Mark McCurdy runs the www.thenonprofitcareercoach.org.

Kerry Connor is the National Recruitment Director for Jumpstart, a national non-profit organization that focuses on early intervention for at risk preschoolers.  They place older adults to work one on one with at risk preschoolers.

Mark volunteered at Read for the Record, a national campaign to raise awareness around the country for [...]]]>

Mark McCurdy runs the www.thenonprofitcareercoach.org.

Kerry Connor is the National Recruitment Director for Jumpstart, a national non-profit organization that focuses on early intervention for at risk preschoolers.  They place older adults to work one on one with at risk preschoolers.

Mark volunteered at Read for the Record, a national campaign to raise awareness around the country for early childhood education.  There were over 11,000 events around the country last year.

Kerry learned about Jumpstart from the NBC Today Show.  Education has always been important to Kerry.  She grew up in Savannah Georgia and went to a school where the education was poor with a lot of disruption, including bomb threats almost everyday and even some shootings.  She was lucky because her parents read to her daily.

Kerry says there is a story everyday that givers her a reason to want to do this work.  Statistics like the fact that the number of prison cells needed is projected based on 3rd grade literacy rates.  When she looked a Jumpstart she saw a lot of opportunities.  Even though she did not have a recruiting background, this seemed like a good fit for her.

To get engaged in this sector, the mission has to resonate with you.  It’s not enough just to want to make a difference.  Break your skills down, prepare to be flexible and work hard.  For entry level people she looks for people who are coach-able.  If you want to get involved, you can in a couple of different ways.  If you are a college student, try on an internship or a strategic volunteering opportunity.  If you want to get a feel for what it’s like to work in this space, Jumpstart has community core members that work 300 hours per year working one on one with at risk preschoolers.

Find a mentor or a career coach that has major experience in the nonprofit sector are two additional ways to help accelerate your nonprofit career.

Learn how a search powered by passion can make all the difference!

By Mark McCurdy

Passion as described in the Webster dictionary says: PASSION: A strong liking or desire for or devoted to some activity

When you build your job search or career search around the mission or position you [...]]]> Powered by Passion!

Can passion really help accelerate your nonprofit career?

Learn how a search powered by passion can make all the difference!

By Mark McCurdy

Passion as described in the Webster dictionary says:
PASSION: A strong liking or desire for or devoted to some activity

When you build your job search or career search around the mission or position you are most passionate about, you ensure a strong foundation on which to build your search. When you begin your search with passion at the core you also build emotional IQ and physical confidence. A cause you are passionate about draws from your values and spirit to help change the future. If you are passionate about the environment or stopping gun violence you probably have very strong feelings about the cause due to a past positive or negative experience. You may love the environment because you have wonderful memories of time spent with family and friends in the great outdoors, or maybe a volunteer experience with the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts. If you have a deep passion to stop gun violence, chances are you or a loved one has experience in this field. Both examples give you great past experience and first-hand knowledge on which to build your job or career search which come from a deep passion that is unique in a different way than your job skills are.

Could this be you? A client of mine we will call “Stan”, is very passionate about ending gun violence and educating youth and young adults about it.  He unfortunately has had first-hand experience with gun violence growing up and has sadly lost friends who were victims of gun violence.

The emotional strategy for Stan to build his job search around this mission is actually a powerful mindset and can be an advantage throughout his job or career search. When the question comes up as to why he is passionate about the mission of stopping gun violence it is crystal clear how much he cares. The power behind his strategy is deeply rooted in past experiences and the turmoil of personal loss making it a natural fit. That fact that he is taking personal control of the loss and is taking positive actions to solve the greater problem of gun violence is another confidence booster. The fact that Stan has an emotional commitment to the mission helps build honest repoire with the interviewer and improves the chances that Stan will be called back for a second interview
The physical difference in his demeanor and body language when Stan talks about the topic of gun violence is easy to recognize.  Stan’s true inner self is revealed and his energy becomes almost contagious when we talk more about this issue that he is passionate about.   When passion becomes a daily part of your job search, or even your career, you tend to have an increased depth of self-determination and creativity. There are bound to be challenges that arise day-to-day,  but when Stan focuses on the mission that is most important to him, the organization gains an employee that has a deeper level of commitment to the cause than someone who does not have personal experience with gun violence.

Now some of you may be thinking, I don’t exactly have one mission that is most important to me, but I do love computers (or hiking, or car repair, for example). So how can this passion work for me in the non-profit world? You can still use your deep passion for your trade as a catalyst for making a difference. Often times, your trade has been or is your hobby. For example if you love working on computers and you work as the IT professional or as part of a larger IT team then you can use your passion for computers to lead your search in the nonprofit sector.  However, it is still imperative to know something about the sector and organizations in which you are applying. For example, if a close family friend has used assistance at the local food pantry in the past and you learned how helpful and supportive the food pantry was to your friend, you may offer your IT services to the food pantry.  You may start by volunteering your time and expertise.  Other organizations may be looking to hire an IT professional, but again, it is imperative that you understand the work and mission of an organization, its management and work style, and how you might fit into their culture.   On the other side, if you are applying for work at a museum but you know nothing about the museum and have no feelings about the arts, then you will most likely feel out of place in this environment.  Please refer to my past blog article on career transitions for more information on cultural fit.

Whether your passion is deep seated in the organization or in your enthusiasm for the cause, the emotional and physical advantage that comes from building your job search from the foundation of passion stacks up well against the competition from others applicants.  The competition is less likely to have the same level of passion as Stan does when it comes to gun violence. Stan’s new found knowledge that his passion is actually a major advantage against the competition builds confidence and accelerates his job search.  Your job search will be stronger when powered by passion!

By Mark McCurdy and Molly Zeff

With three out of four nonprofit executives expected to leave their jobs during the next five years, mentorship programs provide an effective tool to help fill the leadership vacuum by ensuring that future top-level executives are better prepared to take over.

Mentors are guides who provide advice [...]]]> Mentorships Build Tomorrow’s Nonprofit Leaders

By Mark McCurdy and Molly Zeff

With three out of four nonprofit executives expected to leave their jobs during the next five years, mentorship programs provide an effective tool to help fill the leadership vacuum by ensuring that future top-level executives are better prepared to take over.

Mentors are guides who provide advice based on their experience in a given field. A more specific definition comes from one nonprofit, Career Collaborative, a nonprofit that provides employment services, which defines mentoring as “a tool to facilitate, guide, and encourage growth and creativity while preparing for the future.”

While the mentee is the more obvious beneficiary, mentors find the relationship to be an excellent way to have a long-term impact on individuals, their organizations, and the nonprofit sector as a whole. In passing their knowledge to a less-experienced individual, mentors have the rare opportunity to gain insights into different types and levels of jobs, which improves their abilities to effectively supervise in their own workplace.

The structure of mentorships varies widely: Mentorships can be formal or informal, of a short, fixed duration or open-ended. A mentorship could be an internal, structured program complete with trainings, goals, and activities that matches a company’s newest hires with veterans in the office. Alternatively, it could simply be a casual arrangement—monthly lunches or a phone call every few months—initiated by an individual in a new position who occasionally seeks out a more experienced colleague’s advice on a particular strategy or project.

Andrew Cohen, who works on health-care access at The Access Project, a Boston nonprofit that helps local communities improve health and healthcare access, has benefited in countless ways from experiences as both a mentor and a mentee.

His year-long experience mentoring a recent college graduate taught him that “being a mentor can be a really important skill-building exercise”; it allows us “to put in practice the skills needed to build another leader.” Mentoring deepened his own leadership by prompting him to consciously reflect on his own work.

“It’s really easy to go through your life and your work without taking the time to look back at how you’re doing it and why you’re doing it and how to be more effective,” Cohen explains. “Mentoring provides me with the time and place for reflection on the work that I do.”

Benefiting the Sector

Regardless of their structure, mentorships improve the ability of nonprofit professionals at all levels of an organization to execute their jobs well. Moreover, they can improve the nonprofit sector as a whole in a number of ways:

Promote positive change. Knowledge-sharing facilitates networking between employees and organizations. Networking, in turn, builds contacts, raises an organization’s visibility, and encourages nonprofit professionals who share similar goals to work together. The resulting collaborative relationships quickly build the power to affect real change.

Shorten the learning curve. Mentorships help new employees quickly identify the skills necessary to do their jobs well. A mentor’s expert guidance enables them to recognize the best strategy or tactic in a work situation and to sense potential pitfalls. Applying lessons learned from mentors’ past experiences helps employees avoid the same mistakes and enhances the mentees’ impact early in their new roles.

Provide an outsider’s perspective. Because they do not have an evaluative relationship with the mentee, mentors are able to provide valuable advice from an outside perspective. Additionally, they are not caught up in day-to-day management tasks, such as fundraising, supervising, and program development, at the mentee’s organization.

Confront challenges. Mentorships build self-confidence in new employees while building the mentee’s ability to deal with challenges in the workplace and effectively confront issues as they arise.

Retain knowledge. Mentorships ensure that the experience of executives and other nonprofit professionals will continue to benefit individuals and the sector even after these executives have moved on. The more knowledge that flows freely among nonprofit professionals, the more likely that the invaluable lessons mentors learned throughout their careers are not lost.

Many invaluable mentorship resources are either free or low-cost. To create a mentorship program in your workplace, or to learn more, look into these resources:

• Center for Nonprofit Success
• Peer Resources
• Career Collaborative
• Ready to Lead

Mark McCurdy is President of the Nonprofit Career Coach and founder of Jobs in Nonprofits (JNP). He can be reached on twitter at @jobsnonprofits or email at mmccurdy@jobsinnonprofits.com. Molly Zeff is a researcher/writer at JNP.

Most people start a career change by trying to re-write their resume. Having interviewed over 10,000 individuals in the nonprofit arena, I can’t tell you how important it is to start, instead, by identifying and defining your ideal career. Don’t get me wrong, a well-written resume [...]]]> Career transition? Focus on your mission not on your resume.

Most people start a career change by trying to re-write their resume. Having interviewed over 10,000 individuals in the nonprofit arena, I can’t tell you how important it is to start, instead, by identifying and defining your ideal career. Don’t get me wrong, a well-written resume is an important step in the career transition process, but it should not lead your career change. A more effective and sustainable alternative is to start with clarifying and nailing down your mission or purpose.

What is your vocational mission?

Choosing your vocational mission is a journey that starts with identifying what values and interests are MOST important to you and what you enjoy doing the most.  Your vocational mission, you may find, may not stray far from your life’s mission or the goals you hope to achieve in your future.  Identifying your mission does not have to be a lengthy self-assessment but rather a thoughtful look at what has been most important to you in your life.  What do you absolutely love doing? What brings joy to you every time you do it?

Two major factors to focus on while identifying and clarifying your career purpose or vocational mission are:
- Interests
- Cultural fit

Interests:

Some people ask “Why not start with my existing skills when making a career change to the nonprofit sector?”. Richard Nelson Bolles, the author of What Color Is Your Parachute? addresses this issue in the Parachute workbook. He states, “…experience has shown to be true: If it is a skill you do well, you will generally enjoy it.  If it is a skill you enjoy, it is generally because you do it well.”
When making a career transition it is much more useful to assess your skills and interests with the question, “Do I enjoy doing it?” rather than, “Am I capable of doing it?”.
Interests are a key factor when making the transition to the social sector. What do you love doing? What do you want to stay away from or avoid? What makes you fulfilled or extremely happy? Think of past volunteer or personal experiences that gave you a sense of purpose or pride. Think of issues or causes that have touched you personally.

As you think about these interests, identify which populations or causes really speak to you. For example if you love working with children, then Big Brother Big Sisters might be a great organization to pursue. If cancer has touched your family, you might be interested in working with those helping to find a cure for breast cancer, so the Susan G. Komen Foundation or similar organizations might be a good fit.

Cultural Fit:

When you work in a culture where you are extremely passionate about the goals and motivated to make a difference, you will often find the organizational fit to be a great match as well.

One of the biggest questions to ask yourself is, “Do I like a larger organization or a smaller one?”. In most cases, the smaller the organization is, the more variety of tasks and projects there will be for each individual to manage. The larger the organization, the more focused each staff member’s day to day operations will tend to be. Many career-changers have been working in a large company with a large support team and with access to many resources but may be just fine with a smaller support staff and may be happy to use their skills to manage a variety of tasks in order to help advance the organization. My experience has shown that smaller nonprofits are more flexible with career-changers than larger nonprofits. Many larger nonprofits want someone who has worked in the sector before and are less likely to be able to do on-the-job training.

Say hello to Kim… (Does this sound like you?)

Working with a career coach who is dedicated to the nonprofit sector is an ideal way to help accelerate your career-change. That is what a client of mine, Kim, discovered when she was laid off from her IT job in 2009 after working there for over eight years.

Kim knew that this was just the opportunity to jump into a more fulfilling career in nonprofits, but was getting very frustrated after submitting countless resumes and not receiving a single interview request.

Kim had recently volunteered abroad for a human services organization and was able to use her gift of languages to help youth. As we spoke about this experience, Kim explained why this experience was so special to her. It turns out Kim had been a tutor and peer-mentor as a teen. Kim relayed a story about a particular student she had mentored and recalled what a life-changing experience it had been.

One of the only things Kim was sure about from her experience in the corporate world was that she really enjoyed being part of a small team. She really enjoyed the strong bonds that were built and knew she would like a similar culture in her next job.

After a bit more of research and probing, we came to focus in on local human service nonprofits that focused on serving the growing Asian community. We focused on organizations that were smaller and community-based, which offered Kim the close-knit camaraderie she craved.  In addition, these organizations were more likely to acknowledge Kim’s language skills and recent volunteer experience right from the beginning.

Today Kim is a case worker for a local human service organization serving the Asian community. This position focuses on a population she cares deeply about and which she is energized to serve. Because it is a small organization, Kim has close bonds with her co-workers. These small and diverse groups of peers all have a common goal to help and serve this Asian community. The multicultural requirements of the job allow Kim to use her language gifts and knowledge gained from past experiences.  Kim has found her career path for social impact by focusing on what she loves and whom she wants to serve. Every day, she is building her character and value through paid nonprofit experience and learning how to make a difference in the daily lives of the population she serves.

Mark McCurdy is President and Founder of Jobs In Nonprofits, LLC and is an expert in careers in nonprofits. Mark is a career strategist who has developed “Impact6”, six key strategies for finding a dream job for social impact. Tune in to “Dream Jobs for Social Impact” at www.blogtalkradio.com/nonprofitcareercoach for inspiring interviews. For further information or to schedule a talk  you can reach Mark on Twitter at @jobsnonprofits or email mmccurdy@jobsinnonprofits.com.