JOB MARKET
By Sandy Asirvatham
When seeking a new job, the obvious first step is to revise your r?sum? ??not just to bring it up to date, but to make obvious why your skills and background should appeal to potential employers. But what if you?re looking for nonprofit work, and your previous job experience has been mostly or entirely in the for-profit field? How do you recast your r?sum? to explain and justify your midcareer switch?
Many who manage or recruit for charities agree that a nonprofit r?sum? need not differ drastically from a for-profit one. ?I haven?t seen significant differences between nonprofit and for-profit r?sum?s, nor do I think there should be,? says Daphne Powell, director of human resources at America?s Second Harvest, a hunger-relief organization in Chicago. ?The objective of the r?sum? is to reflect an individual?s work and educational background as well as career progression. A well-constructed r?sum? works well in both arenas.?
All r?sum?s should be easy to read and concise, says Jay Berger, a nonprofit recruiter in Pasadena, Calif. ??although, he adds, job applicants with extensive experience should feel free to extend their summaries to more than the traditional single page. Cover letters are always essential, and should reflect the applicant?s knowledge of the employer?s mission and work, advises Angela Mucci, a human-resources generalist at the March of Dimes in White Plains, N.Y. ?Tell me that you searched the Web site,? says Ms. Mucci. ?Tell me something that makes me know you?ve done a little research.?
Mr. Berger recommends adding just one feature to your r?sum? if you are making any kind of career change: a one- or two-line ?career objective? at the top. ?Normally I wouldn?t recommend it, because I think people suffer a lot from trying to figure out what in the world to put there,? he says. ?In most cases, if your career reflects what you want to continue to do, it?s not necessary.?
However, according to at least one seasoned recruiter, making the transition from the for-profit to nonprofit world involves navigating a cultural divide, and therefore requires an entirely different approach to presenting yourself on paper.
In his book From Making a Profit to Making a Difference: How to Launch Your New Career in Nonprofits (Planning/Communications, $16.95), Richard M. King, president of Kittleman Associates, a Chicago company that recruits employees for nonprofit organizations, argues that a r?sum? for a nonprofit job candidate must present ?more of who you are than of what you are.? No matter how impressive your previous job titles and your list of financial accomplishments and project responsibilities in the business world, Mr. King writes, your r?sum? must telegraph the reasons you are now motivated to work for charities ??while your cover letter must discuss those reasons explicitly.
?People choose to go into the nonprofit field because they want to do something more than just making money,? says Mr. King. ?So the underlying question is, ?Why have you decided that your goal is no longer to make money? ??
For business professionals in transition, Mr. King cautions strongly against putting down your goals or accomplishments in financial terms ??a mistake that job candidates with a heavy sales background are often tempted to make. ?That?s all well and good, but unless you have previous fund-raising experience, no other numbers would be impressive to your prospective employers.?
In his book, Mr. King recommends starting fresh with the following nonchronological format, rather than trying to retool your existing business r?sum?:
Educational background. Start with your undergraduate and advanced degrees, listed by year of graduation in the traditional manner. If you have a two-year degree or no degree, however, you should instead begin with the next item, and list your educational information as the fourth section of the r?sum?.
Nonprofit and volunteer experience. These are what give you credibility as a nonprofit job candidate. In this section, you should highlight your titles, accomplishments, responsibilities, and even promotions in your volunteer work, just as you would in describing paid positions on your business r?sum?.
Transferable skills. Some of the skills you picked up while working in the for-profit world, such as staff development or budgeting, are probably equally relevant to charity work. You should emphasize these transferable capabilities without using business jargon, industry slang, or acronyms that may be unfamiliar to someone in the nonprofit field.
A business brief. Here is a chance for you to summarize your for-profit work history ??in some detail if your jobs were relevant to the position your seeking, but otherwise just in a simple list (company names, job titles, and dates you held those positions).
References. In addition to business colleagues, these should include references from charities ??for example, senior staff members of organizations where you have served on the board of directors.
Other nonprofit recruiters and managers don?t go as far as Mr. King in recommending a completely different r?sum? format. But they generally agree that volunteer experience is one of the most important factors to highlight if your professional experience is not related to the position you are seeking. If you haven?t donated much time, Mr. King recommends a process of ?strategic volunteering? to learn about organizational and administrative issues within a specific charity you may be interested in working for one day. To serve as a program volunteer or to sit on a board will do more than help beef up your r?sum?, Mr. King says ??it will put your motivation to the test, long before you make a full-time commitment.
In some cases, it is best to aim for organizations that do exactly or nearly the kind of work you hope to do. At the March of Dimes, Ms. Mucci says, ?we want to see some sort of maternal or child-health [volunteer] experience.? That is true at the highest executive levels in the organization, she says, but it is also true even for positions in information technology, accounting, or other departments that don?t require specific expertise related to a charity?s mission. Ms. Mucci adds, however, that a candidate with a personal connection to a group?s mission ??for example, a March of Dimes applicant who has a child or relative with a birth defect or, at the very least, someone with a demonstrated interest in child welfare ??will probably have an advantage at hiring time, even without extensive volunteer experience.
In other situations, organizations are simply looking for a prior commitment to the concept of giving to society ??even if it is something as simple as a longstanding involvement in a church choir. ?I have seen hundreds of r?sum?s in the last five years,? notes Prue Beidler, board chair of the Chicago Children?s Museum, who also serves as a trustee of several other charities and has been involved in five recent nonprofit-executive searches. ?I first look for people?s volunteer experience ??both board membership and service volunteering as well. If I don?t see volunteer experience, it worries me.?
Ms. Beidler says she wants to see volunteer experience on a r?sum? even if the candidate comes from a nonprofit background. Working on a charity?s staff ?is a certain kind of giving back, but the 100-percent volunteer experience is different,? she says. ?My bias is toward the person with actual give-away-the-time-for-free experience.?
Yet for others in a position to hire and fire, the mere fact that you had volunteer experience is not nearly as important as the skills you can bring to the table. Carol Teinken is a former marketing executive at Polaroid who is now chief operating officer for the Greater Boston Food Bank. She often sees r?sum?s from business professionals ??sometimes her own former Polaroid colleagues ??who ?get caught up in the fact that the only thing they have to offer is their commitment to the mission. But I really need somebody who?s bringing in skill sets.? Ms. Teinken prefers r?sum?s and cover letters in which candidates try to identify and describe in some detail the kinds of abilities they will bring to the organization, whether these are administrative or interpersonal skills. A passion for charitable work is a great thing, she says, ?but passion is not enough to sustain these organizations.?
Share your ideas about organizing a nonprofit r?sum? on the Job Market online forum.
adc adc taylor swift taylor swift toy r us toy r us benjamin moore
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.