
- Sub-sector types, such as envionmental jobs
- Job function groups, like the Fundraising & Grantmaking group
There are a number of nonprofit sector-specific online job boards, such as Global Charity Jobs or Idealist, whose business is to attract nonprofits to post their jobs. Other job boards can be more location specific, such as CharityJobs.ie (for jobs with nonprofits in Ireland). Some boards even have mailing lists so that you can sigh up for job notifications while you're looking for your next move - an easy way of doing research!
There's also the fact that you can advertise yourself with your LinkedIn profile. We'll come back to the benefits of that in a moment.
Recruitment firms
If you send your resume to a recruiter in the hopes of getting information about a job that matches your skills, you may be barking up the wrong tree. They typically have a limited number of jobs that they're working on at any one time that they must fill, so they tend to focus on just that, rather than helping individuals. Some of the nonprofit sector-specific firms may be different, though.
Recruiters will typically post their jobs on their own website, jobs boards, social media, newsletters or job alert mailing lists. If you apply in response to one of these, they'll interview you if they think you're a match for the job. Being interviewed is a skill, so it's very useful to go through at least one interview before you actually meet with an employer.
It's also possible that recruiters may find you by searching online databases, like LinkedIn. You see, I told you we'd come back to your LinkedIn profile! There are a few important things that will help you to get discovered:
- Set your industry to non-profit.
- Mention that you're looking for a job with a nonprofit! Sometimes, people in this sector will go the extra mile to help you out.
- Show your preferred pronouns - this is often viewed as an indication that you care about inclusion
- List your values in the About section. This will help to take away some of the mystery (and perceived risk) about how well you are aligned with various organisations.
- In the Experience section, list the kinds of things that you saw on those job postings that you researched at the beginning. This will help you to show up in keyword searches.
- If you don't have any experience to add to the Volunteer section, get some! I mean it - it's difficult enough to break into this sector and this helps folks in nonprofits to see you as one of them, rather than as an evil corporatist (so yucky! Ew!).
Networking
This is the most powerful way of breaking into the sector. If you can't find networking events for the areas that interest you the most, you could ask around for introductions or even contact someone out of the blue (LinkedIn is your friend!) to let them know that you want to work for a nonprofit and ask them to advise you on who you should be talking to. Let them know that you're looking for a mentor or two.
If you can get talking to them, they may take you under their wing and start introducing you to people they know who have job openings (an introduction from the right person is worth more than gold). If someone says that they can't help you, ask them if they can recommend someone who might be able to. Your mindset must be one of always moving forward.
Best of luck!