501(c)Files | Nonprofit News

For Nonprofit Job-Seekers, Opportunities … and Challenges

by Tom Durso on June 11th, 2008

Shelly Cryer has spent nearly 20 years in the nonprofit sector, and for much of that time she has served as a consultant to various organizations. Cryer noticed that many of her clients were having trouble recruiting and retaining talent, and when she began teaching at Baruch College she discovered that one of the most valuable things she could offer students was the connections she had. Just as she found during her days at Duke, even at schools with strong nonprofit educational programs, career placement in the sector was a difficulty.

With support from the Forbes Fund and through collaboration with New York University’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, Cryer began researching college seniors’ perceptions of nonprofits and the difficulties the sector has in recruiting talent. She went on to found the Initiative for Nonprofit Sector Careers, a research and advocacy group now housed at American Humanics. Out of those efforts came her recently published book, The Nonprofit Career Guide: How to Land a Job That Makes a Difference.

"We tried to go into the types of jobs and the great diversity of work and what a dynamic sector it is — such a fast-growing part of the U.S. economy," Cryer told me recently. "We hope the book is both inspirational and instructive, that it introduces people to the idea of a career in the nonprofit sector and tells them that it’s a viable career path. Nonprofits are paying more attention to benefits and compensation and management practices as they have to compete for talent. We hope the book helps career advisers who help students that come in, that they can do a better job coaching that young professional or student find the job he or she wants."

Cryer pointed out that salary differentials between the nonprofit and for-profit sectors are more perception than reality; more specifically, they are based not on profit status but on the industry the organization is a part of. That said, challenges remain. Cryer encourages nonprofits to reach out to donors and foundations to help fund more competitive compensation packages, and she believes they must work harder to reduce the exploitation of employees who are so eager to work for the mission they often don’t wish to say no.

"We still are talking about mission-driven organizations, and employers are still looking for employees that are very much committed to their mission and willing to go the extra mile," she said. "Long days and tough work are still the fact, and burnout is still an issue. We have a ways to go on the work-life balance issue in the nonprofit sector." | 501(c)

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